Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Camp Randall: Now more fan friendly

Madison - Responding to feedback from fans throughout the 2005 football season, University of Wisconsin officials in the off-season spent about $500,000 on upgrades at Camp Randall Stadium.

Those changes, announced today, are to be in place for the home opener Saturday against Western Illinois."We want to make sure we stay responsive," Doug Beard, senior associate athletic director, said today.

The changes include:Field-level cross aisles on the west side of the lower bowl designed to alleviate congestion before, during and after games.One cross aisle extends from Section Z1 to Section E. Another extends from Section F to the portal between Sections I and J. A barrier in the middle of Section E will prevent fans from moving the entire length of lower bowl on the west side.

"What that does is create and access point for the people in the lower west side," Beard said. "I'm going to say in the first 30 rows the best way to access your section is going to be off that lower aisle."

It is also going to allow those patrons to access the concession stands and bathrooms in the north and south end.

The west side lower concourse, behind Sections A and B, has been widened by 16 feet. A bottleneck in the concourse near Sections J and K has been addressed. "We reconfigured the entrance to a bathroom and punched out a wall," Beard said. The bathrooms along the upper concourse on the west side have been refurbished.

Two bathrooms, one for men and one for women, have been installed on the third level of east side of the stadium behind Section T.

Ticket scanning devices, which have been used at the Kohl Center for men's basketball and men's hockey, will be used this season for all home football games.

An express line will be used at Gates 1, 6, 7 and 10. Any patron with just a ticket and no items that need to be searched by security, will be allowed in at those gates.

A new parking lot, at the corner of Park St. and Regent St., will have 300 spaces. Cost is $10 per game and the spaces will be sold on a game-by-game basis.

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