Game Day Issues- Not Blvd.

[Duke Blue Blood]

Nobody is going to argue the Blvd. is an awesome pre-game experience for our fans...but let me tell you what is not.

1. No temp passes to the Blvd. to drop off tailgate items.
2. Cars constantly being towed
3. Ticket Office
4. Entry policy.
5. Attitude of ALL SMU gameday staff.

Like everyone on this board I go to all the games. We even throw a decent tailgate, but this Nazi regime on game day is out of control. If I as a good fan, with multiple parking passes, etc. thinks it is a challenge, what does the average fan think? How about "this is not worth it!"

DBB

[OC Mustang]

Don't know about Blvd so much, but the concessions inside are run second-rate. They ran out of food at one location before half-time.
That's inexcusable no matter how much cost-cutting that vendor is attempting to do for leftovers and waste.

[Stallion]

My two favorite dance partners-the lovely Lorie and Susan were OUTSTANDING selling programs at the mid-field tunnel area on the home side. A+ for the program sellers.

[OC Mustang]

ohmigosh...they were hot.

I especially appreciated the Theta action in Section 104, as well as the dance team right below. My 10 year old even commented on the...um...scenery, and he is only just beginning to really notice girls. I told a buddy of mine that SMU is really setting the bar high for him.

[Insane_Pony_Posse]

imo.....some good things:

the little ice cream stands (that sell soft drinks too)
this allows you to avoid the longer lines at the concessions

vendors hawking drinks in the stands

vendors selling ice off golf carts on the blvd
everybody runs low on ice for the hot games

alot of kiosks selling SMU gear under the stands

more students stayed longer last night
the little white things they clap together really stand out

more people are showing up for the team walk from perkins
you can see in the players eyes that they enjoy the support
any way to sound a siren or have the band that plays announce
the players walk "is 5 minutes away" everybody head down to perkins?

i like the horse sound from the sound system when we do something good

it's a nice touch when the stadium staff at the end of the night standing at the exit gates
telling fans as they exit "thanks for coming" and to "have a nice evening"

[MustangStealth]

Don't know about Blvd so much, but the concessions inside are run second-rate. They ran out of food at one location before half-time.
That's inexcusable no matter how much cost-cutting that vendor is attempting to do for leftovers and waste.

I also had issues with concessions. I usually avoid them at all costs but it was jus too hot last night to not have a drink. Just getting a coke took me 30 minutes and I missed most of the comeback in the second quarter. They had people behind the counter basically doing nothing, and as a result we had one girl servicing 2 lines. She had to get all of the food, fill all of the drinks, and take the money. And then to top it off, she would take your whole order, get the first thing then forget the rest of the order because she was so overwhelmed. All the while the other people kept wandering around in the back, rearranging stacks of cups or just chit-chatting.

Note to the athletic dept.: if you expect me to pay $5 for a coke, put someone back there who can actually make buying it a reasonable experience.

[LawSchoolPony]

Nobody is going to argue the Blvd. is an awesome pre-game experience for our fans...but let me tell you what is not.

1. No temp passes to the Blvd. to drop off tailgate items.
2. Cars constantly being towed
3. Ticket Office
4. Entry policy.
5. Attitude of ALL SMU gameday staff.

Like everyone on this board I go to all the games. We even throw a decent tailgate, but this Nazi regime on game day is out of control. If I as a good fan, with multiple parking passes, etc. thinks it is a challenge, what does the average fan think? How about "this is not worth it!"

DBB

Sorry about these issues...these are exactly the same reasons why my family chose to skip tailgating this year (meaning our 30 tailgaters stayed home), and cancelled our season tickets. Just not worth the hassles we went through last year. I had a good time yesterday buying a single game ticket, and I felt so bad for the people trying to tailgate and deal w/ all those problems, and I sure was glad I wasn't one of them!!!

Of course, I did see some staff in the football stadium harassing fans about their cameras for no reason, but what would gameday at Ford be w/o rude stadium officials? We even moved seats to avoid the argument.

Maybe someday we will tailgate at SMU again, but for now, no thanks...

[jtstang]

The ticket office has issues. Especially the cash-only window.

[JesuitPony]

Does anyone in the AD's office read the board? Packaging a bad game day experience with a mediocre team ain't going to win you more fans. The people on this board are die hards and even some of them are deciding to skip games. How in the hell do you expect to garner the interest of the community if you can't even take care of the die hards?

[Insane_Pony_Posse]

re: "All the while the other people kept wandering around in the back, rearranging stacks of cups or just chit-chatting".

i get the impression most of the concessions staff are volunteers doing some kind of fund raising for their high school or something? these people dont seem up to the task at all. i agree the lines are wayyyyyyyyyyy to long and are costing SMU sales. people come down from their seats, see how long the lines are and just say "forget it" and head back to their seats unhappy and with the money staying in their pockets. Plus it is another negative experience new comers have at an smu game and we need to greatly limit any negatives a new comer experiences so they will come back for more games after their family has a good experience at an SMU football game. Part of that experience involves prompt food and beverage service. Adding more and more specialty kiosks all over the stadium is a great idea to help ease the strain at the main concession stands.

[PonyKai]

Does anyone in the AD's office read the board? Packaging a bad game day experience with a mediocre team ain't going to win you more fans. The people on this board are die hards and even some of them are deciding to skip games. How in the hell do you expect to garner the interest of the community if you can't even take care of the die hards?

Everyone here knows full well that they read this board. However, when there are legitimate customer complaints, not just Bennett sucks let his head roll, they do need to be addressed immediately and are taken seriously by the department. I'm not here to tell you all how to spend your time but it would be much more effective to send a brief but concise and objective email to people in the department. 100 upset emails is probably going to raise more of a ruckus than a bunch of complaints on a chat board.

[icehawks18]

amen, brethren. I really like the point made regarding the fact that die-hards are deciding to stop attending games/tailgating because of how it's poorly run... if it were well-run and we put a decent product on the field, we would have much more attendance from the local community.

Yesterday it took me 35 minutes to get a hot-dog. i was wondering whether they were flying in Kobiyashi to eat with me.

[DickerJames]

The ticket office has issues. Especially the cash-only window.

"issues" is way too kind for that scene yesterday. Anybody know why you could'nt buy general admission seats at the cash window?

[PhirePhilBennett]

Don't know about Blvd so much, but the concessions inside are run second-rate. They ran out of food at one location before half-time.
That's inexcusable no matter how much cost-cutting that vendor is attempting to do for leftovers and waste.

Anyone notice $5 cokes now?

[CalallenStang]

Don't know about Blvd so much, but the concessions inside are run second-rate. They ran out of food at one location before half-time.
That's inexcusable no matter how much cost-cutting that vendor is attempting to do for leftovers and waste.

Anyone notice $5 cokes now?

Yes.