Weather Delay Questions

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BilldGopher

BilldGopher

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Did they allow fans to stay in the stadium during the weather delay?

We did leave (first time not staying to the end at TCF) and fans were being directed to Mariucci and Williams Arenas on our way out.

Hopefully we won't see another delay in my lifetime, but I'd be more inclined to stick through it (late in a game) if I could stay in the stadium.

Just curious. Haven't seen it commented elsewhere.

Go Gophers! Bring home The Jug!
 

One of the morning news programs (can't remember which channel) reported that they allowed people to stay in the concourses during the delay. No idea if that's true, however.
 

MinneStoa said:
One of the morning news programs (can't remember which channel) reported that they allowed people to stay in the concourses during the delay. No idea if that's true, however.
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They allowed people to stay in concourse. I went to Williams Arena and there were about 100 people there. I assume the bars did well. Probably about 5000 watch the 4th quarter.

If sold out I bet they won't let people stay in concourse.
 

No one who stayed knew that we were supposed to run for cover, except for a untranslatable graphic on some of the TVs. I thought the concourse was cover, which it was.

The fans weren't "allowed", we stayed. It rained hard. That was all.

FYI, weather delays are now the norm all over the country, welcome it here. You will see many, many, many in your lifetime. You will see "snow delays" in your lifetime, maybe even "heat" delays.

Soldier on, I say.
 

On the sold out point...makes me wonder if there'd be different scenarios for a delay in the 1st or 2nd quarters versus after the half.

Logistics aren't dissimilar to some type of emergency contingency.

Go Gophers!
 


Not only did they allow us to stay in the stadium, we were forcibly restrained from leaving. They lined up all of the security guards and blocked the top of the steps so no one could leave. I'm fairly certain that's illegal, but they did it anyway.
 

It appears that college FB is moving toward the HS rules on weather. I attend a lot of HS games, and they are very cautious about weather. If there is visible lightning near the field, they take a 30 minute break - and the clock resets each time there is new lightning. One game in my area last Friday was ended at halftime. (of course, the score was 46-6 at the time, so the team that was behind did not have a lot of incentive to stick it out.) Last year, a team I follow had one game ended at halftime, and another game suspended and finished the next day.
 

We went out one of the front gates without a problem. Lot of people streaming out. Channel 9 weather guy this morning said that the standard procedure now is that if lightning is sighted within 6 miles they shut it down until it passes. The Twins game was also suspended for an hour and 10 minutes, according to the box score info.
 

Iceland12 said:
We went out one of the front gates without a problem. Lot of people streaming out. Channel 9 weather guy this morning said that the standard procedure now is that if lightning is sighted within 6 miles they shut it down until it passes. The Twins game was also suspended for an hour and 10 minutes, according to the box score info.
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I turned on the radio coverage and they were talking to Teague. Teague mentioned the 6 mile thing and that they had lightning strikes 10 miles away, 40 mph winds. Also Wms and Marriucci where open for those to find cover and people could stay in the concourse.

Dpo.......I find your comment about not being allowed to leave, hard to believe.
 



dpodoll68 said:
Not only did they allow us to stay in the stadium, we were forcibly restrained from leaving. They lined up all of the security guards and blocked the top of the steps so no one could leave. I'm fairly certain that's illegal, but they did it anyway.
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That does seem odd, but I don't know why you'd make something like that up, so I'm inclined to believe you. A lot of people left out the entrance behind the student section where I was.

As to those asking if staying in the concourses during the delay is allowed, that's exactly what I did, and no one told me couldn't, so I'm assuming it's allowed.
 

dpodoll68 said:
Not only did they allow us to stay in the stadium, we were forcibly restrained from leaving. They lined up all of the security guards and blocked the top of the steps so no one could leave. I'm fairly certain that's illegal, but they did it anyway.
Click to expand...

Saw this as well. We tried to leave out the open end of the stadium and they had security guards lined up along the top of the stairs telling us we couldn't leave. I think they said something about lightning being in the area, but the security guards didn't seem to sure about that they were doing either. People just filed through Goldy's Locker room instead. After about 5 minutes they let people head down the main stairs to leave.
 

We stayed and sat in the front row for the rest of the game. Don't know why everyone was so eager to leave?
 





Cayman said:
That does seem odd, but I don't know why you'd make something like that up, so I'm inclined to believe you. A lot of people left out the entrance behind the student section where I was.

As to those asking if staying in the concourses during the delay is allowed, that's exactly what I did, and no one told me couldn't, so I'm assuming it's allowed.
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I was on the other end near the big scoreboard. There was a group huddled under ponchos trying to take a picture, and security came right up to them, told them it wasn't the time for that and they needed to leave the stadium completely. No one knew he rules.
 

It seemed like at a certain point they stopped fans from leaving, possibly due to fears of people slipping and falling or getting hit by lightning out in the open. During the downpour we meandered over to big archway staircase by the Gold Country store and there was a human wall of yellow jacketed security guards stopping folks from going down. As for staying in the concourse, as others have said, we just hung out and no one ever said a word to us or gave us a motion to clear out. We heard the PA announcer make the call to head to Williams Arena and Mariucci Arena more than once, but just ignored him. Honestly, we made a break for the concourse within the first few drops, realizing from looking at AccuWeather that this was not going to be a run of the mill drizzle. So we were dry and figured it was self defeating to get soaked trying to cross the street. If no one was pushing us to leave, why bother? It seemed safe enough in the concourse. I get the feeling the U of M will be much stricter about evacuating should this ever happen again.
 

Sounds quite obvious that at least some of the staff had no idea of the protocol.
 


The next time there is a weather delay, I hope it is before the end of the third quarter so I can enjoy a beer while watching TV or the rain from the concourse!
 

First, there were numerous announcements about where to go in case of a weather emergency with the graphic showing which sections should go to Williams, Mariucci, etc. shown on both video boards. No fans should have been oblivious to that. It was to the point that I was getting sick of the announcement.

Second, the security company hired for these games flat out sucks. They don't know the rules on what you can bring into the stadium. They don't know the severe weather protocol. They are jerks to fans on a regular basis. The U should use the same people hired for Twins games (or maybe that's an in-house thing with the Twins). Their security are way friendlier and more knowledgeable about the stadium.
 

Vandy said:
The next time there is a weather delay, I hope it is before the end of the third quarter so I can enjoy a beer while watching TV or the rain from the concourse!
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Yes because it was after the third QUARTER break they even pulled the beer and alcohol in the DQ club, and the storm was strong enough the TV's sattelite signal was blocked out. Didn't really hear the PA announcer indicate they were going to restart the game either.
Just saw other people going back to the seats that is when we went back to see they had resumed the game. Field seemed good as didn't really notice players slipping all over the place.
 

We stayed in the concourse.

I swear that the PA said something like emergency shelter was available if desired - to me it sounded optional. I know staying in the seats in the open was not an option though.

Gate B didn't have anyone stopping people from what I saw but no one asked us to go.

Also, there was a streaker. I missed it (well, I didn't see it, not sure I MISSED it)... :)

gopherdudepart2 said:
Yes because it was after the third QUARTER break they even pulled the beer and alcohol in the DQ club, and the storm was strong enough the TV's sattelite signal was blocked out. Didn't really hear the PA announcer indicate they were going to restart the game either.
Just saw other people going back to the seats that is when we went back to see they had resumed the game. Field seemed good as didn't really notice players slipping all over the place.
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I heard the announcements - they said first a half hour until game time then about 10 minutes before they said the time it would start (I think).
 

year of the gopher said:
First, there were numerous announcements about where to go in case of a weather emergency with the graphic showing which sections should go to Williams, Mariucci, etc. shown on both video boards. No fans should have been oblivious to that. It was to the point that I was getting sick of the announcement.

Second, the security company hired for these games flat out sucks. They don't know the rules on what you can bring into the stadium. They don't know the severe weather protocol. They are jerks to fans on a regular basis. The U should use the same people hired for Twins games (or maybe that's an in-house thing with the Twins). Their security are way friendlier and more knowledgeable about the stadium.
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They are terrible. If your one job is to enforce the rules, how can they know so few of the rules? They are lost all of the time.
 

Amen!

year of the gopher said:
Second, the security company hired for these games flat out sucks. They don't know the rules on what you can bring into the stadium. They don't know the severe weather protocol. They are jerks to fans on a regular basis. The U should use the same people hired for Twins games (or maybe that's an in-house thing with the Twins). Their security are way friendlier and more knowledgeable about the stadium.
Click to expand...


So true. One of the differences, however, is that the Twins have 81 games. You can have an in-house department.
 

tikited said:
We stayed and sat in the front row for the rest of the game. Don't know why everyone was so eager to leave?
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They allowed pass-out so we went over to Stub and Herb's, ate a couple dozen wings, drank a couple pitchers, then made it back TCF for the final 8 minutes of the 4th quarter. Surprised more people didn't take advantage of the situation.
 

We crossed the street, had a few beers in the BWW tent, and then re-entered for the remainder of the 4th Q.

Fun times all around.
 

Were we in a severe thunderstorm warning? It didn't seem too bad to me. I just thought the lightning caused the delay.
 

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