My Review of the Power Catstle (tm)
1) The Tailgate Terrace is great, but flawed in a couple of correctable ways
a) The TV's, which all hang facing West were completely blacked out by the Suns rays...TV's Should be mounted on both sides of the concourse (both on the exterior catstle wall, and on the concession booths), and the side that isn't being effected by the sun should be turned on.
b) The two sides of the Terrace are not =. The South Terrace is larger, and doesn't have plush seating or fire pits, but has more concessions, and a larger restroom (I think I counted 1 urinal & 3-4 seats in the bathroom). The North Terrace is smaller, has plush seats, coffee tables, and fire pits, but there is only a SINGLE toilet in the one bathroom...a bathroom that is large enough for 2-3 toilets...there were maybe 50 people on the South side when we were there, in an area that could probably hold as many as 150 comfortably, and there was still a 5 man deep line to take a piss.
c) All members of our party were told repeatedly that the Terrace was open all the way through halftime...implying we could get up there at any point in the first half. This was not true. It closes during the first half of play, and re-opens at halftime. This led to a fairly long line of Boozecats @ halftime...it needs to be open the duration of the first half.
d) (Possible Tuck Alert) They continued to broadcast the radio feed on the terrace through the 'opening ceremonies'...the fact that I missed the pledge of allegiance didn't bother me...but not having any semblance of time relative to gametime on the terrace did. They should put a countdown clock out there, especially if they are going to continue to cordon it off during the first half.
e) Best part about it was the ease of entry...no line at all, they take away your Tailgate Terrace ticket, and give you a wristband for TT entry, and scan your game ticket. 30 seconds after scanning, I was ordering a beer, so that was slick.
2) The walkways in the WSC are great...very wide, not much congestion, even when full before kickoff. TV's in the signage are top notch
3) The crowd noise wasn't the large increase I expected...granted, it wasn't a very exciting game, everybody was rough ridin' roasting, and my seats were in the upper part of the South EZ, so I wasn't immersed in the reverb off the Catstle...but I still expected to notice an uptick in decibel level, which I did not.
4) The lighting did seem brighter on the field...but the entirety of the upper deck on the East Side was absolutely flooded with light in front of the towers. I'm not sure if they can 're-aim' some of the bulbs, but I'd have to think that if you were in those seats, it would be like watching a game in broad daylight.
5) The statue looks much better in person than in pics. We were all 'WTF'ing' the pics that were being posted on gE prior to arrival, but when we saw it in person, we were all in agreement that it was a more true likeness (cheeks are still a little puffy, but statues are never perfect).
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