Jamie Pollard statement regarding ticket scanning process during home opener

[Cyclone Pfan]

What provider were you on? Verizon was great for me all day. I ran a quick speed test and was getting 100mbit when the stadium was full

Verizon. It was all I could do to get enough bandwidth to install Google wallet and get 2 of my 4 tickets moved over from the TM app (across 1.5 hours of trying). I couldn't get the other two to come across due to timeouts in TM app and web browsers. G2 lot.

0 cell coverage from start of second quarter to mid 4th quarter for myself and 3 family members (I have a samsung; other three had iphones). 2 in section c, 2 in student section. We couldn't even get texts thru.

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

I am guessing this was not the view from my seats you saw on Ticketmaster cause you would not have bought them.

This is completely unacceptable. If this is the best they can do for some kind of liquor licensing issue, just take “science and technology’ out of the name of the university.

Just put some bouncers between SEZ and the normal seats.

Many of us in the section were those moved from the east side to the west side because of the moving of the students to our old section. I get it's a nondonor section, but this is just horrible, and we really have no recourse in the matter.
My seats are row 14, seats 5-8 and I have 4 seats to the east of me before the wall. Anytime there is a play in the SE corner of the endzone, I am going to have to stand to see over the wall because of the railing, at least we had no glare like the photo. The wall blocks the wind, making it hot has hell in those seats on Saturday. And for what? like I said earlier, in my old seats I was right against the rail, they always had people posted along the rail on the Sukup side making sure that drinks were not be passed over. The few times it was tried, cops were called and the person was arrested or at least the drink was taken away. So we put a wall that really solves a problem that did not exist and screws over those of us that have purchased seats close to the wall, all of this without even telling us that they were doing it.

I have to say, we have been debating our purchase of season tickets next year, I am pretty sure this is the final nail in the coffin, and I will not get a full season ticket next season and just move to the 3-game pass with different seats every game or not get them at all.

 

[Trice]

Verizon. It was all I could do to get enough bandwidth to install Google wallet and get 2 of my 4 tickets moved over from the TM app (across 1.5 hours of trying). I couldn't get the other two to come across due to timeouts in TM app and web browsers. G2 lot.

0 cell coverage from start of second quarter to mid 4th quarter for myself and 3 family members (I have a samsung; other three had iphones). 2 in section c, 2 in student section. We couldn't even get texts thru.

I didn't have great coverage at my seat but it was good on the west side concourse. I'd guess this is a real YMMV situation.

But as it pertains to tickets, were you doing all this at the tailgate on Saturday morning? Because they've been saying for three years now to move tickets to your wallet before showing up.

 

[2speedy1]

Verizon. It was all I could do to get enough bandwidth to install Google wallet and get 2 of my 4 tickets moved over from the TM app (across 1.5 hours of trying). I couldn't get the other two to come across due to timeouts in TM app and web browsers. G2 lot.

0 cell coverage from start of second quarter to mid 4th quarter for myself and 3 family members (I have a samsung; other three had iphones). 2 in section c, 2 in student section. We couldn't even get texts thru.

So you are that guy huh, that didnt download the tix well before, as instructed? The same way we have done it for 3 YEARS!

You are the guy that expected cell coverage, when there has been none for years and they have repeated said there is limited coverage at best...but are trying to make it better?

You are the guy giving those of us that did it right, but still could not get the scanners to work, a bad name.

Jesus download your tickets before game day!

 

[Trice]

Many of us in the section were those moved from the east side to the west side because of the moving of the students to our old section. I get it's a nondonor section, but this is just horrible, and we really have no recourse in the matter.
My seats are row 14, seats 5-8 and I have 4 seats to the east of me before the wall. Anytime there is a play in the SE corner of the endzone, I am going to have to stand to see over the wall because of the railing, at least we had no glare like the photo. The wall blocks the wind, making it hot has hell in those seats on Saturday. And for what? like I said earlier, in my old seats I was right against the rail, they always had people posted along the rail on the Sukup side making sure that drinks were not be passed over. The few times it was tried, cops were called and the person was arrested or at least the drink was taken away. So we put a wall that really solves a problem that did not exist and screws over those of us that have purchased seats close to the wall, all of this without even telling us that they were doing it.

I have to say, we have been debating our purchase of season tickets next year, I am pretty sure this is the final nail in the coffin, and I will not get a full season ticket next season and just move to the 3-game pass with different seats every game or not get them at all.

From the other thread, sounds like the wall might be coming down. Stay tuned.

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

From the other thread, sounds like the wall might be coming down. Stay tuned.

Truthfully, I do not have the type of luck, and never have. But I can always hope.

 

[Cyclone Pfan]

I honestly think a lot of these comments about Pollard being "backhanded" are over the top. He literally said they failed and provided a terrible customer service experience. If that's not enough for you, then I think that's more of a reflection on you than on him.

That said - the main thing I don't understand (and this was on the CW/Blum podcast as well) are the comments that people are showing up last minute and could have avoided the problem if we didn't want to drink that last beer before coming in. For years I've always left the lots about 30 minutes before kickoff, reached the gate 15-20 minutes before kickoff, and entered the stands to catch the last few minutes of the pregame show and see the team run on. I'm not sure why anyone should plan otherwise, unless they want to make sure they get to see the full pregame show from the band. That's not coming in last minute - that's coming in at a normal time. If tons of people showed up at the gate 5 minutes before kickoff, yeah that's last minute but that isn't what happened. There shouldn't be an expectation that people need to be in the stands 30 minutes or more before kickoff.

I won't be able to make the Iowa game but for the next home game I guess I'll have to plan to leave the lots an hour before kickoff if I want to see the start of the game.

I think the complaints are justified and appreciated Pollard's apology, but I don't think this was a "last minute" issue. When I was walking to, and waiting in line in the south entrance, I could see the length of the bridge at a standstill all the way to the back to the base of the bridge. And that was 30 minutes before kickoff. Once I got to my seats in section C, I could see out the north entrance that the cluster there went almost all the way back to Trice Drive (or whatever they are calling it these days). That crowd did not thin until the first quarter was nearly over.

60,000 scans / 30 minutes across 30 scanners (10 at each of the entrance) = 66 scans per minute = 1 scan per second per machine. Anything less than that adds to the entrance time.

We'll get more efficient as the season moves on, but the math says to either show up 45+ minutes early or plan to miss kickoff.

 

[Cyclone Pfan]

So you are that guy huh, that didnt download the tix well before, as instructed? The same way we have done it for 3 YEARS!

You are the guy that expected cell coverage, when there has been none for years and they have repeated said there is limited coverage at best...but are trying to make it better?

You are the guy giving those of us that did it right, but still could not get the scanners to work, a bad name.

Jesus download your tickets before game day!

I had no issues getting in a$$hat. I was in my seat 10 minutes before kickoff using the TM app.

I've never had cell issues in the past. I was surprised that it was so bad Saturday.

I have/had no intention of installing Google wallet until I discovered the cell coverage was sooo bad in the lots and didn't want to hold up the line when I got there.

How 'bout you do you.

 

[BCClone]

I think the complaints are justified and appreciated Pollard's apology, but I don't think this was a "last minute" issue. When I was walking to, and waiting in line in the south entrance, I could see the length of the bridge at a standstill all the way to the back to the base of the bridge. And that was 30 minutes before kickoff. Once I got to my seats in section C, I could see out the north entrance that the cluster there went almost all the way back to Trice Drive (or whatever they are calling it these days). That crowd did not thin until the first quarter was nearly over.

60,000 scans / 30 minutes across 30 scanners (10 at each of the entrance) = 66 scans per minute = 1 scan per second per machine. Anything less than that adds to the entrance time.

We'll get more efficient as the season moves on, but the math says to either show up 45+ minutes early or plan to miss kickoff.

Well, at least you are saying 30 scanners. Closer to the actual number than the 25 people were saying.

Look at the photo of the north entrance. I can count roughly 2 dozen right there. There were at least 10 at the south and east. Guessing there would be at least 6 at the west that puts us at 50 scanners. Now how many were at the student area? Plus, don't the students get to go in early so that adds time to the ticket scanning.

 

[CycloneErik]

If we let this happen, shame on us.

Yeah, that's a clonedude estimate. There's no way our program excitement is at that low level.

 

[Sigmapolis]

There were more than 6 scanners at the South Gate.

"~6" means "approximately six." If I underestimated, so be it.

What was true was half the gate was barricaded off to funnel people into a smaller number of scanners that would have been possible had the setup tried to use all the available space.

I don't know what happened at the northern or eastern ends. Wasn't there. But the southern gate could have had more capacity for throughput if the set up had used that dead space.

 

[danvillecyclone]

Wear Cyclone gear:
Show any ticket, screenshot, etc = Automatic Entry.

Wear visiting team gear:

must use kiosk = miss 1st Quarter.

Problem solved.

 

[BCClone]

"~6" means "approximately six." If I underestimated, so be it.

What was true was half the gate was barricaded off to funnel people into a smaller number of scanners that would have been possible had the setup tried to use all the available space.

I don't know what happened at the northern or eastern ends. Wasn't there. But the southern gate could have had more capacity for throughput if the set up had used that dead space.

when I got in, I looked back and guessed about 10-12 on the south side.

 

[Cyclone Pfan]

Well, at least you are saying 30 scanners. Closer to the actual number than the 25 people were saying.

Look at the photo of the north entrance. I can count roughly 2 dozen right there. There were at least 10 at the south and east. Guessing there would be at least 6 at the west that puts us at 50 scanners. Now how many were at the student area? Plus, don't the students get to go in early so that adds time to the ticket scanning.

You are making great points. i have no clue how many scanners were in play. looked to be ~10 in the south end zone and it seemed like theres a limit to how many can be on the east entrance. I was trying to do quick math.

 

[NWICY]

This week gonna be hell for the Athletics Department on a short turnaround.

Maybe some of them should be working today. If they think there was a problem.

 

[NWICY]

Has anyone posted about the fiasco with the fence on the west side of the SEZ. Heard that it reflected the sun back to the fans and blocked a good portion of the field. Hundreds left early instead of dying.

The plexiglass barrier to kill all wind flow? It was in the big complaint thread

 

[clonedude]

Yeah, that's a clonedude estimate. There's no way our program excitement is at that low level.

A LOT of tickets being sold out there... are they all going to ISU fans? I doubt it.

I hope I'm wrong, but I could see 15k Iowa fans there out of 61,000 total. 24%.

 

[CycloneErik]

A LOT of tickets being sold out there... are they all going to ISU fans? I doubt it.

I hope I'm wrong, but I could see 15k Iowa fans there out of 61,000 total. 24%.

You didn't prove me wrong. It's a clonedude estimate.

 

[VeloClone]

There is no way in hell that there are going to be 15 to 20,000 EIU fans at the game, that would be one in three fans.

I think this is a problem of ISU's own making, when they built the bridge, they now have forced the majority of the fans to enter the stadium from either the North or East side of the stadium. They have made it basically impossible to come from the North and enter the stadium on the West side because of new football facilities, and there is not much tailgating space on the South side. So the vast majority of people are trying to get in at the North and East gates and its just a cluster. Jamie needs to come up with a way to get people from the tailgating lots from the North and drop them off on the South side, and then allow people parking in the GA lots to get across university by stopping the traffic and use the South gates.

I was excited about the possibilities when they opened the bridge. They could have the gate as it was under the bridge (Gate 2) and an additional bridge gate (Gate 2B, if you will) at the bridge on the concourse level. Instead of expanding capabilities they made all of gate 2 at the top. Looked like a missed opportunity to me.

 

[clonedude]

You didn't prove me wrong. It's a clonedude estimate.

Correct... an estimate. JP doesn't even have an accurate count at this point.... so why would I? I'm estimating.

I've been to other Cy-Hawk games before, and I'd say the opposing team has close to 1/4th of the seats in most of these games. Maybe I'm wrong on that??