NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Covid-19 attendance restrictions put so much on pause for the NFL and the Titans in the 2020 season.
Presumably, the Titans continued to work on some of their issues to the degree that they could.
The on-field product has gotten much better.
After a year on pause, we don’t really know about the fan experience. One idea not connected to the stadium -- the pop-up shops with exclusive clothing -- were a smart idea and a big success.
But with 21 percent capacity, the Titans have no idea, and we have no idea, if they are any better at getting people into Nissan Stadium, if Bills and Bears fans would have ruled the building or if the concession experience would have been any better.
We know when they are open to complete capacity, they are hoping to lure people in earlier to reduce the push of people trying to enter in the same window before the game. I don’t think there is much in there to compel people to arrive early and I don't know that there is much they can do in the current construct. They have to figure out the gates. Earlier arrival is something they are keying on in the revamp plans.
At any rate, the team has announced it will create a fan advisory council with no more than 15 members. The application period closes Feb. 19. You can apply here.
The questions you’ll answer:
- Tell us about yourself, outside of being a Titans fan.
- What is your favorite part of the Titans fan experience currently.
- Why should you be chosen as a member of the Fan Advisory Council.
The Titans are becoming more corporate, which is good in some ways and not good in others.
I know plenty of fans who have filled out surveys and had exchanges with the team by email or in person who don’t feel they’ve really been heard. Change with the franchise has always been slow, and certainly the circumstances of 2020 didn’t allow for a change of pace.
They don’t need things to normalize to move forward with some basics – the elimination of the universally despised end-zone dollhouses, for instance. Those should be down and replaced with something creative by opening day of 2021.
Food trucks were very well received for a time and then disappeared. Why?
These are subjects that I’d hope the anointed 15 will raise.
It’s hard for 15 people to represent an entire fan base, and while I understand the desire to have a manageable panel for four meetings in a year, I also wonder if a couple of loud voices in the group could rally an opinion that isn’t representative of an overall feeling.
I fear more that the group won’t have real influence.
My own focus group of 22 doesn’t feel chances for fan feedback have yielded much, several told me in a conversation Tuesday morning.
“Zero impact of fan feedback,” said Ed Triplett, an original PSL holder who went to the Tennessee Oilers games in Memphis in 1997. “When they ask, it usually is too long of a questionnaire. Then absolutely nothing happens. I can’t tell you how many times they have asked to indicate your interest in being in a focus group, and then absolutely nothing follows. The new guys are encouraging, but cool new videos and a mural go only so far.”
So maybe this is the Titans finally going further.
They should already know what the fans want and be well along the path of better satisfying the people who fund them.
Now, they are going the advisory council route. Let’s hope it’s not for show.
Get the ideas, grab the good ones and get going.
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