re: The root cause of the crowd issue

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I think until now the Admin could excuse themselves with this thinking. But I would ask, 'is this really what you want the stadium experience to become? As long as the seats are paid for we couldn't care less if folks show up, cheer, or leave early?' At some point, it should matter to them. IMO, we there.

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Yeah if getting called out by ESPN wasn't a wakeup call, I don't know what is.

Although I fully agree with your sentiments, I'm not trying to put the burden on the (season) ticket holder. They pony up the money, they can do as they feel with the tickets/seats.

I'm simply suggesting if it hasn't already been done, Alleva, et al need to do some soul searching as to why such a large pct of fans don't show or leave early. They need to address why the TS experience has come to this?

If I could distill it down to its bare bones, I think it comes to this: the Admin has jettisoned TS's uniqueness by day games and piped-in music. IOW, a large % of fans are clueless about TS's mystique; it's just another venue no different than any other. The other primary factor is fans no longer have to be in TS to see the games.

I think you're on to something. If the common response to leaving early is "traffic"- do something about it, make sure cops have a contra flow on all roads leading out the stadium with traffic signals turned off. When I was leaving Sat night and crossing Nicholson near old Alex Box, there was traffic going both ways. That should never be the case. That corner should be a dividing line with traffic all flowing one way on either side.

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The only people that can really afford season tickets are the upper crust

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I think this is such absolute BS, copout kind of excuse. WE are a spoiled fanbase from the "upper crust" to the "diehard blue collar fans".

Are you telling me all 80,000 staying in Bryant Denny till 4th quarter or all 80,000 packing their stadium for their SPRING game are "upper crust?"
Hell no, the vast majority have three teeth and live in their trailer in podunk Alabama,

Wake up TIGER fans and take some pride in our really great program!

As an ex-season ticket holder I can say that the reason we gave up our tickets is that football games in Tiger Stadium just weren't as fun as in the past. Television was the primary culprit as the commercial interruptions caused delays that allowed the excitement of big plays and momentum shifts to dissipate. Then there were rules changes that added additional interruptions for official reviews. Football games used to take about 2 hours to complete, but now they take in excess of 3 hours. In addition to lengthening game duration television also dictates the start time for games which made planning other activities on Saturdays impractical.

Another factor in our decision was the changes in parking rules on campus and traffic control after the games. Traffic from our traditional parking location (we had handicap seats in Tiger Stadium)was re-routed north of campus while we lived south of campus. It frequently took in excess of an hour to get less than 3 miles from campus to our home. The problem was compounded when we actually purchased handicap parking permits and the parking lot was on the west side of the new Alex Box.

The final straw was TAF policies for allocating tickets to post-season games. I had no problems with the use of priority points to determine who should get to purchase tickets. However, the concept of not having to spend those priority points such that the same people remained at the top of the list every year was offensive, and it felt like LSU (via the TAF) was taking me for granted. The "big donors" were allowed to, and so they bought every ticket possible to the BCSCG against Alabama. Many of those tickets were then resold for huge profits such that the tickets ended up in the hands of non-season ticket holders. Those "big donors" were conspicuously absent when it came time to purchase tickets to the Chik-fil-A Bowl last year. What do you think will happen if LSU wins the remainder of its games this season? Those "big donors" will control all of the game tickets while the majority of season ticket holders will be left paying scalper's prices.

I thought the crowd was fantastic despite the horrid weather. The student turnout was great too.

Yall need to stop worrying about what other people do with their tickets and if they choose to leave early. I'm actually rooting for the dude in front of me to leave or not show up so i can kick my feet up on his seats.

We can talk about rising ticket/gameday experience prices, but IMO the "leaving early" problem is a by-product of LSU's success. The expectation of the fans now is that LSU will win 90% of the games they play (they were double-digit favorites in the first three home games). Therefore once LSU gets up, the fans just assume "well we've got this one", so they leave the stadium for any number of reasons: go out and party, beat the traffic, etc., etc. Fans would stay longer 10-15 years ago because there wasn't the lofty expectation that LSU would just win every game. You had to stay until the end to "make sure." The actual game has become somewhat of the night-cap for the all day event. You get out to the campus early, party, visit with family and friends, go into the game, make sure that LSU looks like they're going to win, and call it a day. It used to be that tailgating was just a way to pass time until the big event. Now, tailgating has become the bigger event because the result of the actual game has become somewhat of a foregone conclusion with the amount of success LSU has had over the last 10+ years.

I'm not saying that this good, bad, or otherwise, just simply the thought process that comes with having a powerhouse football program.

Full disclosure: I'm a season ticket holder. I rarely tailgate, and if so, it's usually only for an hour or two prior to the game. I don't mind leaving a 40-10 game against the likes of UAB in the 3rd quarter.

The problem with the crowds is that going to the game has become such a PAIN IN THE ASSSSSS!!!!!! Parking 10 miles away and taking over an hour to drive out of that crap, coupled with the freakin DWI checkpoints that have popped up on peoples way home, and lets not forget it takes 1/2 of a quarter just to take a piss due to the bathroom lines!!!!!
Right or wrong, I have season tickets, and I sell or give them away almost every home game and sit on my patio in comfort and watch the games.