They call it the "No Fun League".
Beginning this football season, NFL football game attendees are forbidden from bringing virtually all purses and other bags into stadiums; small, transparent bags are now the favored means of carrying items in. Surely, many fans will take issue with this significant shift, as it complicates things a bit, especially for families with small children. Some will find the new practice to be overly invasive. Others won't think twice about this—to them, security measures such as these that are intended to protect people are harmless and helpful.
Both perspectives hold some merit, and there's a point to be acknowledged from either perspective: the new practice was communicated properly. A full-blown public relations campaign to national news outlets months in advance. A comprehensive, easily understandable policy. A quick-and-easy explanatory video on Youtube. The 2013/14 NFL season begins in September, and the new security measures went into effect in June 2013. Sure, by June, season ticket owners had already renewed for the coming season, but the timing allowed the information to propagate among football fans and other potential stadium-goers. Further, it allowed teams take additional fan-friendly measures. The New York Jets, for example (yes, the Jets will have done one thing right in 2013), distributed one clear tote bag to each season ticket owner. Nice gesture to foster some goodwill.
Things could be worse, NFL fans. College football follows NFL trends fairly closely; rules implemented at the professional level tend to be adopted at the college level within a year or two. As a football season ticket owner for a major-conference college team, I was surprised to learn today, three days prior to the start of the college football season, that the university just adopted today the same bag policy that the NFL created in June. I heard it on the radio. No mention of the policy via email, postal mail, or phone. No mention in the various literature that came with my season ticket packet (and certainly no complementary clear bag, though the latter is, of course, a non-issue).
When implementing a new policy, especially one that some people are bound to find constraining, it's immensely important to give proper care and forethought to how the policy should be implemented. Good, thoughtful communication maintains and enhances loyalty; communication is a critical and often-overlooked part of policy implementation. Those who hold the responsibility of creating and enforcing policies hold the responsibility of ensuring: a) the information is presented in an accessible and timely manner; and b) those who enact the policy demonstrate ownership and full transparency.
Some would argue that matters such as this particular policy should be voted upon by season ticket owners, and I disagree. The university's Division of Administration and Public Safety made the call, and, timing aside, I can live with the change. Judging by how strict the policy is, coupled with the fire-drill timing of the policy enactment, it's clear that the university is conveying that it views this as an important policy. By that same point, however: why not roll this delicate policy out the following season and give it the amount of time and care it deserves? Though to some extent fans should appreciate that the university is taking measures to protect their safety, the credibility of the new policy gets lost in that it was slipped in at the last minute. Game attendees are right to feel slighted, especially those unknowing stadium-goers who will shuttle to the football stadium on Busch Campus from the main lot on Livingston Campus and wait on line to enter the stadium—just to be refused due to their bags being larger than clutch-size or being made of material other than clear plastic.
