By now the studies and numbers are well known. Attendance at major college sporting events, specifically football, is down, and schools have been working for years to counteract this issue by improving fan experience. But does a monstrous new video board like the one Auburn just installed really accomplish that?
Maybe, if you’re Notre Dame and never had one in the first place.
For most schools, simply buying a bigger TV won’t do the trick. That’s why you see so many programs scrambling to improve cell coverage and add WiFi. But once that’s done, all you’ve provided fans with is a way to connect with something other than the event they’re at. This is why we see so many programs reaching out to Disney, or even other sports leagues, to find something special they can do to improve their game day experience.
With this in mind, we decided to take a look at some of the more unorthodox upgrades and improvements that universities have made in the name of fan experience. Whether it’s rebuilding a stadium or just showing something different on that massive new video board, it never hurts to think outside the box.
Baylor’s Waterfront Entrance
Planning for a positive fan experience is easy when you’re starting from scratch. That’s what Baylor did when they opened McLane Stadium this past season. While it may only seat 45,000, what truly makes the fan experience unique is the location. Sure, the new venue is on campus, as opposed to four miles away like the old Floyd Casey Stadium, but it also sits with an endzone open to the Brazos River. While Baylor doesn’t have the first stadium built waterfront, it does have one of the more unique entrances as fans can have their tickets scanned after crossing a the river on a special built foot bridge.
Cal’s Parking Lot
If you don’t think a well designed parking lot can improve fan experience, you’ve never been to a stadium that holds humans in the six digits. But in Cal’s case, we aren’t talking about automobile parking. We’re talking bikes. 90 new bicycle spaces to be exact. Make all the hippie jokes you want, but for a town like Berkeley, that’s a big deal. Now, if I could just figure out how to connect my gas grill to this Huffy.
Georgia’s TV Timeouts
We live in an era of mass televised football with four-hour games and constant commercials. Naturally, fans at the stadium tend to find these breaks in the action boring. So, what did Georgia do? They brought the television experience into the stadium by showing live video from other SEC games (and the occasional golf tournament) while the Bulldogs were off the field. Sure, it won’t replace the feeling of hitting the “last channel” button on your remote at home, but it’s a pretty simple fix for a major gameday complaint.
A&M’s Bat Free Field
As much as Texas A&M just spent upgrading Kyle Field, probably the biggest improvement was bat-proofing it. For years, College Station has been a destination for migrating Mexican free-tailed bats, and what better place for them to roost than within the spacious confines of Kyle Field? Hundreds of thousands of the little monsters would produce tons of guano, and eventually require the university to put up signs warning visitors of such. With the new renovations came mesh covers for openings, and specifically designed bat-proofing measure, meaning the Aggie faithful can worry a little less about guano, and a little more about what’s happening on the field.
Of course, you don’t want the bats to completely go away. They are actually great for the ecosystem and pest control in the area as they eat insects by the millions. Luckily, they’ve found plenty of room within A&M’s dorms.
Arizona State’s Exterior and Seating
ASU’s plans for renovating Sun Devil Stadium are ambitious to say the least. It seems like every aspect of the upgraded facility is designed with fan experience in mind. Well, every aspect but the timeframe. Although renovations started this past offseason, construction isn’t expected to be completed until 2017, meaning that for a time, Todd Graham’s team will be playing in an unfinished stadium. The payoff will be worth it, though. Once completed, a video “ribbon” will encircle the exterior of the stadium, allowing fans on the outside to watch the action on the field. Why would fans on the outside need to be accommodated? Because ASU’s renovations seem to fully embrace the changing dynamic of live sports, as they will actually be reducing capacity to 60,000 once the project is complete. It’s all in the name of added legroom, and really, isn’t that all fans are truly asking for?
If your school has improved their game day experience in a unique or unorthodox manner, we want to hear about it. Just email Matt at College AD atMatt@CollegeAD.com. Simple, right?
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