Students have had issues receiving their points for attending sporting events via Rebel Rewards, causing them to miss out on the program’s prize opportunities.
Rebel Rewards is an app administered by the Ole Miss Athletics Department that allows students and fans to accumulate points for attending university sporting events, which unlock different tiers that correspond with various prizes such as apparel and merchandise.
At the Oct. 5 football game against Vanderbilt, fans could receive 10 points, which is the normal amount for football games, as well as an extra 100 points for staying through the fourth quarter as a promotion to keep fans in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium for the entire game. But many students either were not aware of the promotion or had trouble collecting their points at all.
Junior sports management major Alex Flynn said that while he uses the app every game, he’s only received points for the Arkansas football game. He also did not know of the promotion for the Vanderbilt game.
“I don’t get my points period, even after turning on location services and going into the app,” he said. “I’ve gotten points from the Arkansas game somehow, but that’s been it. I never heard about the 100-point promotion, but I stayed until the fourth quarter. You’d think they would advertise that during the game or something.”
For some, the problem has been continuous. Sophomore pharmaceutical sciences major Caroline Kreh said that her bad experience with Rebel Rewards caused her to get rid of Rebel Rewards.
“I went to almost all the home football games last year,” she said. “Rebel Rewards only gave me credit for one, so I deleted the app.”
Paris Buchanan, Associate Director for Marketing and Fan Experience, addressed some of the possible issues and said that most fans were awarded points.
“With any use of technology, especially in spaces that hold 64,000+ fans, sometimes the lag and speed of the app can cause some issues,” he said. “While we definitely had some fans that were not awarded points, we felt like the majority of our users were awarded the bonus.”
Buchanan said that the app had a large-scale makeover last summer to address existing issues, like fans not receiving points. He said that the athletics department is working with app company Spark Compass to prevent repeating issues, and that any problems are not the cause of faulty technology.
“The app itself is definitely able to handle the promotion,” he said. “However, most of our iBeacons (which pings off of location services to award points) are spaced throughout the concourse rather than the seating areas. We hope to communicate to fans to open their app on the way out of the stadium to ensure a better connection.”
Buchanan said that his team plans to continue the fourth quarter promotions this season as a way to maintain student fans throughout the game.
“Having a student presence in the Vaught is key to our home field advantage,” he said. “We hope that students will take advantage of this offering and continue to support the Rebel football team.”
Buchanan added that through the Rebel Rewards app, they are launching an interactive lights show to be introduced the week of the Texas A&M game.
“We are excited to have another night game, and hope that this new feature in-app will enhance the atmosphere at not only the Vaught, but various other athletics venues on campus,” he said.
As for students who were not awarded points, Buchanan said that the best way to rectify this is to use the “Contact Us” button on the in-app menu and select “Request Missing Points.”
“This will go to our support team for immediate review and will be taken care of most often before fans even leave the game,” he said.
