Speaking of the Southland

The Southland Conference and the partners involved in bringing the NCAA Division I Championship to Pizza Hut Park have picked up their efforts and in doing so, are trying to get fans involved in the selection process.

As we [url=http://www.collegesportingnews.com/entry.php?5-Southland-Coaches-and-Scheduling-Updates]discussed previously[/url], the NCAA site survey team recently invited Frisco, Texas as the city made their pitch to host the 2010-12 championship games which are on the table.

Now, the league has launched a web site at [url=http://www.collegefootballfrisco.com/]CollegeFootballFrisco.com[/url]. The goal of the site is to show the selection committee that there is support by the community behind this game.

One of the problems in Chattanooga, Tenn. has been the lack of consistent support to fill the venue. Though several fan bases such as Appalachian State's and Montana's have traveled in large numbers, the community has lacked the support to sellout the game.

For this game to be successful, there is no question that a sold out environment with fans from both participating schools need to be on hand. To help insure this and to make sure the committee knows the reality of Frisco's ability to do so - the site above was created.

Similar to efforts by the US Soccer Federation, this web campaign's goal is to show the outpouring of support to the committee by the community. In just a matter of minutes, fans can go to the site and make a non-binding "ticket pledge".

• • •

While it is tough to determine which way the committee will go when they decide on the host this spring, I really do believe that the city of Frisco is taking the necessary steps in winning the competition against incumbent host Chattanooga.

There is a very strong base of support in bringing the game to Texas and having an "outside of the box" thinker in SLC Commissioner Tom Burnett involved only helps matter for the Frisco efforts.

Though he can probably not be given all the credit, those who follow the league know that Burnett has been one of the key players in several ideas that have taken the conference to a new level.

This public effort using the internet by Frisco will only help, if successful. As a backer of the Frisco effort, I encourage everyone to take a few minutes to fill out the form and do your part in getting the word around.

• • •
Continuing our talk from [url=http://www.collegesportingnews.com/entry.php?17-Lamar-s-Underwhelming-Start-Yields-to-Season-Ticket-Success]our last blog[/url], Lamar's effort continues to be strong in the ticket sales category.

One fan lined up as early as 5 p.m. on Friday evening ahead of the 7 a.m. Saturday start to ticket sales. This fan - Ike Adams of Beaumont - was joined by more than 200 fellow Cardinal fans who awaited the opening.

"We really had no idea how it was going to go, but it's a good turnout," said Miranda Biehle, assistant marketing director with Lamar's athletic department told the [url=http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/local/lu_fans_grab_bundles_of_first_football_tickets.html]Beaumont Enterprise[/url].

According to reports, over 900 tickets were sold during the first day of public sales. Coupled with the 1,000 tickets sold during the per-sale to Cardinal Club members, Lamar has sold in the area of 2,000 season tickets to date.

A strong start for Lamar, which will only pick up as sales resume Monday via the ticket office, phone and [url=http://www.LamarCardinals.com[/url]LamarCardinals.com[/url]