HOUSTON – A rush of fans from the livestock show and carnival led to longer-than-expected wait times at the rodeo Tuesday.
Garth Brooks opened up this year's rodeo. He will also play a show on the final day of the rodeo.
The rodeo said a combination of things led to the long lines.
An erroneous email was sent, saying that the gates would open 45 minutes earlier than normal, and the rodeo said its ticket vendor needed more scanners.
"Last night was very regrettable. We are embarrassed by it, to tell you the truth, and we take full ownership," Joel Cowley, the president and CEO of Rodeo Houston, said.
Cowley says the ticket company will double the number of scanners.
"We're going to put additional emphasis on the eastern side of the building, where most people come in, because we want them to come out and enjoy everything else that's going on on the grounds. Then we will evaluate stadium opening time on the closing Garth Brooks performance to see if we need to open it earlier to get people in," Cowley said. "There should be no problem tonight. We don't anticipate any problem tomorrow night for Blake Shelton."
VIDEO: Crowd line at opening day of Houston Rodeo
The rodeo said the congestion at the gates was caused by people lining up earlier than normal.
The rodeo also said that, after visually scanning tickets to alleviate some of the congestion for a while, normal ticket scanning procedures resumed.
The rodeo issued the following statement on the long lines:
"Due to the excitement of opening day at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and Garth Brooks in concert, we experienced visitors lining up at the gates earlier than normal, which caused congestion at some gates. To ensure guests could enter the gates and enjoy the rodeo and concert, we visually scanned their ticket or mobile app, instead of digitally scanning, in order to alleviate the congestion. We have now resumed normal scanning procedures."
The rodeo also tweeted the above statement.
Due to the excitement of opening day at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™ and Garth Brooks in concert, we experienced visitors lining up at the gates earlier than normal, which caused congestion at some gates. (1/2) @NRGParkFan
— RODEOHOUSTON (@RODEOHOUSTON) February 28, 2018
To ensure guests could enter the gates and enjoy the rodeo and concert, we visually scanned their ticket or mobile app, instead of digitally scanning, in order to alleviate the congestion. We have now resumed normal scanning procedures. (2/2) @NRGParkFan
— RODEOHOUSTON (@RODEOHOUSTON) February 28, 2018
On Wednesday, the second day of the rodeo, the Blakeway family recounted being among the crowd waiting to get into the stadium.
"We just thought because it was opening night and it was Garth Brooks that there were a lot of people but, yeah, it was massive," said Alysha Blakeway. "They would let a whole bunch of people in at once, and then it would stop and then a whole bunch of people again. We had no idea what was going on."
Little Big Town takes the stage at NRG Stadium on Wednesday night.
