ok the this whole argument is dumb. If ULL, ULM and tulane whould get there heads out of the sky and drop to 1-aa everything would be fine. When 1aa was formed out of ULL, ULM, McNeese and LA Tech only McNeese and La Tech had the support to stay at 1a. Look how McNeese is doing. If Ull, Ulm, and Tulame would drop to 1aa they would be fine and they could compete. How is staying at 1a helping them? There not drawing more poeple because they are losing all the time. Look why does LSU owe the other schools anything? Why does LSU owe New Orleans anything? I love New Orleans as much as anybody but LSU has one obligation and that is to support itself and its students and nothing else. Oh and to make sure we are good in sports.
But ask ULL if they want to see McNeese (as in McNeese kicks their butt on an annual basis) back on THEIR schedule... Oolala!
After, ULL last SCORED points in... 1920-something. 40+ quarters of shutout ball. That takes some doing on both sides of the ball!
actually, ULL averaged over 19000 last year, so they are pretty damn safe from dropping. I'd like to see some numbers on tulane.. they cant be drawing much.. they do get some better teams in the dome though. The last time ULL had a good team at The Swamp was in 96 when they beat Texas A&M.. the seating for The Swamp is about 34, and the squeezed in like 38...
Well, to tie this in with two other threads and ideas (going to 12 game schedule, possible renewal with Texas A&M), I've long thought that the best OOC scheduling policy for LSU, on a 12 game permanent schedule, one that would preserve our great traditions, ensure the revenue stability of seven home games, and preserve a strength of schedule competitive enough to ensure continued national respect and competitiveness for a national title, would be as follows: Tulane, home-n-home, every year Texas A&M, home-n-home, every year (both staggered) ULM, UL-Lafayette, and Louisiana Tech, in 3 year rotation, always at home One (1) high-level non-BCS home game (example: Boise State, Utah, Miami University, TCU, etc., etc.) And playing in New Orleans would greatly enhance and add to our core base of fan support and financial support in that city, and help us establish a solid year-round presence in that sports market, claiming it as much our own as Tulane does. It could and would be a very good thing for LSU. That said, we don't have a "moral obligation" to do it. The idea of that is just absurd, and I'd like to know upon what basis they draw that conclusion. It is sheer idiocy. We would do it because it is a mutually beneficial idea, if it turned out to be equally beneficial to us (which I think it would). But there is no obligation on either end.
I don't fear Tulane, and an every other year trip to the Dome with a split gate on receipts would be nice...a lot of Tiger fans don't realize-and this counts for students at LSU as well-the intense rivalry that LSU & Tulane once had... It's been long forgotten about...Kind of like the way Alabama & Georgia Tech's rivalry has been forgotten about...as Tulane abandoned the SEC, so did Georgia Tech, once upon a time...But, if you read the words to Alabama's fight song, it actually mentions, "...sending the Rambling Wreck to a watery grave..." The Rambling Wreck of course belonging to Georgia Tech...
From what I understand, that 19,000 figure is a result of some rather (to put it politely) creative bookkeeping. The stories I've heard have ULL drawing 8-10,000 actual at best.
Good point about the moral obligation. However, I don't follow your logic for what would be most profitable for us. We would get fan support in New Orleans if we played there? WE ARE AN HOUR AWAY!!! I don't understand what kind of fan support you're talking about. "year-round presence in that sports market"??? Football is not year round, again - I do not understand. As another thread a while back said, it did nothing for LSU to play Tulane year after year. We won every year. It was never a morale booster. And it was a damper whenever Tulane even came close - as I believe one poster put it, "Just coming close was good enough for Tulane." Also, it doesn't foster a sense of community or any cr*p like that in this state either. It creates a RIVALRY. It created tension & even hatred between the factions - not exactly what you strive for in your state. It would be the same story with every other small school in this state. I'm happy our Athletic Department realizes that these other schools merely want to make a profit off of LSU. Because let's be honest - that's all it is. Tulane/McNeese/La Tech - none of these schools wants a rivalry with us. Who wants a rival that they lose to every time??? They just want the money.
