One year ago today, the UAA operations and facilities staff including myself were preparing for the Garth Brooks Stadium Tour to come to the Swamp on April 20th. It had been 25 years since Ben Hill Griffin Stadium hosted the Rolling Stones as part of their Voodoo Lounge Tour. Needless to say event management, fan experience and security expectations had changed quite a bit since then. The preparations and meetings began a year before the concert actually took place. Our department played a key role in the operations of the concert by overseeing facility adaptations, parking, crowd management, and security.
For this event, we had to convert an open football field into a full stage with 7,000 floor seats in one week. The facility lockdown and stage construction began immediately after the conclusion of the spring football game on April 13th. A portable floor was placed over the grass while dozens of semi trucks delivered stage materials. As the week progressed the seats and concession areas were set-up. The stadium walls had to be cut to create doors for field access and still remain today.
The parking was very similar to a regular season football game with lots reserved all over campus. Like the tickets, the reserved parking passes sold out very quickly. We encourage patrons to utilize shuttles from set locations in Gainesville and ride sharing on apps. This event differed from a typical game day due to the number of first time visitors to campus and stadium. All directions and information was posted on FloridaGators.com prior to the event but many patrons were confused creating extra traffic.
The concert was announced as a sell out on March 7th with 75,500 tickets sold. Seats in the South stands were not available for this concert due to the orientation of the stage. All of the gates were open for patrons to enter the venue along with a field level entrance in the Southeast corner of the stadium. There were specific aisels in the main bowl designated as field level entrances and exits. We experienced a couple instances of congestion in the concourse and aisels due to the number of first time visitors, hawkers creating concession lines and field seating accessibility.
The stadium lockdown went into effect on the 13th. Credentialed staff and personnel were the only people allowed in the facility. Our department had to coordinate with local law enforcement agencies and campus officials to create a safe environment in the areas surrounding the venue. We had to increase security inside the stadium due to alcohol being sold. This required quite a bit of communication to ensure all security entities and personnel were on the same page.
Overall, this was a once in a lifetime experience. I learned a great deal during the time leading up to the concert. I think it would be interesting to host another concert with the information and intel that we have as a result of the Garth Brooks concert.
Game Day Security and Fan Experience 