The University of Louisiana at Lafayette unveiled its newly renovated Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium, previously Cajun Field, at the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajun football team’s season opener against Rice University on Aug. 30.
The $65 million renovations on the west side of the stadium began after the 2023 football season. The renovations were designed by DLR Group and AQ Studios and built by J.B. Mouton. Of the $65 million budget, $35 million was donated by private donors.
In a statement on buildtheculture. com, a website showcasing details for the renovations made to the stadium, Dr. Bryan Maggard, the vice president of intercollegiate athletics, said, “This project will transform the gameday experience for Cajun Nation,” making the stadium a “premier venue” for both fans and student-athletes.
According to the Ragin’ Cajun athletics website, the west side now features 34 suites, 40 loge boxes, 524 club seats, an indoor club and five new chairback sections in the lower west bowl. The turf on the field was also replaced, along with a new scoreboard.
The stadium’s capacity lost about 10,000 seats, going from just over 40,000 seats to a little over 30,000. In an interview with The Advocate, Maggard described the decrease in capacity as a supply and demand issue. “If we can have less supply and create greater demand, that’s exactly what we want.”
Though the outcome of the game resulted in the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns losing to the Rice Owls 14-12, 22,148 fans turned out for the game. Dariyus Woodson, a senior majoring in communications, said he liked the new stadium, citing the crowd as a part of the reason why he would come back for future games. “I think I would come anyway, but it’s definitely…definitely adding a little influence to me because of how packed it is right now.”
Miranda Taylor said she has attended Louisiana football games since 2009 and has seen the stadium go through slight improvements over the years, but this time is the biggest improvement she has seen. “It just looks like such an upgrade from even last… or I guess two seasons ago, when it was just kind of the concrete stadium on that side,” she explained.
When asked whether she thought the renovations looked like they were worth the price tag, Taylor said they were. “You can just tell they put in a lot of time, effort, energy and finances, which I think will draw a better crowd too.”
According to the Ragin’ Cajun athletics website, these renovations are the biggest improvements to the stadium since it opened in 1971. The stadium has changed three other times in its history. In 1992, it increased its capacity to 31,000. Next, the seating was updated in the south end zone, before finally increasing its capacity to 41,426 seats in 2014.
Though Taylor, having been a longtime Louisiana fan, applauded the renovations, other fans said they didn’t see $65 million worth of renovations. Trailand Anthony, a junior majoring in graphic design, said “It looks, more so, closer to two instead of the 65.”
Roddylyn Joseph, a junior majoring in nursing, said she did notice a need for renovations, especially when she compared the old stadium to other schools’ stadiums. “I just did not… I didn’t think we were up to par,” she explained, adding that even though the new stadium does look good, she did not see it costing the amount it did.
”Mind you, it looks…it looks different. It’s beautiful. But I’m not seeing that much money. Like, I can’t even fathom that much money going into something like this,” Joseph said. She went on to say how she thought Wharton Hall, H.L. Griffin Hall and Fletcher Hall are other structures on campus that could use renovations.
Now that the west side of the stadium is complete, renovations for the east side of the stadium are set to begin after the end of the 2026 football season. According to The Advocate, the plans include a new tower that has media boxes, administrative offices and training facilities.