Discounted beer, earlier openings the hopeful solution for long lines at Williams-Brice

Nov. 4—COLUMBIA — South Carolina hopes it has found the solution to alleviate the long lines that have built at the gates of Williams-Brice Stadium before football games this year. It’s two-fold.

Earlier openings and cheaper beer.

“We recognize that several factors contributed to delays entering Williams-Brice Stadium during the Tennessee game and we are committed to improving the entry process and overall experience for our fans,” USC said in a statement. “To help accommodate the large crowd expected for Saturday’s game against Texas A&M, all gates at Williams-Brice Stadium will open two hours prior to kickoff.”

Before, there had only been select gates opening two hours early, with all gates being opened 30 minutes later. That and other issues have led to long lines outside the gates, which have often led to fans not being in their seats for kickoff and some claiming they couldn’t get in until the first quarter was nearly over.

As for the beer? Coors Light and Miller Lite 12-ounce servings will be priced at $5 for the extra hour only (they’re normally $13 for 16 ounces). For this week’s kickoff, that means from 1-2 p.m. It’s a bit more incentive to get into the stadium early.

There will also be 50 percent off concessions including water and soft drinks during that extra hour.

Complaints have been heard all season about the lines, particularly outside of the West stands. The ongoing construction and renovation at Williams-Brice has forced USC to re-route some of the in-person traffic and keep some gates closed, but the entrance process has also led to problems.

Fans are being asked to go into specific gates now, instead of just any gate they pick.

Then there’s the ticket process. USC switched to all-digital tickets this year and posted numerous advisories that tickets would be scanned. That means, as USC said in several preseason emails and missives, that fans needed to download their tickets ahead of time and add them to their phone’s digital wallets, so they wouldn’t have to depend on a wireless signal on gameday to pull them up.

There is no specific number of fans that have encountered a problem with that, but the likelihood seems high as some longtime fans could have not understood the instructions or simply didn’t want to take that step. So they’re trying to do it at the gate and it isn’t working.

Ever-popular complaints about not having enough workers to scan tickets, man the metal detectors or herd traffic have also been heard. USC has added 22 additional ticket scanners and magnetometers at key gates to help with stadium entrance.

There are only two home games left, against A&M and on Nov. 21 against No. 2 Georgia, and the stadium is expected to be bursting each time.

The Gamecocks have one chance to get it right before Georgia. Saturday is it.

Follow David Cloninger on Twitter at @DCPandC

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