The Eve of Lamar's Season Tix Public Sale

[TexasTerror]

Up-start Southland Conference program Lamar has already sold 1,000 season tickets to Cardinal Club members before season ticket sales opened to the public...

I've been one to doubt the Cardinal program for several reasons, but there is no question that the underwhelming start has yielded success.

Lamar has a ways to go to prove themselves, but this was truly a step in the right direction. I'm rooting for Lamar to show signs of sustainability, because this is something they did not have the last go-around. The Cardinal administration is learning on the fly, but perhaps we're on to something...

[coachacola]

A few fans are going to spend the night outside the ticket office so they'll get the best seats in the morning. Lamar has a total of about 15,000 season tickets available and I'm guessing they'll sell somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000.

The football program will be just fine, especially compared to other programs in the SLC. Counting the new student athletic fee, tickets sales, concessions, etc., football will bring in $3 to $4 million a year to the Lamar athletic department.

[∞∞∞]

Campin' out before our tix were given out was so fun! Congrats on the new program and the best of luck!

[TexasTerror]

A few fans are going to spend the night outside the ticket office so they'll get the best seats in the morning. Lamar has a total of about 15,000 season tickets available and I'm guessing they'll sell somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000.

The football program will be just fine, especially compared to other programs in the SLC. Counting the new student athletic fee, tickets sales, concessions, etc., football will bring in $3 to $4 million a year to the Lamar athletic department.

I'm happy for Lamar...

5k to 10k is a large range, but this initial commitment shows that the program has initial sustainability. That's crucial. The other things will eventually come - but this is a large step forward.

Coachacola, can you provide links after today when Lamar reflects back on the day? Also, are you sure that LU controls concessions? It's common misbelief at many schools that the AD's office does at venues...?

[bobbythekidd]

A few fans are going to spend the night outside the ticket office so they'll get the best seats in the morning. Lamar has a total of about 15,000 season tickets available and I'm guessing they'll sell somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000.

The football program will be just fine, especially compared to other programs in the SLC. Counting the new student athletic fee, tickets sales, concessions, etc., football will bring in $3 to $4 million a year to the Lamar athletic department.

Holy cow! A Lamar fan already. Welcome coach.

[coachacola]

Here's a photo gallery from this morning. They had about 200 fans lined up when the ticket office opened this morning.

http://www.lamarcardinals.com/sports/m- ... 0aaa.html#

I don't know for sure if the money from parking, concessions, etc. goes strictly to the athletic budget or not, but you do have to pay extra for the prime parking spots for tailgating so I'm guessing that money does go the the AD budget.

Since Lamar still has over 2000 season ticket holders for their basketball program, I'm sure they'll have at least 5,000 for football. Also, when Lamar killed the program in 1989, boosters had pledges for over 5,000 season tickets (according to someone who was involved in the effort to save the program back then), so I don't see any reason for them not to sell that many now. I will be very surprised if they reach the 10,000 mark but I'm always optimistic.

[TexasTerror]

Thanks for posting the link!

This was a good day for Lamar and the Southland Conference!

Hopefully, we'll have more good stories like this from not just the up-starts, but the programs who have been around for some time...

[JJWooten]

It's good to see that they had a nice turnout this. The words I'm getting from a lot of students that are attending LU is that they're not too excited about it, but the school is trying to push it. I think a lot of the momentum is from LU alums in the area, not so much from the actual students. Either way, if Lamar can get rolling, it won't take that long for the students to jump on board.

[TexasTerror]

It's good to see that they had a nice turnout this. The words I'm getting from a lot of students that are attending LU is that they're not too excited about it, but the school is trying to push it. I think a lot of the momentum is from LU alums in the area, not so much from the actual students. Either way, if Lamar can get rolling, it won't take that long for the students to jump on board.

Lamar students don't show up for basketball. As we all know, that sport is community-driven at Lamar.

It's good that Lamar has the community support - but they are going to have to ramp up the student support at some point or another. I guess they get the student fee money, so that is all that matters...

[∞∞∞]

Any specific reasons why the Lamar students don't care? I'm probably stereotypin' here, but I thought most everyone in Texas cares about football...or is it just the FBS teams? The students now are eventually gonna have to be the supporters of the program for it to work in the future, unless it's all community driven with little alum support.

[JJWooten]

Any specific reasons why the Lamar students don't care? I'm probably stereotypin' here, but I thought most everyone in Texas cares about football...or is it just the FBS teams? The students now are eventually gonna have to be the supporters of the program for it to work in the future, unless it's all community driven with little alum support.

The Golden Triangle is a huge HS football area. It's ridiculous how crazy they get down there. Most districts have teams spread out a far enough distance that college teams can grab the local market. The Beaumont Area is ripe with a district that produces some good talent. With that being said, most of the students at Lamar (who grew up in the area), were born AFTER Lamar disbanded the team. They've never even heard about Lamar football until this past year when it started back up.

They have a lot of support from the community, which is big. A lot of schools aren't so lucky. Lamar also doesn't really have much of an on-campus presence, nor a "near-campus" presence. Their dorms are very nice, but there aren't many of them. They are trapped near a refinery, so there aren't any major apartments near campus. The vast majority of students commute over 5-10 miles to campus (Just my guess).

[Keenan]

Congratulations Lamar!!! Great thing to see for FCS football especially after all the negative news over the past couple of months from the CAA. We will however have to talk about the whole "LU" thing!

[49RFootballNow]

Here's a photo gallery from this morning. They had about 200 fans lined up when the ticket office opened this morning.

http://www.lamarcardinals.com/sports/m- ... 0aaa.html#

I don't know for sure if the money from parking, concessions, etc. goes strictly to the athletic budget or not, but you do have to pay extra for the prime parking spots for tailgating so I'm guessing that money does go the the AD budget.

Since Lamar still has over 2000 season ticket holders for their basketball program, I'm sure they'll have at least 5,000 for football. Also, when Lamar killed the program in 1989, boosters had pledges for over 5,000 season tickets (according to someone who was involved in the effort to save the program back then), so I don't see any reason for them not to sell that many now. I will be very surprised if they reach the 10,000 mark but I'm always optimistic.

Congrats! Can't wait to join Lamar! Three more long, LONG years.

[slycat]

Congrats Lamar. Looking forward to traveling to Beaumont for some games.

[DaBigBlue]

Congrats to Lamar, I really like how they gave away the mini-football helmets signed by the coach to the first 100.

[coachacola]

Article in the local paper says roughly 3,000 season tickets have been sold so far. About 1100 of those are in the most expensive "gold" section, which cost $400 and are the chair-back seats. Not too bad after a couple of days.

The stadium will seat about 16,000 and about 3,500 seats will be reserved for the students and the band. I'm sure most of those seats will be filled. Lamar keeps building new dorms and will have over 2500 dorm rooms on campus next fall.

They still have a lot of work to do on the stadium. The athletic complex is maybe 1/3 finished, they are still building the restrooms and concession stands, there are no seats in the stadium, the field turf hasn't been installed, no scoreboard, audio system, ticket booths, etc. But the administration says they will be finished before the season begins.

[slycat]

Good luck getting the stadium finished. That sounds like a lot. But like with the Texas State stadium upgrades, the big pieces fit into place pretty quick. The tough park is the interior and support.

[Ivytalk]

Congrats Lamar. Looking forward to traveling to Beaumont for some games.

Beaumont ain't a bad town. I went to a HS speech tournament there at French HS.