Officials address safety ahead of UM-MSU game in Ann Arbor
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - Tens of thousands of University of Michigan and Michigan State football fans will be at Saturday night's game under the lights in Ann Arbor.
Officials say for night games, it's an all-hands-on-deck approach, especially during Michigan college football's biggest rivalry game.
"We will have extra patrols out not only downtown but in the college areas as well as within the stadium and outside and around the stadium," said Ann Arbor police sergeant Mark Pulford.
It's also the first season with alcohol sales at the stadium.
Michael Jordan is the general manager of Sodexo, the official caterer for the stadium.
He said they're prepared for Saturday night.
"We did do a refresher training with our team; we did have three weeks off in between the last game and this game coming up," said Jordan. "But really, it's just sticking to our policies and making sure we're not overserving guests; we're ID'ing guests every single time; we're cutting guests off when we think that that's appropriate."
He said the alcohol service in the stadium can change depending on the situation.
"Our policy is that we stop serving at the start of the fourth quarter, but that's the latest," said Jordan. "We can stop serving around halftime if we feel that's in the best interest of our fans and the safety of everyone here at the stadium."
Pulford said night games pose a different challenge than games that start at noon.
"With it being a night game, obviously there is some concern that there is more time for people to consume alcohol," he said. "We do want people to come to town, have a good time, however, to do so safely."
Julie Weatherbee lives down the street from the stadium.
She said dealing with fans is part of the course in her neighborhood.
"It is actually a really quiet neighborhood when it's not a football game, but during football season it's absolutely wild," said Weatherbee. "You just have to be ready for kind of anything.
"We've had to call police; we've had to call ambulance; we've had to give water to people or snacks to people. You name it, it's happened during a football game."
For fans attending the game, police will be wearing badges with QR codes on them that can be scanned for frequently asked questions and safety tips.
Several street closures and detours around the stadium will be in effect three hours before kickoff until the end of the game.
Kickoff for the game is at 7:30 p.m.