Do you know there is a preseason football game between the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints here at Purdue in August?

We didn't think so.

Not many students that go to our university know that Ross-Ade stadium has been selected as the hosting place for the game on Aug. 12. And out of the 33,000 tickets that are being sold for the event, the last official number was around 3,000. That is a lot left for a game that is less than a month away.

But the main problem is that this game is also a fund raising event for the Ross-Ade expansion, and if tickets aren't sold, the University might take a big one in the back.

But, you might say, who cares about money? Purdue is rich and they will make it up somewhere else.

Another factor is that we don't get very many "primetime" events here as some other colleges like Penn State and Ohio State do. We are just too close to Indianapolis and Chicago for West Lafayette to be taken as a serious venue. This, however, is one of those events that will bring publicity to Purdue. If there should be a large turnout, there is a probability that more events could come to our area.

Of course, the powers that decided when the game was scheduled to take place picked a date at the worst time, between the end of summer session and the before the fall semester, when students aren’t going to be here. There will be only a few more students here as there would be on Christmas Day. That will hurt the attendance of the game.

Also causing damage could be the ad campaign. Advertising in the local media has made it clear that the game will take place, but many of the students aren’t near school and won’t be until sooner. There are other community members that will attend the game, but there won’t be many students due to the advertising.

The final factor is the announcement. There was no big announcement, just some stories in newspapers and a couple minutes on the news. If the students had been here when the announcement was made, then there would be more tickets sold and more people trying to attend.

What students should do is spread the word. It would be an embarrassment to have a mediocre crowd. There isn’t much that a student can do, but if you enjoy football and will be in the Lafayette area, get all your friends to come over and have a good time.