Reviewing Opening Weekend at Kyle Field: A Letter from Eric Hyman and Skip Wagner
Sep 17, 2015 | Football
Howdy, Ags!
Thank you for your support and contributions in helping Texas A&M build the finest collegiate football stadium in the country. Last weekend's opening of the renovated Kyle Field was historic and magical, and was indicative of what makes Texas A&M so special. The 12th Man spirit was alive and well, helping to catapult our Aggies to a magnificent victory!
While the entire weekend was certainly one to remember, it was not flawless. Despite comprehensive planning and anticipating potential issues, there were still many challenges we faced opening up Kyle Field, as can be expected with any newly-opened facility of this scale. We have heard your feedback over the past week, especially concerning concessions, in-stadium audio, stadium wayfinding, and escalators and elevators. You can be assured that Texas A&M Athletics and the 12th Man Foundation are committed to maintaining our reputation as having the best gameday experience in the country and we have been working around the clock to correct the issues.
We want to let you know what we have learned and identified as the causes of these issues and what we plan to do in advance of Saturday's home game against Nevada.
We look forward to seeing you all in Kyle Field on Saturday. If you have additional concerns, please send them to feedback@athletics.tamu.edu or customersupport@12thManFoundation.com.
All Aggies should be proud of the redeveloped Kyle Field, and we are committed to our fan experience equaling the majesty of our beautiful stadium. Remember that We Built This Together! Here's to another great weekend of Aggie Football, and BTHO Nevada!
Gig'em!
Eric Hyman
Director of Athletics
Texas A&M University
Skip Wagner
President
12th Man Foundation
Thank you for your support and contributions in helping Texas A&M build the finest collegiate football stadium in the country. Last weekend's opening of the renovated Kyle Field was historic and magical, and was indicative of what makes Texas A&M so special. The 12th Man spirit was alive and well, helping to catapult our Aggies to a magnificent victory!
While the entire weekend was certainly one to remember, it was not flawless. Despite comprehensive planning and anticipating potential issues, there were still many challenges we faced opening up Kyle Field, as can be expected with any newly-opened facility of this scale. We have heard your feedback over the past week, especially concerning concessions, in-stadium audio, stadium wayfinding, and escalators and elevators. You can be assured that Texas A&M Athletics and the 12th Man Foundation are committed to maintaining our reputation as having the best gameday experience in the country and we have been working around the clock to correct the issues.
We want to let you know what we have learned and identified as the causes of these issues and what we plan to do in advance of Saturday's home game against Nevada.
- Concessions – The majority of concessions issues revolved around a staffing shortage, connectivity with points of sale, and the malfunction of elevators. These issues led to long lines, delayed or incorrect food orders and a shortage of product in critical locations. We are working diligently with the Athletics Department's concessions contractor to alleviate these issues and meet the expectations of our fans.
- In-stadium Audio – We had both hardware and software failures with our new distributed audio system on Saturday. For the Nevada game, we are adding speakers as well as backup equipment that will address many of the issues from last week and improve the sound in most of the areas. We will do our absolute best to address the issue before Saturday, but after consulting with our outside experts, realistically the entire audio system working at optimal capacity will likely not happen until October 3rd when we host Mississippi State.
- Stadium Wayfinding – Many of you were unfamiliar with the redeveloped Kyle Field, and, unfortunately, many of our staff were still learning the facility right along with you. Kyle Field is a complex facility to navigate, therefore it is extremely important that you enter the stadium at the entry location marked on your ticket, which will aid the flow of people. For those needing elevator assistance, please ask a uniformed staff member before entering the gates, and we can direct you to the best entry. Our staff will be better prepared to assist you this week after experiencing and reviewing the many questions and issues from opening night. We will also have the ramps opened for ingress and egress and additional staff stationed at the top of the Northeast and Northwest Activation Towers to assist with the tight transition area into the Zone.
- Escalators & Elevators – We had several failures to the elevators and escalators throughout Kyle Field last Saturday. We've had support staff and technicians working on site all week, and they will also be on standby again this Saturday to respond quickly if needed.
We look forward to seeing you all in Kyle Field on Saturday. If you have additional concerns, please send them to feedback@athletics.tamu.edu or customersupport@12thManFoundation.com.
All Aggies should be proud of the redeveloped Kyle Field, and we are committed to our fan experience equaling the majesty of our beautiful stadium. Remember that We Built This Together! Here's to another great weekend of Aggie Football, and BTHO Nevada!
Gig'em!
Eric Hyman
Director of Athletics
Texas A&M University
Skip Wagner
President
12th Man Foundation
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