I think there's an element of that.Originally Posted by dawg80
If you want fans to stick around during the bad times you have to put in the time to make fans when they're in college and during the good times.
It's obvious we haven't done that.
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I think there's an element of that.
If you want fans to stick around during the bad times you have to put in the time to make fans when they're in college and during the good times.
It's obvious we haven't done that.
Another thing our administration friend’s post alludes to but doesn’t say is all of these changes didn’t impact or had a negative impact on the product.
Bulldog Village was a great idea on paper, but no one studied the 200-300 parking spots it would consume to analyze how this would impact the game day.
Tailgating on the hill was never a problem until a few years ago when all of a sudden it was hazardous having cars in and out.
Students tailgating in the park has been fine(administration looked the other way until a few years ago).
No one bothered to study how many of those seats that now require a LTAC donation were extras purchased by our people to give away. (I know at least three individuals like this who stopped extra season tickets because of this) So now you have less butts in the seats, and fewer of the LTAC only seats sold every year.
Seriously it’s like no one bothered to do a SWOT analysis on anything.
All the above is part of the bigger problem. Add the part about the "jumbotron" pretty much sucking the entire time we've had it.
Our up and coming employees are resume builders who don't really care about the actual results. I'm not sure why our AD's boss is not holding him accountable.
For me it is a simple matter of obtained/perceived value for my money. Recent changes have made tailgating less attractive, less attendance. The ho hum performance on the football field is less than exciting to watch, and very hard if you lose. So why should I or anyone else drive 4-5 hours each way to Ruston to have a poor tailgate experience, watch boring predictable football, spend $300-400 or more on a weekend, and drive home?
I used to tell my wife before season started, which home games we were going to attend, usually 3-4. Now, honestly I have no plans or desire to go. It just doesn't excite me like it used to.
Agreed 100%. It’s about the return I get for spending limited entertainment dollars. Right now there is no entertainment, and decisions seem to be made to kills this environment on purpose.
We have a cross country meet Saturday morning. I am picking up a rifle and sighting it in. Then we’ll see if we have time to make it to the game.
We could start with the TV contracts. CUSA actually has some cash value to its deals. And CUSA could get a financial deal similar to its old deal with Fox if it were willing to do one thing - play some Tuesday/Wednesday games. The Belt's deal with ESPN forces you to play midweek games but pays you nothing for it. That deal gives you enough to upgrade equipment to ESPN standards, and that's about it. And look at what that's done to scheduling. Exactly how many Saturday home games do the Cajuns have this year between mid September and early November?
We could get into branding, but that's been hashed out a million times. Dave, just ask yourself, if the Cajuns were invited to CUSA tomorrow - no strings attached - would your president turn it down? Of course not. And not a single school in the Belt would turn it down either.
Last edited by The Historian; 09-02-2019 at 12:59 PM.
Yep. These changes are going to result in a decline in younger alumni in the future. Book it.
We talked about it 15-20 years ago, but we still need to remove a few parking spaces to plant trees and electric services for tailgating throughout the parking lots. You should WANT to go tailgate rather than it feeling like an uncomfortable chore. Hire a landscape architect and take donations to renovate the parking lot into a giant beer garden.
We have an amateur AD...
I'm an asshole! What's your excuse?
Trees are a need!
The only reason people will ever want to tailgate is to see an enjoyable product on the field. Install all the trees and electrical outlets you want.... the experience will not change until LA TECH makes a decision to become relevant in college athletics.
Based on the 247Sports article below, the TV deals of CUSA and the Sun Belt appear to be very similar:
PAYOUT
CUSA sources have been quoted as saying the distributions from CBSSN and Stadium do not include payments for production which will be handled by those networks, however CUSA schools will still need to produce the 60 games apparently headed to CUSA-TV. Sun Belt's payment includes revenue to offset ESPN+ production costs.
Verdict: The Sun Belt payment is rumored to be in the range of $475,000 to $500,000 per year and production standards to produce the 51 games will be at ESPN standards. CUSA's payment is rumored to be in the $400,000 to $500,000 range and will not include the cost of producing 60 games for CUSA TV with mixed production values. Financially looks like a wash.
Sun Belt and CUSA will have an identical number of national linear telecasts with Sun Belt having a higher percentage of games on national linear TV reaching more potential homes than the CUSA TV deal. CUSA's mid-tier mixed distribution will have greater reach than the Sun Belt's ESPN+ component. The remaining games will be streaming only with the Sun Belt on a cheaper platform using the same technology as MLB.tv while CUSA's will be more expensive and of variable quality.
Since you have apparently already checked our schedule, you know that we don't have any Saturday home games during the time period you have mentioned and we are playing a Wednesday home game and a Thursday road game. The benefit of the weekday games is that both games are at night and will be televised nationally on ESPN2 & ESPNU which are on cable or satellite TV, but not subscription based channels.
As far as for branding, I know you want to get into the Louisiana vs Louisiana-Lafayette debate, which I will not get into, as ESPN, CBS and most other national outlets have now recognized us "athletically" as Louisiana. Only folks in Louisiana are holding onto the past and don't want to admit that the name battle has been won everywhere but here.
As far as joining CUSA, I think at one time you would be correct saying that UL and most Sun Belt schools would have jumped at the chance to join CUSA (which some did). However, I don't believe that to be the case any longer. What more could be gained by moving to CUSA? The Sun belt has finished the season ranked higher that CUSA in 2 of the last 3 seasons if I'm not mistaken.
Historian,
One other thing. The Cajuns TV schedule doesn't have us playing any 2:30 PM or early afternoon home games until possibly November. I find it hard to believe that having 4 of 6 home games starting at 2:30 or 3:00 PM on Saturday afternoons up in Ruston won't do much to help attendance and create additional excitement.
They're not similar. Forget about the "rumors" in the article. The Belt deal has much less cash than this but direct payments from ESPN for equipment and production costs. It's similar to the ESPN deal with the MAC. Very, very little cash. Mr. Peanut's parting gift.
But, as I previously posted, what you're not seeing is what CUSA turned down. The ability for much more cash in the deal if we would agree to Tuesday/Wednesday games. The Belt has play those games but gets nothing for it.
Actually, I wasn't talking about the school's brand. I was talking about the Belt's brand.
And Dave I'll say it again. Take off your Vermillion and White glasses. If no strings were attached, your school would accept an invitation from CUSA as would every other school in the Belt. I said that CUSA has problems that were fixable. You're going to see the CFP payout methodology change in the next year or two, which was the fix to which I was referring.
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