Cajun Field 1971...

[duggie85]

To add to your post, the number of proposed suites have already been decided based upon the number of people/businesses who have committed to a multi year agreement to lease the suites.

Essentially, by adding the suites we will increase our revenue, without increasing attendance. Also, the new upper deck will have a reduced capacity compared to wat we currently have.

I recall hearing that North Texas has a similar set-up to what we're wanting and apparently their conference room/ball-room set-up is pretty much booked every weekend for wedding receptions, etc. Having gotten married within the last couple of years, reception venues are hard to come by. This venue could be used every Friday and Saturday outside of our home games. Not to mention hosting weekly luncheons.

[Boomer]

I recall hearing that North Texas has a similar set-up to what we're wanting and apparently their conference room/ball-room set-up is pretty much booked every weekend for wedding receptions, etc. Having gotten married within the last couple of years, reception venues are hard to come by. This venue could be used every Friday and Saturday outside of our home games. Not to mention hosting weekly luncheons.

---As the number of vehicles at Cajun Field increases with student enrollment, there will be a cafeteria and book store of sorts along with some other features of revenue like the reception room---Rusty Cloutier mentioned the selling of the suites and he said they could have all sold over lunch!!!

[BirdofParadise]

Jay, is this an accurate and current rendering of what they are planning for CF?

I haven't seen any drawings other than that. But those are pretty old so I wouldn't bet it'll be exactly like that.

The "Tigue" drawings changed considerably. The original looked like Lamson on steroids.

[BananaHammock]

Grad

We never sell out Cajun field
Therefore "low turnouts" in Cajun Field is par for the course.
We don't need more seats
We need to polish what we have.

Adding suites won't bring additional fans, It will simply just move wealthy fans from the first level up to the boxes.

Invest in quality sound system
Up the landscapes
Fix up the outside

We will be facing an uphill battle to become a better than average program and all that comes with it.
We have another decade or so before we need to add more seats.

I must say that for the most part I agree with you. Saying we sell out Cajun Field is really just a technicality for some people on here. Have we done it before? Yes How often? Maybe once every decade.

Upgrading the facilities will garner some attention and will attract a few more folks at first out of curiosity. After the newness fades those folks most likely won't come back unless the product on the field gets much better than what we have been showing. I'm all for a new stadium and upgrades but we can't sell out what we have now, why would we build a bigger stadium and expect it to sell out?

Some of you say build for the future. Let's be honest, how much has our attendance grown in the last 5 years? We have had good growth but attendance is inconsistent and we're not going to jump to 50,000 people anytime soon. So what mythical growth are we building for? I don't know about you but going to stadiums that are sold out, regardless of the size, have a much better atmosphere than those that have lots of available seats. Keep it close to the current size, figure out a way to sell it out and then incrementally raise ticket prices.

[LaCajunsFan]

I haven't seen any drawings other than that. But those are pretty old so I wouldn't bet it'll be exactly like that.

The "Tigue" drawings changed considerably. The original looked like Lamson on steroids.

Understood about CF: would imagine it will change a bit, but was hoping that it stays similar to the rendering.
And I was under impressed with the Tigue renderings in the MP (Lamson on steroids is a good analogy) so very happy that won't be the case. Very anxious to see the drawings. Also, what capacity do you think would be appropriate? I don't think much more than 5K, but it'd be nice if that could be expanded for post season games, or as the program grows.

[Cajun90]

Cajun 90, obviously you know more than I do. Why can't we put in nice chair backs for the entire stadium?
Maybe we could build suites for donors over the student side. Maybe the donor could build in Why do we need a nicer press box? I have been in both the athletic director and president's suite for games and they are very nice.
their own suite with a 5-10 year lease and minimum donation?

I still don't think we need anything until they show us improvement. What comes first, the top 25 team or the top 25 facilities? I think we have seen negative results with our athletes this season being given the new athletic center that some of them do not deserve. If I was the coach and players were late to team meetings because they were playing video games I would be ____ed.

I would also be ____ed if I was a 4.0 GPA pre-med student who isn't allowed access to the facilities built for 2.0 GPA athletes, but that's a different topic for a different thread.

Why can't we put in nice chair backs for the entire stadium?

Answer -Because the spacing of rows does not allow for it. Reference how bad the Tigue chairback spacing is for baseball. Code would not allow for it to be done like that today.

Why do we need a nicer press box? I have been in both the athletic director and president's suite for games and they are very nice.

Answer - Personally haven't had the stroke to see either of those suites however the press section wasn't anything to write home about over 20 years ago and it couldn't have gotten any better. Did you happen to see what the TV crew was working out of this past weekend? When you are trying to move up in the world you need to impress those that have an audience of millions.

Maybe we could build suites for donors over the student side. Maybe the donor could build in their own suite with a 5-10 year lease and minimum donation?

Answer - That is basically how it would work. At least most of the suites would have leases established prior to building.

I won't get into who "deserves" what debate. That argument can be made against anything and anyone. Our athletes for the most part aren't carrying 2.0 GPA's either.

Something else that everyone needs to keep in mind is that there has been discussion that the second level has some structural issues.

I believe some things are a requirement that we can no longer ignore.

A. Fixing the structural integrity of the second level. Given the list of everything else that needs to be accomplished it might be easier (less expensive) to start over.
B. We have to build a modern press box that will accommodate television, radio, print, & digital media appropriately.
C. We have to have office space for those moving out of the Cox Building.

There are also other items that would generate revenue. Hopefully no one will argue against revenue generation.

A. Suites - No brainer here. Most if not all would be pre-sold.
B. Club Level seating - Used in many arena's. Usually better quality seats with easier access and even waiter/waitress service. Once again revenue generating.
C. Retail outlet. A permanent store would definitely be able to generate more than the tables with a few items laid out.
D. BallRoom/meeting space - In a lot of ways I think this is a necessity. There are often functions both internal and external to the athletic dept. that could use such a facility and as others have noted it could be rented out as well.
E. Concessions simple do not meet the expectations of today's fan. Facilities that provide proper catering would certainly result in higher revenue.

There seems to be a small minority of people who believe the primary purpose of this is for stadium seating expansion. I seriously doubt you could find anyone within the administration who would agree with that statement.

As far as what comes first (top 25 or top 25 facilities) I'm not sure anyone can answer that question but I'd bet Michael Lotief would tell you that our Top 25 softball team might not be Top 25 anymore if we hadn't made the upgrades that we did and are continuing to do right now.

[RaisingCajun08]

True.

A few years ago UL moved a game to 9pm for TV.

7pm doesn't seem so bad.

You are talking about the ESPN game with North Texas right? I remember seeing pictures of that game but I dont remember much about it. We started tailgating hard around noon after class. A bottle of Wild Turkey 101 tends to skew the memory. haha

[CajunAmos]

Understood about CF: would imagine it will change a bit, but was hoping that it stays similar to the rendering.
And I was under impressed with the Tigue renderings in the MP (Lamson on steroids is a good analogy) so very happy that won't be the case. Very anxious to see the drawings. Also, what capacity do you think would be appropriate? I don't think much more than 5K, but it'd be nice if that could be expanded for post season games, or as the program grows.

I would expect about 4500.

[CajunAmos]

Why can't we put in nice chair backs for the entire stadium?

Answer -Because the spacing of rows does not allow for it. Reference how bad the Tigue chairback spacing is for baseball. Code would not allow for it to be done like that today.

Why do we need a nicer press box? I have been in both the athletic director and president's suite for games and they are very nice.

Answer - Personally haven't had the stroke to see either of those suites however the press section wasn't anything to write home about over 20 years ago and it couldn't have gotten any better. Did you happen to see what the TV crew was working out of this past weekend? When you are trying to move up in the world you need to impress those that have an audience of millions.

Maybe we could build suites for donors over the student side. Maybe the donor could build in their own suite with a 5-10 year lease and minimum donation?

Answer - That is basically how it would work. At least most of the suites would have leases established prior to building.

I won't get into who "deserves" what debate. That argument can be made against anything and anyone. Our athletes for the most part aren't carrying 2.0 GPA's either.

Something else that everyone needs to keep in mind is that there has been discussion that the second level has some structural issues.

I believe some things are a requirement that we can no longer ignore.

A. Fixing the structural integrity of the second level. Given the list of everything else that needs to be accomplished it might be easier (less expensive) to start over.
B. We have to build a modern press box that will accommodate television, radio, print, & digital media appropriately.
C. We have to have office space for those moving out of the Cox Building.

There are also other items that would generate revenue. Hopefully no one will argue against revenue generation.

A. Suites - No brainer here. Most if not all would be pre-sold.
B. Club Level seating - Used in many arena's. Usually better quality seats with easier access and even waiter/waitress service. Once again revenue generating.
C. Retail outlet. A permanent store would definitely be able to generate more than the tables with a few items laid out.
D. BallRoom/meeting space - In a lot of ways I think this is a necessity. There are often functions both internal and external to the athletic dept. that could use such a facility and as others have noted it could be rented out as well.
E. Concessions simple do not meet the expectations of today's fan. Facilities that provide proper catering would certainly result in higher revenue.

There seems to be a small minority of people who believe the primary purpose of this is for stadium seating expansion. I seriously doubt you could find anyone within the administration who would agree with that statement.

As far as what comes first (top 25 or top 25 facilities) I'm not sure anyone can answer that question but I'd bet Michael Lotief would tell you that our Top 25 softball team might not be Top 25 anymore if we hadn't made the upgrades that we did and are continuing to do right now.

[GeauxCajuns]

Some of you say build for the future. Let's be honest, how much has our attendance grown in the last 5 years? We have had good growth but attendance is inconsistent and we're not going to jump to 50,000 people anytime soon. So what mythical growth are we building for? I don't know about you but going to stadiums that are sold out, regardless of the size, have a much better atmosphere than those that have lots of available seats. Keep it close to the current size, figure out a way to sell it out and then incrementally raise ticket prices.

so if building for the future includes building to put us in a better position for a conference move, should we do it?