I gotta say something: I think the decision to mutually end the LSU-Tulane football series, dubbed “The Battle For the Rag,” is horribly short-sighted and downright unfair for the city of New Orleans.

I’m not calling the schools on the carpet yet, but I’ll get there.  For nearly every year since 1893, and every single year between 1919 and 1994, LSU and Tulane have faced each other on the gridiron.  The “Battle for the Rag,” may be passé and old school, but at 41 years of age, I can remember as a child when this rivalry, lop-sided though it is, mattered.

I listened to LSU’s last defeat to Tulane on the radio, not believing my ears.  That was, I believe, the infamous “rubber game” LSU overlooked on the way to playing Nebraska in the Orange Bowl after destroying Florida State.  I also remember the TULANE 48, LSU 7 bumper stickers.

Enough of my silly remembrances.  This stinks, and the people it really stinks for are the people of New Orleans, LSU and Tulane fans alike.

When LSU Athletic Director Joe Alleva was quoted in The Times-Picayune as saying “it makes no financial sense for us ever to play Tulane in New Orleans,” I kind of felt this series had drawn its last breath.  That statement is incredibly offensive to this LSU fan in New Orleans who would actually LOVE to see the Tigers play the Greenies at the Dome.

Trouble is, I know where Joe is coming from, and I can’t fault what he says even though I dismiss it out of hand.  The trouble is, of course, Tulane football fans.  The Superdome is a great facility that can host Super Bowls, Sugar Bowls and Final Fours.  However, when the 70,000-seat facility is 4/5ths empty, it looks like a mausoleum.  If you’ve been to a Tulane home game recently, you know what I say is true.

The last Superdome game, a 34-9 LSU triumph, was a very exciting and entertaining game that is totally obscured by the final score.  The first matchup between the two schools in the Dome in 12 years, and the first in New Orleans since Katrina, it should have been a sellout.  But it wasn’t.  Guess who didn’t bring the fans?  Sadly, it was Tulane.  Only 59,000 came to see the game that day.  When you take into consideration that LSU would draw nearly 40,000 more fans at Tiger Stadium, it becomes easy to see Alleva’s point of view.

It does not make it right, though.

Depriving the citizens of New Orleans, LSU and Tulane fan alike, the move robs New Orleans of an essential piece of the recovery.  True that some LSU (and anti-New Orleans) Tiger fans would skip this one for fear of giving any money to Tulane, the shops, bars, restaurants and hotels would benefit from those who did wish to come and enjoy themselves in New Orleans.  It’s good enough to come for a Sugar Bowl.  Why not for the Tulane game?    

In giving up on the series, LSU is handing Tulane $700,000 to walk away, plus the $650,000 the Green Wave will get for this year’s tilt on Halloween.  My hope is that Tulane puts the money to good use, like upgrading its facilities, adding more scholarships, or (god forbid) look into building a new stadium Uptown.

A couple of years ago, a Tulane fan and friend of mine said that the move from Tulane Stadium to the Superdome was the death of Tulane football.  Moving the games from Uptown, where thousands of fans could simply walk to the game, putting it in the sanitized confines of the Dome, where you have to drive, park, and walk through the concrete jungle, proved too much to keep the fan base coming.  The constant losing did not help, either.

Try moving Tiger Stadium to Prarieville, LA and you’ll understand the comparison.  Tulane Stadium, like Tiger Stadium, had a mystique all its own.  Did you know that when the Saints began play in Tulane stadium that it was at the time the largest-capacity stadium in the NFL?  Tulane fans (and LSU haters) can’t say that Tulane never brought the fans.

Tulane athletics is at a crossroads.  They have tried games at Tad Gormley Stadium, and while the tailgating in City Park is awesome, the facility—which also is used for high school football and track—is old, worn and uncomfortable—not unlike sitting in a lounge chair with a spring coming out of the seat.

Tulane should start a drive—immediately—to find a place Uptown or by the river downtown to build a small, cozy, 30,000-seat stadium with suites, club level seating, and places to tailgate.  Smaller stadiums have smaller price tags—but if they really want to bring the fans, they need to build it so they can come.

Am I asking too much?