I’m interested to hear takes on the first game inside the new stadium (outside of the travesty that occurred on the field). I hope everyone will take some time to share their experience, good or bad. All takes welcome. Just honest opinions.
Mine: My first impression was walking up 25 minutes before kickoff to a logjam of 3-4 lines funneling to go through one metal detector at the primary entrance to the stadium, i.e., wetting the bed before people even got in the door. Lines weren’t moving when I approached. They had a guy out there explaining to people that the one metal detector was causing the pile up. There were a couple of yellow vest “security” people who seemed like their only function was to speak to people disrespectfully and get them to toss out water bottles. After a few minutes the line started rolling. The cop working the detector was just having people stroll through, and I heard him make the comment, “it only takes a second to scan.” Given that none of us were told to empty our pockets and I saw no one stopped, I’m thinking that guy made a business decision to help clear up the unorganized, clusterfuck of a situation he was dealt. Kudos to him. Shame on whoever planned that. Scanned in. No “thanks”. No “enjoy the game.” Oh well. It’s 2025. Customer service is a lost art.
Went to my seat which is on the scoreboard side. It’s still loud, but I wasn’t uncomfortable or anything, which was kind of a surprise. Here’s my big “get off my lawn” take: the damn footballs on the field coming from our in stadium daycare was an embarrassment. I was sitting in my seat drunk off my ass, while my son and wife were over on the hill. I was watching the game but still made sure to watch my kid and make sure he wasn’t doing that crap. Like cmon parents. I was ready to get up and drag him back up that damn hill if I saw him doing that.
Concessions: I did not go. My wife did. Brought me a water which was barely chilled. Said her pretzel was terrible. My two friends that got nachos both said they were bad with cold cheese. To be fair, they went to the actual concession in the end zone. The people in front of us got some out of the grab n go and it seemed their cheese was at least warm in the little peel back cup. Overall the stuff just looked sad. Nachos at CF back in the day were great. I’ll never understand expecting people to pay more for declining quality in food year after year, but again, “oh well.” I don’t go to the concessions and my wife knows at this point not to expect anything good. Diehard experience vs. the casual though. We still need the casual. No reports from my people on long lines, which was an improvement.
Band: small. Quiet. Couldn’t hear them playing the team onto the field. No disrespect to the kids out there doing it. I’m sure individually they are doing great. As a unit it sucks. My guess would be this is another of our budget issues and just not investing to make it worthwhile. Spoke to my wife’s nephew at tailgate. He’s a Freshman at UL and was in marching band all throughout high. Sounded like he would have had to put himself through a ton of work for a pittance of a stipend to be in the POA. Tuition and fees are through the roof everywhere. A lot of kids need to work to make it. A huge time sink with minimal reward might not fit the lifestyle for most nowadays.
Overall I’d give the in game experience a C+ maybe. Slight improvement from a C- - D+ many have come to expect. It looks nice. Maybe there’s some potential for improvement. I’m not ruining my good name going out of my way to recommend it to people though as a worthwhile use of their money. If I wasn’t a diehard, I could think of much better uses of my time and funds.
Overall, I think the new side of the stadium is beautiful, and I only have 2 complaints
The bathrooms are way too small. Only 7 or 8 urinals and 2 stalls per bathroom with only one entry and exit point. Miss
The mesh seats are comfortable to sit in, but they are gonna be torn up by years end, and when you stand to allow someone to pass they don’t rest against the seat back enough to allow easy passage. That’s a big fail
Scanner at the entrance is the same weapons scanner we have at our high schools. Literally walk through and only large things set it off. Guy walking in next to me had binoculars that set it off so he had to get the extra TSA screening.
-Concessions moved quick when I went using the self checkout. Had the crawfish mac and it’s bland. Bring back the crawfish nachos! Will try something else next week.
-New seats will absolutely get destroyed by drunk fans standing on them to climb rows.
-Pretty sure we spent the entire athletic budget on fireworks, didn’t think they would ever stop, then they did, then they started again.
-Band needs to be in full uniform if they want to be taken serious. Simple as that.
-Student section looked full except the entire empty section above the Ragin Jazz. Of course many of the students left at half. Your drinks at the Yard Goat can wait until the game is complete kids.
Yeah the one entry and exit point is not a good design
One major complaint I have is there is no signage at the top of each new section to indicate which section is which. There are some signs on the rails after you go down the steps…. But nothing at the top of the sections
The Circle K style self checkouts are nice IF you don’t get in the wrong line behind people who don’t know how to use them
Pro tip: Scout out who is in line in front of you and Choose your self checkout line carefully
On the beer front- no Ghost in the Machine at the draft beer lines Or at the 2 that I looked at . All of the draft beer stations had same beers unlike previous years when each one had different options
No pricing posted at grab and go concessions. 12 oz Jucifer can was $9 at self checkout. 16 oz draft would have been same price- I’ll go that route next game
I know they’re scripted and everything, but when you turn over the ball, it may not be the best time to do dizzy bat races or whatever nonsense they trot out there during timeouts
I thought the new stadium was great. The concessions moved fast. The food options were plenty and very good especially on the away side. Props to the Admin for pulling out all the stops. We really enjoyed the unveiling of the new stadium except of course the result of the game. Looking forward to next week!
Alumni tailgating ran out of food by 5:30, out of beer at 6ish. Saw the cluster at old Gate A so went to old Gate C and got in without stopping in a line.
grab and go with self checkout is nice. But it looked like they didn’t have as much guidance at the beginning.
Game atmosphere was ok, but could be better. Music wasn’t stopped on time. What happened to some of the classics at risk of sounding old (Seven Nation Army, Jump, Freddie Mercury chant, etc.) I think the 4th quarter lights out needs more to it. Like a hype video with a hype up song. Didn’t we use Sandstorm last year?
And the DJ in the student section playing for the entire stadium, not a big fan. I feel we get cyclical with it all. We have had a DJ for the student section when I was in college. Then we also had Hud wanting music geared towards students. It hurt the atmosphere.
Can we fix the scoreboard so my phone will register the QR code for the program? Maybe change the graphic so the QR code doesn’t have the black bar thru the middle of it?
My only real complaint was getting into the stadium. 22000 people coming into the stadium through 4 places and only ONE fkn metal detector for each gate??? 22000 people going through 4 metal detectors. Seriously man. FFS! That is unacceptable.
I love sitting on the visitor side and from view point the home side and field looked great. I did not go to concessions my grandkids did the nachos were terrible. My only complaint was the Wi-Fi sucks in the area I sit in. Don’t know if it’s a stadium wide problem but I sit by the press box on visitor side.
