Gamecocks beat Clemson, but USC fans were still mad — at the concessions
The University of South Carolina Gamecocks pounded the Clemson Tiger 14-3 at Founders Park on Sunday to take the rivalry series 2-1. But long lines at the concession stands had fans turning garnet.
“It’s the Clemson game,” fan Chris Lee tweeted to USC Athletic Director Ray Tanner with the hashtag #dobetter. “Should’ve been better prepared for the crowds. But this is an ongoing issue that is never addressed.”
The tweet was accompanied by a photo showing long lines of people waiting for food and drink.
Tanner tweeted back: “Totally in agreement with your assessment. Aramark, our concessionaire was briefed earlier this week and they failed. It is being addressed.”
The exchange triggered a lengthy Twitter string that ranged from calling the concessionaire “total trash” to charges that the university was throwing Aramark “under the bus.”
One even had a gif of Donald Trump saying, “You’re fired.”
“Drop the hammer please,” wrote Justin Adams, whose handle is @jdadams213.
Contacted Monday, Lee said the lines in the first and second innings were 100 people long.
“And I don’t want to miss two innings waiting on a Diet Coke,” said Lee, who has season tickets for both baseball and football. “It happens every big conference game. They just aren’t prepared.”
Jeff Crane, the executive associate athletics director who oversees concessions, said that Aramark uses community groups, mostly school and church groups, to staff the stands at baseball and basketball games. On Sunday, the baseball game started at noon with an announced capacity crowd of 8,242 while the women’s basketball team tipped off just a few blocks away against Mississippi State before an announced sellout of 18,000.
“It was a little bit of a perfect storm,” he said. “We were short a few staff and we shouldn’t have been.”
He said some windows at Founders Park were not open because of the short staff.
“With five or six more people, we could have had them all open,” he said.
But in all of the university’s venues, including Williams-Brice Stadium, there needs to be more points of sale to shorten lines and waiting times, Crane said. USC and Aramark are working to create those points of sale, he said.
“Anytime we don’t deliver the best experience, it’s not acceptable for us,” he said. “And long lines are not part of the best experience for our fans.”
Crane added that Aramark is in the second year of a 10-year contract and there are no plans to change vendors.
“We’re going to work with them to make the experience better,” he said..
The next Gamecock home baseball game is 4 p.m. Tuesday versus The Citadel.
This story was originally published March 4, 2019 at 2:50 PM.