2014 Kentucky Wildcats Football Game Day Education Series: Introduction

As we prepare for the upcoming college football season, the folks at UKAA want to keep you up to date with the Game Day changes at Commonwealth Stadium due to construction. Here is the first part of the UKAA’s Education Series to get you adjusted and ready for the season.

"LEXINGTON, Ky. – A new football season, at last, is upon us. Practices are in full swing and the Wildcats are getting ready to show everyone exactly how much they’ve improved in Mark Stoops’ second season.For the team, the fall camp routine is much the same, with early-morning workouts, two-a-days and positional meetings. But for fans, your preparation for the 2014 season will be different due to the ongoing renovations at Commonwealth Stadium.As you know, we’re in the midst of an exciting $120 million project that will transform UK football’s longtime home into a beautiful new venue. Construction, however, will not be completed until before the start of the 2015 season. That, along with an ongoing federal government-mandated FEMA project, will affect our game-day operations.The biggest change to report is that Gates 10 and 11 will be closed due to construction, meaning all fans entering through the South side will have to use Gates 9 and 12. Construction also brought changes to parking, with many season-ticket holders being reassigned to new lots this offseason. With other projects like or new football practice facility coming, more parking changes are on the way in future years.Over the coming weeks, we will be posting a series of updates on game-day changes for the 2014 season. Next week we’ll go into detail on parking, traffic and shuttles, with an in-stadium update to follow the week of Aug. 18. After those updates, we’ll open the floor to questions with a live blog and live chat to make sure you have all the information you need to have the best game-day experience possible this season.You can find all the information we’ll share in the coming weeks on our official Gameday Central site, which launched this week.We also want to say thank you for bearing with us. With these exciting upgrades come changes to habits and routines, which means there will be challenges to work through, especially early in the season. We ask for your patience and flexibility and encourage you to arrive early.Though Commonwealth Stadium won’t look its best this season, we remain committed to doing everything we can to give the best fans in America the game-day experiences they deserve. With your feedback through BBN First, you have helped us identify ways we can improve, including in parking, tailgating, guest services, music and in-game entertainment. There’s plenty more to come, but we believe you’ll see results from your BBN First suggestions immediately.We’re also excited to announce our partnership with Disney Institute, the training and external consulting division of The Walt Disney Company. Through this partnership, we will apply the principles that make Disney one of the world’s leaders in customer service. Disney Institute was on campus last week to meet our staff and begin to understand and prioritize our needs.We believe working with Disney Institute gives us a unique opportunity to make the principles of BBN First come to life. This won’t happen overnight, but we are excited to see what the future holds.Finally, we remind you that we are always looking for your feedback. Whether it’s a question about our game-day policies or a suggestion for how we can do better, we want to hear from you now and all season long. Email BBNfirst@uky.edu, or visit bbnfirst.ukathletics.com to tell us what’s on your mind."