Rapper Snoop Dogg performed in St. John's Sept. 12, 2009. (CBC)

The students union at Memorial University in St. John's may be in the doghouse with some of its members, following a money-losing concert by rap singer Snoop Dogg.

An executive member has confirmed the students union lost $100,000 on the Sept. 12 concert by the rap star at Mile One Arena in St. John's.

Cameron Campbell, a spokesman for the students union, believes several factors hurt ticket sales.

"There was another rap show that was playing for the week afterwards," he said. "A little bit of consumer confidence was lost after several shows were cancelled by rappers over the summer, and those were all things that really affected us and we couldn't do anything about."

Campbell said it cost nearly $300,000 to bring the rapper to St. John's.

Organizers expected to come close to filling the 6,200-seat arena, but only sold about 2,500 tickets.

The rap singer was also paid to make a personal appearance at a bar on the university campus, following the show.

Campbell said the loss doesn't mean the students' union is getting out of the concert promotion business. He said they sponsored a concert last year by Our Lady Peace, and expected to take a small loss on the show, but he said that concert netted the union $50,000.

"The entertainment realm," he said, "is something that's a bit of a crap shoot."