[Turbine]

Besides motorhomes, tailgating hasn't been free since 2003.

In 2003 fans "FANS" under the Eauk went to AD Nelson Shexnayder and suggested paying a reasonable price for the designated location.

He saw the potential and Tailgating use actually exploded and incidentally many spots remained free.

Both were needed, and the explosion in tailgating occurred despite Bustle not yet having a winning season.

A multi pronged approach is needed even more today when you are dealing with a tailgating fan desert of your own making.

Sam's (Costco?) and other places often have free samples! Why free? They aren't going to make money off those samples, or will they?

They will, free tasting leads to upgrades in purchases.

Free areas of tailgating creates an atmosphere that is far more valuable than the real-estate money grab comparison might suggest. A taste of tailgating leads to upgrades. Willful, glad to do it, upgrades.

The money mindset of "we got you, now here is the new price" is what UL did. It's what Microsoft tried to do with Game Pass when they doubled the price of the highest tier.

Microsoft's total XBox revenue was less after the the price gouge than before. What a waste to their fan base.

TASTE not WASTE

TASTE: Try Athletic Sports Tailgating EXPERIENCE.

It doesn't have to all be free, but it has to be a great deal, and portions of free need to be.

Start with that and watch tailgating and future revenue explode.

[JamesTheJeweler]

Nobody is saying everything should be free. Nobody.

[CajunRed]

NOTHING should be free. All things… tailgate spots, parking, RV spots, concessions… should all have a “reasonable” charge for them. Problem is some charges got out of hand. Example is RV spots. We went from all spots being sold and a waiting list of 35 or so to about 25 spots sold. They priced themselves above demand. Prices should be set at whatever level that allows for ALL to be sold… but some idiot decided they were worth as much as a spot at Texas.

[Turbine]

If I had the time (I do not) I could find 1000 examples where aspects of "free" led to a profitablity windfall.

[crazycajun]

Only way to get prices down is to have more people paying, we will not get more people in the current structure. In fact, we are going backwards and it will continue to snowball in the wrong direction. You can’t keep dividing rising expenses between less and less people. Very successful businesses use loss leaders all the time. An already empty piece of grass in the corner somewhere cost us nothing.

[Louisiana84]

If y'all are so knowledgeable about what it takes to make Cajun Field great again, and you are convinced that you haven't priced the average fan out of that, please share what would work to make the tailgating experience everything it used to be when it was free.

[Louisiana84]

I'll hang up and listen.

[UL_Cajuns]

Only way to get prices down is to have more people paying, we will not get more people in the current structure. In fact, we are going backwards and it will continue to snowball in the wrong direction. You can’t keep dividing rising expenses between less and less people. Very successful businesses use loss leaders all the time. An already empty piece of grass in the corner somewhere cost us nothing.

Use the Chili's model. It has turned that chain around! aka 3 for me.
tailgate, parking, tickets - 3 for me. reasonably priced package.

[crazycajun]

Use the Chili's model. It has turned that chain around! aka 3 for me.
tailgate, parking, tickets - 3 for me. reasonably priced package.

Something needs to be done to get people to try it out, something for the people that realize on Thursday that they finally have an open Saturday with nothing to do. We have pushed everything towards all in or nothing and it’s not working. We are pushing away dir hard fans as well with prices going up so much. It’s hard to justify paying for 6 games at these prices when you are lucky if life allows you to make 3 of the 6. We need to sell to everyone, 6 game, 3 game and single game packages. I still think there could be a limited sized free area. Texas A&M does it and it’s like a lottery you sign up for every week, you gain people’s contact info that way as well. You can sell them the tickets and parking if they get selected. We need to also have smaller spaces available. Cut the spots in half and sell them at half the price, you make the same money but gain more people.

[UL_Cajuns]

There are so many things we can do but we have to have one employed to do it or push it. This too shall pass.

[Turbine]

Options galore

[JamesTheJeweler]

And they will use NONE of them.

[Turbine]

I'm hoping that with the change, UL is more open to granting coach interviews to outlets like Ragin Review.

[smd7636]

We need our leader/coach to get out and ask fans to attend football games. It goes a long way to selling tickets. It’s the hud model. If you create expectations and ask everyone to join in the fun, they will be there!

[ULGrad@Hou]

I'm hoping that with the change, UL is more open to granting coach interviews to outlets like Ragin Review.

That's one of the weird things about our admin (maybe former admin). They acted so afraid and rigid, they had trouble doing anything right. I truly hope we see a change in this philosophy and mode of operation.