How I snuck into Scheumann Stadium
With security a big concern for stadiums, I found my experience at Ball State's Scheumann Stadium to be quite odd.
I went to the Central Michigan at Ball State game on November 18th. Took me almost 8 hours to get there. They had a promotion with the local Rotary Club where you got a free General Admission ticket to game if you donated a new blanket so I stopped at the Walmart about a mile from the stadium and picked up a King size blanket for $9.
Parking was fairly easy as there are some streets (South I think) of the stadium where you can park for free if you know where. There is also a high school right beside the stadium where you can park for $5, which is the option I took as it was lit and paved. I was going to park in the school lots but I couldn't read the signs in the dark and they were not lit so I couldn't see if they were for pre-paid passes only or not. This is where things get interesting.
When you park at the school, you have to walk around a fence that separates it from the stadium ground. As soon as I made it around the fence, I made a right down a dirt road that had portable lights. About 1/2 way down the road toward the stadium, there was a gate with a security person stopping vehicles without proper identification. Since I was just walking, she said hi and let me thorough. This appeared to be where the coaches and other important personnel parked. As I got to the stadium, there was a fence and the road funneled me to "Gate 5." The problem is there was no one at Gate 5, it was just wide open. I just walked right in and sat down in the stands!
View from stands showing security personnel who were watching pregame and not at gate 5
Pic from stands showing pregame warm-ups.
Well, I had already bought the blanket so I wanted to go donate it and get my ticket stub. So, after a few minutes of sitting in the rain, I went and found Gate 4 where they were suppose to collect the blankets. I got there and the girls working the gate said no one there was collecting the blankets, so I was sent to ticket office. They sent me back to Gate 4, who again sent me back to the ticket office! Finally, a nice lady in the ticket office decided "enough is enough" so she promised to get the blanket where it needed to go and gave me a ticket. I have to say it was the oddest experience I have ever had.
I went inside and got a program, which they hand out for free so that was nice. It had been about 4 hours since I ate during my last stop for gas in Ohio so I found a concession stand. They had a combo deal for a hot dog, soda and bag of chips for $5.75, which was $1.50 or so off. I walked around the entire stadium, but I never did find a sign for where the General Admission seating was (maybe the grass?) so I just took an entire section to myself in the upper corner of the endzone seating. If I ever went back though, I would sit along the sidelines because I couldn't see the scoreboard from where I was. Despite the game being against the MAC Champions, Central Michigan, the attendance at the game was the smallest crowd of any game I have ever been to at 5,736.
The student section, arguably the most populated portion of the stands
My water damaged program
Side note: Somewhere during my walk around the stadium, I lost my ticket stub I had to work so hard to get, so if anyone knows someone in the ticket office that could replace it, it would make my Christmas! I have the rain damaged program to prove I was there, plus I am sure the lady in the ticket office will remember the Penn State guy who had the blanket.
Posted By: JGuiher
