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 something like this.