Students will have a wider variety of away football game options this year with the introduction of Tiger Trips, which will replace the Student Government bus trip.
Rather than a single, annual trip, the new initiative will provide transportation for students to three away games and will no longer be funded by student fees. Students who purchase tickets to games at Tulane University and the universities of Alabama and Mississippi will have the option to sign up for the trips.
“The idea is that we’re not using student fees anymore, but the actual students that go will pay for their trip,” said Dixon McMakin, SG director of athletics.
SG Chief of Staff Christen Romero said another way to cut costs is the introduction of corporate sponsorships. Confirmed sponsors include LSU Dining, the Tiger Card Office, Campus Federal Credit Union, Cox Communications and Verizon Wireless.
Sponsors may provide more than funding, as in the case of LSU Dining.
“A lot of times we’ll provide meals on the bus,” Romero said. “We’re going to try to incorporate that as much as we can on the bus trip.”
These sponsorships helped to keep the cost to students down.
“The costs of the trips are going to be roughly the same as in years past, plus the cost of the ticket,” said Clark Lanius, SG chief of staff operations.
With Tiger Trips, traveling students will have to provide their own tickets to the games.
In contrast to most earlier trips, students not attending sponsored trips will still have the opportunity to buy tickets to those away games. Except for last year, previous bus trips reserved all student tickets to a specific game.
“If you just want to go to the game, and you don’t want to ride the bus, that’s still an option,” McMakin said.
SG President Cassie Alsfeld said the new system was initiated in part to increase student attendance at away games.
“Students needed easier access to the games,” she said. “The best thing we can do is fill up the student section.”
—-Contact Daniel McBride at [email protected]