Here's what's new for fans going to UNM football games this season

Get ’em to the game. Make ’em want to come back.

It would seem being an athletic director isn’t really all that hard.

But even on the somewhat rare occasions when the New Mexico football team was worth watching, keeping fans coming to University Stadium throughout the season hasn’t been easy.

Fernando Lovo, the first-year UNM athletic director, is the latest tasked with trying to solve the longtime puzzle of Lobo football fan apathy.

Saturday will be the first UNM home football game in the Lovo tenure as the Lobos host Idaho State in a game kicking off at 1 p.m.

Among the young, energetic administrator’s directives toward a cultural rebuild within University Stadium are making it cheaper for families to attend and to eat once inside; upgrading the large video board; addressing points of entry and parking; and even adding 100 more points of sale.

“We need to show our fans that we care,” Lovo said. “Because now more than ever, I think our fans understand and we realize that a successful football program is critical to the overall health of our department long term. And so as I came in … I made it a priority for our staff that we rolled out a bunch of initiatives that caught people’s attention, and hopefully we can see a tangible return on those on those initiatives this weekend.”

So, what do fans need to know? Here are some highlights:

Kids get in free

Well, sort of. Kids 12 and under can get in free with tickets in the North End Zone section. To get them, visit golobos.com/tickets and select the “Kids Free Initiative.” Up to two free kid tickets are available.

Eat for cheap(er)

Announced last month was UNM’s new four for $4 menu with four items at a $4 price point — soda, a bottle of water, a hot dog and popcorn.

Fans are allowed to bring in one sealed bottle of water (in their clear bag, of course) and there will also be “water monsters” available near the north end zone that allow fans to refill bottles free of charge.

There will also be “100 new points of sale” in the stadium, Lovo said.

Some of these points of sale are mobile vendors walking around the stadium, some are existing concessions locations doubling checkout availability and some are new, mobile locations for vendors.

Some of the new items being sold at the stadium, which were unveiled Tuesday, include:

Elotico — Elote served in a cup with red chile and other spices.

The Big Chuck — A fried beef sandwich topped with cheese, garlic and red chile aioli and served with fries.

The Louie — Footlong hot dog topped with Fritos and nacho cheese.

The Lucy — Footlong hot dog topped with Hatch green chile and cheese.

The Chomper — Footlong hot dog topped with house made green chile relish.

Getting to the game

No more left turns around the stadium. It’s a strategy used at a lot of events around the country to prevent traffic backup. It has been implemented the past couple of years at the Pit for basketball games.

The clear bag and cashless policies remain in place.

There are also new metal detectors aimed at allowing quicker entry.

Before the game

The new Louie Lane is a pregame fun zone outside the northeast end of the stadium off Avenida Cesar Chavez that opens three hours before kickoff (so 10 a.m. this Saturday).

There is a kids zone for the young ones, a beer garden for the older ones, large TVs with other football games on for the easily distracted ones, local food trucks for the hungry ones and it will also be where fans can see the Lobo Walk, which is when the team will walk into the stadium two and a half hours before the game (so 10:30 a.m. on Saturday).

Also this year, kids to 12 can sign up in Louie Lane for the Lobo Kids Run giving kids a chance to run out of the tunnel and onto the field minutes before the team takes the field.

During the game

UNM has installed a new $1.2 million video board for better visuals and replays throughout the game.

And don’t expect every dead ball or break in the action to be filled with public address announcer chatter.

“When we talk about in-game scripting — the in game elements of a football game, we have to be dynamic. We have to be nimble,” Lovo said. “And so when we script our game, it can no longer just be PA read after PA read. It can’t be ‘ladies and gentlemen, turn your attention to the North End Zone’ every single time. That just kills the momentum of the game.

“So we’ll have a live DJ that’ll be up in the booth with our in-game experience folks. And we’ve been really creative and dynamic in our scripting. We need to mirror the ebbs and flows of a football game. (If) there’s a big stop on third down, we’ve got to crank that sucker up, right? If there’s something big going on, we got to get it on the new video board. We’ve been really creative, and I think our fans will notice that.”