How Wabash is prepared for the 12,000 fans traveling to Crawfordsville
With over 12,000 fans expected in Crawfordsville, Indiana this weekend in celebration of the 131st Monon Bell Classic, it’s a wonder that a little school of 900 students has the capacity to host such a large rivalry game. Outside of preparing for an inevitable victory in Little Giant Stadium, the athletic administration and campus security team have been working tirelessly since August to ensure that Crawfordsville is ready for the Monon Bell Classic.
The first problem the teams have tackled is ingress and egress – entrances and exits. In preparation for the new season as a whole, Wabash has revamped its online guidelines and directions for attendees this year. Regardless of which direction you plan on approaching Little Giant Stadium from, the website now has directions. There are also special plans for accommodating so many people from DePauw. As of last year, Wabash has obtained permits from the City of Crawfordsville to close Jennison Street on Saturday morning. In addition, the Lew Wallace and Trippet Hall lots are reserved exclusively for DePauw tailgating.
“These changes might seem minuscule,” said Associate Athletic Director Alison Manwell-Huppert. “They require a lot of logistical communications between the colleges, work with local government, and reenvisioning our procedures.”
The separation is meant to prevent heckling between sides. This does, however, place the ingress of DePauw fans right through the center of campus. For administration, this has all felt like a puzzle being assembled, with every parking space and street being the pieces.
“I think with all the other construction on campus and how that flowed, it just meant that we had to adapt,” said Assistant Athletic Director Tori Gregory. “We’ve also had to make sure that we have as much communication as possible over what that’s going to look like with anything that’s different [for the Bell Game].”
Another issue at the forefront of the school’s priorities is safety. Every football game must attend to fire, medical and emergency procedures. Everything has been upscaled for this coming weekend. The first priority is personnel. Sixty off-duty police officers will be present to maintain tailgating, campus and game-day security. They will also be assisting with bag checks, for which there is a new clear bag policy. Local Emergency Medical Assistance will provide large LED signage and an ambulance on site in accordance with NCAA guidelines. Eight individuals from the local fire department are also volunteering their time to patrol around campus. A major part of the project has been bringing together all of these people.
“We work in conjunction with our Crawfordsville Fire Department partners and our Montgomery County EMA as well,” said Director of Safety and Security Buck Waddell. “We contract with a security company out of Indianapolis.”
Wabash also goes above and beyond for the purpose of safety. Something Wabash does that few other schools bother with is subjecting itself to rigorous inspections for entertainment permitting. Every year, the state fire marshal comes to campus at the college’s request for an inspection. They check the field, stands, electrical equipment, facilities and structures.
“We’re one of the few, few colleges and universities in the state that actually does that,” said Waddell. “That’s really a feather in our cap — that we bring the state out here and let them go through and make sure that all our stuff is up to snuff. We have a great partnership with the fire marshal’s office.”
This year the athletics department has worked hard in order to equitably provide 8,550 tickets to fans from both schools. They have to coordinate this simultaneously with the vendor providing the extra bleachers. Normal seating sits 3,550, but over 5,000 additional seats are constructed for the Bell Game, bringing the capacity of Little Giant Stadium to 8,550. Manwell has spearheaded that effort, and has been working since February of this year.
“This takes a lot of early planning with our bleacher vendor, the most expensive part of the operation, to ensure our inventory matches with capacity and that we price tickets appropriately,” said Manwell-Huppert.
The final concern that safety and athletics has shifted to address this year is more cultural: they want to promote the idea that we pay our players deference in the game. Their main way of doing this will be trying to prevent a rush of the field after the game.
“We want our team, our guys, our seniors, to be able to celebrate that bell by ourselves,” said Waddell. “Ten minutes later we’re going to open up the field. Then everyone can go out and celebrate.”
Creating a culture of class at Wabash elevates the rivalry and returns campus to the roots of the Gentlemen’s Rule – to show the utmost respect and decorum following the game. All of this together culminates in the greatest project of the year for the Wabash athletic administration.