On Saturdays during the fall, there is no greater place to be than Tiger Stadium.
And like a fine wine, the 91,000-seat stadium does not beautify overnight.
From cleaning, to food inventory, to restocking concession stands, to painting the field, a lot of different things must happen before the No. 10 LSU Tigers take on the No. 7 Georgia Bulldogs this Saturday.
This is what it takes to make Tiger Stadium, Tiger Stadium.
Sunday
It’s the day after LSU’s 35-7 thrashing of the Western Illinois Leathernecks, and while fans who attended the game are taking a much needed rest from the previous day’s adventure, LSU staffers are beginning to prepare for next Saturday’s match-up with the University of Georgia.
Jeff Kershaw, Athletic Facilities manager, a group of 15 to 20 other Athletic Facilities workers and ROTC groups begin the day at 6 a.m. to clean the stadium.
Kershaw’s department is in charge of everything that involves getting the stadium ready, from cutting the grass to cleaning the stands.
The first area cleaned on Sunday morning is the lower bowl of the stadium. Athletic Facilities and the ROTC group bag nearly 500 cubic yards of trash during the six- to seven-hour day, Kershaw said.
While Kershaw and his crew are cleaning the stadium, Jason Decoteau, Tiger Concessions assistant manager, arrives at 8:30 a.m. to begin his assessment of damages to the concession stands.
Decoteau rummages through each one of Tiger Stadium’s 59 concession stands to see what is left over from the night before.
Decoteau spends about six hours each Sunday determining what he needs for next week’s game so he can place orders to vendors Monday morning.
Monday
Mondays are the beginning of a weeklong battle for workers to get the stadium in shape.
Nestled under Gate 1 of Tiger Stadium, Decoteau and the Tiger Concessions staff order food and supplies needed for Saturday’s game.
“You have to take into consideration what time the game is, who is your opponent and what the weather looks like,” said Decoteau. “So like this game coming up is a day game, like the Mississippi State game last year. So I will pull out those sheets and compare the ordering to what was sold that day.”
Decoteau said at last year’s Mississippi State game, which started at 11:30 a.m., 36,000 bottles of water and 10,000 frozen lemonades were purchased, so those two items will receive heavy consideration when ordering.
Among the things being ordered on Mondays are hot dogs, sausages, hamburgers, bread, condiments and paper goods.
For Athletic Facilities, Monday marks the beginning of a four-day work week to get Tiger Stadium spotless. The process is done by a contracted company that uses heavy-duty blowers to get the peanut shells and remaining trash out of the stadium.
“They will start blowing on Monday, and it takes 10 people about seven to eight hours a day for four days to blow everything out and get it picked up,” Kershaw said.
Tuesday
The Athletic Facilities department goes through maintenance, such as grass cutting, cleaning, electrical work, air conditioner work and general maintenance that needs attention.
“Parts of the stadium are 80 years old so we get problems each week,” Kershaw said. “And then 80,000 to 90,000 people are in there each week so there is always something going wrong.”
For Tiger Concessions, Tuesday is a day of restocking. Napkins, paper items and food trays are restocked in each stand, Decoteau said.
Wednesday
The endzones receive a paint job Wednesday.
Kershaw said each endzone soaks up about 50 gallons of purple, white and gold paint. And since it has been only three days since the LSU-Western Illinois game, there is still a little paint on them. This means workers do not have to redesign the endzones, all they have to do is apply additional paint over the existing outline. The job takes two days with an average of six hours a day for six workers to paint, Kershaw said.
Decoteau said Wednesday his department continues to restock the concessions and also unloads shipments of ice and bread.
Thursday
The most noticeable change that occurs on Thursday is painting the “Eye of the Tiger” on the 50-yard line.
Scott Bruce, a local firefighter, is in charge of the painting. Armed with a spray-on painting gun, he is able to color in the “Eye” in four to six hours.
Bruce’s father, Don, designed the endzones, the numbers on the field and the mid-field centerpiece decades ago for the Athletic Department. And when Don retired five years ago, Bruce became the heir.
“I get a lot of enjoyment out of it,” Bruce said. “I get a lot of compliments from people. People do notice it when they are out here.”
Bruce said at the beginning of the season a template is used to put the initial “Eye” design on the field in 10 hours. Once the image is painted on the field, Bruce is able to refinish the “Eye” each week in half the time.
As far as Decoteau and the Tiger Concession staff, Thursday marks the beginning of the end. From Thursday until gameday the staff puts the finishing touches on each of its 59 stands.
Friday and Saturday
Friday both Tiger Concessions and Athletic Facilities workers double-check things around the stadium in preparation for the game that is now fewer than 24 hours away.
Saturday both crews work to get last-minute adjustments made to bring the stadium together.
Once the game is over, it is back to square one for both Kershaw and Decoteau.
“At 11 o’clock after a game the week is done, but then we are right back at it on Sunday morning,” Kershaw said.