You want fans to show up early and stay late? Then give them something worth showing up for. Game day should be a full-blown experience—a sensory explosion of music, energy, and incredible local food. Instead, we’ve got soggy fries and cold chicken fingers wrapped in corporate plastic.

This is Lafayette. The food capital of Louisiana. Home to the best damn cuisine in the country. And UL is still clinging to a soulless Sodexo contract like it’s some kind of privilege? Please. That’s not tradition. That’s just laziness.

UL Athletics has been grinding to build respect—on the field, on the court, across the Sun Belt. And fans want to buy in. They want to be proud. But you can’t talk culture and then serve cardboard pizza and call it local. You can’t chant “Ragin’ Cajuns” and then force fans to eat like they’re at a DMV.

Remember the days of walking into the Tigue with the smell of Philly cheesesteaks wafting through the air? How about the charbroiled oysters being prepared as you walked through the gates?  Or maybe even the Swamp Thing, which was an absolute gluttony of combined ingredients that contained heartburn - or perhaps a heartattack -  within every bite you consumed.  Yes, those indeed were the glory days.

Today, we have the luxury of overpriced stale popcorn or bagged tortilla chips with cheap plastic cheese in a cup that you have to pour yourself.  Or if you’re lucky, the two day old hot dogs will be warm (we call them hunch dogs for a reason – because you might be hunched over in agony later that day.)

And let’s not even talk about the Natty Lights, which although remains a domestic beer, found itself caught within the tariff battle as its price was increased 150% with no explanation to the common fan.

How dare we think we deserve to know why?

If you want fans to feel something, you have to serve them something real. That means gumbo that slaps. Boudin that bites. Plate lunches that hit like a linebacker. Give us Johnson’s Boucanière. Give us Pop’s Poboys. Give us actual Lafayette flavor. Hell, rotate it. Partner with local staples. Let the community in. Because that’s how you build loyalty. That’s how you make game day unmissable.