Florida's 2017 home opener is Saturday night against Northern Colorado.
Fan Advisory Council Is Listening
Monday, September 4, 2017 | General, Football, Chris Harry
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Athletic Director Scott Stricklin is a passionate advocate of the game-day fan experience.
By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — This time last year, Scott Stricklin was still the athletic director at Mississippi State. In fact, it wasn't until Sept. 27 — four games into the 2016 football season — that the University of Florida announced Stricklin would replace retiring Jeremy Foley and become the 14th AD in the program's history.
Stricklin's first day in his UF office was Nov. 7.
"It's only been 10 months and I've always felt like you really need 12 months before getting really settled into a place," Stricklin said. "There's just something about going around the sun one time at that place and seeing everything once."
So it was only recently that Stricklin's initial revolution got him into the meeting room with the University Athletic Association's Fan Advisory Council, a group comprised of 13 football season-ticket holders representing the seven booster contribution levels, plus five members of the UAA administration. Together, they talk about the one thing that just might be closest to Stricklin's heart when it comes to game-day operations.
Fan experience.
Fan engagement will always be one of UF athletic director Scott Stricklin's highest priorities and listening to the UAA's Fan Advisory Council will be a big part of his approach to that.
A think tank that combined athletic officials and fans was something Stricklin considered during his time at MSU, but never put into implementation. The UF Fan Advisory Council, meanwhile, is now in its fourth year of existence and Stricklin was on hand for both its meetings this summer — staying for the duration, which the fan reps certainly appreciated— and leaving impressed with not only their input, but also the respect the various groups had for each other.
"The discussions are all very constructive," Stricklin said. "It's a pretty cool deal there."
What comes out of the council is combined with items generated from an internal group of UAA officials from operations, marketing and ticket departments who make up the Fan Experience Committee. The Gators (0-1) play their 2017 home opener Saturday night against Northern Colorado (1-0) at Steve Spurrier-Florida Field, so it's time to put some of the ideas into action.
Fans that went to Dallas for the AdvoCare Classic opener against Michigan last weekend might not have liked the result of the game, but the #Chompville marketing initiative — the signage throughout the city, a giant Gator logo lighting the downtown headquarter hotel, a rousing Friday night pep rally — had everyone in orange and blue primed for kickoff.
Now the Gators are coming home and the UAA has added some new amenities to enhance the game experience.
"Hopefully, we can show people things are getting done with our actions, not by words," Stricklin said. "Some of the little things we've done this year, candidly, are low-hanging fruit. Not exactly earth-shattering stuff. But they are things we believe will enhance the fan experience and we will continue to focus on that."
Those things include:
* Gator Walk Village, a premium tailgate area, will be introduced on the North Lawn between University Avenue and the stadium and include food truck options from several marquee area vendors. An additional bathroom, similar to others around campus on game days, will be added to the area.
* Enlarged and enhanced video board production on the south end zone Jumbotron that will include visible down-and-distance lines, similar to what viewers at home see on television. For in-game video and replays, the projected area will expand from a field width of 992 pixels to 1,504.
* New 15mm HD and LED ribbon boards that wrap the north and south end zones and will provide scores from other games, crowd prompts, graphics and stadium information.
* New drink rail counters installed in the north and south end zone concourses to accommodate fans congregating in the area.
* A nursing station, located between Gates 15 and 16, for mothers to go with their infant children for an air-conditioned, private space.
"The goal of our committee is to deal with concerns among our fans, things that we can control," said guest services coordinator Jenn Rubin, who chairs the Fan Advisory Council. "Regardless of the game's outcome, win or lose, we want our fans to leave the stadium with a positive game-day experience."
In the council's four seasons, some obvious big-ticket items have come up in discussion, such as a larger video board, better sound system and improved WiFi connectivity. Stricklin wants to make mobile ticketing a priority, but that that would also tie into upgraded WiFi.
Bottom line: the Fan Advisory Council and the Fan Engagement Committee are huddling to do right by their constituents.
"As you can as imagine some of the things the fans are telling us they want are are massive changes that would cost millions of dollars," Fan Engagement Committee co-chair James Slagle said. "The challenge is trying to solve the problems that we can, while also knowing we can't solve all of them at once."
Some things won't happen overnight, but things are happening.
"We want to make sure our fans, alumni and the people that love this program have a great experience," Stricklin said. "We will always be looking for ways to engage our fan base in any way we can."
