So what was it like inside BMS?

#77
#77
dbowen said:
I did not understand those leaving early. We planned a post game tailgate due to traffic concerns and allowed an hour or so for the crowd to thin. We drove out fairly easily and routed through Bristol rather than directly to the interstate via Blountville without any congestion. Others were right about national anthem and Lee Greenwood halftime - gave me chills. BMS did an amazing job for this.
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I don't understand it either. We stayed to the end of the game and took our time walking back to the lot. The ticket said a 1 hour hold on the lot we were in until the crowd cleared. We waited maybe 15 minutes then pulled out and were routed like you were.

It took me well over 2 hours to get out of Neyland last week - compared to that - this was easy.
 
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#78
#78
bbstone said:
Do some of you all complain just because you enjoy complaining. What kind of security do you want checking you at the gate. Complain the check you. Complain they don't. Damn people. If someone carried a gun or pipe bomb in there and used it you would be complaining the other way. Next time will have suggestion box beside the gate so you security experts can tell us how to do it.
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Thank the terrorists for that
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#80
#80
After the game, I turned the truck on and my wife and I laid the seats back to wait out traffic. Woke up at 3 am and was the only one still in the lot haha. Traffic was non-existent after that.
 
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#81
#81
T_Vol376 said:
This was by far one of the worst executed events I have ever attended. We waited outside in the heat for over three hours to get in with thousands of people on top of each other with no security personnel anywhere that I saw. My husband almost got in a fight with a drunk Tennessee fan who tried to cut line going in the gate. We waited in line for over an hour to get food and I almost got in a fight with some drunk Tennessee sorority girls - one of them was mouthing at my daughter. Too much alcohol, no security to be found - I never saw one security personnel. It was a miserable experience. As a matter of fact, I am still sitting in the parking lot waiting to get out. Glad the Vols won, but this will do me for while. I'll be watching from home.
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am I the only person that does not understand this post?

A) you should have expected lots of people to be intoxicated. What you should do is ignore them.

B) you make it sound like you waited around at your gate. Why? There were tons of tents to relax, watch other games, eat, drink etc.. (That's what I did. And then walked into stadium in about 5 min and found my seat an hour before kickoff without issue)
 
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#87
#87
ncvol17 said:
What % of crowd was UT..?
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About 66% to 33%. Yes I realize that only adds up to 99%. I saw a guy wearing Norte dame shirt, 1 in Clemson, and tailgated next to someone wearing Bama jersey. So the random other fans make up for the missing 1%.

I asked Bama man what he was doing there. He just wanted to be at the game to experience it. I imagine it was the same for the other random fans.
 
#88
#88
bowlinggreenvol said:
After the game, I turned the truck car on ans my wife and I laid the seats back to wait out traffic. Woke up at 3 am and was the only one still in the lot haha. Traffic was non-existent after that.
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Lol that's awesome
 
#89
#89
T_Vol376 said:
This was by far one of the worst executed events I have ever attended. We waited outside in the heat for over three hours to get in with thousands of people on top of each other with no security personnel anywhere that I saw. My husband almost got in a fight with a drunk Tennessee fan who tried to cut line going in the gate. We waited in line for over an hour to get food and I almost got in a fight with some drunk Tennessee sorority girls - one of them was mouthing at my daughter. Too much alcohol, no security to be found - I never saw one security personnel. It was a miserable experience. As a matter of fact, I am still sitting in the parking lot waiting to get out. Glad the Vols won, but this will do me for while. I'll be watching from home.
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I had a bad time. When I was entering the game some sober Tennessee fan attacked me just because I cut line. And my two female friends, they're both in a sorority, were attacked at a concession stand by some sober mommy just because they were having some playful banter with her daughter. More alcohol outside and inside the track would have made this a much more enjoyable experience.
 
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#90
#90
Come on people who are complaining there was 157,000 people there security and parking and getting to seats is not easy for that many people. That's a lot of cars a lot of security checks. You were a part of history just be happy
 
#91
#91
kiddiedoc said:
You were right near us. One positive: much wider seat spacing and nice having legroom and backs.
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yeah I was prepared for cheek to cheek setting..my row was full in Petty and I still had room to set my phone and stunt card next to me
 
#92
#92
Great experience, I sat in Junior Johnson and didn't see anyone causing problems. View was great and that was a lot of people.
 

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#93
#93
UT_Dutchman said:
Great experience, I sat in Junior Johnson and didn't see anyone causing problems. View was great and that was a lot of people.
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I was wondering if those folks in the 500 dollar Battlefield were able to see? They seemed mighty low to me
 
#94
#94
It was a great experience at a unique venue. I am incredibly glad I was able to attend. Most importantly it was a great win for the Volunteers. But the experience was far from perfect.

I expected traffic Armageddon but we left Chattanooga aboard a bus around 2:15 and had virtually no problems. The biggest issue was getting into the stadium. We arrived shortly after the Vol walk and started up a sidewalk to get in. It took about an hour and a half standing shoulder to shoulder with thousands of other fans at gate 13. By the time we finally got close to the entrance something must have changed because people got in much faster suddenly. I suspect someone higher up saw a half filled stadium approaching kickoff and told workers to ease the process. When we entered nobody was checking bags and they weren't really using the metal detectors; only asking that people empty their pockets and show them the contents. There were also people scaling a hill to avoid the sidewalks despite security telling them not to. One Vol fan apparently broke his ankle and had to be treated by EMS personnel while thousands watched him. His foot was turned in an obviously unnatural position.

Not every gate was open because they weren't all equipped with metal detectors. This was what blew my mind. They were expecting a record crowd and had years to prepare and yet they weren't ready. Closer to kickoff they did open more gates and people strolled in with virtually no screening. I am far from an expert but I did work in game day operations for an MLB team for a couple of years. All it would have taken to ease the jam at gate 13 would be having game day personnel directing people to use other gates and not all crowd the same one. They made videos and emailed them out about parking, prohibited items, etc but they should have added something about how to get into the stadium (as basic as that may sound). There were many people there like myself that had never been to Bristol and were unfamiliar with the stadium layout.

I sat in the Allison Terrace in the upper levels. The Arby's concession stand ran out of water in the first quarter! Also there was a drink tent that was occupied by one worker! There was easily 200 people in line. They expected a record crowd but somehow things like that still happened.

It doesn't dismiss the spectacle to point out the flaws. Fans paid a lot of money and while you might have expected headaches some issues were obviously overlooked despite years of planning. The OP asked for people's experience and not everything was puppies and rainbows.

Our bus got back after 5 am. It wasn't cheap to ride but it was a great decision. Getting out was a breeze since I slept through it. Go Vols!
 
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#95
#95
Came with my wife, parents, and oldest 2 kids - all of us were so glad we were able to experience this amazing history making event, and the Vols win put a cherry top.

We're locals, but still, took a few precautions to avoid the crazy crowds, for the most part - parked a mile and a half away at Avoca Christian and rode their bus in, arrived at the stadium around 5:30 and easily walked in at Gate 8. At that point the concession stands were pretty empty so we decided to go ahead and get dinner, then leisurely ate at our seats (in the shade) and watched the stadium fill up. Sure it was a long wait, but beats the hell out of sweltering in the sun with crazy crowds! After the game we walked the mile and a half back to the van, which was far enough away to avoid being blocked - pulled right out and was home and in bed by 1:30 or so.
 
#98
#98
I loved the experience..... I went in at gate 3 right after the vol walk and had no trouble also met some pretty cool hokie fans while waiting in line. The national anthem was amazing and I am so glad I was able to be apart of it. Also they didn't show it on tv but Lee Greenwood singing God Bless the USA at halftime was awesome. Also from my seats the view was better than expected imo.


Ps the Jon Pardi and Sam Hunt concerts were awesome.


One last thing the vol walk was a pretty cool experince. I saw a picture of the hokie walk and it was nothing compared to the vol walk. It was a sea of orange from the top of the hill at the drag strip all the way to the gate the vols entered. People were hopping fences and and standing in the grass and just anywhere they could to see the team.


Just my opinion but if they could work on making the view from all seats a little better I think a bowl or nc game could be played here. They would also need to work on security and staffing it seems like from other posts here.
 
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#99
#99
Jimmy37204 said:
Did anyone sit in the middle of either endzone at or near the top? It looked like the endzone on the opposite side from those seats would be three football fields away!!!
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I sat in K terrace and could see players but really hard to see the ball. One issue is I was below tower and it is held up with large beams that obstructed my view but that changed as soon as we went ahead. Pole still there but VT fans disappeared so I moves over a couple seats. National Anthem was worth going to game , volwalk was unreal, all in all great experience but glad we go back to Rocky Top next week.GBO!
 
#100
#100
VolnJC said:
I was wondering if those folks in the 500 dollar Battlefield were able to see? They seemed mighty low to me
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Yeah, VJC I agree, looked like you had obstructions if you were sitting that low. I was hoping they were going to take the crash fence poles down, but they didn't cause any real issue.
 
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