CFP Exec Dir Bill Hancock yesterday said he was "disappointed" and "very sorry" that some fans were delayed entering Mercedes-Benz Stadium prior to Monday's CFP title game, according to Catherine Park of Atlanta-based WXIA-NBC. Some fans had to "wait two and three hours" due to increased security with President Trump in attendance. Hancock said, "When you have a presidential visit, security trumps everything, so to speak, and we're just very sorry that people were inconvenienced." Fans noted that there were "too few metal detectors, and not enough security personnel, for the crowds, and no one in charge organized the crowds in lines." Instead, crowds "packed the building's entrances, then jostled to reach the few metal detectors, often erupting in boos for the lack of organization and long delays." Hancock on how the CFP will handle future events attended by a high-profile public figure like Trump said, "We knew several days in advance that the Secret Service was going to be here and they did the very best they could. The building staff did a wonderful job of dealing with a little curve ball that they were thrown." Park noted ticket holders also said that there was not "adequate cell phone service at the stadium, and as a result they could not access their electronic tickets on their smart phones, which caused further delays." Hancock said of the future use of mobile ticketing, "Overall, the mobile ticketing served us well. We will stick with it. The best thing about mobile ticketing is fraud prevention. So far, we have much less incidents of counterfeiting. We told the public, before, many times, do not buy a paper ticket" (11ALIVE.com, 1/9).
