Photo by: Louisiana’s Cajun Bayou

Ariel view of John L. Guidry Stadium, home of Nicholls Football

Nicholls State University canceled its Family Day on Oct. 14 after a tragedy occurred for Nicholls’ opponent, Northwestern State University.

The Nicholls community does not know what the cancellation means for the ticket holders, the possibility of rescheduling Family Day and the financial repercussions.

Athletic Director Johnathan Terrell addressed the steps going forward for Nicholls football.

“We have to get with the conference because we’re not sure what we’re going to do,” Terrell said. “There is no time to make it up because we can’t play two games in a week and you can’t play [a conference] game in place of a playoff game.”

Nicholls explored the option of playing Northwestern in place of non-conference opponent University of Southeastern Missouri on Oct. 28, but those talks were brief as Northwestern plays a conference game that week.

Terrell said they are in talks about what to do with ticket holders.

He said they may honor the ticket purchase with a basketball or baseball game or allow ticket holders to use the money spent as a donation to the Colonel Athletic foundations.

Nicholls expected about 8,500 people to be inside and around the stadium for the Family Day game.

“We were expecting a large crowd and a great atmosphere, but that’s not the most important thing when it comes to the loss of life,” Terrell said. 

The university is still deciding on the possibility of rescheduling Family Day.

“We’re in talks about [rescheduling], but we’re not sure what [the Alumni Federation] is doing [the rest of the season],” Terrell said. “We have talked about this, but we’ll have these conversations on Monday.”

Follow along with the Nicholls Worth for updates.