How was your experience at the National Championship

I agree on entry procedures. Horrible. Love the fan friendly pricing! Decent food. I don't really care for the upper deck. I'm not in awe of anything last night except parts of our 3rd and 4th quarters and OT. The Kendrick Lamar show was a joke. I'd much rather enjoy more time with the 2 school bands and watch the punters warm up. My favorite is still Jerry World. RTR!

Mine was rough , I had to actually turn off my tv with the remote and walk all the way to my bedroom ....then turn that tv back on and watch it again.......

Secret Service very thorough at detectors before entering stadium. That’s why we all stood in the light rain for so long. Crowd out there was crushing. Those that didn’t load their tickets to their phone (such as Apple wallet)also held people up at the ticket scanners as they tried to get a signal. Once inside, all was good. Leaving the stadium is a problem as the crowds jam up in concourses and at doors. But at least we didn’t have to listen to dog barks and dufus Ga chants as we oozed out the exits.

Overall, a great trip and one the Missus and I will remember for a long time. Entry to the stadium was rough as others have said. Non-tech-savvy fans struggled with e-tickets, causing further delays. As I said in another post earlier this season, I'm not impressed with the operations at the new stadium. During Fla State game, we were in the best club section right on the 50 yd-line, and had long waits at the club concessions and bathrooms. Last night, we were on 2nd level and still had long concession and bathroom lines. IMO, they gotta seriously improve the operations at the stadium. A beautiful place, but not run very well yet.

We got in early (around 5:30), but it was still a challenge. E-tickets were hit and miss as mine mysteriously went away when I tried to get into the Fan Fare. However, I went outside, closed the app, re-logged in and they were magically back.

One thing I will say. I am very tired of being severely outnumbered at National Championship games. This one was right up there with Notre Dame and the 1st Clemson games in terms of being out-represented...

statgrad96 said:

We got in early (around 5:30), but it was still a challenge. E-tickets were hit and miss as mine mysteriously went away when I tried to get into the Fan Fare. However, I went outside, closed the app, re-logged in and they were magically back.

One thing I will say. I am very tired of being severely outnumbered at National Championship games. This one was right up there with Notre Dame and the 1st Clemson games in terms of being out-represented...

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They said like 70/30 is that correct? It sure sounded like a road game.

I thought it was worse than that, maybe 75-80% UGA...

This was our second trip to the stadium. It took us about 20 minutes or so to get into the stadium, but that was mostly due to checking bags and scanning. We didn't have any issues with bathrooms or vending - which there are plenty of on each level. I'll add that the MBS staff were cordial, friendly, and extremely helpful in finding a solution to a problem we had. I like the stadium and think it will be easier to enter/exit Gate 1 when they finish clearing the Georgia Dome debris. I will say that it is odd to have three exits on one side and only one on the other. They could stand to turn the speaker volume down a notch or two.

2nd half made all troubles worth it ...

But the entry was ridiculous! We stood outside literally inching at best for 2 hours. The TSA were in no hurry to help with the prices either. I know there were tons that were still trying to get in at kickoff. As line was well behind us when we got in and we missed part of pregame. I liked the E-tickets .. however, if you didn't put them in your wallet on your phone, the cell service was struggling and many were walking around trying to get their tickets to download. Then the technically challenged had a whole other list of issues.
Only other thing that completely annoyed me was the number of UGA fans sitting right around me .. I don't do well with the opposing fans! However, watching them walk away with their tails tucked helped!
Concessions are great there!

Same as others have said. I thought the gates opened at 5:30 so I got there 5:15... they had opened at 5pm. I waited 2.5 hours in the rain and cold (luckily light rain) with mostly UGA fans. It was packed, people were shouting, shoving, pushing. A few were obnoxious right next to me. I could not really move. I did make it to my seat with 8 minutes til kick off. The Club Lounge area is very nice.

I had great seats 10 rows up from the field, but on the Georgia side. Most of the fans were okay around me, but there were about 4 who were not. They were loud, cursing, saying bad things about Bama and the refs. As soon as we won in OT, I turned around and those 4 were gone already!

I am so glad that half time show was not in the stadium. That was horrible. They did show a few minutes of it on the screen, but luckily I got to watch the band instead.

Exit was not that bad because we stayed for the ceremony for about 15 minutes afterwards. I walked by Matt Stinchcomb on the way out. He sure is tall!

Uber was an hour late picking us up so that was not good. I got home around 3am, watched TV and read things on my phone until 5:00, then got 3 hours of sleep.

It was ALL worth it, even though I was miserable waiting to get in the stadium and the 1st half of the game was miserable on offense. I am so happy that we won and that Tua was part of it. I have already re-watched the game once and plan on watching the 4th quarter and overtime again soon.

There has got to be a better way for people to get into that stadium. They should have opened it at 3pm or 4pm instead of 5pm, especially knowing Trump was coming.

JTBama said:

Mine was rough , I had to actually turn off my tv with the remote and walk all the way to my bedroom ....then turn that tv back on and watch it again.......

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My experience was similar except the batteries in the bedroom remote were dead. Had to fight my way over and around sleeping dogs, down a dark hallway to the kitchen and fumble through the junk drawer looking for new batteries. It didn't help that the junk drawer was right beside a sink full of dirty dishes. Oh, and to top it off, someone put the toilet paper roll on backwards in the guest bathroom. Oh the horror...never doing that again!

Entry and Exit at the stadium were both bad. Glad we got in line a few minutes before the doors opened at 5pm. Still took 30 minutes to get in.

I thought the pre-game entertainment outside the stadium and halftime performance were both sub-par. The fan central at the GWCC seemed smaller and less worth it than the SEC Fanfare. The tailgate plaza outside the stadium was okay, but nothing spectacular. I'm glad we went into the stadium early because it's way cooler to stand at one of the bars on the 100 level and watch warm-ups and the stadium fill up. I also did this before the Florida State game and you could watch all the other games at the bar and then walk to your seats before kickoff. As cheap or cheaper than what you'd spend at a venue down the street, but way more exciting to be in the stadium.

Unlike another said, I thought the Upper Level was overall fine. The concourses felt wider and bathroom/concession lines nonexistent relative to the Mezzanine (200 level), which is where we sat for the Florida State game. It's definitely high up, but no worse than sitting in the upper level at BDS or the Superdome. The biggest drawback was - for those of us 20 rows up, we couldn't see the entire video board. About 1/3 off the top was cut off because of how high we were and the angle. I just paid attention to the live play more.

Overall, a great venue and I'd definitely go back.

I have been 2 times to the new stadium and I like the old dome better as far as seating and entry and exit. Both times it took a long time to get in and out of the stadium. Once your are in the stadium it has plenty of concessions and bathrooms. I do not care for the ribbon video board. It was an idea that sounded better on paper than it is in realty. A drunk Georgia fan tried to start a fight with me and couple of fans after the game. I don't think is we 70/30 probably more like 60/40.

My wife had to work late and missed the 1st quarter. She came in and watched it until halfway through the 3rd and went to bed. I did not realize that because I was so wrapped up in the game. I went back to check on her during the commercial break and the room was dark and her in the bed. I set my alarm and she said in the dark, "don't stop yelling. That's the only way I know something is happening." So my only inconvenience was trying to be quiet. When we tied it up with the 4th down TD pass, I became unglued. I turn around and this shadowy figure comes down the hall, blanket in hand, and gets on the couch. "might as well watch it now" and she did. She was glad she got up. I hate others were more inconvenienced than myself but like she said yesterday morning - "It was all worth it!"

Mine was bad too. Approx 1 hour to get in. Agree with comments on mobile app. Probably not the best game to introduce 100% digital tickets. BTW, could not get support before the game on the mobile app. Was happy I was finally able to download into Apple Wallet.

My guess was 80% UGA fans but maybe it just felt that way. Quite a few were quite rude on way out, but welcome to an SEC game.

Bathroom lines were very long but like the FSU game it was just the men’s room.

Exiting stadium was a long process even after staying for the ceremony. I am sure the delays had to do with all the added security but felt it could have been more efficient. Thousands were still trying to get in at kickoff.

Roll Tide!

4Q Basket Case said:

Exterior of the stadium is the best feature. Not sure I'll ever go back. Fortunately, the pre-season game this year is in Orlando.

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I know Bama is good, but we get pre-season games now?

Tide Rev said:

My wife had to work late and missed the 1st quarter. She came in and watched it until halfway through the 3rd and went to bed. I did not realize that because I was so wrapped up in the game. I went back to check on her during the commercial break and the room was dark and her in the bed. I set my alarm and she said in the dark, "don't stop yelling. That's the only way I know something is happening." So my only inconvenience was trying to be quiet. When we tied it up with the 4th down TD pass, I became unglued. I turn around and this shadowy figure comes down the hall, blanket in hand, and gets on the couch. "might as well watch it now" and she did. She was glad she got up. I hate others were more inconvenienced than myself but like she said yesterday morning - "It was all worth it!"

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Hahaha! I love this!!!

mrusso said:

My experience was similar except the batteries in the bedroom remote were dead. Had to fight my way over and around sleeping dogs, down a dark hallway to the kitchen and fumble through the junk drawer looking for new batteries. It didn't help that the junk drawer was right beside a sink full of dirty dishes. Oh, and to top it off, someone put the toilet paper roll on backwards in the guest bathroom. Oh the horror...never doing that again!

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As long as the batteries weren’t $1000 each, you probably came out way ahead...