Fall is football season. For colleges and universities around the nation, college football fans become an inherent part of campus life. You’ll see students, alums, and other fans descend on the stadium to cheer on their favorite college football team. And that means it also needs to be the season of better wayfinding for college football games.
Against that backdrop, campus wayfinding takes on central importance. After all, fans won’t appreciate being stuck in parking lots (or even difficulty trying to find parking lots). Even more importantly, your campus community won’t appreciate constant congestion around campus creating a more stressful and negative campus environment.
That’s why a seamless game day experience goes far beyond your athletics department. In the interest of campus safety and visitor experience alike, wayfinding for college football games becomes an essential and strategic consideration.
The Challenges of Navigating College Football Game Days
You don’t need to host the College Football Playoff National Championship to know one thing:
Game day comes with potentially significant logistical challenges.
Large crowds descend on campus, not always familiar with parking areas or even general directions. What’s true for all sporting events becomes especially significant for football games, which may host tens of thousands of visitors.
But parking is just the beginning. Fans should also know:
- How to navigate to stadium entrances
- Where they can easily find food
- Specific locations (like public restrooms) that might be relevant to them
Prospective students begin to factor into the equation, as well. School spirit and passion seem ideal for showcasing your university campus and school to your potential incoming class. But they also add another complication by creating more crowds.
Ignore these challenges, and they have a potentially significant (and negative) impact on fan satisfaction and safety. Address them, and you can create a user-friendly fan experience with the potential to bring big benefits.
Benefits of a Wayfinding Solution for College Football Games
While the challenges of handling this piece of the equation are significant, the benefits can be just as weighty. Implement comprehensive solutions like directional signs and an interactive map for game day, and your efforts to improve wayfinding for college football games can reap better fan navigation, reduced congestion, and enhanced accessibility.
Improved Fan Navigation
With the right wayfinding signage, both digital and physical, fans can more easily locate parking, seating, concessions, restrooms, and any other specific locations they might be looking for. Rather than having to seek out specific locations, they can have the information at their fingertips and right in front of them—reducing confusion and improving the experience.
Reduced Congestion and Traffic
Traffic flow is a constant concern during college game day. Look no further than the stories of what happens when ESPN’s College Gameday comes to town. But in reality, every Saturday looks similar on college campuses across the nation. Schools that can direct traffic the right way and make different parking opportunities easy to find will alleviate some of these traffic flow issues, better managing crowds as they move across campus.
Enhanced Accessibility
Finally, effective wayfinding for college football games can greatly impact how accessible your campus becomes for your visitors. Fans with disabilities have a right to enjoy the game, too. The right wayfinding strategy can go a long way toward creating a more inclusive experience. As digital accessibility becomes a more significant priority for institutions across the board, external stakeholders that only visit campus to watch their team should be part of the consideration and effort.
How to Set Up an Effective Wayfinding System for Game Day
Leveraging the benefits of wayfinding for college football games means taking intentional steps to set up the right system. From digital tools to intentional route planning, these components can help.
Interactive Map
An interactive map is perhaps the best and most comprehensive component of an effective wayfinding system. More than just a static campus map, it enables you to show specific locations like parking areas, walking and driving routes, and more. It’s why interactive maps are increasingly popular for major campus events like homecoming and move-in weekends.
Concept3D’s interactive map is an especially relevant example for colleges looking to optimize their game day wayfinding. Real-time data like available parking spots or construction areas prevent congestion and confusion. Schools can even create a game day-specific layer that only highlights the parking areas, routes, and other locations relevant for fans on Saturdays.
Digital Signage and Kiosks
Beyond the interactive map for mobile phones and computers, wayfinding for college football games should also include a system of digital signs and interactive kiosks that visitors can encounter. These kiosks can be adjusted to show only the most relevant information and placed in spots where digital wayfinding signs are needed most by your audience. The right kiosks can even include touchscreen-friendly, enlarged versions of your interactive map, helping your audience find any spot or location they’re looking for.
Real-Time Updates and Notifications
Don’t assume that your audience will always seek out information on their own. Instead, include a component for push notifications in your wayfinding strategy that enables you to send real-time notifications to your audience.
The nature of these notifications can change depending on needs. For example, you can inform incoming fans when parking lots fill up, directing them elsewhere instead. But you can also use the notification system for any other unexpected changes or important announcements that will impact how they navigate campus.
Separate Routes for Pedestrians and Vehicles
When you expect thousands of fans and visitors, consider creating a plan to improve wayfinding for college football games that distinguishes between pedestrians and vehicles. Pedestrians, like your on-campus students and local community, may be able to go to and from the stadium in very different ways than vehicles that require parking.
Accounting for these differences can improve safety for everyone involved. But it also prevents traffic congestion, ensuring that your fans have a positive game day experience not hampered by long lines or traffic jams.
Providing Accessible Routes
Finally, accounting for all of your fans also means creating a specific plan for accessibility. At its core, that means a wayfinding system that includes accessible routes without barriers, helps individuals with mobility challenges follow clear paths, and provides all necessary accommodations.
Beyond the routes, accessibility can also extend into the digital experience for your visitors. For example, the fonts and contrast you use on your interactive map can impact users with vision disabilities. Getting these seemingly minor components right can go a long way toward enhancing their experience and providing the information they need.
How Concept3D Provides a Winning Game Day Experience for NFL Fans
Wayfinding, of course, is a need beyond college game day. NFL teams have long experienced similar challenges, and learning from them enables colleges and universities to enhance their experiences.
The Kansas City Chiefs, for example, are working with Concept3D’s interactive map solution to enhance their fan and guest experience. The Super Bowl-winning NFL team chose our solution over several competitors due to its comprehensive nature, leveraging features that range from parking experience and navigation to consistent branding throughout the experience.
The Chiefs team’s interactive map also addressed key priorities like accessibility, mobile-friendliness, and analytics. Just as Concept3D has helped to improve the game day experience for this NFL powerhouse, its interactive campus map can have similar benefits in improving wayfinding for college football games.
Set Up Your Wayfinding System With Concept3D
Are you looking to optimize your wayfinding for college football games? The benefits of being strategic are significant, ranging from accessibility and reduced congestion all the way to safety and an improved fan experience. Set up the right strategy and leverage the right tools, and the payoff for all stakeholders has the potential to be massive.
That’s where Concept3D comes in. Our interactive mapping solution is the perfect cornerstone for a better wayfinding experience, enabling students and fans alike to make the most out of the game day experience. Request a Concept3D demo today to learn more.