First, you need to read this previous entry as a de facto “part one” to today’s entry. We wanted to thank Pack Pride for continuing to focus on the issues of simple game-day execution at Carter-Finley. On Sunday, PP ran a great entry from Scott Vogelsburg (formerly of The Wolfpacker) and in today’s “Observations” from the game the website penned the following:
Student seating an issue: The powers that be need to address the issue with the students being seated before the game. With four minutes to go in the fourth quarter, students were still filing into Carter-Finley Stadium. While some may argue that the students should just get to the game earlier, why should they be subjected to having to enter the game an hour and a half before kickoff just to get seated when other fans can sit in the parking lot until 15 minutes before the start of the game. Our students are also a huge part of the excitement and noise in the stadium and the seating issue needs to be addressed to work out the kinks
What I don’t understand is why it has taken so long for this to become a oublic issue? IT’S ABOUT TIME!!
I first noticed the ridiculous student lines on the first night of the 2005 season when Virginia Tech visited Raleigh for the Sunday night game on ESPN. It was amazing. The line went on as far as the eye could see. The story that I remember is that by HALFTIME, the students got so tired of waiting in line that they just rushed security and let themselves in. That was pening night of Vaughn Towers…which, OF COURSE, led to long lines entering the stadium and even longer lines to use the limited number of elevators that are required to transport people to their seats in the towers.
Similar to Kim Nelson in this article…I have been a season ticket holder since the day I graduated college in 1993. I have had lifetime rights since the first day the Wolfpack Club & NC State re-prioritized football and basketball. As I said in this related entry, “the author of this piece attended approximately twenty NC State home and away football games in a four year period while living in Houston, TX.” Despite my long-term history of going to NC State football games regardless of our performance on the field…I did NOT attend Saturday’s game despite the convenient start time in relation to my two and half hour drive from Charlotte.
My absence had NOTHING to do with State’s struggles on the field. It had everything to do with my growing discontent for the way NC State treats the people of whom they constant ask so much. I am tired of it. I am tired of:
* struggling through ridiculous lines just to get into the stadium
* not having enough restroom facilities on the East side (what happened to the Carter-Finely expansion?)
* not knowing what time I am allowed to drive to the parking spot for which I have to pay
* concessions that don’t have enough water, and
* watching our students have the fun (and future donations and support!) sucked out of them while being treated like shit in long lines with ridiculous policies.
Is Tom Stafford running gameday operations, as well?
Raucous crowds still enter the wolves’ den for every home game, selling out the stadium and giving all they have in an attempt to spur State on to victory.
The diehard nature of Wolfpack Nation is one reason why reports of difficulties entering games are so hard to understand. For a squad in dire need of every ounce of support it can get, alumni and students expect a grateful administration that aims to make their game-day experience as enjoyable as possible. But for some fans, some recent situations have called into question how dedicated NC State is to this goal.
