Depending on when and where fans got to Viejas Arena for Monday night’s Aztecs watch party, they may have had two different experiences.
The lucky ones got inside the venue for a thrilling men's basketball NCAA Championship atmosphere. Many others got stuck outside in an unruly situation.
“It's the finals for March Madness and we just really wanted to come out. It'd be a good time, but clearly it's not really looking like that now though,” said San Diego State University sophomore Joel Nakama outside of the arena on game day.
He and his girlfriend Nika Sato — who is on the SDSU golf team — got there around 4 p.m.
Despite being there hours before game time, they gave up and chose to watch the SDSU and University of Connecticut matchup at home once they got caught in the large crowds outside of the Aztecs' homecourt.
“We were worried about it too because people were too close to each other and it was hard to move,” Sato said.
The event was free for the community and entry was first come, first serve. While the doors opened around 5 p.m., tip off was at 6:20 p.m. Huge crowds started to show up hours before game time.
“We thought we had plenty of time but we got here and it was just very busy,” SDSU alumnus Karla Jorgensen said.
She came to the game with her family.
Her husband Mike Jorgensen is also an SDSU alumnus. He said some people were let in, but the arena hit its maximum capacity with thousands still outside.
“All of a sudden I just heard a loud boom and the line just starts moving a lot faster,” he said.
That's when things got a little wild — some fans waiting outside eventually pushed through the gates or hopped over the fence.
Law enforcement had to step in to control the crowds.
Fans like SDSU first-year Deja Jasper said they were getting squished in the crowd just to find a seat inside Viejas Arena.
“We got in, it was crazy. (A) crazy mosh pit — we had to kind of like squeeze our way through. We like ran in, it was a lot,” Jasper said. “They weren't prepared here, they weren't prepared at all.”
The SDSU Police Department said that they increased police patrols leading up to and following the watch party, but the situation still got out of hand.
In a statement they said they are, “appalled by the behavior of a number of individuals who chose to access Viejas Arena gates, disregarding the direction of security officials, to access the venue after it reached capacity.”
The university police department also said that they worked with other local law enforcement to manage crowds at Viejas Arena, but no property damage or arrests have been reported.
For the many fans who got stuck outside, they were upset and frustrated that they had to find somewhere else to watch their team play.
Karla Jorgensen felt the same way when her family couldn't get in, but appreciates the enthusiasm throughout the city for the team.
“Between the students and the alumni and just the city in general that wanted to come and watch the game, I don't think they realized how much support they were going to have,” Karla Jorgensen said.
The fans that did make it inside the venue experienced a lively atmosphere, a nearly full arena and ultimately a hard fought loss by the SDSU Aztecs against the UConn Huskies.
