Exiting MBS

JJacket said:
"Figure it out"? What in the hell have they been doing the entire time? This wasn't a surprise stadium that was plopped down in a couple of weeks. Plans were approved. Putting in escalators with no consideration of the crush of people at the bottom is a failure. Most stadiums have ramps up and down to handle a flood of people. Is the "figure it out" going to be retroactively building ramps? I've been to Neyland several times with 104,000 other people and never once felt crowded in on the concourses because there is plenty of room to walk and wide ramps to exit - you could have two way car traffic down Neyland's ramps if you decided to do it. Gates are wide open to walk out. (Neyland's only problem is ancient bathrooms and the bench seat numbers are too close together - I always do chairbacks there)
MBS has terrible crush points for fans all around the stadium. It is a horrible design. I think all the money got spent on that "Gee Whiz!" roof. There was nothing special about the food or vending that couldn't have been done at the Georgia Dome.

If you lopped the roof off MBS, you'd have nothing but a mediocre stadium. The roof from the inside of the stadium is really ugly. I compare it to how ugly Doak is at FSU once you pass through the turnstiles. It isn't much to look at. The giant bent video screen is stupid. Do you think you can see it better than if there were a giant screen at each end of the field like at the Carolina Panthers stadium (which is a superior stadium, imo)

So now it is a problem too if 95% of the fans stay till the end of the game? People should plan to leave early because of the crowd?
Click to expand...

Are you under the impression that 75000 person facilities usually operate perfectly and permanently in their day one configuration? It's pretty much impossible to perfectly predicts the flow of that many people without testing it out live.

There were exits and walkways that were un or underutilized. They will adjust where they route people to improve crowd flow.

Coordidoors can be modified, concessions lines re-thought, escalators beefed up.

Have you ever been to Hartsfield-Jackson, Disney World, Georgia Aquarium, or any place with large crowds? Cooridoors , Walkways, ingress and egress routes are different almost every time you go because they are constantly studying the flow of people and adjusting to improve where needed...these places were also probably clusterfucks opening weekend too.

All of these other stadiums you mention have been open for years and have hosted dozens or hundreds of events and had the chance to make improvements. MBS has been open for 2 weeks and had 3 games...it will improve over time.
 
vapspwi said:
They're being realistic about how many people want to watch soccer, I guess. Similar to how they stepped down the capacity of BDS for United games as the season went on. I'd guess they could probably sell more tickets for the early United games in the new stadium (like they did at BDS), but eventually things will settle down
Click to expand...

My understanding is that they stepped down the number of tickets they sold in BDS due to construction on the north stands, not because of lack of demand.
 
Helluva Entrepreneur said:
Are you under the impression that 75000 person facilities usually operate perfectly and permanently in their day one configuration? It's pretty much impossible to perfectly predicts the flow of that many people without testing it out live.

There were exits and walkways that were un or underutilized. They will adjust where they route people to improve crowd flow.

Coordidoors can be modified, concessions lines re-thought, escalators beefed up.

Have you ever been to Hartsfield-Jackson, Disney World, Georgia Aquarium, or any place with large crowds? Cooridoors , Walkways, ingress and egress routes are different almost every time you go because they are constantly studying the flow of people and adjusting to improve where needed...these places were also probably clusterfucks opening weekend too.

All of these other stadiums you mention have been open for years and have hosted dozens or hundreds of events and had the chance to make improvements. MBS has been open for 2 weeks and had 3 games...it will improve over time.
Click to expand...
So it is OK to tard up the design initially and figure it out later. Got it.

I'm glad you don't work for or with me.
 
JJacket said:
So it is OK to tard up the design initially and figure it out later. Got it.

I'm glad you don't work for or with me.
Click to expand...

Only a "tard" would think that you can design and engineer crowd flow with perfect accuracy and 100% efficiency without live testing under real-world conditions.

If the hole in the roof is a dealbreaker for you then I guess you will never be happy, but everything else can be improved upon.
 
Helluva Entrepreneur said:
There were exits and walkways that were un or underutilized. They will adjust where they route people to improve crowd flow.
Click to expand...

Rule #1 for a capacity crowd game that goes into double overtime: Open ALL exits and walkways.

Rule #2: See Rule #1.
 
Helluva Entrepreneur said:
Only a "tard" would think that you can design and engineer crowd flow with perfect accuracy and 100% efficiency without live testing under real-world conditions.

If the hole in the roof is a dealbreaker for you then I guess you will never be happy, but everything else can be improved upon.
Click to expand...
Oh bullshit. It isn't research into making a warp drive. It is queue line studies and crowd flow studies. You make it sound like it is some sort of bewildering complicated science. It isn't. Making wide concourses funnel into narrow aisles isn't genius design. Having long escalators dump directly into a crowded area is moronic.
 
thracer said:
Rule #1 for a capacity crowd game that goes into double overtime: Open ALL exits and walkways.

Rule #2: See Rule #1.
Click to expand...


"The stadium has four main gates -- three of which are adjacent to the 'Front Porch' area on the east side and the other on the west side -- plus entrances for suites and clubs on the north side. In addition, Jenkins said, there are other ways to exit the stadium that fans may not have been aware of, such as two stair towers on the west side.

'While we had congestion … we also had areas that were underutilized, he said. 'So we need to figure out how to distribute that load. I think the staff will learn a little better and the folks coming to the stadium will learn a little better as time goes on.; "

Sounds like they learned some lessons this weekend.
 
JJacket said:
Oh bullshit. It isn't research into making a warp drive. It is queue line studies and crowd flow studies. You make it sound like it is some sort of bewildering complicated science. It isn't. Making wide concourses funnel into narrow aisles isn't genius design. Having long escalators dump directly into a crowded area is moronic.
Click to expand...

It's so easy, yet every major facility or park is constantly re-working and doing studies and updates aimed at improving crowd flow. It's almost as if people dont always behave exactly like the computer models said they would...crazy.
 
Helluva Entrepreneur said:
"The stadium has four main gates -- three of which are adjacent to the 'Front Porch' area on the east side and the other on the west side -- plus entrances for suites and clubs on the north side. In addition, Jenkins said, there are other ways to exit the stadium that fans may not have been aware of, such as two stair towers on the west side.

'While we had congestion … we also had areas that were underutilized, he said. 'So we need to figure out how to distribute that load. I think the staff will learn a little better and the folks coming to the stadium will learn a little better as time goes on.; "

Sounds like they learned some lessons this weekend.
Click to expand...
Problem is it wasn't just exiting the building that was the problem. The area outside 304 was nearly impossible to navigate all game.
 
Underutilized exits are to be expected. There should have been better signage to get people to those exits.

An assembly facility has to have capacity at the "main gates" for at least half of the occupants because people will naturally go to the gate in which they entered. This is especially true for first time visitors who don't know about any other ways out. Having 3 of the 4 main gates on one side of the building likely exacerbates that issue.

You probably had people on one end of the stadium travel back down the entire length of the co course just to back out the gate in which they arrived when they probably could have turned the other way and used another closer and less congested gate.

That kind of thing will smooth out over time as people become familiar. Better signage and crowd direction will also help.
 
Architorture23 said:
Underutilized exits are to be expected. There should have been better signage to get people to those exits.

An assembly facility has to have capacity at the "main gates" for at least half of the occupants because people will naturally go to the gate in which they entered. This is especially true for first time visitors who don't know about any other ways out. Having 3 of the 4 main gates on one side of the building likely exacerbates that issue.

You probably had people on one end of the stadium travel back down the entire length of the co course just to back out the gate in which they arrived when they probably could have turned the other way and used another closer and less congested gate.

That kind of thing will smooth out over time as people become familiar. Better signage and crowd direction will also help.
Click to expand...
Is there going to be a way to navigate out of the portal at 304 and go left or right? Jumping isn't an option.
 
I think Helluva Entrepreneur must have been part of the design team as he/she is taking disses to the design personally. At least it seems that way to me.
My biggest complaint is the enormous amount of money thrown at this thing. And the return on the dollar just isn't there in the design. The outside is noteworthy and very nice. The inside just pure sucks. Too many problems and issues are there for the amount paid. It's not like this is the first stadium built. Narrowing concourses as people flow is a big NO NO. That's like basic assembly design 101. And no, that cannot be simply corrected. One starts the design of a building like this from the ending first. Life Safety demands that. Just poor design, in my opinion. Signage is needed - and big. This stadium doesn't have it. That can be fixed. No queue lines and ice for the drink machines - that can be fixed. But hey, we've got a beer tap every 20 feet.
Again, if I am going to pay top dollar for the best, I expect - BEST. This stadium doesn't come close. Just one architect's opinion.
 
I felt they did a good job of still making it feel like a stadium with simple, durable finishes as opposed to making it too slick and arena-like. I like the big plaza on the one end and wish there was something similar, even if not as big, on the other end. I agree that open concourses to see the action would be better.

And I also agree that the roof, from the inside, is a mess. I guess that's the nature of a 200' cantilever. The roof would be so much better if it were lighter, more open, and more translucent. And it really sucks that you can't see that roof from probably 30-40% of the seats.
 
Helluva Entrepreneur said:
Jeez, yall need to get a grip. They've played 3(?) games at the place. They will figure things out and it will operate more smoothly over time.

They will figure out ingress/egress and it will get better. This was a sold out OT game where 95% of the 70K crowd stayed until the very last minute, exacerbating the issues. Normally people will start filing out earlier and it wont be such a rush out of the building. 15 minutes to get from upper deck to out of the building with 70k people didnt seem too bad to me, as it was.

Some simple adjustments to the vid screen formatting will make the key info more easily visible to everyone. They are trying to show you 3x more info than any normal screen has room for anyway and you guys complain that you couldnt see every word of it at all times...chill out. They wasted ~25% of their screen space on worthless twitter feeds that they can and should scrap for more relevant info. I'm sure they will get fan feedback and adjust it.

Complaints about the hole in the roof...I dont know. It's kind of cool, probably not necessary, but I cant see how that possible affected your experience in any way.

"They ran out of diet coke near my seats! I'm never coming back again!". Seriously? You dont think maybe they have someone on staff specifically tracking this data and maybe they will just bring a little more sugar water for your fat asses next time?

Yall sound like those Tennessee mountain trash fans that are scared of any place more crowded than Piggly Wiggly on a Sunday.

It's a cool stadium that will function more smoothly eventually. Going to any large event with 70k people is a bit of a pain in the ass. No surprise. It sucks making that long walk after a loss in any stadium. Such is life. Suck it up
Click to expand...


I'll have to disagree with the "figure it out" on the egress issue. Upon arrival about 6:30, I started to notice the pinch points and lack of exit ports on the skin of the structure in very short order. I was shocked and thought to myself, surely I'm missing something, no way in hell the Fire Marshall signed off on this. Then, as I slowly made my way through the perimeter corridors, I kept noticing stairwells going to the upper levels, not ramps....stairs. I thought , OK, maybe those are just to the suites, but no, after going almost 3/4 of the way around the stadium, no ramps. Hmmm, interesting, glad my seats are on level 100 I said to myself.

Anyway, I'm highly skeptical this is something they will be able to "fix" with a directional flow program. There are just not enough strategically located exits ports from the interior to the exterior, plain and simple. This is not a "software" issue, it's a "hardware" issue. You say 15 minutes to get from the upper deck to out of the building is not that bad, well, what if one of those tightly packed corridors became even marginally filled with smoke, with pinch points in front of you and behind you with no exit in between? That's not a far fetched scenario considering how many kitchens there are in that place. Best case is that even 2 minutes would seem like an eternity if your'e in really good physical shape, worst case it would be the last minutes/seconds of your life.

Not trying to be contrarian or overly negative. There were certainly things I liked. The 360 video board was quite impressive. The wider than normal seats were a big plus. The numerous bars and food vendors facilitated a well above average turnaround to get something to drink or eat. It was overall a very pleasant experience. Not sure it's a 1.5 Billion plus upgrade over the stadium it replaced, but an impressive facility nonetheless. But I know one thing, I won't be back until they completely address the egress issue by adding exit ports on the skin of that building.
 
Vespid said:
I'll have to disagree with the "figure it out" on the egress issue. Upon arrival about 6:30, I started to notice the pinch points and lack of exit ports on the skin of the structure in very short order. I was shocked and thought to myself, surely I'm missing something, no way in hell the Fire Marshall signed off on this. Then, as I slowly made my way through the perimeter corridors, I kept noticing stairwells going to the upper levels, not ramps....stairs. I thought , OK, maybe those are just to the suites, but no, after going almost 3/4 of the way around the stadium, no ramps. Hmmm, interesting, glad my seats are on level 100 I said to myself.

Anyway, I'm highly skeptical this is something they will be able to "fix" with a directional flow program. There are just not enough strategically located exits ports from the interior to the exterior, plain and simple. This is not a "software" issue, it's a "hardware" issue. You say 15 minutes to get from the upper deck to out of the building is not that bad, well, what if one of those tightly packed corridors became even marginally filled with smoke, with pinch points in front of you and behind you with no exit in between? That's not a far fetched scenario considering how many kitchens there are in that place. Best case is that even 2 minutes would seem like an eternity if your'e in really good physical shape, worst case it would be the last minutes/seconds of your life.

Not trying to be contrarian or overly negative. There were certainly things I liked. The 360 video board was quite impressive. The wider than normal seats were a big plus. The numerous bars and food vendors facilitated a well above average turnaround to get something to drink or eat. It was overall a very pleasant experience. Not sure it's a 1.5 Billion plus upgrade over the stadium it replaced, but an impressive facility nonetheless. But I know one thing, I won't be back until they completely address the egress issue by adding exit ports on the skin of that building.
Click to expand...
Agreed. I am certain I am not the only one who thought "People could die in this place"
 
DinnerJacket said:
I think Helluva Entrepreneur must have been part of the design team as he/she is taking disses to the design personally.
Click to expand...

Nah, I just enjoy giving the chronic whiners and complainers on here a hard time. I thought the stadium was pretty cool; nothing mind blowing. If you look at it rationally, expecting flawless operation on day 1, getting wildly upset by a few minor hiccups, assuming no improvements can/will be made, and then writing of the entire stadium as a failure is a pretty silly and emotional reaction. I have no immediate plans to go back, so no skin off my back either way.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top