July 21, 2009

LSU to Send Pep Band to Seattle, Four SEC Road Games

After making cost reductions to three of the band’s four trips to conference road games during the 2009 football season, LSU Athletics has decided to send a pep band to the game at the University of Washington.

The fact remains that the LSU Athletic Department has been asked to contribute more financially to the University this year than ever before in the wake of state budget cuts to higher education.  With an increase in administrative fees levied on University auxiliaries rising from 3 percent to 5 percent, and an increase in student fees the athletic department must pay for its 450 student-athletes, LSU Athletics will be passing an additional $2.5 million to the University in the coming academic year.  The athletic department must cut costs in various areas, and expenditures for band trips is one area that will be impacted.

LSU Athletics places a high value on the Tiger Band which is evidenced by the fact that the LSU Athletic Department funds the band at a higher rate than any other school in the Southeastern Conference.  In addition, the Athletic Department has committed $4.5 million to the construction of a new band hall, making it the single largest contributor to that project.

LSU will be sending pep bands to each of the four road conference games in 2009.  The band will bus to and from each location on the day of the game for three of those games with no hotel stay in order to facilitate the cost necessary to send a pep band to Washington.  There will be no full band trip to any road game except a post-season bowl game.  These measures will result in cost savings of $125,000 to $150,000 for the athletics program during the 2009-2010 fiscal year.

Jan. 12, 2009

LSU’s Season-Opener Against Washington To Be Played On Saturday, Sept. 5

Contrary to some recent internet rumors, LSU’s season-opener against Washington in Seattle will be played on Saturday, Sept. 5. Dave Brown, who oversees college football scheduling for ESPN, has told both LSU and Washington that they will not move the game to Thursday for television.

We anticipate ESPN televising the LSU-Washington football game, but we just don’t know a kickoff time yet. We expect to hear of a kickoff time as well as other early season television games for LSU at the annual SEC Spring Meetings in Destin in late May.

Nov. 4, 2008

All LSU football games are scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m., but television contracts often require LSU to move game times.   As a member of the Southeastern Conference, LSU must abide by television contracts negotiated by the SEC.

In the case of the LSU vs. Alabama game, CBS requested to televise the game, so LSU was obligated to move the kickoff time to 2:30 p.m. as dictated by binding contract.

Aug. 26, 2008

No Storm Impact Anticipated for LSU Football Game at this Time

BATON ROUGE -- LSU athletics officials are working closely with university and state personnel to monitor the progression of Hurricane Gustav, but there is no anticipated impact on the LSU vs. Appalachian State football game at this time.

LSU is scheduled to open its 2008 football season at 4 p.m. on Saturday against Appalachian State.

LSU will update fans on any changes via the news media and LSUsports.net should conditions warrant it.

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Aug. 15, 2008

LSU Football on CBS

CBS Sports has posted a television schedule of college football games on its website that is tentative at best. It lists LSU’s games against Florida, South Carolina and Georgia as CBS games and games against Alabama and Ole Miss as possible CBS games.

In fact, all, some or none of those games may be televised by CBS this season. Generally speaking, other than the first three weeks of September, games are not chosen for television until 12 days before the game. One exception is LSU’s game at Arkansas on November 28 which will be televised by CBS at 1:30 p.m. Central time.

Other than that, the games that appear on CBSsports.com are only possible selections by CBS.

Currently, these are the only games that have definitively been chosen for television this season:
LSU vs. Appalachian State, Aug. 30 – ESPN
LSU at Arkansas, Nov. 28 - CBS

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June 5, 2008

One of the hottest topics this week is the availablility of LSU Baseball games on television, as Saturday's NCAA Super Regional game will be broadcast live on ESPNU -- a cable station that is typically only offered in sports packages of cable and satellite television.

LSU Athletics will continue to issue clarifications and commentaries such as these on this page. Comments or questions may be directed to athletics@lsu.edu.

Want to discuss with other fans? Find LSU Athletics on Facebook, Become a Fan and take part in discussions, write reviews, post fan photos and more.

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Clearing up the television situation for the Super Regional at Alex Box Stadium
(posted June 5, 2008, 12:30 p.m. CDT)

* ESPN owns the television rights to all NCAA Super Regional games being played across the country, including the contests this weekend at Alex Box Stadium. As a result, the NCAA and ESPN determine when the games will be played as well as which channel on the ESPN family of networks that the game will be aired. While we would have liked for all of our Super Regional games against UC Irvine to have been played on either ESPN or ESPN2, participating schools have no input on the matter whatsoever.