The safety of the fans is of paramount importance and we have an ongoing commitment to work with the local police department on all shows to ensure a safe environment for all of our fans. As part of this commitment, it has been determined that it is in the best interest of the fans and their overall experience at the venue to not allow tailgating.
Yeah, right.
If this was about what is in the "best interest of the fans" then the venue would have released this information at the time that tickets went on sale for the first concert of the season or at least prior to the sale of Jimmy Buffett tickets which, is by far their biggest concert of the season and the one that has the biggest tailgate.
What you have with this announced via Facebook is an amateur Public Relations move. Just because you have a Facebook page to promote your brand or company does not mean that you can post reforming procedures and subtly announce changes to your audience. What Live Nation, the operators of Jiffy Lube Live, are now realizing is that using a social platform which is supposed to create engagement to their brand to get more people to buy tickets and attend concerts is now doing the opposite. The use of social media is now creating a greater negative buzz about the policy. While many in PR and marketing live by the quote "All publicity is good publicity" in today's world where brand reputation is based on people's opinions and sales increase with recommendations from friends it is a major risk to come out with reform on social media sites.
If this policy was really about 'fans safety' the venue would have announced that they no longer sell beer/wine/spirits inside the venue and the price of such products would be reduced from the gouging price of $7.00+ per drink. According to reports the facility has hired more security and police officers to patrol the parking lots to site violations. The resources should be used instead to encourage responsibility for of concert goers and maybe increase the presence of DUI checkpoints to increase public safety.
Unfortunately, the venue is mostly enforcing a standing Virginia law regarding drinking in public areas. This law has been on the books since 2006 but in my experience has rarely been enforced. The venue has enforced other drinking related laws such as drunk in public, drunk driving and underage drinking.
It will be interesting to see what actually takes place this concert season at Jiffy Lube Live and to see if other venues take up this policy. The litmus test will be the Jimmy Buffett concert, will Jimmy decide to have "Changes in Latitudes" and move the concert this year (and future years) for will Jiffy Lube Live have "Changes in Attitudes" and realize their PR mistake.
One thing is for sure, "Only Time Will Tell".
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