While trying to promote school spirit, along with more attendance from students, faculty and the public at games, Nicholls is not thinking thoroughly with its planning.The first aspect, and maybe the most talked about, is that Nicholls has scheduled every football game in the heat of the day on Saturdays.
While this may seem like a great day and time to have a football game, last year’s 1 p.m. games were poorly attended.
Last year, Gustav’s treacherous winds damaged the outfield wall of the baseball field, the softball scoreboard and the football stadium lights causing games to be pushed up from 6 p.m. to 1 p.m. The 1 p.m. games had little attendance and, for most games, the visitor’s section was undeniably larger than our student section.
Another factor in the scheduled time of the game is Mother Nature. In the middle of the day, there is a higher probability for rain rather than at night in Southern Louisiana. Rain-outs, injuries from playing on a wet field and low attendance threaten the team’s new time slot. No one wants to go watch a football game standing in the rain. They would rather be watching another game from the comfort of their own home.
Another aspect not thought of was tailgating. Having a game at 1 p.m. presents the problem of people possibly not coming out at all. By the time everything is set up and the first bite of a delicious hamburger is taken, tailgating will be over.
The earlier game time leaves little time for people to enjoy the tailgating experience. Few people will want to go extra early and set everything up for a tailgate unless you are a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity who goes the night before and sleeps on sofas.
The last aspect is the temperature outside during the day.
While our field looks great with Astroturf, which it requires less maintenance, it raises the temperature around it by about seven to nine degrees. This causes a problem when it is the heat of the day and there is only so much Florida Water that can be used at one time.
There are some changes that can be made. The University repaired the hurricane-damaged stadium lights. It would be nice if football games would be scheduled at night around 6 p.m. Even high schools have Friday night games.
Another change that can be made is switching the day of the week to boost attendance. If we put games on Thursday nights, more people would come because students have to come to school the next day anyway.
If the reason we are having games at 1 p.m. is to cater to the LSU gaming audience, then the ongoing process of trying not to compare us to LSU is failing. In the end, the University is doing just the opposite. If people are going to the LSU game, they will decide to go before Saturday and nine times out of 10 will not go from a Nicholls game to an LSU game. Thus, they would not get the full experience of either.
If the University wants more participation from the community and campus, more decisions should be thought through before planning various sports events.
