As Ford Stadium reached capacity during the “DFW Duel for the Iron Skillet,” fans, parents and alumni were met with new challenges when trying to get to their usual seats. Security guards were actually required to put their foot down on fans trying to wander to new seats in the stadium. No more sneaking from the 15th row down to the front row on the 50 yard line, and switching views from one sideline to another was no longer an option.
Fans were met by unruly men and women in yellow shirts demanding they present tickets to pass into the stadium. One student was even questioned and escorted to the concourse when he left the student section to go sit with his parents. Even after the student’s father presented his son’s ticket to the guard, the boy was forced to return to his other assigned seat.
Forget making a quick run to the concession stand during halftime. If you didn’t have a ticket you weren’t allowed in to see the other half. People struggling to find their seats were met by other fans who had found replacement seats after discovering theirs were already occupied.
It’s depressing the one time our stadium reaches full capacity the university breaks down and resorts to yelling at students and forbidding them to return to their seats simply because they couldn’t present a ticket stub. For SMU students, this has never been an enforced policy. How were we supposed to know to hold on to our ticket stubs? It’s not like we’re a winning team and these stubs gain value after each devastating loss.
The university can’t expect students to know the rules of what happens in a jam-packed stadium when they have never experienced that atmosphere on the SMU campus. A little heads-up at the gate would have been greatly appreciated.
As for keeping the rule enforced after halftime, that was just ridiculous. The stadium was half-empty and security continued to insist that students and parents remain in their assigned seats. Never mind if you were a Mustangs fan crammed between a sea of purple. You were stuck in bad company watching your team get destroyed.
We’re not expecting this to happen anymore this season, but in case it does, here’s a few words of advice: students hold on to your ticket stubs, remain seated in your assigned seat and don’t bother visiting with friends, parents or running to the concession stand during time outs. If you do, chances are your seat will not be there when you return.
Don’t worry students, during the next home game on Oct. 11 against Tulsa the stands will be empty, there won’t be long lines to get nachos and the yellow-clad guards will let you pass through the gates without a second glance. Our beautiful stadium will transform back to a 100 person student section with more empty seats than a six-man football game.
