You knew the Joe Alleva apology was coming......

Dear Tiger Fan,

LSU Athletics is a tremendous entity that significantly impacts the mission of our entire University, and we sincerely recognize our responsibilities as stewards of that mission. We also realize that the success of our department depends largely upon the support of our devoted fans, and I want you to know we’re committed to creating the best possible experience for you when you visit our campus.

During this football season, we’ve heard from some of you regarding difficulties you’ve encountered in gaining access to and departing from Tiger Stadium, and we’re very sorry if your gameday experience has been unpleasant at times. However, please be assured that we have mechanisms in place to address these issues:

TRAFFIC
Before the football season, the Athletic Department contracted with a gameday traffic consulting group to evaluate our current traffic plan. The group was on site this past weekend for the Florida game, and it will again review our operations during the Texas A&M game next month.

Although our athletic staff and local law enforcement work diligently to create the best procedures for gameday traffic, it is smart to get a fresh perspective on our operations. We hope to gain insight from the consulting group into improving our traffic plan.

We rely heavily upon our local law enforcement officials to create a smooth flow of traffic both before and after the game, and we plan to reiterate to them how critical their cooperation is in moving thousands of vehicles on and off campus. We appreciate greatly the efforts of our dedicated law enforcement officials, and we look forward to an even stronger relationship with them as we work together to meet our traffic challenges.

Finally, please consider carpooling to Tiger Stadium on game day, as that can greatly reduce the number of vehicles on campus, and please try to arrive on campus as early as possible to alleviate traffic concerns.

PARKING
Since the fall of 2012, LSU has lost approximately 2,000 public parking spaces due to various construction projects on campus, reducing our total number of spaces to only 18,000. Naturally, this has made a tremendous impact upon our gameday parking operation. Typically, new campus facilities are constructed on existing parking lots due to the lack of available land within the core part of campus. As I stated earlier, we are committed to the University’s mission and endorse the improvement of academic facilities; however, the Athletic Department understands the need to accommodate those who passionately support our football program.

In order to help offset the loss of parking spaces, we are constantly exploring new opportunities as well as changes to policy that would promote efficient use of our current spaces. For example, we’ve recently constructed a new parking area that includes 450 free spaces at the LSU golf course. Although this new area doesn't entirely compensate for the 2,000 lost spaces, it is one of a number of projects we are working on to create additional gameday parking.

We also encourage you to take advantage of the new Union Square Parking Garage located on East Campus Drive across from the LSU Student Union. And, in the future, we hope to construct - pending University approval - a parking garage at the South End of the stadium that will ease the stress on our current lots.

The traffic consulting group I referenced earlier is also studying our parking procedures and will help us implement a plan to insure efficient use of our available spaces.

ENTERING THE STADIUM
As you know, construction on the South End addition of the stadium has eliminated some of our entrance gates for this season. We’ve noticed that a large volume of fans who sit on the West Side of the stadium have been attempting to enter at the Southwest corner (Gates 1, 2 and 3), causing delays in getting through the gates. Please be aware that Gates 4, 5 and 6 at the Northwest corner may also be used for entering the stadium. Utilizing all six of our gates on the West Side and arriving at the gates as early as possible will help to expedite your entry into the stadium.

We appreciate the insight and concern of those of you who have reached out to us, and please know that all of us in the athletic department share your desire to maintain the Tiger Stadium experience as the nation’s best!

As always, we welcome your comments at athletics@lsu.edu. Unfortunately we cannot answer every e-mail we receive, but please be assured they are all read.

Geaux Tigers!

Joe Alleva
Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics