Iowa State apologizes for ticket delays, long lines during opener; working on improvements for Saturday’s CyHawk game

By KAALTV
Credit: MGN

(ABC 6 News) – Iowa State University (ISU) Athletic Director, Jamie Pollard released a public apology on Monday after thousands of ISU Cyclone fans were left waiting in long lines for Saturday’s football opener vs. Northern Iowa that caused some to miss kickoff.

Pollard blamed the delays on a new ticket scanning system that the Cyclone Athletic Department introduced this year.

Pollard said the “combination of many fans arriving closer to kickoff, our staff’s inability to help fans understand the technology, and the excessive heat, came together to create a perfect storm of poor customer service.”

Pollard apologized and said the department is working on improvements for this Saturday’s annual CyHawk game in Ames versus their state rivals, the Iowa Hawkeyes, which typically draws a sellout crowd.

Pollard’s official statement reads below:

Dear Cyclone Fans:

Thank you for cheering on the Cyclones to a season-opening win over UNI yesterday! Your support of our student-athletes, coaches and staff is greatly appreciated, and helps create a tremendous home field advantage.

Our goal is to provide you with an outstanding game-day experience every time that you enter Jack Trice Stadium.  Unfortunately, we did not live up to that standard yesterday.

After successfully piloting 20 turnstile scanners at Gate 2 a year ago, the decision was made to expand their use this season to Gates 1 and 3. Unfortunately, the combination of many fans arriving closer to kickoff, our staff’s inability to help fans understand the technology, and the excessive heat, came together to create a perfect storm of poor customer service.

Please accept my apology for the inconveniences we caused for many of you yesterday.  We do appreciate your understanding and patience as we work through improvements for this week’s game.

Go Cyclones!

Jamie Pollard, Director of Athletics, Iowa State University

ISU defeated Northern Iowa, 30-9, to open the season.