Has anyone attended a Sacramento State Football game recently? Attending games since the 1980's, I always have been disappointed with the lack of a "College Football atmosphere". Something is missing at the Sacramento State games. Consistent lack of attendance is the always plagued the football program. The local high schools have better attendance at the local fields.
Attending Sacramento State in the 1980's, this issue was a major discussion. I was attending student government meeting in the 1980's and one of the Student Government officials told me that they are recommending Sac State go from Division Two to Division One. I told him other things need to be done first to solve the problem. Going to Division One ended up happening a few years later but still the same problems exist.
My observations is not enough students regularly attend the games. You will see a few groups of students tailgating before the game.
Another is the lack of citizens from Sacramento City and County. Many of the spectators are Alumni or know an athlete on the field.
I think the lack of refined public facilities is the major factor effecting the Sacramento State Football atmosphere. Alex Spanos and Anderson were very generous in donating money to upgrade Hornet Field for football and other major events. The University missed an opportunity on allocating the resources.
In these pictures, you will notice restricted area Balconies on the North and South end of the field. Wasted space. Balconies for the Staff/Alumni Association only. They should opened the area up and built a public food court with the proper amenities. Electrical power outlets with plumbing/running water.
What they do is have a bunch of food vendors with pop ups come in and serve food. There is no running water and the university did not even set up power outlets for them. They ran long power cords from inside the building to the vendors who did receive power.
At this game they brought in many food trucks from the area. There was plenty of food. In the third quarter I wanted to buy a espresso coffee or hot chocolate. i could not fine any of these vendors selling these items. This has been a problem in the past. Lack in planning with the variety of foods available. I have been at games where the only thing going is pizza in the box and they would run out until another vendor restaurant run was made.
Another issue was the food trucks were all running generators and the exhaust could be noticed all the way up in the grandstands. There combined cooking smell was mixed in and the building blocking the wind did not help. Not a good set up.
Another is the restrooms. They are temporary trailers and been there before the 1980's. They should have made new fixed structure with flushing toilet restrooms when they initially had the money. Hornet Stadium does not have the proper facilities to handle major events. What do you think?