By Associated Press
Tuscaloosa AL – A sports events firm with a $25,000 contract to ease crowd problems at Crimson Tide football games has some street-closings, more restrooms and big-screen TVs in its game plan.
Gene Hallman, president of Bruno Event Team, the Birmingham-based sports marketing and event-management company, has a plan that will close more interior campus streets before games this fall.
There will be a big-screen television set up on the Quad on campus for fans not going to the stadium. The TV will be 9 feet by 12 feet.
"There are more and more people coming and enjoying the game day experience even if they don't go into the stadium," said Hallman.
An information booth on the Quad will answer questions such the location of restrooms and eating areas. And there will be five restroom trailers on campus this fall to go along with the portable, single-toilet bathrooms.
Mike Shultz of Northport has been tailgating at UA games for years. He said the changes are mostly positive and needed.
But he said one change, pushing back the time that fans can set up on the Quad by three hours to 6 p.m. on Fridays, will hurt the whole weekend experience.
"I would set up and my wife would come over, and we'd grill out as a family there on the Quad. A lot of people do that," he said. "This year, that won't be feasible if you starting to set up at 6."
Hallman said that pushing the time back was done to be consistent with the new time RV fans are allowed on campus, which will also be 6 p.m.
Gina Johnson, director of auxiliary services for UA, said the Quad will be monitored to ensure that no tailgates are set up before 6 p.m.
She said the university cannot stop people from coming to the Quad to sit.