While students and fans are enjoying the festivities that come with a home football game in Tuscaloosa, The University of Alabama is hard at work behind the scenes to ensure the safety and pleasure for all those in attendance.
For every home game, The University of Alabama employs over 1,300 people to work in and outside the stadium, as well as with the city and county, to ensure Gameday operations run smoothly.
Gina Johnson, associate vice president for auxiliary services, said the University works with the Bruno Event Team, a Birmingham-based event management company, to hire a staff to run everything from parking to clean-up after the game.
In addition to working with Bruno, many UA staff members are required to work on the Saturdays the Tide play at home. Many people must work many hours in order to make every home football game a success, Johnson said.
“It starts well before the day of the game itself and continues after the game,” Johnson said. “On the day of the game, some people start at 5 a.m., and some stay for several hours after the game ends.”
Jim Bonds, a Moundville native, has worked on game days parking cars and tearing tickets at the stadium for around 10 years. He said each Saturday morning of a home game starts around 6 a.m., so he can catch the first cars that arrive on campus for the game. His parking duties are relieved about three hours before kick-off so that he can report to his gate to tear tickets.
“Working on the Saturdays we have a home game really makes for a long day,” Bonds said.
Being a tenured Gameday employee, Bonds said he is fortunate to be posted at the president’s gate of the stadium and has seen many celebrities enter Bryant-Denny Stadium to watch the Crimson Tide.
“I get to see the president walk into the stadium every week,” Bonds said. “I’ve seen two Supreme Court justices walk through my gate, and Kenny Chesney when he was visiting the Sabans. My best memory is getting to shake hands with Bart Starr, my childhood idol, when he came to a game.”
Even though community members make up the majority of the gameday workers, UA students also work on home game Saturdays.
Ethan Summers, a first-year MBA candidate from Northport, said he worked game days for two years while getting his undergraduate degree at the University. Summers said his overall experience working game days was great.
“It’s hard to explain what it’s like working in that kind of a [crowd]; there are people everywhere, for hours,” Summers said. “You’re surrounded by other Bama fans. You’re all there for the same reason. People are generally nice enough to you. And you’re being paid.”
Summers spent the 2008-2009 football season working an information chair and the 2009-2010 season working the SUPe Store tent on the Quad. Summers said working game days could be very stressful because of the sheer volume of people, but the University worked hard to make sure every employee was comfortable and prepared.
“The University really takes an attitude of solidarity that made it easier to handle the workload,” Summers said. “Everyone really is in it together, for a common goal, and they’re not afraid to hire help.”
