re: Rabalais: Empty seats reflect poorly on LSU

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Thanks, bro.

There were "empy" spots at kick then filled in during first. That pic was taken between 1&2 quarter. Empty, err empy spots isn't what Rabalais said.

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the ones I saw stayed empty......

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The pro tailgaters who don't go to the game are a HUGE part of the problem as it pertains to parking and traffic. Those who just want to go to the game have no good options of where to park because spots are being taken up by tailgate-tards.

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So what do you suggest? Go around harrassing tail gaters making sure they have tickets? Even if they have tickets it doesnt guarantee that they will actually go inside the stadium. Its impossible to regulate.

If you're going to charge $40 per game for parking, actually add value and assign spots. People would pay for an assigned spot. All it does now is leave core parking empty and create problems pushing fans further out.

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when did you start going to LSU games.


Let me know when you go to an event with 90,000 ppl and don't have traffic issues. I'll be waiting...

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wasn't this bad in 03 and it held 91,600 then....

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Who cares about these garbage Bowl games after your team loses 1 or 2 games and you are out of it.

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Most every fan, whose team is in the bowl game. Definitely evey player. You're just spoiled and focus too much on one aspect.

i now go just to tailgate. the "we have season tickets" crowd i feel bad for you. i can't get season tickets, plus I can go to almost any game and find tickets, but rather soak up the atmosphere from 5am until and watch the game in HD.

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reinstate contraflow traffic routes into and out of the campus that were inexplicably nixed several years ago.


Why did they get rid of this?

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wasn't this bad in 03 and it held 91,600 then....


Well they had contraflow then too.

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I don't think THAT was LSU but the folks who implemented it....

There are a lot of major issues with LSU's games and a large part of it is that Baton Rouge has changed.

Baton Rouge is getting more and more populated. Near-campus housing (Tigerland) had a lot of apartments converted to section 8 housing.

LSU used to have 8 homes games a year maybe 6 of which were big games. Now it is 7 with 3 bad games guaranteed.

Parking spots are reduced with expansion and lack of public transportation has been a huge issue.

More day games has hurt the build up for games. A lot of people that used to drive in the night before to tailgate all day Saturday, simply come in the day of the game and all at once. That hurts.

In the end, SEC fans have to realize that the SEC, while a great conference isn't as big nationally and thus CBS doesn't care to air primetime SEC games unless its a huge matchup. They simply don't get the ratings.

In the end, there are some potential alternatives to improve things:

1) Have off-site parking with shuttles available. Charge $5 per car for parking and $4 per person for the shuttle trip to and from the stadium. Then shuttles can bring these people during the game and reduce traffic. This can be done at the River Center/downtown parking or even with the banks down there.

2) Limit tailgating. Yes, I said it. LSU's campus shouldn't simply be there for a bunch of people to camp out and watch the game. This doesn't mean people without a ticket can tailgate, but if 50% of people tailgate and don't go to the game, that's an issue.

3) Force BR police to do their jobs. I lived right by campus most of my life and it sucked when traffic went only one way on parts of Highland, but we understood what times that would happen. People simply adjusted their schedule. If people want to bitch about it, just ignore them.

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wasn't this bad in 03 and it held 91,600 then....

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When I arrive on campus early, I have few problems. When I arrive on campus later or at peak times, I have more problems.

Has been the same anytime there has been stadium construction going on in my life time.

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In the end, SEC fans have to realize that the SEC, while a great conference isn't as big nationally and thus CBS doesn't care to air primetime SEC games unless its a huge matchup. They simply don't get the ratings.

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This is where you've been taken to the cleaners. Let's use 9/27/13 as an example:

LSU/UGA: 7.39M viewers at 2:30 p.m. on CBS.

CBS' The Crazy Ones (7 pm show): 3.61M
CBS' Mom (8 pm show): 3.36M
CBS' 48 Hours (9 pm show): 6.01M

Wisc/OhioSt (ABC night game): 6.36M


There was enough interest in LSU/UGA to make it the highest-rated game of the week. There was enough interest in college football to get CBS' competitor a win over them at night.

Even UGA/UT garnered 5.61M - which over the course of 3+ hours, would have done a ton better than the garbage CBS lineup.