Should fans be allowed to come back in after leaving at half?
- Thread starter ClonesTwenty1
- Start date
Hey I resemble that remark!
I leave a fair number of games at half. Not all but some. I'm always back in my seat by the second half kick though. Mostly I just need a walk. My back sucks and I need to walk around to loosen it up. I admittedly could just walk around the stadium, but the lines to the port a pots are short out side the stadium and I can grab a snack/beer/water.
There's no way I could leisurely walk through the concourse at half without wanting to stab someone. It's pure smashed chaos.
First, the empty seat issue has two distinct causes. Yes, people leave, but a lot of it is because hitting the can and hitting up the actual integrated, main concessions is almost impossible without missing some action before or after half. The concessions are SO freaking slow. There is clearly an operational problem. Of all the major sporting events I've gone to, JTS concession lines are the slowest-moving by a mile. There is something wrong and it needs to be fixed.
But to the point of the OP, big boy football games don’t let people leave and re-enter. And yes, the concourse is going be crowded as hell. The last thing we want is to drive away people. Make the experience good enough that restricting halftime re-entry isn’t a major hit to ticket sales before you do it. But yes, if you want to act like you are hosting a legit power conference football game, you don't let people leave and re-enter like it's a game between Madrid and Woodward-Granger.
But I’m the wrong person to ask. I go to games to watch ISU, and for the last few years and next couple kids' activities have limited my opportunities to a couple per year. There’s usually around 20 hours of football at JTS per year. Missing it to stand in the SEZ building or out in the lots is just something I can’t understand, so I'm going to be biased against re-entry.
But to the point of the OP, big boy football games don’t let people leave and re-enter. And yes, the concourse is going be crowded as hell. The last thing we want is to drive away people. Make the experience good enough that restricting halftime re-entry isn’t a major hit to ticket sales before you do it. But yes, if you want to act like you are hosting a legit power conference football game, you don't let people leave and re-enter like it's a game between Madrid and Woodward-Granger.
But I’m the wrong person to ask. I go to games to watch ISU, and for the last few years and next couple kids' activities have limited my opportunities to a couple per year. There’s usually around 20 hours of football at JTS per year. Missing it to stand in the SEZ building or out in the lots is just something I can’t understand, so I'm going to be biased against re-entry.
I've said this in another place but...
I was on the committee when we brought alcohol sales to UNI. Iowa State and Montana were the only two schools legal counsel could find that allowed re-entry at all whether there were alcohol sales or not. Montana has since ended it. It's a dinosaur that I'm shocked Iowa State still allows. Not to go off on a tangent but there are so many other security concerns with allowing it.
I was on the committee when we brought alcohol sales to UNI. Iowa State and Montana were the only two schools legal counsel could find that allowed re-entry at all whether there were alcohol sales or not. Montana has since ended it. It's a dinosaur that I'm shocked Iowa State still allows. Not to go off on a tangent but there are so many other security concerns with allowing it.
I haven't left at halftime for years but did plenty in my younger years so I am not going to push doing away with it just because I am an old fuddy-duddy.
On a positive note I had to sit with a hawk buddy in the visitor section because we needed one ticket for my son. That's not the positive note, by any means. This is: the hawk section was just as empty as the rest of the stadium when the 3rd quarter started.
On a positive note I had to sit with a hawk buddy in the visitor section because we needed one ticket for my son. That's not the positive note, by any means. This is: the hawk section was just as empty as the rest of the stadium when the 3rd quarter started.
******* tv timeouts piss me off. I didn't realize they had changed college football so the clock doesnt stop after first downs anymore but it seemed Saturday they took full advantage by adding more tv timeouts. Sure as **** didn't speed up the game one bit.
That's interesting. It's always felt like one of the last "hanger ons" from the era where ISU was god awful and you were doing anything to get people to come and stay for a game.
It's speeding up games overall, or at least it was the last time I looked. ISU/Iowa clocked in at 3:07.
The unintended consequence - or hell, maybe it was intended, I don't know - is that we're giving up football to achieve shorter games, while commercial time holds steady.
Assuming you're subject to the same security checks on your re-entry to the game as you were at your initial entry to the game, what are the extra security concerns? I can kind of imagine what the answers would be to that, but they also seem pretty flimsy.
I can understand not allowing re-entry just on the basis of schools not wanting to hassle with it. In which case they should just say that. If what Pollard says is true about the difficulty in finding people to staff games, then reducing a staff-intensive operation like halftime exit and re-entry seems like a no-brainer.
Full disclosure: I used to go out a lot and no longer find it worth the effort. I'm not attached to either outcome.
The biggest security concern is reduced staff at entry points and not as many people around. Even though the bag checks and what not are completely cursory and generally ineffectual it can be a deterrent to a possible shooter. There also typically aren't lines to get in/out like there are at the start of the game so 'see something/say something' is far less effective per security contractors.
Jack Trice has a major disadvantage going for it compared to newer or remodeled stadiums. Newer stadiums have concession stands for each deck. I went to Soldiers Field last year and there were like 4 or 5 different levels of concession stands. At ISU, everyone feeds into one level which basically means 25k people on either side are all going to one place. I think it’s more a design issue and not an operational issue (even though that would improve things).
I don’t see any reason not to sell beer in stadium these days, but with the disaster of lines for regular concessions stands I can’t imagine I would ever miss half a quarter for a 15 dollar beer. The recent road game trips I have taken really brought to light again how bad our setup is.
I was at the Chiefs game on Thursday too and let me tell you there is always somebody just sloppy drunk in our section every time we go. Somebody puked in our section. Call me a prude but I think selling alcohol in stadiums is a bad idea.
Aren't the clear bags allowed in with sunscreen and snacks?
I guess I never heard that they allow snacks in. They have a no food or beverages policy (except one unopened water bottle) but do make allowances for child and medical needs. That being said I don't know how much they guff they give adults with snacks "for medical purposes."
I usually wear the man shorts with the big pockets. Just stuff them with granola bars and fruit snacks, etc. They would have to allow sunscreen in the clear bag. We just lather up before going in.
It's why we have 20 minute breaks at work every hour on the hour, because humans cannot go without food for more than an hour, 90 minutes max!
