One-Eyed Willy loves the Miami Hurricanes. He hates waiting in line for pizza.
So when Jason Lasseter — a 41-year-old pilot from Boynton Beach who uses the Twitter pen name One-Eyed Willy — had to trudge halfway around Hard Rock Stadium for a pie during UM’s season opener only to discover a 20-minute wait, he was steamed.
“Will there be more concession stands open this Sat?” Lasseter vented on Twitter. “Last week was a nightmare!”
The people who run the stadium heard him. And responded. Through a new Twitter account, @HRSGuestExp, a customer service agent assured Lasseter that more stands would be open for the next Hurricanes game. They were, and Lasseter left more than satisfied.
Why is this story relevant as the Miami Dolphins’ 51st home season opens Sunday against Cleveland Browns?
A shade canopy, four massive video boards and improved seating — all made possible by a half billion dollar renovation project funded overwhelmingly with private money — might get fans in the door, but only a pleasant experience will keep them coming back.
That’s why the Dolphins’ in-house mantra is: “We’re positive memory-makers.”
Winning helps, of course. The football team has made far too few positive memories in the past decade; it’s up to first-year coach Adam Gase to fix that.
But everything that happens off the field is the responsibility of team CEO Tom Garfinkel, who acknowledged the organization had not done enough to address their customers’ needs.
“I think it was something where we had a false sense of accomplishment about that was really a weakness,” Garfinkel said of stadium customer service.
No longer. There are now two fan experience help desks on every level of the stadium. The team has hired 200 new ushers, trained by a representative from Ritz-Carlton, to serve the fans.