Cleveland Browns Admit Wristband Process for Floor Access to Rolling Stones Concert Was a Fiasco

The Ghost Hounds opened for the Rolling Stones at Cleveland Browns Stadium on Saturday night, and while you can usually expect the warm-up act to draw fewer fans than the headliner, the disparity was evident. But, there were extenuating factors at play. Mainly that the Browns deployed a system for issuing wristbands, mandatory for anyone on the floor, that defied all logic and left thousands waiting in endless lines as showtime approached.

Ticketholders found that getting to and entering the stadium, with a near capacity crowd, was only the start to arriving in GA or their seats on the field.

Next came instructions to head to section 124, presumably to get the necessary wristband, only to arrive at that section, one of the few where access to the field was allowed, and be directed to section 129.

There were no signs in the concourse, no staff. There were, however, thousands of fans shoehorned with no clear direction, no ropes delineating lines to exit to the new line. Simply a giant mass of people, some of whom were in line at a nearby merchandise station, some of whom were in line for a concession stand. It took, by social media accounts and the personal experience of this reporter, more than an hour to navigate the herd, which twisted outside the stadium, bent around, and funneled through a separate entryway staffed by four workers checking tickets and handing out wristbands.

The crowd was, to say it lightly, displeased, peppering the Lake Erie air with chants of “bullshit.”

As one attendee told Scene, and wrote to Browns’ guest services, it was perplexing why wristbands weren’t handed out when ticketholders were first scanned into the stadium in the first place. And if there was some novel reason why a second step was necessary, why have only one location from which to retrieve wristbands? And shouldn’t modern technology allow ushers working the field to simply scan a ticket to allow access to the floor without having to issue a wristband at all?

Great questions all.

A spokesperson for the Cleveland Browns and Haslam Sports Group didn’t respond to a request for comment from Scene, but an attendee who emailed guest services did get a response admitting that the whole process was a cluster.

“You are right and we appreciate you detailing your experience,” the email read. “We truly apologize for this experience and the challenges that went along with this process. There were several factors that changed that made the wrist-banding process challenging. We are aware of the situation, and we are continuing to evaluate the process to improve it in the future. Again, we would like to express our apologies for what occurred on Saturday.”

The Browns are currently seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money for either a $1 billion renovation of the current stadium or a new $2 billion dome in Brook Park. A driving force in their decision to seek a newly refurbished or wholly new home is the chance to host large-scale events like the Rolling Stones concert.

Michael McDowell, one of the many who voiced complaints, added: “The staff was professional and doing their level best in a very difficult situation. Many of them were as frustrated as we were and expressed that to us. There wasn’t enough staff, especially at the wristband line, but those who were working did a great job in our view. Our anger, frustration and disappointment is with the people who ‘organized’ the event and process!”

The show itself was great, as reviewer Eric Heisig detailed in his recap of the night.

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This article appears in Best of Cleveland 2024.