Game day fan experience observations :

[Abro1975]

1. Pretty active scalping action outside the stadium. Scalpers were paying almost full price and then reselling higher.

2. Stadium was LOUD !

3. Lots of Sparty fans tailgating and inside stadium. Noticeably loud when MSU scored. Good job Sparty !

4. Another blocked FG !

5. Lots didn't seem muddy at all after all the rain. Great Tailgating !

6. Team came out ready to play, good job by the staff, and let's not forget Flood is still coaching this team from Sunday - Friday, so yes, he gets credit too.

7. Great atmosphere at the game, the recruits had to take notice

8. Did not see Julie driving around the lots in her golf cart. Boriblanco MIA as well. Coincidence?

9. Carroo led the players in the Scarlet Walk !

10. Lots of police marching in behind the team Scarlet Walk was a bit strange to see.

 

[virginiaru]

Agree on all. Also in blue lot the police got the message and are not running their atvs through the lot. Patrolling on foot.

 

[RU22]

Really great enthused crowd. Really felt that they were supporting the team.
Even though they lost I felt proud of this team.
The horse did a great job. Deserved the cheers.
Dancing knight was awesome.
Stadium food is taking a nose dive. Sausage sandwich, stingy on sauce and onions, dry oversized roll. Worst pretzels ever, Tater tots greasy. Pretty good hot dogs.

 

[RU205]

Would like to see the students arrive on time.
Tailgating was great.

 

[RUsSKii]

Would like to see the students arrive on time.
Tailgating was great.

That's basically not going to happen for now, given the ticketing crackdown in the lots. I've gotten confirmation from multiple friends at this point that most frats and students are sticking to College Avenue with their tailgates, then hopping the bus over late, if they make it.

 

[bac2therac]

the students were fine with their arrival time

students were excellent and stadium was loud most of the game, great atmosphere

last night proved that stricter tailgating rules will not keep students away

band is still to quiet, couldn't hear them for halftime and couldn't hear them perform the alma mater at the beginning either

why on earth were portojohns being cleaned at 330PM in the purple lot you would think they would be cleaned well in advance

didn't have a pretzel last night but I did the Kansas game and they are delicious

the stadium definitely needs a premium coffee stand. It would do boffo business on a night like last night

there are still braindead people who refuse to wear black at the blackout.

 

[sct1111]

What's with the scarlet lot? A few years ago it was packed. Now it only goes a few rows deep. It's the best tailgating spot at the stadium. Have the prices gone up?

It's silly to see the green lot over saturated and the scarlet lot full of empty parking spaces.

 

[Knight Shift]

the students were fine with their arrival time

students were excellent and stadium was loud most of the game, great atmosphere

last night proved that stricter tailgating rules will not keep students away

band is still to quiet, couldn't hear them for halftime and couldn't hear them perform the alma mater at the beginning either

why on earth were portojohns being cleaned at 330PM in the purple lot you would think they would be cleaned well in advance

didn't have a pretzel last night but I did the Kansas game and they are delicious

the stadium definitely needs a premium coffee stand. It would do boffo business on a night like last night

there are still braindead people who refuse to wear black at the blackout.

This X1000. From 107 , looking over at the Rutgers side, it looked bad.
How did the West side look?

 

[bac2therac]

I saw a good amount of red mixed in along with white and green

I will add that the blue lot has to have less spots sold..that entire section behind Yurcak looks like its not used at all...it was roped off as of 7:15 and in prior years would be packed on that side at that time, no one call tell me that they have sold the same amount of passes

 

[RU4Real]

We've reconfigured tailgating and are now cut back to our original crew and are back in the yellow lot. There were no cops in the yellow lot, at least not in the first two rows. I'll concede the point that others have made, however - following what will prove to be one of the two best-attended games this season, it does seem strange that the yellow lot isn't even close to full. I'm starting to come around to the belief that the high-priority lots are vastly undersold in an effort to hijack people's wallets.

Second point - we have THE WORST stadium food ever, hands down. I had a hot dog last night and they're obviously days old. There is NO excuse whatsoever for a stadium to f*ck up a hot dog - especially for 5 bucks a pop. This needs to be fixed.

 

[Piscataway]

I agree the police seemed to have gotten he message. Black lot was packed and without space for atv police. Thought I did see one of theses earlier in the day accept it was black and had 4 doors not 2. Looks like an up-armored atv. Don't know if they are expecting ISIS to invade.

(Edit: this was my 1000th post )

 

[Piscataway]

Six dollars for a hot chocolate and not even in a commemorative travel mug like they used to have a bunch of years ago.

 

[Knight Shift]

Don't understand the police walking into the middle of well-behaved tailgates and aggressively asking for IDs. There seemed to be a lot of this going on in the Blue lot.

 

[Cofifa]

1. Pretty active scalping action outside the stadium. Scalpers were paying almost full price and then reselling higher.

2. Stadium was LOUD !

3. Lots of Sparty fans tailgating and inside stadium. Noticeably loud when MSU scored. Good job Sparty !

4. Another blocked FG !

5. Lots didn't seem muddy at all after all the rain. Great Tailgating !

6. Team came out ready to play, good job by the staff, and let's not forget Flood is still coaching this team from Sunday - Friday, so yes, he gets credit too.

7. Great atmosphere at the game, the recruits had to take notice

8. Did not see Julie driving around the lots in her golf cart. Boriblanco MIA as well. Coincidence?

9. Carroo led the players in the Scarlet Walk !

10. Lots of police marching in behind the team Scarlet Walk was a bit strange to see.

who is Boriblanco?

 

[JC16NYR]

Crowd was great when we were ahead.

However, I was told to sit down by those above me when we were trailing the #4 ranked team by 3 in the third quarter when we were on defense.

 

[bac2therac]

We've reconfigured tailgating and are now cut back to our original crew and are back in the yellow lot. There were no cops in the yellow lot, at least not in the first two rows. I'll concede the point that others have made, however - following what will prove to be one of the two best-attended games this season, it does seem strange that the yellow lot isn't even close to full. I'm starting to come around to the belief that the high-priority lots are vastly undersold in an effort to hijack people's wallets.

Second point - we have THE WORST stadium food ever, hands down. I had a hot dog last night and they're obviously days old. There is NO excuse whatsoever for a stadium to f*ck up a hot dog - especially for 5 bucks a pop. This needs to be fixed.

with the way you guys tailgate how on earth where you hungry enough for a nutritional nightmare like the hot dog. Remember when hotdogs used to cost $2 and were actually better. I wonder if the popcorn chicken is any good..at $9 its pricier than most places.

and I just really think they sold less passes and just bumped everyone down even if they paid the extra donation. There really is no explanation why we have heard a lot of posters getting bumped to black, tan, light blue and the RAC

 

[Saint Puppy]

the students were fine with their arrival time

students were excellent and stadium was loud most of the game, great atmosphere

last night proved that stricter tailgating rules will not keep students away

band is still to quiet, couldn't hear them for halftime and couldn't hear them perform the alma mater at the beginning either

why on earth were portojohns being cleaned at 330PM in the purple lot you would think they would be cleaned well in advance

didn't have a pretzel last night but I did the Kansas game and they are delicious

the stadium definitely needs a premium coffee stand. It would do boffo business on a night like last night

there are still braindead people who refuse to wear black at the blackout.

Agree 100% about the band - I thought they were so quiet because of the video game theme. They lost the crowd halfway through and people just started talking over them which wasnt at all difficult to do.

 

[loki_dog]

I agree the police seemed to have gotten he message. Black lot was packed and without space for atv police. Thought I did see one of theses earlier in the day accept it was black and had 4 doors not 2. Looks like an up-armored atv. Don't know if they are expecting ISIS to invade.

Saw the armored gator cruising the back of the blue lot. Had to good chuckle about it. Very odd.

 

[Abro1975]

I made the mistake of having a HPSS hot dog at the Kansas game (concentrating on drinking rather than eating at the Tailgate= novice mistake) and I was shocked how bad it was.

Brought several high quality Italian Subs plus good fried chicken this week. Clear plastic bags lets you bring in good food. The hot coffee was actually hot this week. I agree with the above poster that high quality coffee kiosks would do great business in the second half of the season, especially for night games.

 

[Jersey Boys]

We've reconfigured tailgating and are now cut back to our original crew and are back in the yellow lot. There were no cops in the yellow lot, at least not in the first two rows. I'll concede the point that others have made, however - following what will prove to be one of the two best-attended games this season, it does seem strange that the yellow lot isn't even close to full. I'm starting to come around to the belief that the high-priority lots are vastly undersold in an effort to hijack people's wallets.

Second point - we have THE WORST stadium food ever, hands down. I had a hot dog last night and they're obviously days old. There is NO excuse whatsoever for a stadium to f*ck up a hot dog - especially for 5 bucks a pop. This needs to be fixed.

Our group is one of the idiots who arrives up front in yellow. (get there around 8:45). While I don't expect most people to share in our questionable sanity of pulling in 11 hours before game time, we were surprised that more people didn't filter in around 1 pm. The lot was nearly barren at 1. I mean it was Michigan St. I felt in the past few late games more people arrived earlier.

Cops have not given us a problem for a few years now. Let's just hope Mr. Wannabe Fire chief doesn't give us sh@t later this season over my heaters again.

 

[RU4Real]

. Let's just hope Mr. Wannabe Fire chief doesn't give us sh@t later this season over my heaters again.

That motherf*cker almost got me tazed 2 years ago.

 

[Jersey Boys]

That motherf*cker almost got me tazed 2 years ago.

I made the mistake of attempting a battle of wits with him. It was not welcomed.

 

[Jersey Boys]

the stadium definitely needs a premium coffee stand. It would do boffo business on a night like last night.

This actually isn't a bad idea.

 

[RU4Real]

I made the mistake of attempting a battle of wits with him. It was not welcomed.

Yeah... he put his hands on my, then had to call for backup. It got ugly in a BIG hurry. @KingHigh tells the story really well.

 

[RUmaz]

I paid $3 for hot chocolate? Mistake? And yes the hot dogs are terrible.

 

[Piscataway]

I paid $3 for hot chocolate? Mistake? And yes the hot dogs are terrible.

Did you get it in the stands, close to the end of the game? Maybe they are are applying the dynamic pricing to everything.

 

[MrsScrew]

• upper corners of the stadium were pretty empty and I noticed a lot of empty seats in the North Zone

• Sparty traveled VERY well. almost every Sparty fan we talked to traveled here from Michigan.

• we were loud. very loud. even those around me in our section, who never stand, were up on their feet making noise.

• Standing on the sidelines for the National Anthem I could hardly hear the band.

• I was in the Blue Lot at 8a they were only filling row 3 at 2pm which was pretty surprising..

• We didn't see a cop in the Blue Lot until way after 3pm and even then it was only a few of them and not even the regular guy

• Port-a-Johns weren't cleaned in blue until around 1pm. I am thrilled to have a real bathroom to use in Blue.

• While on the sidelines I had a long chat with the guy who trains the horse who told me, among other things that it takes the horse a little while every year after his Florida vacation to readjust to all of the noise and flags and such and that he, the trainer, frequently wears the Knight outfit and rides the horse out.

• I thought the students, at least in the middle section , were in their seats in plenty of time. The 2 side sections did not fill in until later

• and not to sound like @AreYouNUTS but the band has totally shrunk...they don't even fill in the section they are given in the stands.

 

[KingHigh]

Yeah... he put his hands on my, then had to call for backup. It got ugly in a BIG hurry. @KingHigh tells the story really well.

It's my go-to "ever see a guy two hand shove an on-duty cop in the chest and totally get away with it?" story.

 

[Rutgers25]

I saw a good amount of red mixed in along with white and green

I will add that the blue lot has to have less spots sold..that entire section behind Yurcak looks like its not used at all...it was roped off as of 7:15 and in prior years would be packed on that side at that time, no one call tell me that they have sold the same amount of passes

We've reconfigured tailgating and are now cut back to our original crew and are back in the yellow lot. There were no cops in the yellow lot, at least not in the first two rows. I'll concede the point that others have made, however - following what will prove to be one of the two best-attended games this season, it does seem strange that the yellow lot isn't even close to full. I'm starting to come around to the belief that the high-priority lots are vastly undersold in an effort to hijack people's wallets.

Second point - we have THE WORST stadium food ever, hands down. I had a hot dog last night and they're obviously days old. There is NO excuse whatsoever for a stadium to f*ck up a hot dog - especially for 5 bucks a pop. This needs to be fixed.

I'm glad you've come around on this. It's bush league by RU and will hurt them in the long run.

 

[e5fdny]

Very confused by this thread...

I thought one group was all together in Blue?

Now some are in Blue and some in Yellow?

Makes me think I wasn't seeing things while walking around Yellow trying to find the group I was looking for. I should have said hello. My apologies.

 

[RUsSKii]

Saw the armored gator cruising the back of the blue lot. Had to good chuckle about it. Very odd.

I just have to ask: how does the particular guy we see driving it up and down the Blue Lot even fit inside the thing?

 

[RUBound]

Scarlet Lot was not even close to being filled up - I got there around 4 30 and was in the 2nd row - and before kickoff it looked about 2/3 full. For big games it used to fill up and overflow into an ancillary lot down the gravel path. I saw the same thing in Yellow last year.

 

[slyker]

BLUE LOT - improved egress time due to less passes sold?

As observed above, the whole back of the blue lot was vacant. I agree it appears there must have been less passes sold than in the past. In past years with similar attendance, that whole section has been packed.... But I am wondering if perhaps they have intentionally cut down on the quantity of passes sold to help with the post game egress. For a game with this attendance that went down to the wire, we definitely got out of blue much faster than in prior years in similar circumstances. If that was the case... Kudos to RU !!

 

[RUScrew85]

Very confused by this thread...

I thought one group was all together in Blue?

Now some are in Blue and some in Yellow?

Makes me think I wasn't seeing things while walking around Yellow trying to find the group I was looking for. I should have said hello. My apologies.

Yeah well...

 

[S_Janowski]

the students were fine with their arrival time

students were excellent and stadium was loud most of the game, great atmosphere

last night proved that stricter tailgating rules will not keep students away

Students were late. If you think they were fine with their arrival time you should go to Penn State. Their student section was basically 99% full at the kickoff for the RU game.

Also last night didn't prove anything in terms of student attendance and stricter tailgating rules. It's was a prime time night game against the #4 team in the country - of course they are going to show up in force. Let's see how the turnout is for the Nebraska and Maryland games...

With that said the student section and atmosphere was great.

 

[fischy5000]

Did you get it in the stands, close to the end of the game? Maybe they are are applying the dynamic pricing to everything.

I saw the guy selling $3 ones in the stands later on BUT they were smaller sized cups than what was sold earlier or when I saw people with hot chocolates earlier on.

 

[fischy5000]

• Saw a hot chocolate guy station himself in middle of concourse area by corner sec 130. Smart guy so people didn't need to wait in crazy lines.
• RU still has no handicap capabilities (like knightingale) for those going from Johnson park shuttle to the other side of the stadium for scarlet walk and/or activities in the parking lots (only option is to scan ticket and go inside on that side by Johnson park).
• The walk back to lots is still a mess with police not dealing with the crowd chaos until they get close to the circle (unless you walk through yellow lot)
• Getting out of purple lot took about 45 minutes (getting into car around 12am)
• Thought the students were excited and animated and I was there 20 min before start and main student section looked pretty much filled to me.
• Someone near us won the 50/50 and the girl seemed to be standing shocked hyperventilating. Nice take home gift! I haven't been within maybe 10 (100?) million or more from the number picked yet this season.
• Whatever the reason it's sad that the entire back area of blue lot is unused with the amount of people who wanted higher than what they got.

 

[ScarletKid2008]

• Got in the stadium about 30 min before kickoff - pregame stuff is extra good and exciting for the nights games, fireworks are awesome.
• Students were very late. They have the entire end zone to fill which didn't happen until the end of the first qtr. If it didn't happen for this game, it's not happening for a long time until the situation changes
• Regarding blue lot - I am one of the people who had enough points for blue but instead choose purple lot. Mainly due to police presence experienced in past and the paved vs non-paved. I wonder if others did the same ? I doubt that is the full reason why it's undersold though
• In game entertainment was great. Music was good - fun to see the student section go crazy to a few songs during time out. PS - Don't stop believing is the most overplayed song ever at RU. Wolf of Wall Street chest pound is great too.

 

[srru86]

• RU still has no handicap capabilities (like knightingale) for those going from Johnson park shuttle to the other side of the stadium for scarlet walk and/or activities in the parking lots (only option is to scan ticket and go inside on that side by Johnson park).

Isn't Johnson Park controlled by Middlesex County? Does RU run it? If the County is collecting the fess to park there I think you need to address your concern to the Freeholder Board?

 

[Sir ScarletKnight]

This was my view of the Scarlet Lot when I was heading into the stadium.

Student section looked amazing.