From our seats in the west main on the 40, the overall experience was definitely enhanced and greatly improved, with two most important: 1) the new board video’s color and clarity and ease of watching were all outstanding, and 2) it was LOUD! The sound system was really, really loud. Only flaw in the big board, I found it confusing and difficult to find the down and distance under it though with the quarter, time, and time out numbers. The ribbon boards were fantastic for this, especially the huge one above the students that clearly showed the down and distance and the one on the east balcony directly across from us that did the same. The color Orange (sometimes as orange paint special effects) was emphasized at all the important moments with the board and light shows, especially in the new video with Enter Sandman at the end of the third quarter and after TD’s. We wondered why they had moved the Freaky Fast race with Red Grange to a little bit earlier in the 3rd quarter, and this was why. They also moved the student Block I card stunt, which was awesome, to the 1st quarter instead of halftime, maybe a one off because of the heat and fear of students leaving? I thought the two hype guys worked well together. The one from the basketball game was not as annoying as during the bball games, and the other guy was pretty good getting the I-L-L chant going at the beginning of the game. They had a guest celeb wind the siren twice, Joey Chestnut at the beginning of the game, and again at the beginning of the 2nd half, Kylan Boswell, which is new. As far as the WI-FI goes, I made a post on FB with ease (which is unusual), and I could easily scroll ILLoyalty and text. I didn’t buy any concessions except for water so I can’t speak to food or other drinks.
