How the L.A. Coliseum 'ran out' of water on a 90-degree day
Rams fans were ready for football at the L.A. Coliseum, but the Coliseum wasn't quite ready for Rams fans.
The NFL officially returned to Los Angeles on Sunday, as the Rams hosted the Seattle Seahawks in their first regular season game at the L.A. Coliseum in more than 30 years.
Predictably, the 93-year-old stadium had some issues handling 91,000 fans.
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Fights broke out in the stands and bathrooms. Fans packed into the narrow concourses. More than 160 people — 14 of whom ended up in the hospital — were treated for heat-related issues, according to the Los Angeles Times.
But the chief complaint on Sunday was the Coliseum's depleted concessions — it ran out of water on a 90-degree day. Many fans posted reviews on the stadium's Facebook page, as spotted by Deadspin.
But the problem was more complicated than most realize, offering an inside glimpse into the game-day machinations many fans take for granted or don't consider at all.
Before we go on, though, here's a sampling of the complaints.
According to L.A. Coliseum General Manager Joe Furin, the stadium staff has one warehouse to hold all of their concession products, water included. So when water ran out at the individual concession stands — which have limited storage space because of the Coliseum's age — it had to be transported from that warehouse.
"We had product," Furin said. "We couldn’t get it to the stands because of the congestion in the stadium. When you get that many people it’s tough to navigate through the building, plus you throw in the heat and the medical responses."
The number of fans shouldn't have been a surprise, though.
A record-breaking 89,140 fans attended the Rams first preseason game against the Cowboys on Aug. 13. However, that game started at 5 p.m., four hours later and four hours cooler than the 1 p.m. kickoff this weekend, so the demand for water wasn't as high.
The Rams host the Buffalo Bills at L.A. Coliseum on Oct. 9. That should be ample time for the stadium staff to make an adjustment.
"We’re going to take everything we learned from the last game and use that moving forward," Furin said.
Furin has spoken with his staff about having multiple product sources for faster re-stocking, as well as having more vendors in the stands.
"As the general manager I’m not happy with the way things panned out," he said. "People don’t understand all the dynamics that we’re up against. Knock on wood Mother Nature works with us as well so we don’t have the same elements for that Buffalo game."
The Rams aren't the first team who battled the heat at their home opener.
The San Francisco 49ers ran into similar issues a couple years ago, when a high number of heat-induced emergency services calls and the heart-related death of one man cast a shadow over the debut of Levi's Stadium.
