Safety first
(Written by kencraw)
You know when a game as disastrous as that game yet the first thing most people on the alumni side want to talk about is the crowds, something is drastically wrong. Jason and I didn’t plan to tag-team on this one and we don’t sit together or even near each other but we both had the same thought: Something has to be done about the crowd situation. You’ve read Jason’s letter, now here’s mine:
Dear Athletic Department,
I am writing to you about a matter that could be of grave, life threatening importance in the next couple years before the stadium renovation is complete. The crowds at Memorial Stadium at the football game on October 3rd were a major problem. Even though I got to my seats 90 minutes before the game and had no problems personally, it was very clear that there was a disaster brewing in the hallways and tunnels. People were swearing and crying and distraught when they came to their seats. Other people just needed to get out of the hallways and came flowing out of the tunnel just gasping for a minuscule amount of breathing room. So many did this that the stairwells between the sections were gridlock and tempers flared even once people were out of the hallways and tunnels.
When I took my children to the bathroom late in the 2nd quarter things had calmed down just enough that it wasn’t gridlock in the hallways, but it quickly became clear what one of the major bottlenecks was. There are 2 (or perhaps 3 or 4) concession stands that are directly in the concourse hallways. I’m not referring to the concession stands below G and GG that have a large area for lines and milling around. I’m talking about the ones underneath EE and I believe either HH or I. They are directly in the hallway and any line that forms completely for those concessions blocks the walkway.
This was a problem and an inconvenience even when the service road outside the stadium (but inside the fence) was open. It allowed people a second route to make their way around the stadium. However, with the Student Athlete High Performance Center (SAHPC) under construction, the ONLY place to get around the stadium between E and HH is the concourse hallway. These two concession stands are a HUGE problem this year and caused panic, gridlock and lots of hurt emotions. I literally saw women and children crying, their evening completely ruined, as they came out of the concourse.
For safety reasons, it is imperative that you close these two concession stands until construction of the SAHPC is complete.
I’ve also heard from friends that they believe it would be wise to reduce the capacity of the stadium until the SAHPC is complete and I support that idea as well. I think putting back up the Toyota blue and gold zone banners and not selling those tickets for the remainder of the year would be wise.
I know that the University did their best with the raised walkways to try and mitigate the construction, but unfortunately it was not enough. Please consider closing the in hallway concession stands (and if necessary reduce capacity). It is a health and safety issue of the highest order.
Ken Crawford
Season Ticket holder since 1999
October 4th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Hi Jason & Ken, I’m looking forward to hearing your latest podcast!
October 4th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Did you use the port-a-potties outside the stadium but inside the fence line or the ones inside the stadium?
Why can’t they put concession stands outside the stadium? USC has concession stands outdide the stadium walls. They also need more vendors selling in the stands. Whoever is handling CAL”S concessions should be fired. I used to be able to buy a program inside the stadium, not now. Where are the hotdog & drink vendors in the stands. They could make thousand of extra $$$$$ if they did this. Hire the consessionaire that handles the Oakland Colisium. With so many people out of work you would have no problem finding people to sell in the stands. I can’t believe a school that has one of the top business schools in the country doesn’t get it.
October 4th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
I didn’t have problems yesterday, because I got to my seat a hour before kickoff and stayed there until after the game ended. Then I exited through the North tunnel. I have learned this is the only safe thing to do at big sell-out games.
While the construction may have made the situation worse, I had a terrible experience at the Tennessee game in 2007. My nephew and I were trapped in a corridor between sections F and D, with people literally pressing against us from every direction. I do not have any phobias about this sort of thing, but I was seriously afraid that it would only take one or two people to start shoving and we could have people crushed.
I sent an e-mail to the Athletic Director following that game, describing what had happened, and pleading for Cal to take some safety and crowd control steps before someone is killed. I never got any response and, obviously no such steps have been taken.
October 4th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
bar20: “Did you use the port-a-potties outside the stadium but inside the fence line or the ones inside the stadium?”
If you sat between the 20s, it would have taken you two hours to get to the porta potties. There used to be porta potties right down the stairs behind our sections on the west side of the stadium, but there’s just a big hole down there now, and it’s been shut off. Instead everyone is funneled through that incredibly tiny area Ken talks about, with the concession stands, to even get access to an exit.
“Why can’t they put concession stands outside the stadium?”
They actually used to do this, at least out behind the west end of the stadium, toward I House. It was great, and really lightened the load. But of course — once again, there’s a big hole now. I assume when the training facility is done, they’ll do more of that, but in the interim they need to change the way they handle crowd control.
“Where are the hotdog & drink vendors in the stands.”
They’re present when the crowds are lighter; they were nowhere to be seen in my section yesterday.
October 4th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
bar20, both actually. 🙂
I fought with the boys through to the bathroom by GG in the hallway but when I got there there was a line with no end, so we fought our way back to E where we went down to the elevated walkway. Once down there it was smooth sailing, despite it being a long walk to the portapotties all the way at the north exit.
In retrospect, because my section in DD does have direct access to the elevated walkway (i.e. I don’t have to walk through the concourse but can walk straight down the stairs to the walkway) that’s what I should have done in the first place. But since I had gotten there so early I really didn’t appreciate what I was getting myself into when I tried to go to the GG bathrooms and went that way because they were FAR closer all things being equal.
October 4th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
I have another question that has nothing to do with safety. Since you guys are between the 20’s I’ll ask it. On another board someone said the alumni section wasn’t making much noise. My seats are in the north endzone so it is hard to tell , but they sounded loud. They are never going to be as loud as the student section but I think the poster used the word ‘pathetic” What was your observation.
October 4th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
The students always accuse the alumni of not making noise. Given that we’re not in our early 20s and a lot of those people by the 50 are elderly, I’m sure we don’t make as much noise as the students. But I will say this: In the last five years the noise output of the alumni section has increased dramatically. I can tell you that in our area we’re all clapping and shouting on defense, which never used to happen.
People who pick on the alumni like that poster you mention aren’t worth the time of day. They’re living in some sort of dreamworld. A 70-year-old hard of hearing Old Blue isn’t going to jump up and down, stand the whole game, and scream their lungs out. (They did that 50 years ago.)
October 5th, 2009 at 4:54 am
For starters, I’m in no way between the 20’s. I’m more in the corner in DD. The great thing about Memorial is that the sight-lines are so good that it feels like my seats are between the 20’s. There’s really no bad seats in Memorial.
In any case, I agree that it was pretty quiet starting in the 2nd quarter on the Alumni side but you know what? It was quiet everywhere, including the student section. The fans were shell-shocked. Anyone who thinks they weren’t just as quiet (as a matter of magnitude, obviously they were louder than the alumni), wasn’t listening.
The students who complain about Alumni noise are just young pricks with the hubris of youth. They’ll understand when they’re 50. What they’re asking is just as stupid as if the Alumni were asking for the students to each pay full price for their tickets and hey, why aren’t the students signing up for the ESP program!?! “We’re doing our part, why aren’t they?”
October 5th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Ken,
I sit in EE, and I think the concession under my section (or E) actually were closed halfway through the game in response to the crowd. I remember seeing them open during my insanely long trip to my seats in the first quarter, then when I went to the restroom before halftime they were closed. So at least there was a little on-the-spot thinking from those in charge.
It was depressing that we were already down by 10 points by the time I actually sat down. So deflating.
October 5th, 2009 at 11:58 am
That’s good to know joshiemac. It’s too little, too late for that game, but maybe a good sign for the future. Of course it could have been something stupid like running out of hotdogs had them close down.