AD Erdmann Addresses #JagNation Concerning Policy Changes At Ladd-Peebles
South Alabama athletic director Joel Erdmann releases letter to Jaguar fans concerning the water availability situation at Ladd-Peebles Stadium during the Jags sold-out game against Mississippi State on Saturday, September 13, 2013. Photo Credit: Matt Weaver | Special to Thunderjags
South Alabama Athletics Director Joel Erdmann release an open letter to fans on Wednesday addressing the water situation at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. In the letter he outlines the changes that USA and Ladd-Peebles will implement in future games to try to prevent the same situation from happening again.
Here is a link to a PDF of the letter.
September 17, 2014
Jaguar Fans and Customers;
The September 13th football game versus Mississippi State University will be remembered as one of the remarkable moments in South Alabama history. Beginning with the crowded Pep Rally Friday evening in downtown Mobile and carrying through to the tailgating and the game itself, tens of thousands of Jaguar fans experienced a tangible swell of pride and unity.
Please note that the 3:00 p.m. game time was established to allow for a nationally televised game on ESPNews. We anticipate and hope that similar opportunities present themselves in the future. The festive atmosphere of Saturday’s game combined with the sheer numbers of a sell-out crowd and the heat of a mid-September afternoon in Mobile, Alabama, exposed selected operational areas which will be addressed as follows.
1. Water – customers experienced access to warm bottled water at selected areas within the stadium. Moving forward:
• Spectators will be allowed to bring into the stadium two bottles of water per person. Small to medium-sized soft-sided coolers are now allowed and are subject to search. Please be sure such items are sized appropriately to fit within the designated seating area and does not intrude on adjacent fans.
• There will be roving vendors with beverages in both the West and East grandstands.
• Refrigerated trucks will be located in designated ground-level areas of the stadium. These locations will serve as points of sale with cold bottles of water assured. Due to various logistical and safety restrictions, water from these areas cannot be distributed to the concourses – thus a short walk to the areas will be required.
• All efforts will be made to continue to provide cold water in the concourses.2. Shuttles – Customers have access to ride the Wave Transit System from the Bel Air Mall parking lot (Near JC Penney) to Ladd-Peebles and return. The shuttles run non-stop from four hours prior to a game to two hours after. The cost for a round trip is $2.50. At peak times prior to Saturday’s game there were in excess of 30 buses in rotation. Moving forward:
• We will increase the number of buses in the rotation at peak-use times and balance those numbers with the desire to keep the cost of the shuttle at $2.50 per round trip.As our football program continues to grow, we have been provided a tremendous opportunity to call Ladd-Peebles Stadium our home. We view this opportunity as a true partnership between the Stadium and Jaguar Athletics. When issues which negatively impact the experience of our fans occur, we will be diligent in working together as a team to find reasonable solutions.
We deeply appreciate your support. Go Jags!!
Joel