re: Can the gameday atmosphere be fixed?

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Did you see the white out for Penn state?

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Never been there to see, but even if Penn has a off year, they always seem to have a full stadium. I'd like to know their tailgating scenario. All paid parking? Free lots everywhere? Post game traffic?

Unfortunately a lot of that has to do with attendance besides winning. There are a lot of diehards that would love to go to more games, win or lose. But when it becomes more of a hassle, just so LSU can make another buck, it kills everything. I have a family of 5 that would love to just go for the day and walk around. But it's such a pain in the arse it just kills the mood.

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When you cater to people who are not diehards and don't have skin in the game to "enhance the gameday experience" this is what happens. The attempt to overreach and pull in every dollar has a ceiling. Now that you have lost those individuals, the people that you alienated have no desire to come back to something that wasn't appealing to them. There should not be any surprise to this, but LSU wants to keep sending out satisfaction surveys to find out why no one wants to be in the stadium anymore.

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Every bit of this. Well said. They started that shite in 2004 (after we won the National Title and sidewalk fan interest was at a peak) and haven't looked back since. They've been riding that wave for 17 years but it's slowly but surely losing it's strength.

"You've been a season ticket holder over multiple generations since the 50's? So what. frick you. You don't donate shite so you can get in line with the other common people..."

Well LSU isn't helping anything. Toilet situation is horrible right now. Before they had multiple (14+) bathrooms in one general area and not too far of a walk away another section of bathrooms (14+), now I see little pockets of 4 bathrooms here and there. And in weird places were people tailgate, at least before they were a little bit away from where most people were.

Parking in lot 208. This is the small lot down Donahue Drive. Many trailer used to park there, and if you didn't park there you could at least drive down to Dalrymple and unload your truck with your supplies. Now you have to unload back in the circle drive by Broussard Hall. I heard 208 was for families of the visiting team. All I saw were Escalades, Porches, Tahoes with Louisiana plates.

Indian Mounds. Permanent fence around them. But not just the mounds, also the middle part in between them. Talk about looks ugly and why in the hell can't the people who used to tailgate there go back? Apparently these changes were made last year and no one complained (because no one was on campus).

I also saw the sign where it said no trailers on campus after 6:00 am on gameday? What the hell does that mean? Are they towing trailers now?

They are slowly but surely sucking the fun out of every aspect of tailgating.

I've been to 99% of the home games since 2002. If you ask me, LSU needs to start by controlling what it can control.

Quick fixes

1. Experience in Tiger Stadium - We need to do more to get and keep people excited. It's sleepy in there. Those goofy lights at Alabama? Make fun all you want but they work. While adding concert lighting may be a little extreme, see 1A.

1A. Band - did anyone notice how much AU's band played on Saturday? As much as our offense got outplayed in the fourth quarter, the AU band outplayed the Tiger Band for four quarters. We should be playing songs every week that get the fans involved (e.g. Hey Baby, Livin' on a Prayer, etc.). We've eliminated every single song and chant that got the students and the fans fired up.

2. WiFi - it's 2021 and there's no working WiFi (or cell service) in the stadium. This is the day and age of instant gratification/I watch 4 games at once culture. We've got to get in line here.

3. Tailgating - We've been out there since 2002 and LSU makes this harder every single year. From new parking rules, more and more access restrictions, no indoor bathroom access, constantly relocating portable bathrooms, to free spots moving further and further out, it's made coming to campus a once or twice a year thing for many people instead of an every week tradition.

4. Concessions - It's well documented but concessions are awful. Considering the massive wall that's been built along the back edge of the East Upper, couldn't we outsource to food trucks at this point?!

5. Customer Service/Ticket Office - Anyone else call over there lately? You're on hold at least 30 minutes. Surely TAF can hire some more student workers to get that place running smoothly? It's a win win - their revenue source is happy and we are putting students to work.


Longer term

1. Coaching- Our kids weren't put in a position to win on Saturday. There were no schemes to get the running game started and it doesn't take Peyton and Eli to figure out that with no running game, the opposition can easily drop 6-7 into coverage (see AU's Q4 gameplan). I personally like O and thinks he's been a great representative of our state nationally (ask around - people from all over the place know and love him) and our team but at some point, Woodward is going to have to ask whether he's the right guy for the job. Saban churns through successful assistants year-in and year-out. This team has lots of talent - surely there is someone who can put these kids in a position to win. Winning cures all - a football team that will struggle find 3 more wins this year won't fix any gameday atmosphere.

2. The Concourses behind the 100 and 300 sections - it's long past time to renovate those to make them hospitable. Add some places to sit, a bunch of tvs showing other games, etc. Say what you want about TAMU but the reno on Kyle Field is first class. People want to get in there when gates open.

3. COVID - The restrictions on entering the stadium don't help but regardless, you still have a fair amount of the population that is still laying low. Until there's some Bourbon drink that makes COVID go away, game day is going to continue to be less than what it was in 2019 and before.

I'll admit - I was stunned to see people streaming out at half on Saturday against a rival in what was a very entertaining game up to that point. In all fairness though, Saturday was a tough day. It drizzled pretty much constantly from 2-6pm and kicking off at 8pm makes for a significantly longer day than a 6pm.

As several have mentioned, this is a natijnal problem, not just LSU. With a few special event exceptions, I think attendance at live sporting events is trending down across the board. Many factors, but generally it seems the hassles, cost, and inconvenience outweigh the excitement of a live event. Especially when fans have access to so many streaming and televised options in the comfort and convenience of their own home. Sucks, but I think that’s a big part of it.

Well LSU would be the last to go south if we fixed these few things...

1. Competitive play
2. Fix the gameday parking/tailgate situation. Tailgating is about tradition and being there with the same people you have the last 25+ years. They have killed some dedicated fans.
3. Covid protocols....
4. More band/less piped in music

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Fix the product on the field and the rest takes care of itself

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Not true. 2019 games still had similar issues. It’s the smartphone era and I’m not even kidding. People have lost the ability to be in the here and now.

Yes. It can be fixed

To be honest, covid killed the gravity of football. It doesn’t matter as much to many anymore because we saw how quickly it could be taken away or deemed unimportant