The Univ. of Alabama is "promising improvements and changes" to the Tide Loyalty Points app, which is designed to keep students at football games, according to Michael Casagrande of the BIRMINGHAM NEWS. Complaints were "immediate for users" of the app during the school's home opener against New Mexico State. The app was "designed to create incentives for students to stay all four quarters with access to regular and postseason tickets but the app was overwhelmed by demand in its debut." Students "posted screenshots of the malfunctioning app after staying the full game in temperatures in the upper 90s," as the "bonus 250 points for staying four quarters had not reached students’ accounts by the middle of the week." Alabama said that a "full review was conducted after technical issues led to the failure of the app designed by FanMaker." The company said that it was "securing extra server capacity to handle the workload for future Alabama home games." The school said that the "estimated efficiency is expected to be 10 times greater for the Sept. 21 game." All students who swiped in for the game "will receive the full 350 points" (BIRMINGHAM NEWS, 9/12).
