Univ. of Arizona AD Desireé Reed-Francois said the athletic department has “short-term and long-term projects” aimed at improving the game-day experience at both McKale and Arizona Stadium, according to Michael Lev of the ARIZONA DAILY STAR. Reed-Francois said there has been assessment through fan surveys, and the department “brought in a group called Shine Entertainment” to evaluate game days. She noted some of the projects are “unique for football, some are unique for men’s and women’s basketball.” Reed-Francois said there are four common areas. The department wants to “expand storytelling” and needs to “develop an in-house analytics unit (to assess ticketing needs, pricing and structuring).” They also “need to maximize our premium spaces,” including “ones that aren’t even considered premium spaces.” She also said the department needs “to look at concerts, even hosting comedy shows, because we have to pay for all of these initiatives.” Reed-Francois said “longer term” areas are improving the sound and video boards for football. She added the department is “experimenting with field-level suites” and noted it has “to really look at tailoring to some specific game-day programs.” Reed-Francois: “We need Tucson to show up. But then we need to make sure we’re providing a great game-day experience. We’re going to evaluate concessions and ingress/egress. We want to keep looking at making this a must-see event” (ARIZONA DAILY STAR, 3/17).
Arizona AD outlines game-day experience improvements
