Changes in student seating operations
- Thread starter PSUJam
- Start date
So, they want people to text if they see any issues? That would be much easier if the cell service in and around the stadium wasn’t like the old dial up internet service. It sucks.
to say "it sucks" would mean to presume that it exists, but performs poorly. In truth, it effectively stops working 2 hours before kickoff
From some of the videos I saw and hearing some first hand accounts from students there last Saturday, it was pretty bad. The people working as ushers are not provided any training but I am sure are trying to do the best they know how. I am sure all day drinking whit the added beer sales in the stadium is not helping the situation.
So someone explain to me why they can’t just do assigned seating like the rest of the stadium?
“ A vomitorium is a passage situated below or behind a tier of seats in an amphitheatre or a stadium, through which big crowds can exit rapidly at the end of an event. They can also be pathways for actors to enter and leave stage.[1] The Latin word vomitorium, plural vomitoria, derives from the verb vomō, vomere, "to spew forth". In ancient Roman architecture, vomitoria were designed to provide rapid egress for large crowds at amphitheatres and stadia, as they do in modern sports stadia and large theatres.”
en.m.wikipedia.org
Also: https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Vomitory
So it seems to have nothing to do with beer sales at Beaver Stadium.
Vomitorium - Wikipedia
Also: https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Vomitory
So it seems to have nothing to do with beer sales at Beaver Stadium.
Here is a quick history of things...
- Full general admission in the Student Section until about 1992 when "stuff" hit the fan at the Miami game.
- Moved to assigned seats starting around 1993...but, rather than assign them for the season, allow students to come with whoever they want each game, and as long as you come in together, you can all sit together...or, if you want a block of seats in advance so that you can sit with friends and not all sit together, you go with the "block seating".
- Got rid of block seating around 2010 as it was being used less and less.
- 2019, due to student focus groups requesting that students have more flexibility with where they sit, got rid of assigned seats and instead went general admission by "section" (tickets would say "SB Odd", and you could sit anywhere in Odd side of SB).
- 2022, due to more student pressure, moved even further towards General Admission, simply giving one of 3 "zones" in which students can sit.
As to why they don't assign for the whole season...it's a conscious decision to allow students more flexibility on who they attend each week's game with...as a Freshman, you have no idea in July/August who your friends will be; avoid the girlfriend stuck next to her ex-boyfriend all season; etc.
That's the cliff notes of the Student Section...my prediction is that Saturday is another "stuff" show, we get about 16-18k students showing up for the games after that so everyone in ICA thinks things are fine, and similar issues arise next year when we host Michigan (or another opponent in a Whiteout).
Unfortunately I can not find it now but ushers seemed to be trying to prevent some students from entering a certain area but the students overran them, jumped over them, or got physical with them. I had also heard that one of the ushers trying to help out got punched several times.
According to students, there are old people getting into the student section as well. Once you are in there, sometimes if you try to leave to go to the bathroom or get food, people will not let you get passed them resulting in people taking pisses in the student section. I have also heard that the bleachers are about to collapse under the amount of students standing and swaying on them during the games. It sounds like a major accident ready to happen.
Gotcha. I have no idea what compensation the ushers get, but it isn’t nearly enough to put up with that nonsense. There does seem to be a need for some changes in the game day experience. Getting in and around the stadium could be better. I find the troughs in the mens room laughable, but I think we can move into the 21st century and make some upgrades.
The Skeller needed one of those things!!“ A vomitorium is a passage situated below or behind a tier of seats in an amphitheatre or a stadium, through which big crowds can exit rapidly at the end of an event. They can also be pathways for actors to enter and leave stage.[1] The Latin word vomitorium, plural vomitoria, derives from the verb vomō, vomere, "to spew forth". In ancient Roman architecture, vomitoria were designed to provide rapid egress for large crowds at amphitheatres and stadia, as they do in modern sports stadia and large theatres.”
Vomitorium - Wikipedia
Also: https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Vomitory
So it seems to have nothing to do with beer sales at Beaver Stadium.
I sat in EBU 2 different times last season, and although the seats we had were different each time, both times we had to to enter where the students enter to sit in EAU. It was crowded and pushy, but the worst was the little student punks telling me "hey old man, you're not in the right section".
I won't say here what my response was, but they shut up immediately. My teenage daughters were a bit embarrassed! The thing is, a friend *had* season tix in EBU and the students would take over any empty seats to the point my friend had to get security. Needless to say he's got new seats this year.
These kids don’t bring balloons? I guess the quality of PSU students really has fallen.
I know. These kids are soft. When I sat in the student section, it was a double edge sword sitting down near the field. On the positive, you were close the field, but every time Penn State scored, you had to dodge or duck the full cups of soda and ice that were being chucked from the rows behind you. Ahh, the good ole days.These kids don’t bring balloons? I guess the quality of PSU students really has fallen.
Early 2000s? Eventually, one of the band directors took a full water bottle to the face that broke an orbital bone, police presence was greatly enhanced and several students were led away in handcuffs after being caught throwing things the next few games, and that died down quickly.
Why would old people be trying to get into the student section?
If true, that’s weird.
So is there just one of those easily scalable railings between EAU and EBU?I sat in EBU 2 different times last season, and although the seats we had were different each time, both times we had to to enter where the students enter to sit in EAU. It was crowded and pushy, but the worst was the little student punks telling me "hey old man, you're not in the right section".
Something seems to be amiss with attending a game at Beaver Stadium.
Are the students the problem?
Above the walkway (EBU and WBU), it’s the aisle that separates students from non-students. Below it, it’s the railing.
No traditional balloons, but there's plenty of condom "balloons" floating in the student section these days.These kids don’t bring balloons? I guess the quality of PSU students really has fallen.
Good for them. They are trying to be safe. That’s good parenting there.No traditional balloons, but there's plenty of condom "balloons" floating in the student section these days.
That’s been going on for years. For one, student tickets are usually cheaper. Second, sometimes it’s parents hanging out with their kids. Not a new phenomenon, but I thought awhile back they put a stop to that by requesting you show your student ID upon entry?
Twice this season (Ohio and Minny) the student section has exceeded capacity. I have seats in EBU and EGU. I was in EBU for those two games.
For Ohio, the university sold the Ohio returns and other tickets for $30. Students who bought them didn't seem to understand they couldn't sit with their friends in the student section and crowded in. (from my usher friends that patrol the walkway) For reference and as noted above, EB is not student section, but half of EBU is. A fence separates the student section below Row 40. Above the walkway, only the width of the stairs separates the students and non students. During the Ohio game, students who spilled into EB (lower) wouldn't (or couldn't fit) return to their section and wouldn't sit down and apparently a fight broke out and punches were thrown. (Again, I didn't see it but LEO responded per my usher friends on the east side.)
This past week vs. Minny was worse. My personal experience was it was the worst fan experience in Beaver Stadium of my attendance. Due to beer stand lines and crowded ramps, we went in the lower level and walked right up the walkway. At the top, an usher I recognized was at the top, and I also noticed there were people in our seats. He seemed to have his hands full at the time, and he offered to help, but I did say I could handle it myself. My mistake. Despite showing the belligerent drunks my tickets, they said I should sit behind them where there were seats available. (Ha!) So I enlist another usher who gets them to move back to their seats behind us. Given their ages and their disbelief that it wasn't general admission seating, it's a reasonable assumption they might have been students. In fact, I started chatting up the guy next to us, on our right, and he was a student without a ticket for that seat either and also had to be moved (and he moved with his buddy a few seats back and to the right in ECU-further from the student section). He and his buddy also had to be moved.
While this was happening, as the band was getting ready to take the field and the light show was going on, the walkway started to fill up, despite the best efforts of the ushers. Apparently there was an incident many rows up in EBU/EAU where a student vomited on others, or urinated or defecated. I received different answers from different ushers. So many students escaped to the walkway, blocking ingress and egress in EBU and ECU. This was not solved by ushers or PSP in the first half. Despite repeated reports to the Nittany text service (which was spotty), they did receive our reports. At 8:13 I was told it was going to be addressed. I texted 30 minutes later and again 60 minutes later. My second text I did see that the walkways to my left in EAU were open, so I suggested to the Nittany text service that maybe it was time to shove the mass of students in the EBU and ECU walkways back into their section.
I believe that the game flow helped alleviate the crowding as people were leaving, and also may have left due to the frustration. Anyhow, with 12:30 remaining in the third quarter, four PSP cleared the walkway. Some students did return, but it was a handful. Some of the cleared students just found empty seats behind us in EBU, not theirs of course.
I know ERIAL Lion denied this when this was brought up after the Ohio game and I noted the overcrowding. I spoke with a PSU supervisor who blamed the situation on two things: the student section is oversold and the subcontractor who handles those sections is new and isn't seating the students tight enough. He pointed out that if you miss by one student per row, that'll be hundreds of bodies that have to go somewhere. Since PSU isn't transparent and frequently lies or withholds information, I have no difficulty believing that PSU does this because they only care about money and not students, whether it's education or football tickets. Further, two of my usher contacts/sources confirmed what the PSU supervisor said, and another source in the security subcontractor field also made the same claim, and that all said that PSU ICA has been told of this issue and the only response is a shrug. I was advised that I should complain to athletics and that if enough people do so is the only way PSU will address the issue.
Sorry, I know this reeks of TL;DR, but since I have first hand knowledge and trusted sources, I'd chime in. For the record, the stadium smelled like a brewery Saturday night as well. If PSU is too stupid to sell beer for night games after all-day drinking at tailgates, they reap what they sow. The drunks who were in my seats had beers in each hand, and left their liquor minibottles under our seats. Again, I'm not the fun police, but it only takes a few to ruin something for the many. Pat Kraft is still on his honeymoon, and too busy cheerleading on the sidelines, but if the stadium experience continues to get worse and worse, more season ticketholders like myself will change their habits and just buy seats for the games we want. PSU has made perfectly clear that loyalty is a one way street on their part. They might find out otherwise if conditions in the stadium favor drunks over sober fans.
Rant over.
For Ohio, the university sold the Ohio returns and other tickets for $30. Students who bought them didn't seem to understand they couldn't sit with their friends in the student section and crowded in. (from my usher friends that patrol the walkway) For reference and as noted above, EB is not student section, but half of EBU is. A fence separates the student section below Row 40. Above the walkway, only the width of the stairs separates the students and non students. During the Ohio game, students who spilled into EB (lower) wouldn't (or couldn't fit) return to their section and wouldn't sit down and apparently a fight broke out and punches were thrown. (Again, I didn't see it but LEO responded per my usher friends on the east side.)
This past week vs. Minny was worse. My personal experience was it was the worst fan experience in Beaver Stadium of my attendance. Due to beer stand lines and crowded ramps, we went in the lower level and walked right up the walkway. At the top, an usher I recognized was at the top, and I also noticed there were people in our seats. He seemed to have his hands full at the time, and he offered to help, but I did say I could handle it myself. My mistake. Despite showing the belligerent drunks my tickets, they said I should sit behind them where there were seats available. (Ha!) So I enlist another usher who gets them to move back to their seats behind us. Given their ages and their disbelief that it wasn't general admission seating, it's a reasonable assumption they might have been students. In fact, I started chatting up the guy next to us, on our right, and he was a student without a ticket for that seat either and also had to be moved (and he moved with his buddy a few seats back and to the right in ECU-further from the student section). He and his buddy also had to be moved.
While this was happening, as the band was getting ready to take the field and the light show was going on, the walkway started to fill up, despite the best efforts of the ushers. Apparently there was an incident many rows up in EBU/EAU where a student vomited on others, or urinated or defecated. I received different answers from different ushers. So many students escaped to the walkway, blocking ingress and egress in EBU and ECU. This was not solved by ushers or PSP in the first half. Despite repeated reports to the Nittany text service (which was spotty), they did receive our reports. At 8:13 I was told it was going to be addressed. I texted 30 minutes later and again 60 minutes later. My second text I did see that the walkways to my left in EAU were open, so I suggested to the Nittany text service that maybe it was time to shove the mass of students in the EBU and ECU walkways back into their section.
I believe that the game flow helped alleviate the crowding as people were leaving, and also may have left due to the frustration. Anyhow, with 12:30 remaining in the third quarter, four PSP cleared the walkway. Some students did return, but it was a handful. Some of the cleared students just found empty seats behind us in EBU, not theirs of course.
I know ERIAL Lion denied this when this was brought up after the Ohio game and I noted the overcrowding. I spoke with a PSU supervisor who blamed the situation on two things: the student section is oversold and the subcontractor who handles those sections is new and isn't seating the students tight enough. He pointed out that if you miss by one student per row, that'll be hundreds of bodies that have to go somewhere. Since PSU isn't transparent and frequently lies or withholds information, I have no difficulty believing that PSU does this because they only care about money and not students, whether it's education or football tickets. Further, two of my usher contacts/sources confirmed what the PSU supervisor said, and another source in the security subcontractor field also made the same claim, and that all said that PSU ICA has been told of this issue and the only response is a shrug. I was advised that I should complain to athletics and that if enough people do so is the only way PSU will address the issue.
Sorry, I know this reeks of TL;DR, but since I have first hand knowledge and trusted sources, I'd chime in. For the record, the stadium smelled like a brewery Saturday night as well. If PSU is too stupid to sell beer for night games after all-day drinking at tailgates, they reap what they sow. The drunks who were in my seats had beers in each hand, and left their liquor minibottles under our seats. Again, I'm not the fun police, but it only takes a few to ruin something for the many. Pat Kraft is still on his honeymoon, and too busy cheerleading on the sidelines, but if the stadium experience continues to get worse and worse, more season ticketholders like myself will change their habits and just buy seats for the games we want. PSU has made perfectly clear that loyalty is a one way street on their part. They might find out otherwise if conditions in the stadium favor drunks over sober fans.
Rant over.
I can assure you that the student section isn't "oversold" in the true sense of the word...one caveat I'll give is that they do sell every seat, then in addition will comp some tickets to non-football recruits and their PSU escorts in the student section, ROTC that does the flags before the game, etc. But all of those come out of the no-shows each game. Any supervisor that claims that the student section is oversold is either coming up with their own theory, or stating something that they've heard through the rumor mill that simply isn't true. Rumors of it being oversold go back 25 years, and Bud Meredith, one of the most honest guys you'll ever meet, told me there was no truth to it.
However, what you said about not packing students in tightly enough is the basic issue. Standing Stone is new to this and my belief is that they a) don't understand all of the complexities about what they're doing in the student section yet and b) are understaffed. It seems like they are looking to address some of it by trying to pack the students in tighter during the loading process this weekend, but I'm of the belief that things won't really be solved until they go back to a) adequately staffing the student section and b) putting row and seat numbers back on the tickets so that there is a way to pack them in as tightly as needed.
And my other belief is that PSU won't address this to the depths that it needs to be addressed until something even worse happens (ie, like they finally addressed the throwing of objects when someone "higher profile" got hurt pretty badly). Or even a more severe change like moving into a stadium that's built with 21st century aisles/walkways/portals/etc that's made to handle crowds like Saturday.
Last edited:
I enjoyed reading your post and learning about the current PSU game day “experience”.
Thanks Moops. 25+ year season ticket holder here and I share your experience. Definitely the worst in stadium fan experience since I was a student in the 80's. I find that people, either out of frustration or ignorance for how the seating is set up tend to just give up and sit wherever they want. I kick people out of my seat or redirect people entering the wrong row multiple times every game.
I don't recall these problems when all the ushers and security staff and other support staff were PSU employees. There were long tenured people working in these positions that actually enjoyed being there helping. Ever since PSU outsourced all these positions, the outsourcing companies can not find enough people and bus in others from outside the area who don't really give a crap and just there to collect a paycheck(although a small ones). With the kid getting on the field last game, and with social media dares, I fear things are only going to get worse. There does seem to be a larger police presence at the games then in the past but they can't be everywhere.
I agree completely...however, I will say that the outsourcing was more out of necessity than anything, as they couldn't find enough staff to hire themselves. It amazed me how far some of the staff was being bussed in by BEST (not just Pittsburgh/Cleveland, but staff coming from places like Atlanta).
Yeah, heard that too. They actually get paid while being transported from whatever city they come from.
Get unlimited access today.