How the University of Texas at Austin Secures 100,000-Fan Football Games
“For us, a game day activity is no small matter,” says James (Jimmy) Johnson, Assistant Vice President for Campus Safety at the University of Texas at Austin.
No kidding – Longhorn football games regularly sell out, hosting more than 100,000 fans in the Darrel K Royal (DKR)-Texas Memorial Stadium, not counting the small army of vendors, staff, security personnel and law enforcement that keep operations running smoothly. In addition to the high-profile target that a large event like this becomes, UT Austin personnel are also addressing severe weather challenges (from tornadoes to severe thunderstorms to excessive heat), the fact that the stadium is part of an urban campus in the middle of a thriving metropolitan city, and the variable soft target of thousands of fans tailgating around the stadium and walking to the game.