Oh snap!

[Norm Peterson]

All you people who like to leave at the 5-minute mark to get the best seats at Gate 25 or whatever it is you do when you leave the game early, I has some bad news for you.

 

Quote

One significant change this season is that most of the lower bowl at Pinnacle Bank Arena will have a different traffic pattern beginning with Friday’s Opening Night event. Railings have been added throughout most of the 100 Level to limit courtside foot traffic. Court level access will be restricted pregame, in-game and postgame to the teams and officials, game management personnel, media, other properly credentialed individuals and those who have seats in courtside, floor ADA, row A and the students for men’s basketball sitting in sections 105-108 and section 112.

 

[49r]

I'll be honest, I don't think I'll be a fan of this.  Not from a "keeping fans from exiting early" perspective, but more from an aesthetics standpoint.

[Norm Peterson]

God bless Trev Alberts.

 

Quote

Update for Nebraska Men's and Women's Basketball Season Ticket Holders

With the start of Nebraska basketball season, we welcome you back to Pinnacle Bank Arena for what should be an exciting year for both our men’s and women’s programs. As a season-ticket holder, we wanted to update you on a few items ahead of the upcoming season. 

As part of the season-ticket process, we provided fans the options of paper or mobile tickets for the 2021-22 season. We are in the final process for our season-ticket holders, and tickets will be sent to account holders very shortly. As a reminder, if you chose mobile tickets, please add your tickets to your digital wallet prior to arriving at Pinnacle Bank Arena, as it will shorten your wait time to get into the arena. In addition, all of the concession stands around Pinnacle Bank Arena have transitioned to cashless operations to limit touch points.

One significant change this season is that most of the lower bowl at Pinnacle Bank Arena will have a different traffic pattern beginning with Friday’s Opening Night event. Railings have been added throughout most of the 100 Level to limit courtside foot traffic. Court level access will be restricted pregame, in-game and postgame to the teams and officials, game management personnel, media, other properly credentialed individuals and those who have seats in courtside, floor ADA, row A and the students for men’s basketball sitting in sections 105-108 and section 112. For fans entering through the south main lobby, the escalators and steps will provide access to the main concourse. The north entrance is already at concourse level and can be reached by the pedestrian bridge on the east side of the arena.  

There are several reasons for making this move. First, the seating policy is consistent with many of our other facilities on campus, as well as the other Division I basketball facilities in the state. Second, it reduces the traffic around working areas in the lower bowl, such as the players and coaches of both teams, game officials, television/radio positions and the scorer’s table. Finally, the move was made to help enhance the atmosphere inside Pinnacle Bank Arena, especially in the final minutes, and to help improve our homecourt advantage. For the upcoming season, this change will also aid our teams as they remain vigilant with health and safety protocols. 

We wanted to communicate this change prior to the start of the season because we know this will be an adjustment for many of our fans in the lower bowl. Thanks for your cooperation and understanding. 

Trev Alberts
Director of Athletics

 

http://huskers.fan-one.com/nl/jsp/m.jsp?c=%40m8vyJi%2BcG2ppOARA0lOIZNnZmD7LOaFtV4IdfHTnNNo%3D

[HuskerFever]

I just miss the good ol' days of Bob Devaney where even the announcer encouraged fans to move closer to the action later in the game.

[HB]

46 minutes ago, Norm Peterson said:

All you people who like to leave at the 5-minute mark to get the best seats at Gate 25 or whatever it is you do when you leave the game early, I has some bad news for you.

 

 

 

Norm, those folks leaving early aren't going to Gate.   Only true fans go there for postgame beers and discussion.   The leave early folks are going as fast as they can to their car to get home in time for the 10:00 news.  

[kldm64]

1 hour ago, 49r said:

I'll be honest, I don't think I'll be a fan of this.  Not from a "keeping fans from exiting early" perspective, but more from an aesthetics standpoint.

 

Just curious why aren't you a fan of this?  If I'm understanding the email, it will make people go up to the concourse to leave instead of walking down past the court.  I think it's a great move

Edited October 1, 2021 by kldm64

[Huskerpapa]

My one issue WILL BE the jerks leaving early who block MY VIEW as they slowly walk up the stairs.  I guess number two would be if they choose to linger at the top of my section.  Flippin a#* wi#&s.

[Cornhoopers]

Why did it take a change of AD to make this happen? The herd of olds pushing towards the parking garages within feet of the court has been an embarrassment since PBA opened. Good on the new administration.

[49r]

37 minutes ago, kldm64 said:

 

Just curious why aren't you a fan of this?  If I'm understanding the email, it will make people go up to the concourse to leave instead of walking down past the court.  I think it's a great move

 

If your seat is in the top half of the 100's or higher it's fine.  But if your seat is in the first few rows it will be a PITA to go in, ride the escalator up, walk to your section and then walk all the way back down to your row.  Then reverse it to leave.

 

Plus, adding more railings to the bottoms of each section will look ugly (IMO) on TV.  Ruins the aesthetic.

[Norm Peterson]

3 minutes ago, 49r said:

 

If your seat is in the top half of the 100's or higher it's fine.  But if your seat is in the first few rows it will be a PITA to go in, ride the escalator up, walk to your section and then walk all the way back down to your row.  Then reverse it to leave.

 

Plus, adding more railings to the bottoms of each section will look ugly (IMO) on TV.  Ruins the aesthetic.

 

And to think we could have avoided this extreme step if certain people would have just waited a few more minutes before they hit the exits or, alternatively, climbed up the stairs to leave so as not to make a public spectacle of fans streaming out before the end of the game.

 

This is all their fault.

[Nighthawk]

Now if only the AD would add rails to the steps at Memorial Stadium for all the 80+ crowd that come to the games.

[jimmykc]

Sounds like a good idea so in recognition I will plan to move to a different cushion on the sofa myself this year. It also makes me even more appreciative of my old tickets courtside at the BDSC. There I could exit directly out either lower door and be in my car within 5 minutes of leaving my seat. Then I could listen to the postgame show while waiting the 45 minutes for a 500-car coal train to pass.

[hhcmatt]

21 minutes ago, Cornhoopers said:

Why did it take a change of AD to make this happen? The herd of olds pushing towards the parking garages within feet of the court has been an embarrassment since PBA opened. Good on the new administration.

 

It's probably fueled by covid as much as anything.  Sure it might be better optics on TV at some points but you're also losing the ability to show up with your kid an hour early and walk on the court unless you can buy your way into that. 

[Nighthawk]

Luckily women's games don't sell well.  My dad  just called and was able to get their 5th row mid court switched over to two rows down from top at Mid court as my 78 year old mom can't make it down that many steps to get to 5th row seats. 

[Art Vandalay]

46 minutes ago, 49r said:

 

If your seat is in the top half of the 100's or higher it's fine.  But if your seat is in the first few rows it will be a PITA to go in, ride the escalator up, walk to your section and then walk all the way back down to your row.  Then reverse it to leave.

 

Plus, adding more railings to the bottoms of each section will look ugly (IMO) on TV.  Ruins the aesthetic.

This, it is going to suck getting to our seats now. Come in go up, over, and around, then back down. Plus no heckling the other team as you walk by. 

[Norm Peterson]

All it would have taken is for Moos to have listened to my recommendation to close the floor-level tunnels from, like, the 10-minute mark to the end of regulation.

 

Break people's habit of streaming out at floor level after the last media timeout.

 

As is usually the case, the selfish few ruin it for everyone.

[Huskerpapa]

3 hours ago, Cornhoopers said:

Why did it take a change of AD to make this happen? The herd of olds pushing towards the parking garages within feet of the court has been an embarrassment since PBA opened. Good on the new administration.

It isn't just "old" people...

[Cornhoopers]

Yes, perhaps it was unfair of me to use the term "olds." I may have just been going for a laugh and should be careful as I am now over 40 myself.

 

What I should have said was the herd of geriatrics, with a sprinkling of younger folks able to afford seats in the 100-level but still with a mean age greater than 55, pushing towards the parking garages within feet of the court has been an embarrassment since PBA opened.

 

For this, i apologize.

[Vinny]

12 hours ago, Nighthawk said:

Now if only the AD would add rails to the steps at Memorial Stadium for all the 80+ crowd that come to the games.

He was on the job less than two months before the football season started and had an investigation to learn about. Maybe this coming off season.

[HuskerBB]

Like most things I see this as a situation where there should be a middle ground.   To some extent this is a problem with building design mistakes.   The design was to have most people leave at the concourse level - and also to have just as many if not more leave to the north as the south.   But when you put the arena in the location it is in that doesn't happen - a large majority come in from the south because that is where they are before the game (because they are pre-gaming and because the parking on the north side by the ballpark is not as convenient in the winter as the designers anticipated.)   More to the point it simply is the natural reaction of people given an option to move down rather than going up from their seats.   I have long thought that many people would come down from their seats when they could be getting out of the arena much quicker by going up.

 

Personally I come in from the north so this does not really impact me a bit - even though my seats are in the lower rows.  It is alot of steps because I park on street level so there are a bunch of steps up to that north entrance and then a bunch more down to my seats. - but fortunately that is not yet a problem for me.

 

That said I know several people who will be VERY much inconvenienced by this policy and at least one I know personally who will be totally unable to go to games because there is no way he will be able to get to his seats and back out via the upper concourse - far more steps from there to his seat than he would be able to physically handle.   My hope is they will find a way to be flexible although I am not optimistic.   I recall the first season when we wanted my elderly mother to be able to access the building from a handicapped entrance on the north side at floor level and walk directly to her row one seat on the north end - not very far at all from that door.   They refused forcing her to take an elevator up - walk clear across the concourse to the escalator to get back down and then come in from that south floor level entrance and walk at floor level all the way to the north side.   Was the only way to get her to that seat as going up and down that many steps was impossible for her at that time.   My parents had been going to games for 50 years through three arenas and they had easy access from their parking to their seats in Devaney - but PBA access rules just made it too difficult so she stopped coming    And that was when you could at least enter the court from the floor level.    Again there are people who are still fairly mobile but simply cannot handle the steps from that concourse down to their seats and back up.   

 

Obviously they are allowing some floor level access - for the courtside seats and the students.   Hopefully they will come up with some floor level access pass that they can issue upon request for good cause for season ticket holders who have lower seats but physical limitations that make it difficult or impossible to go down and up from that concourse.   If they do that reasonably this could actually be better for those people as it would also help them to have to walk in and out among far fewer people.   Again I am hopeful that they will make that accommodation - but based on past experience I am not optimistic and that will be very unfortunate for some long time and loyal fans.

 

[Nighthawk]

4 hours ago, Vinny said:

He was on the job less than two months before the football season started and had an investigation to learn about. Maybe this coming off season.

Yeah I wasn't expecting over night.  Hell they could have taken a few more years to add the cage around the floor at the arena.  

[GoBigRed]

10 hours ago, HuskerBB said:

Like most things I see this as a situation where there should be a middle ground.   To some extent this is a problem with building design mistakes.   The design was to have most people leave at the concourse level - and also to have just as many if not more leave to the north as the south.   But when you put the arena in the location it is in that doesn't happen - a large majority come in from the south because that is where they are before the game (because they are pre-gaming and because the parking on the north side by the ballpark is not as convenient in the winter as the designers anticipated.)   More to the point it simply is the natural reaction of people given an option to move down rather than going up from their seats.   I have long thought that many people would come down from their seats when they could be getting out of the arena much quicker by going up.

 

Personally I come in from the north so this does not really impact me a bit - even though my seats are in the lower rows.  It is alot of steps because I park on street level so there are a bunch of steps up to that north entrance and then a bunch more down to my seats. - but fortunately that is not yet a problem for me.

 

That said I know several people who will be VERY much inconvenienced by this policy and at least one I know personally who will be totally unable to go to games because there is no way he will be able to get to his seats and back out via the upper concourse - far more steps from there to his seat than he would be able to physically handle.   My hope is they will find a way to be flexible although I am not optimistic.   I recall the first season when we wanted my elderly mother to be able to access the building from a handicapped entrance on the north side at floor level and walk directly to her row one seat on the north end - not very far at all from that door.   They refused forcing her to take an elevator up - walk clear across the concourse to the escalator to get back down and then come in from that south floor level entrance and walk at floor level all the way to the north side.   Was the only way to get her to that seat as going up and down that many steps was impossible for her at that time.   My parents had been going to games for 50 years through three arenas and they had easy access from their parking to their seats in Devaney - but PBA access rules just made it too difficult so she stopped coming    And that was when you could at least enter the court from the floor level.    Again there are people who are still fairly mobile but simply cannot handle the steps from that concourse down to their seats and back up.   

 

Obviously they are allowing some floor level access - for the courtside seats and the students.   Hopefully they will come up with some floor level access pass that they can issue upon request for good cause for season ticket holders who have lower seats but physical limitations that make it difficult or impossible to go down and up from that concourse.   If they do that reasonably this could actually be better for those people as it would also help them to have to walk in and out among far fewer people.   Again I am hopeful that they will make that accommodation - but based on past experience I am not optimistic and that will be very unfortunate for some long time and loyal fans.

 

if they are that physically unable to take some stairs perhaps they should be in the ADA seating or if it is that big of a deal to them they can have their seats moved to the upper half of the 100 level so they are only a few stairs up from the concourse and then elevators. Not trying to be a heartless prick, but there are ways around it. And if it’s really that big of a deal perhaps a rule where they can wait 10 minutes postgame for foot traffic to clear out and then open up the court level access to 100 level ticket holders who will not take the stairs up. At least that way you don’t have people streaming for the court exits on National TV and anyone who absolutely must use the floor exits has the opportunity if they are willing to be patient. I don’t think they need to bend over backwards though to accommodate Husker fans who think they deserve special treatment. I’ve worked at the athletic department, and believe me there are a LOT of Husker fans who think they deserve what special accommodations for whatever their situation is. Knowing the demographics of that 100 level I think a lot of people would be lining up for an exemption to this rule and you’d end up with the same situation we’ve had, most of the lower 100 section exiting the floor and most of them doing so before the game is early trying to get home for the 10:00 news. 

Edited October 2, 2021 by GoBigFred

[Fastbreaker]

Why does it bother some off you so much if people leave early.  A ticket is bought.  This gives that person the right to arrive late, leave early or not come at all.  Not everyone is a never sit down, slobber all over themselves type of fan.  

[Norm Peterson]

29 minutes ago, Fastbreaker said:

Why does it bother some off you so much if people leave early.  A ticket is bought.  This gives that person the right to arrive late, leave early or not come at all.  Not everyone is a never sit down, slobber all over themselves type of fan.  

“Next time, you keep your ass in your seat.“

 

Danny Nee

[GoBigRed]

1 hour ago, Fastbreaker said:

Why does it bother some off you so much if people leave early.  A ticket is bought.  This gives that person the right to arrive late, leave early or not come at all.  Not everyone is a never sit down, slobber all over themselves type of fan.  

Leaving early is not the problem. It’s where they are leaving. Buying a ticket doesn’t entitle everyone to exit on the court level behind the team benches and scorers tables. Not saying that’s the fans fault. Building design flaw or whatever, sure. But there shouldn’t be any gripes about being told to exit somewhere else. Especially if you are consistently one to leave with 4 minutes left no matter the score. I say walk up the stairs and have at it!

Edited October 2, 2021 by GoBigFred