This season, the Saints have only four games in the state of Louisiana at Tiger Stadium, as opposed to the usual eight in the Superdome.
The “home” crowd in Baton Rouge gets only four chances to see the New Orleans team but has not taken advantage of it since the hurricane.
The inaugural game in Louisiana against the Miami Dolphins appealed to 61,643 ticket buyers. But some may have only come to witness the return of former LSU coach Nick Saban, as the next week against the Bears brought in only 30,000 fans and again Dec. 4 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
While Tiger Stadium is sold out on Saturday nights, the Saints cannot carry half of that population over to Sunday.
“This market was never marketed or established as a big Saints territory,” said Louisiana Business and Technology Center director Charles D’Agostino. “I have heard very little of any games other than a few sports page articles and talk in the community.”
D’Agostino said the marketing for Saints games has been very poor in Baton Rouge as opposed to past years in New Orleans.
“When you are in your hometown, you can keep pounding away through the season,” D’Agostino said. “They do not have the ability to do the same marketing effort when a team is jumping around cities every week. It is hard to sustain any marketing stability.”
D’Agostino has mainly worked in marketing with baseball but points out a few things the Saints could attempt to increase the Sunday crowd.
“They need to go out aggressively,” D’Agostino said. “Maybe have some specials for students. You don’t see it in media outlets – or at least not in the ones I have used. They haven’t marketed the Baton Rouge community.”
The 3-9 record New Orleans has accumulated this season has not helped ticket sales either. Josh Miller, political science junior, said he is aware of the Saints without the marketing effort, but the lack of performance by the Saints is the reason he will not waste money on the Saints.
“I think a lot of the problem isn’t so much the hurricane but the fact that they are here and in Baton Rouge we were able to have a pro football team,” Miller said. “I think a lot of people were happy about that at first, especially with Saban coming. However, they haven’t performed, and this is a town to where if you don’t perform you’re not going to get any love.”
Other students have attended games, and the vast difference from the Superdome is reason enough not to return for another Saints “home” game in Tiger Stadium.
The Saints’ fourth game in Tiger Stadium on Dec. 18 will be the final chance to see the team in their home state.
“I went to the game against the Dolphins, and Tiger Stadium just wasn’t ready for the Saints fans,” said Ellis Brent, sociology senior. “One thing, the alcohol lines were long. The police were kind of bad. It was just wasn’t a good atmosphere for the Saints fans. The police are more used to dealing with bigger crowds and drunk people because of Mardi Gras and everything. In the Superdome you don’t have to wait in line for alcohol – it’s usually flowing. But since LSU doesn’t sell alcohol at Tiger Stadium it kind of caused a problem.”