When members of The Pride of Acadiana marched on the field during the University of Louisiana football team’s New Orleans Bowl victory, the thousands of Ragin’ Cajun fans in the Superdome stands couldn’t likely see the "USL" logo on the band members’ uniforms.

Now, after more than decade of wearing the same uniforms, members of the band will receive a makeover in time for next year’s football season, and Ragin’ Cajun fans can vote online to determine what the musicians’ new uniforms will be.

Pride of Acadiana Director Brian Taylor said the band will "retire and replace" the current uniforms, which have been worn and passed to the next year’s band members to re-wear for the past 12 years.

"The typical life span of a uniform is only five to seven years, so these have lasted much longer than they’re designed to," Taylor said on Tuesday during a phone interview. "And a lot of people don’t realize they still say ‘USL’ on them."

Taylor said he went to the uniform supplier and perused three large books of template designs. He then worked with a designer to create about 30 different uniform options.

Taylor then presented those options to the band staff and whittled the selection down to eight designs. Those designs where then shown to the entire 240-member band, which voted the selections down to three.

Now, Taylor and the band are "asking everyone involved with Cajun Football to pick their favorite" design of the three.

"Since the previous

uniforms said ‘USL,’ I wanted to make sure these uniforms had the tri-colored fleur-de-lis and are very representative of what the university is today," Taylor said.

Taylor said the voting will take place until Sunday, Feb. 12, and the winner will be announced on Monday, Feb. 13. Voting will take place at

www.ULBands.com, and only one vote is allowed per email address.

The new uniforms, Taylor said, should arrive by the time the fall semester begins. He said the new uniforms are also a technological improvement over the olds ones — the new ones are made from sweat-wicking materials, are more durable and lighter and include size-adjusting controls to fit different band members.

Taylor said he isn’t yet sure what will be done with the old uniforms. Because the old uniforms are state property, special rules dictate what may be done with them. He does, however, hope to work out an option to use the uniforms as a fundraiser for the band.

Taylor said he expects the new uniforms to cost about $300 apiece and plans to spend about $120,000 total on the new uniforms.

"The idea of doing the online poll was to get

everyone involved in the process," Taylor said, noting that about 2,000 people voted in the first day voting was open. "We want the community to have a say in their university and in their band."