Wembley - National Stadium, National Disappointment

[Jerry Rice]

I know it has been debated elsewhere, but with all the talk of the prospect of two NFL games in 2010 surely the time has come to think about using a different stadium?

I paid £140 plus booking fees for a seat in club Wembley and while the view was reasonable it did not justify the price. But more importantly Wembley failed for me because of its shoddy attitude towards its paying customers.

When I arrived at my seat some thoughtless individual had doused it in beer. I approached the steward and asked for it to be cleaned and he had to go an speak to someone else as he could do nothing. The individual he spoke to was also unable to do anything as they were not permitted to leave their station. The upshot being I had to wait in the hope of a cleaner passing the section. After 15 minutes one cleaner appeared, but was reluctant to do anything so they went off to find another cleaner. By the time a cleaner willing to do the job they were paid for arrived 20 minutes had passed. The cleaner then proceeded to mop the floor where the beer had been spilt but ignored my comments about the need to clean the seat. They then disappeared and I had to return to the steward and tell him that the problem was not resolved and asked to speak to a supervisor. After wandering around the stadium a supervisor was found and finally the seat was cleaned. However, as a result of Wembley’s shoddy treatment I missed the players warming-up.

I have visited many stadiums in the UK and I can confirm that they are all miles better than Wembley. I now know that the Wembley experience is about making money and not giving two hoots for the paying customer.

[oldogldrich]

Originally Posted by Jerry Rice

I know it has been debated elsewhere, but with all the talk of the prospect of two NFL games in 2010 surely the time has come to think about using a different stadium?

I paid £140 plus booking fees for a seat in club Wembley and while the view was reasonable it did not justify the price. But more importantly Wembley failed for me because of its shoddy attitude towards its paying customers.

When I arrived at my seat some thoughtless individual had doused it in beer. I approached the steward and asked for it to be cleaned and he had to go an speak to someone else as he could do nothing. The individual he spoke to was also unable to do anything as they were not permitted to leave their station. The upshot being I had to wait in the hope of a cleaner passing the section. After 15 minutes one cleaner appeared, but was reluctant to do anything so they went off to find another cleaner. By the time a cleaner willing to do the job they were paid for arrived 20 minutes had passed. The cleaner then proceeded to mop the floor where the beer had been spilt but ignored my comments about the need to clean the seat. They then disappeared and I had to return to the steward and tell him that the problem was not resolved and asked to speak to a supervisor. After wandering around the stadium a supervisor was found and finally the seat was cleaned. However, as a result of Wembley’s shoddy treatment I missed the player warming-up.

I have visited many stadiums in the UK and I can confirm that they are all miles better than Wembley. I now know that the Wembley experience is about making money and not giving two hoots for the paying customer.

In the block I was in, the toilets were blocked and had no soap in the dispensers. That was two minutes after gaining entry into the stadium as soon as we could at 3pm. By half time the only food one kiosk had was chicken dippers. Awful service when you consider it's the national stadium!

[richmach]

The beer is absolutely shocking, otherwise I found the rest of it fine again. Brilliant view in the upper tier this year.

[jtotheb]

Originally Posted by Jerry Rice

I know it has been debated elsewhere, but with all the talk of the prospect of two NFL games in 2010 surely the time has come to think about using a different stadium?

Wembley has the largest capacity of any UK stadium by quite a considerable distance (Twickenham's the only other 80,000+ stadium and that's before the front rows are tarped off). Sorry, but they aren't going to forego hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of revenue because you had a wet seat.

[TomGrant]

I disagree - I think it's an amazing stadium and the staff I spoke to all seemed very friendly and helpful. Loads of different experiences though I guess.

[Alcotraz]

When I arrived at my seat some thoughtless individual had doused it in beer.

Heard of paper napkins?

It's football not the opera!

[gsudae]

sorry all you non-Londoners but you have to accept Wembley is the best stadium in the UK in terms of packing in as many fans as possible, and it's also in the best city in the UK in terms of appeal to those who run American football. Nobody in America knows anything about Cardiff, I doubt you can even fly there from most of the USA, there's not much to see or do there compared to London. Ditto Manchester (except some Americans will know who United are).

Sorry you had a wet seat, but in the UK London is the only first rate international city we have and it's not like we can flog anywhere else on the basis of it's great for a sunshine holiday. This ain't Florida.

[Jerry Rice]

Originally Posted by Alcotraz

When I arrived at my seat some thoughtless individual had doused it in beer.

Heard of paper napkins?

It's football not the opera!

Certainly have heard of paper napkins. Shame is the wembley staff hadn't because the dispensers were empty. But hey in your world people would just wipe their hands on the guy in front.

NFL aint the opera, but when you pay opera prices you expect a certain level of service. Event staff at NFL games in the USA are a lot more helpful and responsive and you dont have to have paid to dollar either to be teated properly as a customer. Wembley and its employees have a lot to learn.

I also heard a number of people around me complaining about the fact that at half time none of the concessions had any food ready so those who queded missed a sizeable chunk of the 3rd quarter. Again in the eyes of Wembley staff that doesnt matter as they werent there to watch the game were they!

Appreciate that Wembley has the capacity, but given that the rebuilding was meant to represent a step forward the only really noticable change is an unobstructed view. Everything else that was bad about the old wembley applies equally to the new one.

[Magnetic_Death91]

I agree I think its great. The food was a farce - it was half time and they had NO food ready. What'd they been doing for the past hour or so? But as a stadium I think its great. The staff are generally pretty helpful and I didn't have any issues this year.

[slough_redskins]

So, in summary, the International Series games should be moved to somewhere like Cardiff or Twickenham as, in your opinion, their stadium staff will be of a higher standard when it comes to mopping up spilt beer.

I'm sorry to hear you missed the players warming up, personally if I had missed such an intrinsic part of the game I probably would have just gone home and not bothered about the game itself.....