Dangerous crowd surge prompts police into action
About 53,000 people had tickets to CU’s home opener against Florida State on Saturday, but many of the fans who arrived late did not get in.
Police turned back students and other fans because Folsom Field was overcrowded.
Typically, students rush into Folsom Field to find the best seats, but because the stadium was already near full capacity, all those students rushing in would be a safety hazard.
Rachel O’Rourke was one of the students unable to make her way into Folsom.
“Someone told her there were too many drunk(en) students, and a second person said already, simply, there were too many people inside,” said Denise O’Rourke, Rachel’s mother.
Folsom Field can hold up to 53,750 fans. The number of tickets sold for the Florida State game was about 800 short of capacity. The exact number of students who were not admitted isn’t certain.
“We don’t have a count or know how many were not admitted,” said CU spokesperson
Bronson Hilliard. “It just came to a certain point in time when it was too dangerous to admit any more.
“There isn’t a set guideline where it is deemed too dangerous or unsafe to not admit students to a game. The police act upon each situation and determine whether or not it is too dangerous.”
In response to the over-flowing of fans, officials decided to open six more entrance gates to ease stadium traffic, according to the Daily Camera.
Hilliard also said that the ticket office is in the process of addressing the students’ concerns on a case by case basis.
“We are finding some way to compensate everybody who was not admitted,” Hilliard said.
Erik Bromley, a freshman sociology major, was a firsthand witness to the vast packing of students into Folsom Field.
“We got there pretty early when it wasn’t that crowded yet, but as time went on more and more people got shoved into our section,” Bromley said. “It was like chaos.”
Contact Staff Writer Justin Sedgwick at justin.sedgwick@thecampuspress.com.
