A blitzing start to the football season at Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium has necessitated a little bit of recruiting from its new managers, the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism.
The state agency is offering employees the option of working paid shifts at the stadium next week in lieu of hours they would normally spend at the office or at one of Arkansas' state parks, according to Director Kane Webb.
Starting Monday, War Memorial has seven football games scheduled over six days, including the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Razorbacks' season-opener on Thursday and the Salt Bowl between Benton and Bryant high schools on Saturday.
Those two bouts together could draw more than 100,000 fans to the stadium, according to Webb.
"We want as many hands on deck as we can," Webb said.
The stadium, once operated by an independent state commission, was moved under the control of the Department of Parks and Tourism as part of a government reorganization package signed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson in February.
Earlier this month, the stadium's executive director, Jerry Cohen, announced his departure for another job and Webb named an interim director.
Hutchinson has also proposed halving the stadium's current funding to $447,647 starting next year.
For now, the stadium has six full-time employees, though part-time security workers and other help will be available on game days, Webb said.
In the first major event for Parks and Tourism's management, Guns N' Roses played a concert before nearly 24,000 people at War Memorial Stadium earlier this month. The concert was put on by the promoter Live Nation.
The call for Parks and Tourism employees to work stadium duty was to ensure there's enough staff for duties such as parking cars, taking tickets or changing out the towels in restrooms, Webb said.
In a phone call Friday, he said he had hoped 50 people would sign up for shifts at the stadium. A short while later, he said in an email his office had collected names for 64 shifts.
Employees are not being offered overtime to work the games, Webb said. In total, he expected a staff of about 500 workers for Thursday's Razorback game. The Hogs play Florida A&M.
That's on top of volunteers who work as ushers and at concessions, Webb said.
Webb was also quick to note that his name was among those on the list.
"Maybe I'll take tickets -- that sounds like fun -- or parking cars," Webb said.
War Memorial, which opened in 1948, seats more than 54,000. The Razorbacks have not announced plans to play an annual game at the stadium beyond 2018.
Metro on 08/26/2017