1. As the flagship state university in Louisiana, LSU has a duty to offer education and opportunities to Louisiana residents and students, cultivate the arts, and spur economic development in the state.

2. LSU’s club soccer team has a long and illustrious past. The LSU’s men’s club soccer team can be traced back to 1924. In 1952, the club team tied Penn State's varsity squad, a program that was among the top two in the nation during that decade. In 1998, the LSU team won the club national championship. In 2012, the club team advanced to the NIRSA National Soccer Championships. This long and deep tradition of LSU men’s soccer has survived despite LSU offering little or no financial support to the team.

3. Louisiana produces some of the best college soccer players in the nation. Since 2005, Louisiana has produced three Hermann Trophy winners. The Hermann Trophy, soccer's Heisman, is given annually to the best collegiate soccer player in America. (Jason Garey of St. Amant High in 2005; Joseph Lapira of St. Louis Catholic High in 2006; Patrick Mullins of Jesuit High in 2012.)  None of these Louisiana born and raised players, as well as many other soccer players that played professionally and for Division I college programs, had the option of staying in Louisiana because Louisiana does not have a Division I soccer program for men.

4. Soccer viewership and following are growing in America. What was once a playground sport just two decades ago in America is now a sport with a booming professional league (MLS). The outlook for professional and college soccer growth in America is positive. In Louisiana, this growth is evident at the high school level, where the state championships recently drew more than 10,000 paid spectators this past year, far exceeding the number at the baseball and softball state championships. Louisiana also has 30,000 currently registered soccer players. This popularity and the sport’s expected growth could make LSU men’s soccer self-sustaining in the near-term and financially highly profitable in the long-term.

5. The lack of an NCAA Division I men's soccer program in Louisiana has stunted the growth of soccer in the state and possibly has resulted in the failure of the state to attract a major professional soccer team. States with MLS franchises have a tradition of men’s varsity level soccer dating back decades. When franchises (which later became MLS franchises) considered locating in Louisiana in 1967, 1968, and 1982, they did not see the sport supported by the state’s universities. As Louisiana currently seeks to attract an MLS franchise, it is paramount that the state first have a men’s varsity soccer program to demonstrate the public’s interest in watching high level men’s soccer.

6. Can LSU afford a men’s varsity soccer program?  In 2011, LSU's Athletics Department revenue approached $100 million. Revenue has more than tripled since 1998. As LSU annually invests tens of millions into its other athletics programs, it seems disingenuous to say that LSU cannot afford a program.

7. Although the Title IX is used as the scapegoat for why LSU does not have a men's program, Title IX can be used to create a men's program at LSU. The purpose of Title IX was and is to ensure that all students at a school receiving funds have equal participation opportunities. In the 1970s to the 1990s, Title IX was used to create women's sports at universities because they previously did not exist. Today at LSU, 12 varsity sports are offered to female students. Only 9 varsity sports are offered to male students. There is no desire to start a new women's program because LSU's women's varsity sports cover every sport popular amongst females in Louisiana. There is a great desire to start a men's soccer program because tens of thousands of males in Louisiana play the sport. By not offering men's soccer, LSU is not giving those males the federally mandated opportunity to participate in soccer at the school. In short, by not having men's soccer at LSU, LSU is violating Title IX.

8. LSU has an opportunity to lead the way in making men’s soccer an SEC sport. Currently, only two SEC schools have men’s varsity programs. It is inevitable that within the next two decades, the SEC will sponsor men’s varsity soccer. Rather than follow other schools, LSU should lead the way and establish a dominant program. The longer LSU waits, the further LSU drifts from establishing a varsity program tradition.  

9. A men's varsity soccer program at LSU will benefit individuals in Louisiana who play soccer by offering an opportunity for them to excel at the collegiate level. It will also benefit the soccer community in Louisiana, who yearns for a Division I men's soccer program. LSU can afford to invest in a men’s program now. With Louisiana’s in-state soccer talent, it will not take long to build a varsity program that competes for national championships as well. Ultimately, LSU's duty to cultivate the arts, offer opportunities to its residents and students, and spur economic development in the state will be filled with the formation of a men's Division I soccer team.