September 7, 2011

Mike Pegram
Peegs.com Staff Writer

Yesterday Fred Glass addressed the media to talk about the game day experience for the 2011 football home season that gets underway Saturday night against Virginia. The Indiana Director of Athletics spoke about several changes that have taken place and offers up plenty of traffic advice due to bypass construction. Catch our notes and HD video of his comments.

Key Resources and Notes

Resources: Indiana statement | Traffic Pattern | Alternate Routes

Bullet list of game day notes for the 7 p.m. opener Saturday and future home games:

• "The Walk" will continue, taking place two hours and 15 minutes before kickoff
• The Indiana team will move to the student side of Memorial Stadium. In recent years the team has been on the alumni side. See the Q&A near the end of the video for more on this change.
• Significant improvements have been made to the concourse. Banners, pennants, new painting, new graphics
• Hoosier Village will open three hours before kickoff. If you haven't stopped by in the past, this is where fans can enjoy food, beverage, music, and fellowship
• Children can play in the Kid Zone and Knothole Park starting 90 minutes before the start of the game. A new smaller zone for younger kids has been added. A Knothole Club card is available and if it is stamped for all games, kids will receive a prize.
• This year "The Grill on the Hill" has been added at the south end zone where barbeque, hot dogs and other items can be bought.
• This Saturday will have the Big Ten Mobile Tour, running from 4-7 p.m. next to Hoosier Village. Indiana is the first host this season.
• Also at Saturday's home opener against Virginia, the ESPN Gridiron Tour sponsored by Jeep will be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. next to the DeVault Alumni Center on 17th Street
• Cook Hall will open at noon this Saturday so early arriving fans can work in that tour before the game
• Ticket offices will open this Saturday at 10 a.m. on the sides of Memorial Stadium. There will be 38 ticket windows open, the most ticket windows in the Big Ten this year. 20 scanners have been added to speed the purchase process along.
• Kicks for keeps will continue. This allows balls kicked into the stands to be kept by fans if it's from an IU score. Balls from opponents scores are encouraged to be thrown back onto the field.
• The end of third quarter fireworks and "William Tell" festivities will continue
• Military service personnel will be recognized before the game and there will be a fly-over before kickoff.
• Indiana has sold more season tickets than all of last year and the 21,058 total through Monday is the best since the year 2000.

Bullet list of key traffic and parking related notes:

• Road construction around the 45/46 bypass continues and should be a problem throughout the fall
• Fans should also be aware of construction issues around the S.R. 37 exit off of I-465 on the south side of Indianapolis. Delays here are likely and fans are encouraged to look into using S.R. 67 or heading down to Columbus via I-65 and then to Bloomington via S.R. 46. That latter also helps avoid the 45/46 Bypass problems.
• A new twitter account (@IUTraffic) has been set up to advise fans and will provide "real time" updates on game days.
• Indiana officials are emphasizing more than ever that fans arrive as early as possible
• Parking lots will open a MINIMUM of five hours before kickoff
• Postgame traffic has been modified to utilize 17th Street as a primary alternative route away from the stadium to S.R. 37
• Pregame and postgame traffic patterns have been modified this season to support the seven alternative routes to and from Memorial Stadium
• The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) will be active this year in altering signals along SR 37 and the SR 67 corridors and at the I-465/ SR 37 exit on game days to manage the increased traffic flow.
• Local law enforcement will have the right to change some routes if they feel it will help with traffic flow
• One of the suite boxes has been converted to a traffic command center
• Indiana has added 50 port-o-lets this year, bring the total port-o-lets to 140.