'We screwed up': RodeoHouston pinpoints error for long wait to see Garth Brooks
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- There were multiple issues for rodeo fans trying to get into NRG Stadium for Garth Brooks' opening night concert at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
On Tuesday, crowds of rodeo-goers were waiting to get inside for the rodeo events and big headlining concert. There was a reported wait of an hour or more.
RELATED: Massive wait: Rodeo to review what caused lengthy lines on opening night
In the wake of the inconvenience later that night, the rodeo originally said the excitement of opening day led visitors to line up earlier than normal, causing congestion at the gates.
In addition, those who were already there for the livestock show or the carnival had taken up space at the east gate, where a lot of the congestion was seen.
Rodeo-goers told ABC13 the scanners for tickets on smartphones also had issues.
When asked what happened, though, president and CEO of the Houston Livestock show and Rodeo, Joel Cowley, had these simple words: "We screwed up."
Cowley focused on one issue as the primary factor for the logjam.
"We had an erroneous email that went out to our individual ticket-buyers that stated the gates would open at 5:15 p.m. They actually were scheduled to open at 6. That's time we have our volunteers ready, those who work in the stadium ready, so the email was incorrect," Cowley explained.
Cowley additionally apologized to any guest who missed the rodeo portion of the night. A typical rodeo Crowd trickles in throughout the evening, Cowley added.
For solutions, rodeo officials will place additional volunteers at the east gate and expand server space for ticket scanners in order to admit double the amount of rodeo-goers and get them through as fast as possible.
Wednesday's night two of the rodeo is headlined by country group Little Big Town.
