Despite the ejection of dozens of fans for bad behavior at a recent home football game, University athletic officials and student leaders say increased efforts to better fan actions are making a difference.
Eugene police and Department of Public Safety officers ejected 80 spectators from the Sept. 16 game against Oklahoma, surpassing last year’s record of 70 ejections at the Civil War game in November.
Most of the fans were likely escorted out of Autzen Stadium for alcohol-related reasons, said Eugene Police Department spokeswoman Kerry Delf.
Both the University Athletic Department and the student government’s committee that deals with the department this season began implementing a variety of measures designed to improve fan behavior.
Fan behavior came under heightened scrutiny during football season last year after continual complaints regarding poor behavior concerned University President Dave Frohnmayer, who raised the issue in a letter to student leaders.
The department now offers a phone line dedicated to taking real-time tips about bad behavior during games as part of its Code of ConDUCKt campaign.
The phone number for the new hotline displays on the electronic scoreboard throughout games, and operators dispatch security personnel to deal with reported unruliness.
The Athletic Department has only received two legitimate calls to control crowded aisles amidst many prank calls during the games, said Vicki Strand, events manager for Intercollegiate Athletics.
Dave Williford, assistant athletic director, said although the hotline is only the first step, fan behavior after the first two games has “been better without a doubt.”
The University phone line is one element of the department’s Code of ConDUCKt, which reminds fans that “favorable behavior enhances the game-day experience for everyone,” according to the program’s press release.
Some NFL stadiums also use similar efforts, as do other NCAA football conferences.
“I think just the sheer fact that they don’t have impunity if they act outrageously tones them down,” said Phil Weiler, University spokesman.
White slips of paper with “witty sayings about how to curb foul fan behavior” accompany student football tickets this year, Weiler said.
One given with the Oregon-Oklahoma game read, “We’re all in this together. It’s like a packed car – if one person farts, we all have to deal with it.”
The committee finished crafting the $2,500 marketing strategy last June and launched it this fall. The creators have not measured its success from the Stanford and Oklahoma games, but plan to discuss its effectiveness at the upcoming Student Senate meeting.
“We are not targeting students,” said ADFC Chairman Kyle McKenzie. “I’d rather see an upbeat way to solve the problem.”
Natalie Kinsey, an ADFC member, said the committee didn’t clearly advertise the meaning of the campaign, and the leaflets accompanying football tickets may be “confusing to students.”
She hopes that the second part of the marketing plan – advertisements in the Oregon Daily Emerald, flyers around campus and large banners in the student section of Autzen – will heighten the awareness of classy conduct.
“I don’t know how effective it is, because I probably could have gotten a contact high from all of the marijuana in the student section at the Oklahoma game,” Kinsey said.
McKenzie remains optimistic.
“We’re waiting for this next phase to kick in,” he said.
Along with the Department of Public Safety and Eugene police who monitor Autzen stadium, the University also hires Crowd Management Services and Monitoring Intoxicated Behavior Security and Event Services (MIB). The latter oversees the stadium’s Moshofsky’s Center to alleviate rambunctious drinking.
At each game, MIB has about 10 employees whose main jobs entail spotting underage drinking and alcohol smuggled into the event, said Shaun Offutt, MIB event security.
“The Moshofsky Center turns into the state’s largest bar,” Offutt said, noting that it serves 60,000 people. “It’s a pretty good size problem.”
Offutt, who began working for MIB this season, said that employees catch an average of five to six people each on game days.
“We watch to see if someone buys two beers and then hand one off to a friend,” he said. “We get a lot of, ‘I don’t have an I.D.’”
DPS Director Tom Hicks attributed poor fan behavior to the fact that, despite a Eugene city ordinance that prohibits drinking open containers in public, open-air drinking is permitted on some property around Autzen, such as where some tailgaters are held.
“We need to somehow get people to understand their behavior has consequences,” he said.
Contact the crime, health and safety reporter at [email protected]
Classy fan campaign tries to ease game woes
Daily Emerald
September 26, 2006
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