Remember the atmosphere at Jack Trice Stadium after the tornado sirens went off prior to the kickoff of the Colorado game last November?

The ISU athletic department is hoping to recreate that feeling and bring fans into the stands earlier by sounding warning sirens 90, 60, 45 and 30 minutes before the game.

ISU Athletic Director Jamie Pollard said this was an idea that came from the student interns in the marketing office.

“We wanted to create an atmosphere like what happened last year at the last [home] game,” Pollard said. “It’s obviously not the real siren, but there will be a siren sound coming out of the PA that the police signed off on.”

Christopher Pross, sophomore in civil engineering, is excited about the change.

Students wait to pick up their season tickets outside the Cyclone ticket office Wednesday afternoon. Photo: Charlie Litchfield/Iowa State Daily

“If it is anything like the Colorado game last year, it will be awesome,” he said.

Pollard said these changes are a result of research that the athletic department did during the summer.

“We spent all summer with focus groups and surveys, along with the feedback from our Cyclone Club outings,” Pollard said. “It is very apparent that fans wanted something done to jazz up the festivities.”

The warning sirens are only one of the changes to the ISU football pre-game festivities.

Now there are free “trolleys” people can ride from the parking lot to the stadium.

Also, the players are taking a new path to the stadium, instead of the cement path next to the Jacobson Building from past years.

Now the team is walking from the locker room, through the Jacobson Building and through a new inflatable helmet filled with smoke. There is also a new entrance video set to the tune of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck,” as well.

There will also be a brick pillar next to the entrance to the field reading “Honor Before Victory.” This pillar once stood outside Clyde Williams Field.

Players will touch it before games.

“That pillar is new and we brought it back over to [Jack Trice] so the players will go by it when they go out to warm up,” Pollard said.

There are new activities for people of all ages. Cyclone Experience, which will be in lot S4 near Reiman Gardens, is a children’s zone with inflatable play areas. A live radio show, food vendors, T-shirts being shot into the stands 20 minutes before kickoff have been planned as well. Alumni Association member Jeff Johnson will lead the crowd through cheers on the PA before the game.

Student season-ticket holders will receive T-shirts at the upcoming Nebraska and UNLV games. To top things off, the first three home games – all night games – will feature post-game fireworks.

Assistant Athletic Director of Marketing Mary Pink said she wanted people not just to enjoy the tailgating atmosphere, but the game atmosphere as well.

“People have always enjoyed the tailgating and the stuff outside,” Pink said. “But from talking to fans, people were wanting more as far as the game atmosphere.”