UVA Athletics seeks fans’ input to improve UVA Football gameday experience

I’ve been criticizing the folks at UVA Athletics for the lack of attention to detail to the fan experience at UVA Football games for, you know, forever.

It’s taken forever, but now the folks over there are at least pretending to want to do something about why people hate UVA Football gamedays.

“Our most valuable resource to make meaningful changes to our gameday experience is our fanbase,” said Eric Ward, Assistant AD for Marketing at UVA Athletics, was quoted as saying in a press release issued on Friday to announce the launch of something they’re calling a Fan Experience Council.

The idea: get UVA Football fans together a few times a year to offer feedback to UVA Athletics regarding the football fan experience, which has been sorely lacking dating back a long time.

You know, starting with, the no re-entry policy, the awful Aramark concessions, the ushers who act like you’re trespassing.

And who can forget the aborted effort last fall to restrict access to The Hill?

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ICYMI

• UVA Athletics updates policies for access to The Hill on football gamedays

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To be clear, the losing isn’t any fun, either, but even so – dreary as it is to lose, they can at least try to do something about the amenities.

I mean, me, personally, I would have invested the millions that they threw into the new 6,700-square-foot scoreboard that is visible from the dark side of the moon into seatbacks instead, but what do I know about anything?

(I know that I like seatbacks enough that my UVA Baseball season tickets are in the seatbacks section, for what that’s worth.)

The Fan Experience Council will be chaired by Ward, with other members from UVA Athletics including Jess Armistead, Senior Director of Donor Experiences at the Virginia Athletics Foundation, Jen Madden, General Manager at Virginia Sports Properties, Mike Szlamowicz, Assistant AD, Sport and Broadcast Production, and John Welch, Associate AD, Facilities and Game Operations.

“This council gives our fans a seat at the table with key stakeholders in our athletic department,” Ward said. “Our priority is to provide the best experience possible for every fan at Scott Stadium, and there is no better way to move forward into the 2025 season than having collaborative and transparent discussions about all facets of our experience with the Cavalier faithful.”

Fans interested in being named to the Fan Experience Council can nominate themselves here: app.virginiasports.com/FBFanExperienceSurvey.