Memphis AD Ed Scott releases statement addressing issues at Saturday’s home opener

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Memphis AD Dr. Ed Scott released a statement on Monday addressing the fans and some of the issues that were reported from the home opener against Arkansas State. The Tigers played its first game in the newly renovated Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, and while many fans showed up to support the team, a lot of fans complained about issues with parking, concessions and more at the stadium.

“The University of Memphis and Memphis Athletics were proud to welcome a sellout crowd to the newly renovated Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium,” the statement said. “There is tremendous excitement surrounding this new chapter of Memphis football, and we are committed to providing Tiger Nation with the first-class game day experience our fans deserve. At the same time, we recognize that our first home game fell short of that standard in several important areas. We heard your concerns about parking, stadium entry, concession lines and other aspects of the game day experience, and we take that feedback seriously.”

Parking seemed to be a big issue ahead of the game. From changes to the different lots at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium to confusion between parking pass holders and employees. 

Memphis debuted the “halo” before the first game of the season, which is the new entry point to the stadium. Instead of scanning tickets at the entrance to the stadium, fans will now scan their tickets at the gates in front of the stadium to get into the halo.

The Tigers’ plan is to have food trucks and other things set up inside the halo, giving fans an opportunity to get into the stadium earlier. According to fans, there were issues at the entrance, and the lines stretched down Tiger Lane throughout the first quarter.

The other big complaint from fans was the concession stands. Fans complained about waiting in line for long periods of time, including some saying they missed most to an entire quarter waiting in lines.

After the game, Charles Huff addressed the issues and said that the issues would be fixed.

“Now, I’ll be the first to apologize,” Huff said. “There are a lot of things we have to clean up. We have a new home. Obviously, you’ve got to do an initial walk through. You’ve got to do a lot of things, and the faucet doesn’t work here, the door know is loose here. We get all of it, and we will fix it. So, we apologize for any inconvenience in parking, any inconvenience in concessions, any inconvenience in anything. I promise you we will get it fixed.”

Later in the night, Scott took to social media to comment under nearly every post. He was apologetic in the posts, promising to be better and fix the issues.

Scott closed the statement by emphasizing how the renovations are a big step for Tiger football and how they will fix the issues to give fans a better game day experience. 

"The renovation of Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium represents an exciting future for Memphis Football," Scott said. "We have a tremendous opportunity in front of us, and we are going to work relentlessly to make sure the game day experience reflects the pride our university, our city and Tiger Nation have in his program."

Memphis has two weeks to make improvements before the Tigers return to Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium for their next home game against UT Martin.

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