Can someone explain how TAF works to me

$$$$$$$$$$$$

We sign checks and they cash them.

I know you pay money to move up on a list to get tickets sooner than other people who are not in TAF. You get a sticker and maybe a baseball cap also, not sure. I am not in TAF at the moment.

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Gerard Allemand

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Are you planning on attending more games at "LSU Stadium" in '09?

It's a profit deal.

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So it's just like incentive shite for fans to donate money?

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More like a ransom fans pay to get tickets.

I know nothing about TAF

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I know nothing about TAF

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Basically, it is an artificial creation invented to be a non-state government entity to administer the fundraising and much of the spending for LSU athletics. State agencies are bound by voluminous regulations. As a "private organization", the TAF avoids many (though probably not all) of that red tape. That enables them to be much more effective at raising money for the program, as well as much more efficient in spending the money to get projects done. As I understand it, virtually all of the infrastructure improvement over the last decade was directly or near-directly a result of their efforts, and much of it would not have been possible and certainly not so quickly completed had the athletic department had to conduct them itself.

Also, the TAF serves to coordinate the general fundraising activities under one banner. This (presumably) gives access to economies of scale, as well as promotes the branding for the fundraising in general. All I know for sure is that LSU athletics sure seems to be rolling in a helluva lot more dough than it ever was before the TAF came along.

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I kind of follow you, but it seems a little like a conspiracy theory.

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Maybe. But I have my own history with TAF and I have never seen or heard anything to suggest to me that it has changed in the least.

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Are you saying that they can destroy support for LSU athletics by raising too much money for them?

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No, I am saying that they (the people who run the TAF) make a LOT of the rules regarding LSU athletics. And if the situation comes up where the interests of LSU athletics as a whole are not the same as the interests of the leadership of the TAF, I'm not confident that they will make the right decision.

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I don't think TAF serves any other purpose besides raising funds for athletics, so it would be pretty hard to imagine that it's not in the athletic department's best interest to have them raising the most money possible.

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It's not that hard to imagine. Just think of ticket availability and the student section. The TAF could raise hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars more for the athletic deparment by eliminating the student section in Tiger Stadium and selling those tickets at a premium. If they were allowed to make such a move, would raising that extra money really be in the best interests of the athletic department?