13 WTHR - Indianapolis News |Officials call stadium debut an overall success

Officials call stadium debut an overall success

David MacAnally/Eyewitness News

Indianapolis - The reviews are in after the Colts kicked off Lucas Oil Stadium Sunday night.

"I just saw crowds walking away with big wows on their faces," said Bob Grand of the Capital Improvement Board.

He said Colts president Bill Polian was among the fans of the new facility.

"After his show, he said he was pleased and for a first game everything worked," Grand said.

Summer storms damaged equipment and drains, but all that was fixed. But still, the stadium's operators found a few problems.

"The number one problem we are dealing with is vertical transportation," Grand said. "People were waiting in line to take an elevator when they could have used ramps."

The Colts will send e-mails to many ticketholders Thursday and post advice on its web site, giving fans the best way to reach their seats and avoid congestion.

The wide concourses were shoulder-to-shoulder Sunday night.

"It was pretty crowded there," said one fan.

Grand attributes some of that to the newness of the facility.

"People were wandering around," he said. "People would normally come in and go straight to their seats."

Those sightseers included one fan, Rebecca, who used the preseason game against the Bills as a chance to check out the building.

"We were only in our seats for 15 minutes. The rest of the time we just spent walking around," she said.

Eyewitness News received complaints from fans with handicapped ID's who were turned away from stadium parking places. Those complaints were true, as the 137 handicapped spaces needed to be booked in advance. They already went to season ticket holders.

"We have over seven percent of the spaces we control that are dedicated to handicapped parking and that is well above the code," said Pete Ward with the Colts.

There are 1,950 stadium parking places. The cost for those spaces is $20 and parking right across the street is $45.