Originally Posted by
ChuckK3
No offense, but you have fallen into the trap of "just fill your stadium by any means necessary" --- and that isn't something our University wants to do.
Tech is trying to grow our fanbase. We're working with a limited population base that is scattered all along I-20 and into Texas...and honestly, they won't come to a Tech/ULM matchup. Time and again, we've seen no "lift" in our fans' numbers by playing ULM. Yes, our largest Ruston crowd was 28,700 in 1997 versus then-NLU, with NLU bringing decent numbers. Tech had our usual 22,000 and NLU brought 6700. By contrast, we drew 26,000 for Utah State into Ruston in 2012...and because of the distance from Logan, UT, it was almost ALL TECH fans. Utah State may have brought 300? THAT was a WIN for our objective to expose new fans to our program (...except for the overtime loss). We spent a little money to market a game (WOW! what a concept lol) that had conference championship implications and a possible Orange Bowl berth on the line. Tech fans showed up, and about 5000 potential, casual, "I like Tech, but I'm not passionate about them" fans came. THATS WHO WE WANT...folks who can come and see what we're doing in Ruston and become passionate about the local team...not one 200 miles away in Red Stick.
If we can have an incremental 6000 potential new Tech fans for a meaningful game versus a faraway team like Utah State...why wouldn't we do that? Why would we want to increase ULM's attendance and interest in their program? Does UL-Lafayette feel its their moral obligation to prop up McNeese? I don't, and suspect you don't either.