Game Day Experiences - Lack of details and Ownership

[El Paso Eagle]

Yes, Wren is the ultimate man in charge, but who is responsible for the ground level readiness for game day experiences?

It seems like maybe Wren and his team are so focused on the "big" things they have forgotten the "little" things that add up to make or break the game day fan experience. These are the things that keep people coming back and wanting to repeat the experience. 

So Wren can give the AD speak of "I am responsible", but who is the person tasked to oversee the details? 

 

[Pseudo Nym]

8 minutes ago, El Paso Eagle said:

who is responsible for the ground level readiness for game day experiences?

[El Paso Eagle]

@Pseudo NymThank you. This team is clearly not doing their job. 

 

Hopefully @Brett Vito has the chance to dig into this?

[Pseudo Nym]

You're welcome.

If they were a little bit more savvy, they would've already begun reaching out to people directly (it's easy to make a profile on this forum and reach out privately) and been monitoring this forum and addressed these issues that've been raised here regarding the game day experience.

Perhaps this will get their attention and they'll be more proactive in reaching out to people and resolving these issues.

From what I've read, there's really no excuse other than "we dropped the ball and weren't prepared."

Parking, TV's not working, ticket issues.... this is all very basic Sports/Event Management 101 stuff, it's disappointing to see we're failing at the most basic level of operations and customer service.

[El Paso Eagle]

Just now, Pseudo Nym said:

You're welcome.

If they were a little bit more savvy, they would've already begun reaching out to people directly (it's easy to make a profile on this forum and reach out privately) and been monitoring this forum and addressed these issues that've been raised here regarding the game day experience.

Perhaps this will get their attention and they'll be more proactive in reaching out to people and resolving these issues.

From what I've read, there's really no excuse other than "we dropped the ball and weren't prepared."

Parking, TV's not working, ticket issues.... this is all very basic Sports/Event Management 101 stuff, it's disappointing to see we're failing at the most basic level of operations and customer service.

Hopefully they were walking around on Saturday and experiencing the events. For me, I have always thought one of the best ways to make improvements is to take a look at an area/activity - look for the bad, not the good. It's easy to try and pat yourself on the back, but if you want to improve you need to address the shortcomings. 

 

[Pavlovs Eagle]

3 hours ago, El Paso Eagle said:

It seems like maybe Wren and his team are so focused on the "big" things they have forgotten the "little" things that add up to make or break the game day fan experience.

What big things are Wren and his team so laser focused on that they can't seem to execute facilities at 6 Saturday home football games a season for less than 20k fans?  He's already got us in another bigger better athletic conference, he's already got two winning basketball coaches, he's got some decently high performing non-rev sports teams.  What else other than our crown jewel football program should he be occupying his time?  I saw Grant at the football game on Saturday, I saw AD lackeys chasing around the big money center section CL ticketholders on their way out with a quarter to go... What was Wren doing?

If I was Wren I would get a good laugh out of all of the apologist that support my every short coming.

The $hit needs to roll uphill mi amigos.

[untjim1995]

Here’s the biggest issue—these problems are always here. Doesn’t matter who the AD has been, either. Helwig, RV, now Wren—-all have had major problems with simple fan interactions (bad customer service, no season tickets arriving, parking lot issues, PA won’t work, etc…)

Ask yourself this question. Where else would this happen for this long? Where else would even a quarter of this be accepted?

Your answer tells you all you need to know about how football is looked at from the administration.

[MeanGreen22]

The gameday experience made the day even worse. Not only was the product on the field well below par, so was the product off the field. Personally, it was the worst I’ve ever witnessed in/at Apogee. Was a top to bottom failure of a day for the program. 

Edited September 6, 2022 by MeanGreen22

[GRN-WHT]

There are a lot of professional and college teams in this area that are all fighting over the same talent for these operations type roles. UNT is among the lowest paying of those employers. 
 

Turnover in the office has always been high because UNT simply can’t compete on salary. The higher ups are concerned with coaches and players while everything else falls through the cracks. 
 

I’m not holding my breath for considerable positive change until the school can pay staffers something more substantial than poverty wages. 

[meangreenbob]

Apogee reeked of mediocrity Saturday night both on and off the field. 
There is a staleness that surrounds this program. 
Fix it or just pull the plug. 

Edited September 6, 2022 by meangreenbob

[NorthTexasWeLove]

3 hours ago, meangreenbob said:

Apogee reeked of mediocrity Saturday night both on and off the field. 
There is a staleness that surrounds this program. 
Fix it or just pull the plug. 

My exact feelings. 

But I do want to see this season play out. I think we can get to 7 wins. Then, IMO, the bowl game becomes make or break. I'll stop thinking about reaching for the pitchfork if we go 8-5 with hardware. 

[Coffee and TV]

13 hours ago, MeanGreen22 said:

The gameday experience made the day even worse. Not only was the product on the field well below par, so was the product off the field. Personally, it was the worst I’ve ever witnessed in/at Apogee. Was a top to bottom failure of a day for the program. 

I tried getting a pizza and coke during the 2nd quarter and they were already out of both.

[MeanGreen22]

1 hour ago, Coffee and TV said:

I tried getting a pizza and coke during the 2nd quarter and they were already out of both.

That must have been a timing or specific concession issue bc i got a pizza in the 3rd quarter fairly easily.
 

It did take me the entire 1st quarter to get a fletchers corn dog. But it’s a 3rd party vendor so I won’t really hold that over gameday ops. I put it in the survey just so they were aware. 

[Withers940]

Parking was a disaster...Took me 30 minutes to get into the Blue lot and thankfully I was able to get in with a pass that I bought 6 months ago unlike some other folks that were pushed away. Why dont they charge a higher rate for people that are gameday parkers? Push em to the red lot across the street. 

My wife tried to buy a hamburger in the second qtr and the concession she went to said they are sold out of HB's in the entire stadium. Then walked down a ways and bought from another stand. 

I left my seat with 3:30 left in the 3rd quarter because I knew that was my last time to go buy a beer before it was closed down. I walked to the concessions under my section in 204 and there was a guy standing there with a puzzled look on his face because they weren't selling him a beer. Then I spoke up and asked if I could get one, thinking maybe he had one too many and they cut him off but come to find out the guy working it said, "We just got the call, we aren't allowed to sell beer in the 4th qtr, its illegal". Of course I went back and forth with the guy because there was still plenty of time left in the third and then the guy slammed the concession window on me. I then turned to my right and found the stand alone beer stand, walked over and bought a beer with no trouble at all. 

Last Saturday was one of the worst GameDay experiences across the board I have had in my 12 years as a season ticket holder. I did fill out the survey too so hopefully our complaints won't fall on deaf ears but then again......

[Coffee and TV]

2 hours ago, MeanGreen22 said:

That must have been a timing or specific concession issue bc i got a pizza in the 3rd quarter fairly easily.
 

It did take me the entire 1st quarter to get a fletchers corn dog. But it’s a 3rd party vendor so I won’t really hold that over gameday ops. I put it in the survey just so they were aware. 

Oh i don't doubt that either were probably available at another concession stand, but you'd think there wouldn't be a single stand that runs out of coke.

Edited September 6, 2022 by Coffee and TV

[untjim1995]

Maybe the most North Texas thing ever was seeing the concession stand worker taking orders while wearing an OU visor and telling people we were out of Coke...

[MrAlien]

its been the same issues for many years now... Parking, tickets, gift shop, concessions, and even the alumni pavilion its all poorly planned and executed.  These are the continuing issues that prevent many of the DFW alumni from attending games. 

[untjim1995]

8 minutes ago, MrAlien said:

its been the same issues for many years now... Parking, tickets, gift shop, concessions, and even the alumni pavilion its all poorly planned and executed.  These are the continuing issues that prevent many of the DFW alumni from attending games. 

I think they're all really solid excuses for DFW alumni to say they won't come here for a game, but the underlying issue will always be that the culture of this place doesn't make football--or really anything, as others have rightly pointed out--a thing to really be at or support. It's all just so half-ass...which is twice as good as it used to be when we were getting our asses kicked at Fouts with Todd Dodge as the HFC and his HS assistants, all while RV was the AD. 

And maybe it's this way in places like College Station or Norman with non-football events--maybe the leadership cares so little about anything music or arts related that nobody runs it worth a damn, pissing off the people who do care about it. I truly don't know. But when its 31-10 at halftime, against your biggest rivals on your homefield, and someone sitting directly behind you says, "this is the best part of coming here for a game", just as the band marches on to the field, it just makes you realize again that this place is very, very different from anywhere else in this region of the country.