Before the Super Bowl kicked off, the TV announcers mentioned that some seats were unsafe and as a result, NFL officials were doing their best to relocate the fans who had those seats.
ESPN.com wrote a detailed story on what happened. Some of the fans did get new seats, while others were offered three times face value as compensation.
Meanwhile, all fans had a difficult time entering the stadium, as some gates were closed due to ice on the roof. Some waited an hour-and-a-half to get in!
Here are some things stadium personnel could have done better:
- Be more prepared for any situation. Two days before the Super Bowl, some ice fell from the roof and injured some people. Thus, officials had two days to come up with a better plan than just closing four of the 10 gates last-minute and poorly communicating this to the public.
- Communicate better. One fan said, “Problem was, you didn’t know if you were in the right line or not. Everywhere you looked, there were just fences and screens and you couldn’t get in anywhere.” For one thing, announcements should have been made continuously through the exterior PA system. In addition, staff (including the police) should have been instructed how to better guide people to their (new) gate.
- Have back-up systems. Ticket scanning devices malfunctioned at one gate, causing fans to get unruly. Did they not test the devices earlier in the day? Why not have back-up devices ready? Since four gates were closed, there should have been plenty of extras.
- Manage staff better. Since four gates were closed, those ticket handlers should have been reassigned to the closed seating area to be there to explain the situation to the fans. Or, more than likely all those fans would have entered through the same gate. So those staffers could have met them right away and saved the fans the trouble of finding out when they got to their seats (and probably after purchasing food, etc.).