Football fans bring huge economic impact

Texas A&M and LA Tech fans are filling up Shreveport. Hundreds of tailgating Bull Dogs and Aggies set up shop around Independence Stadium for the big game.

The fairgrounds make hundreds of spots available for fans and nearly all were taken by Saturday afternoon.

Fans played games, grilled and just relaxed as game time counted down. All were excited for their teams.

"We're wound up! They've got a great offense," one A&M fan said. "It's going to be, I think, a pretty high scoring event!"

"I'm more pumped than I could be," a LA Tech fan said. "You know, if you would've told me on August 30th that we'd be number 23 in the nation, I would've called you a liar."

Those tailgaters were a good sign of game day turnout. Even with the late kickoff LA Tech officials say ticket sales are high.

A little more than 40,000 fans are expected to attend. LA Tech ticketing official Doug Sutherland says they're coming from around the state.

The sales are expected to bring nearly $1,000,000 to his university. Sutherland believes Shreveport will benefit from different sources.

 "We handled ticket sales, so we took the revenue from ticket sales," Sutherland said. "All the insularity revenue will go back to the city."

Independence Stadium can seat 65,000 football fans.