Chris Thibodaux of Harvey, right, was the winner of the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation's Premier season ticket raffle last year. He and his friend Edwin Yeager are pictured here attending a New Orleans Pelicans game last season.
Chris Thibodaux didn't have high expectations on that Sunday night last August when he tuned in to watch WWL-TV's "4th Down on Four" for the drawing of the Premier Season Ticket Raffle.
Thibodaux is a lot like most of us when it comes to raffles: He never wins things like this.
"I didn't even have my ticket out," Thibodaux said. "I was just watching to see that it wasn't me so I could just go to bed and move on with my life."
Besides, he had bought only one raffle ticket just three days before the drawing.
Then he heard sportscaster Doug Mouton call his name.
"I went nuts," Thibodaux said. "My heart was pounding. I felt like I could have run 5 miles at midnight. It was nuts. I was so excited."
Even when he heard his name, he wasn't sure he actually had won.
"I don't know if I'm the only Christopher Thibodaux in the New Orleans area," he said.
But it was indeed him who had just hit the jackpot of every Louisiana sports fan's dreams.
The Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation's Premier Season Ticket Raffle offers one lucky fan the chance to win tickets to more than 500 of South Louisiana's top sporting events. This year's drawing will be held Sunday. Only 2,500 tickets will be sold at $100 each.
All proceeds from the annual raffle support the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation's efforts to bring major sporting events -- such as Super Bowl LIX last February -- to New Orleans.
"It is one of the biggest fundraisers we have all year," said Jay Cicero, president and CEO of the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation. "It really helps support us to continue to attract major sporting events to New Orleans. Those events create an economic impact and exposure that only these events can bring. It's part of the annual puzzle now and it really helps us."
The winner receives two tickets to home games for each of the following:
* New Orleans Saints 2025 regular season
* New Orleans Pelicans 2025-26 regular season
* LSU Tigers 2025 football season
* LSU Tigers 2025-26 men's basketball season
* LSU Tigers 2025-26 women's basketball season
* LSU Tigers 2026 gymnastics season
* LSU Tigers 2026 baseball season
* Tulane Green Wave 2025 football season
* Tulane Green Wave 2025-26 men's basketball season
* Tulane Green Wave 2025-26 women's basketball season
* Tulane Green Wave 2026 baseball season
* 2026 Zurich Classic -- Best of the Zurich classic passes
* 2026 Allstate Sugar Bowl
* 2025 New Orleans Bowl -- VIP passes
* UNO Privateers 2026 baseball season
* UNO Privateers 2025-26 men's basketball season
* UNO Privateers 2025-26 women's basketball season
The deadline to enter this year's raffle is Sunday at noon. To purchase a ticket, visit www.gnosports.com/win.
Count Thibodaux among the ones who will be entering again. He's still on cloud nine from winning last year.
"My favorite experience with the LSU football tickets was the overtime win against Ole Miss," said Thibodaux, who lives in Harvey. "I got a chance to storm the field, which you probably shouldn't do. And then you had the Zurich Classic tickets and those tickets were bad ass."
Thibodaux, who was already a Saints season-ticket holder, went to every Saints game and about 20 Pelicans games. He also attended every Tulane football. He gave his LSU women's basketball tickets to friends in Baton Rouge, and they attended every game.
"It's almost impossible to go to everything," he said.
But he went to as many as he could. Last year was extra special because it included two tickets to the Super Bowl. While this year's prize doesn't include the Super Bowl since it will be played in California, that doesn't take away from everything else offered.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Thibodaux said. "All the different experiences that you get to do and you're treated like royalty at all these events. You get all the VIP perks and food, and it just makes the experience that much better."