Caesars Superdome — Attraction in New Orleans

The atmosphere on game day is unlike any other experience. I’ve been to four continents, 30 or so countries and about 32 +/- US states, and I’ve never been anywhere that gives me goosebumps, makes the hair on my arms stand up straight and causes my eyes to water (I’m not crying, you are) like being in section 646 with my NOLA brethren just before kickoff.

The electricity in the air is indescribable. Writing this, I can’t even conjure up the words to convey the feeling, it’s one of those things that you have to experience for yourself to really understand.

It’s not a perfect venue by any stretch. For starters, food and beverage quality is too low, and prices way too high. The prices are about 500% higher than would be needed to turn a reasonable and fair profit. Price gauging guests during a 3.5 hour event during which said guests have no access to competing food and drink vendors is unethical. The fact that nearly all major venues of its sort engage in this practice is no justification. $10 for a domestic 16 ounce beer is too much. $7-$8 for stale nachos with cold cheese is ridiculous. Granted, guests aren’t there to dine, but the food and beverage prices being so exorbitant that even going to just one game per year is cost prohibitive for many families.

I have no issue with a business charging the highest amount the market will bear for its goods or services, but when customers are effectively locked in the building for close to four hours with no access to outside concessions, charging that far in excess of what anyone would be willing to pay in a competitive setting is not right, and I sincerely hope Mrs. Benson follows the lead of Arthur Blank in Atlanta and addresses concession prices to make attending games at least affordable for middle-class families.

A strong argument can be made stating that the approach to concessions at most major sports venues is very close to antitrust territory. The vendors that are contracted with the stadium are all clearly engaging in price fixing and collusion, agreeing to set prices at excessively high levels, with all vendors agreeing in advance to refrain from using price structure as a means of attracting more customers and sales at the expense of competing vendors. This is not legal. It would be next to impossible to prove without a major undercover investigation (with the amount of money involved nationwide it’s difficult to understand why this hasn’t happened), but it shouldn’t need to come to that.

Everything is excessively priced, and items such as jerseys, hats and related attire would generate far more sales and revenue if prices were reduced to levels consistent with market prices anywhere else.

The only other complaint I have after 30+ years of attending Saints games and the occasional non-football event at the Superdome is that there is too little by way of security, and too little enforcement among the security that is present. There are routine problems with excessively inebriated fans, and violence is a pretty common occurrence in the Terrace. Again, the fact that this issue isn’t unique to this stadium is no justification for turning a blind eye to it. I do not support restrictions on beverage purchases, but the Superdome should do something like create a text hotline where fans could anonymously send text message complaints about excessively drunken fans, violent, threatening or menacing fans and/or anyone unruly to the point of damaging the experience of those around them.

The complainant could text their section, row and seat information as well as the clothing and physical description of the individual(s) in need of removal and/or arrest, and specific details about the incident and people involved.

It would be easy to have stadium security zoom in to that location, identify the individuals disrupting the fan experience of the other people in their section and determine if sending uniformed stadium security or actual police to the location to intervene and/or remove one or more people is justified and appropriate.

The entire NFL needs...

Our first time at the dome...my husband called ahead, as I had broken my ankle after booking our vacation and was on a knee scooter, and they explained the process to him of swapping out our seats for handicapped seats. Day of the game we arrived several hours before kickoff, waited in line at the box office and when they finally opened my husband swapped our seats out. Then we stood in another line for another hour, waiting for the stadium to actually open. After going thru back hallways to get to an elevator with a lift, we were on our way up to our seats. When we got there we were seriously confused and disappointed. The chairs we were assigned were bolted to the ground about 4 inches from the wall. With a broken ankle, in a long boot, and needing to keep my leg slightly stretched and elevated....this was NOT possible. There is no way the seats in the handicapped area could be considered for handicap people. The seat usher dude was EXTREMELY rude and wouldnt help us out a bit. The young girl working the area felt bad for our situation and gave us chairs that weren't bolted to the floor, when the man saw this he became very upset and was not having it. His over the moon attitude had my husband getting upset because he was literally trying to make sure my leg and ankle would be ok for the duration of the game. Then security started lurking around and the usher was making it a whole thing. I knew how important the game was to my husband as it was his first Saints game in the dome....so I told him to just leave it. We watched the game, they won!!! But I was very swollen and uncomfortable the rest of the evening. I would say, do better, to the dome, the handicapped zones, and the way the staff were handling...

While at the concessions stand, I got the ultimate nachos which had everything but sour cream on them (not sure if they are supposed to come with sour cream or not, but you'd think they would if theyre called ULTIMATE). I also asked for a straw for my coke but the cashier said they dont do straws or tops at the dome and i'd have to go to smoothie king if I wanted one. I didnt realize they had a smoothie king at the dome so I thought the cashier was joking with me. Now, I dont know if he was being honest or sarcastic. Last time I came to the Dome was about 7 years ago when they still gave one "free refill" sticker on the souvenir cups, which was great! I didnt see any sticker on my souvenir cup this time around so I assumed I had to pay for a refill. When i asked, they said they dont refill the cups. What!!! So whats the point of buying a souvenir cup if you get nothing from it? Its not like its the best souvenir cup ever made. Its actually kind of cheaply made. Also, they are encouraging trashing the souvenir cups if you want more soda but dont want to end up with a handful of souvenir cups, after only one game. Well, at least, now I know! But i honestly think they should refill your cup even if they charge less than the original purchase amount (i.e. they charge $7 for cup/coke, they should charge $5/refill of souvenir cups ONLY). Regardless, I didnt get a refill but I also didnt purchase another cup so they lost $5 if thats what they had charged me for a refill instead of saying they dont refill souvenir cups at all. Seems ridiculous to me. Other than this I had a great time. How can you not when youre at the dome watching a Saints...