The San Francisco 49ers had a host of issues a year ago in their debut season at Levi's Stadium. Parking and heat for fans on the east side of the stadium were two of the most significant examples of issues for fans. The team appears to be addressing some of these issues, and also looking for other ways to improve the experience at Levi's Stadium.
Mark Purdy of the San Jose Mercury News had a wide-ranging interview with 49ers COO Al Guido that touched on several issues. The most notable is also probably the smallest change. The team will lower the price of beer by 25 cents, and will lower the price of water by 75 cents. Guido said the move came in part because it rounds the prices down to whole dollar figures. This means faster processing through concessions stands, which is always a good thing.
The team is also working to address the heat issues. The temperature does not get ridiculously high, but for fans in the exposed eastern side of the stadium, it can get pretty rough. And considering people in the Bay Area are often used to cooler weather, the heat caught them off guard last year.
The team will not be putting up a roof anytime soon, but they are working on some other solutions. The most notable was asking for later games during the season. The team is allowed to schedule the preseason games on their own, so they worked with Jim Tomsula and set them for 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. PT. For the regular season, they got the later MNF opener, and will only have two afternoon games before November. Fooch's update: They had two afternoon games before November last year, so never mind. Additionally, they will have something called the "49ers Cool Crew", who will provide fans with disposable cooling wipes, sunscreen, sunglasses, lip balm and hand fans as requested. More importantly, fans will now be allowed to bring in empty water bottles to get re-fills during the game. Stadiums frequently require fans throw out empty bottles, so this is a plus.
Finally, the stadium is going make some changes for the number of exit lanes onto Great America Parkway. You can read the full details here, but it sounds like there will be some improvement in the traffic issues.
Now, if they could just figure out the grass thing............