Iliana from the Orlando Sentinel was present for the community meeting to discuss UCF game day operations and wrote this article. Yours truly is quoted a few times in the article.

I think UCF has a uphill battle in front of them and has some serious work to do if they want to throw water on the fire. There may have only been 25 or so angry fans there, but a) this meeting wasn’t specifically for fans to discuss these changes it was for local residents b) this wasn’t really published or advertised. I think the views given in the meeting are representative of a large chunk of our fan base so I hope they are given some serious thought. Here’s my personal review of the meeting and what I think UCF should now do:

I think the number 1 thing I took from this is UCF may have taken a lot of time to plan out these changes, but they didn’t give much thought as to who should be included in this. This is a serious omission and I’m shocked with a change this big no one in their “committee” raised this concern.

Now the biggest things that angered or discouraged me at the meeting:

1) I at one point said it would be great to have a tailgate committee that we can be involved in to discuss policy changes. Admiral Al Harm’s response was we have had one for the past 3 years. Yeah you maybe have had one, but it’s not something that we as fans have been included in. There’s a huge difference. I know there are many people like myself that would be more than happy to be involved in something like this to make sure fans have a voice.

2) The Admiral continuing to talk about fans input all night. Fans were “scared” of a memory mall without tailgate lines. Fans were happy with the tailgate lines. Fans were wanting changes made to gameday, etc. Who are these fans and how did you get their input!!! Are you seriously just using input of a small number fans that have lodged some complaints here and there to shape policy?

3) I can’t remember the exact wording, but the Admiral at one point seemed to diminish the contributions of GKC donors, alluding to the fact that its overall a small amount of money. I don’t want to put words in his mouth because he didn’t specifically say that, but they way he was answering his question he appeared headed down the road. There were a lot of groans in the audience so I know I wasn’t the only one to feel that way.

4) The admiral actually used the phrase “blitz communication” in reference to how they have communicated this to fans. Somehow I fail to see the blitz communication considering he said this was approved in February and yet from my perspective most fans (not on UCFSports.com) found out about it when the paper starting running a story about some fans upset with the change in July. He referred to the gameday site being updated in June and then mentioned how it was put in the tailgate guide sent with tickets. I’m sorry but a few sentences added into a policy page on a site or a large tailgate guide is hardly a blitz communication. On the contrary I think UCF was hiding this info more than ensuring everyone was aware.

I will say that sitting through an almost 3 hour meeting on the subject I still don’t feel like I understand why UCF made these changes. According to the Admiral it appears mainly to be because a “trend in college and NFL” of decreasing tailgate times. Also he said that UCF is now about average in terms of tailgate times within C-USA. (My buddy put it best with a comment later that we shouldn’t want to strive to be average.) He also said this wasn’t a knee jerk reaction to any incidents and that this isn’t at all a response to incidents. They feel that they are giving us an appropriate amount of time to tailgate.

Also the Admiral multiple times said implementing this is going to be a challenge and it’s going to be difficult in response to concerns about traffic, managing people getting to their spots, etc. So it doesn’t sound like the have a sound plan for this yet they can’t understand why we question their decision which causes them more challenges and angers more fans? Furthermore if this isn’t in response to a problem then why push this through so hastily and even now in the face of all this opposition? Is it just because you want to save face or don’t want the committee to feel like they wasted their time?

If I were UCF I would do the following to start making things right:

1) Come out and publicly state that they will no longer make major tailgate policy changes unless it’s in response to a specific incident, threat, etc. No more collecting money in March and notifying us in June of a change.

2) Establish a fan committee that is comprised of GKC donors, alumni, season ticket holders, facility, and students to discuss game day operations. On their side this should include someone from GKC, Alumni, Police, Operations, etc. Give us some input. Tell us the problems you face and let’s see were we can help you. Conversely we can discuss our problems and see where you can help us. Win/Win, no?

3) Put all or the majority of games this year back to how it was when we paid our donations and season tickets. At this point I would accept them “testing” this new rule at a game (maybe two) if they are serious about getting fan involvement. I’ll be honest I’m going to be upset if this whole thing isn’t reversed, but at least if they show they are listening and willing to make changes I’ll feel a lot more valued as an alumni, donor, and die hard loyal Knight fan.

Overall I’m glad I went to the meeting, I think we definitely made our feelings clear to the Admiral and all those in UCFAA that were in attendance. I’m not confident that much will change, but at least I know that I’m doing whatever I can to make sure my feelings are known. I love this school and I don’t want to be forced into decisions that go against it.