Heading into this weekend with a spotless 5-0 record, the LSU Tigers’ Saturday matchup against the Florida Gators is expected to bring thousands of visitors to Baton Rouge, marking the biggest game yet this season in Death Valley.
The hype is translating to hotel bookings, especially downtown: All seven area hotels—including the Courtyard Marriott, Hampton Inn, Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center, Holiday Inn Express, Hotel Indigo, The Watermark and the Belle of Baton Rouge Hotel—are sold out, according to an email sent to stakeholders Thursday evening by the Downtown Development District.
Paul Arrigo, president and CEO of Visit Baton Rouge, says booking activity began to pick up after Florida’s victory over Auburn last weekend, which positioned LSU and Florida as two undefeated SEC teams squaring off in Tiger Stadium.
“It has the potential to be a record-breaking weekend, in terms of revenues from a fall football game,” Arrigo says, noting the game’s economic impact could rival that of the LSU-Georgia matchup almost exactly a year ago.
Aside from the slightly more than 1,000 hotel rooms downtown, the Baton Rouge Marriott also appears to be sold out, while others are fetching top dollar for a room.
Several other factors are also fueling the expected boom, says Arrigo. Among them: It’s LSU’s homecoming game; ESPN’s College GameDay is coming to Baton Rouge to spotlight the game; Bob Seger drew a large crowd for his River Center performance Thursday night; Lauren Daigle is performing at the River Center tonight; Southern University also has a home game Saturday; and tomorrow is election day, with members of the press expected to stay in local hotels.
Flights through major travel hubs like Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston are also booking quickly, especially through Atlanta and Charlotte. A quick Google search shows that a one-way Delta flight departing the Baton Rouge Metro Airport on Sunday night and flying into Atlanta is going for $847.
Meanwhile, DDD Executive Director Davis Rhorer says he hopes the influx of downtown tourists will “have a spin-off effect” for museum visits, restaurant outings and other activity. He says ESPN is flying drones today to get footage of the downtown riverfront, which will air during the Saturday broadcast.
“It’s great national exposure for Baton Rouge,” Rhorer says. “What you’ll see is the economy at work.”
The Raising Cane’s River Center will be bathed in purple and gold lighting tonight. Visit Baton Rouge will announce the weekend’s economic impact on Wednesday.
