Written By Steve Macy, NMSU Associate Athletic Director

When we announced the Aggie Economic Relief Plan, there were some who were quite curious. For us in the marketing world, it is pure fun. For the past few months, we have been inundated with woeful economic news. It has been hard to watch. Our thought was to offer our very own economic relief plan.

Times are tough for many. The dollar is stretched thin and thoughts of entertaining an entire family or a group of friends are requiring a lot more thought. With our $2 ticket and concession special, we want to say thanks to the Las Cruces community by giving it a little relief. Two bucks is all it takes to get in the gates. Couple it with the game being on the 22nd at 2PM and two dollars made all the sense in the world at this time for this community.

We have a record-setting group of seniors that will be playing their last home game. They have not won near as many games as they would have liked, but they have performed with their hearts and energy for this team. I wanted to be able to do something to generate enough fans to make their last home game a special one.

I ask that you join us, even if it is only for a little while on Saturday. Come, celebrate the seniors. Celebrate college football on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Celebrate the sights, sounds, feelings and tastes of college football one last time this year.

Clearly, attendance is important and we have a very legitimate shot at making our attendance goals this year, but it is not going to happen if we have a crowd like we had against Hawaii. Whatever happens in the coming weeks, we want to enter the 2009 season with nothing but a renewed hope and energy for what can happen on the field in 2009. An attendance issue is not something we want to have hanging over the entire program.

As I have said before, this team, this university and this athletic program belong to the city of Las Cruces. It is a great honor to have a Division IA team in a town this size. We all benefit from the students and the NMSU staff that help fuel our local economy. I hope that you can help us build a solid foundation for the 2009 season with your attendance on Saturday. Please remind your friends and associates that the game on Saturday is just $2. We promise to entertain you.