Unexpected surge of fans had box office scrambling

A late flood of walk-up customers contributed to jamming Aloha Stadium parking lots and the box office, prompting some fans to leave the site of the University of Hawaii’s football season opener and others to complain about the wait.

Approximately 12 percent of the 36,411 tickets distributed for UH’s game with 25th-ranked Washington were purchased that day, deputy stadium manager Lois Manin said Tuesday. Just 32,197 made it through the turnstiles.

Manin said the number of tickets sold on game day, 4,200, was not expected based on the pace of sales earlier in the week. On Tuesday athletic director Ben Jay had projected a crowd of "about 28,000."

"Not in the past three or four years have we had this large of a walk-up," Manin said.

She said there were no lines when the box office opened at 12:30 p.m., but by 3 p.m. the crunch hit and didn’t abate until well after the 4:35 p.m. kickoff.

At 5 p.m. fans waiting to purchase tickets were still packed into the plaza in front of the stadium.

There were reports of some fans staying in the parking lot to tailgate and others turning around and leaving the Halawa area due to traffic tie-ups.

Coach Norm Chow said his wife, Diane, was delayed in getting into the stadium and fans sent him pictures of the lines, some telling him they might not be back.

"It will be the only game I’m going to, it (ticked) me off," said a fan who identified himself as Ralph.

Manin said, "Once there is a backup in traffic, it creates a backup at the box office and a backup at the turnstiles and we can’t really recover from that."

Part of the problem, she said, was some fans’ unfamiliarity with changes in parking necessitated by the closing of the Kamehameha lot due to construction. The stadium lost 1,040 parking stalls, a 13 percent drop in its overall capacity, due to rail station construction and staging. That resulted in moving some ‘Ahahui Koa Anuenue reserved parking to the upper Halawa lot.

Despite being furnished with maps, some fans got turned around, resulting in additional tie-ups, Manin said.

Some fans complained of being unable to park in apparently open lots, which officials said were the areas reserved for booster club members who had purchased passes.

Manin said stadium officials met with Honolulu police Tuesday in an effort "to make changes that will help alleviate some of the congestion."

With as many as 38,000 expected for Saturday’s 4:30 p.m. game against Oregon State, UH officials said they were encouraging fans to purchase tickets online and arrive early.