snuffy
06-16-2009, 10:23 AM
Nebraska to combat unruly fans with texting
June 16, 2009 10:53 AM
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/big12/0-10-79/Nebraska-to-combat-unruly-fans-with-texting.html
Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin
Anyone who has attended games in Nebraska would find it hard to believe there are too many unruly fans at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.
I'm always struck by how the Cornhusker fans always make a point of providing warm applause for visiting teams as they leave the field at the end of a game.
But there must be some problems after Nebraska has announced a new plan where they will encourage fans to report unruly spectators by text messages to the school's police department.
School officials told the Omaha World-Herald that it will begin with a July 4 show with Larry the Cable Guy where more than 50,000 fans are expected.
"We don't want to switch everything over to text. We're still going to get the calls," Nebraska police chief Owen Yardley told the World-Herald. "But we'll use the text messages as a supplement for those times when you're in large venues, when it's hard to hear, hard to communicate or you need to be discrete."
Nebraska is believed to be the first school in the Big 12 to have this kind of texting plan in place. It began at Florida for the Gators' spring game in April and has been in place at several NFL stadiums in recent years.
Plans are for Nebraska's university police officers to receive texts and then focus stadium camera and additional personnel on an area of the stadium where complaints about unruly fans have been frequent.
It's an interesting decision for one of the stadiums in my travels that has always seemed relatively tame compared to many others around the conference. The result should make the spectator experience for more Nebraska fans that much more enjoyable.
June 16, 2009 10:53 AM
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/big12/0-10-79/Nebraska-to-combat-unruly-fans-with-texting.html
Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin
Anyone who has attended games in Nebraska would find it hard to believe there are too many unruly fans at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.
I'm always struck by how the Cornhusker fans always make a point of providing warm applause for visiting teams as they leave the field at the end of a game.
But there must be some problems after Nebraska has announced a new plan where they will encourage fans to report unruly spectators by text messages to the school's police department.
School officials told the Omaha World-Herald that it will begin with a July 4 show with Larry the Cable Guy where more than 50,000 fans are expected.
"We don't want to switch everything over to text. We're still going to get the calls," Nebraska police chief Owen Yardley told the World-Herald. "But we'll use the text messages as a supplement for those times when you're in large venues, when it's hard to hear, hard to communicate or you need to be discrete."
Nebraska is believed to be the first school in the Big 12 to have this kind of texting plan in place. It began at Florida for the Gators' spring game in April and has been in place at several NFL stadiums in recent years.
Plans are for Nebraska's university police officers to receive texts and then focus stadium camera and additional personnel on an area of the stadium where complaints about unruly fans have been frequent.
It's an interesting decision for one of the stadiums in my travels that has always seemed relatively tame compared to many others around the conference. The result should make the spectator experience for more Nebraska fans that much more enjoyable.