Mobile readies itself for a Donald Trump rally expected to draw around 35,000 people

Ladd-Peebles Stadium and city officials are scrambling to accommodate what could be a rollicking night of politics and celebrity when Donald Trump rolls into Mobile Friday for a campaign rally before 35,000 people.

Trump, who is a top GOP polls among the 16 candidates vying for the 2016 presidential primary nomination, is scheduled to speak around 7:30 p.m. following a half-hour news conference inside the stadium's lobby. More than 150 media representatives including NBC, CNN and Fox News will be among those broadcasting during the rally.

Stadium manager Vic Knight said crews removed a goal post in the stadium's north end zone so campaign officials could building a stage in which Trump will speak on during a rally that is expected to last shortly after 8 p.m.

"We've had to ramp things up today," Knight said Thursday. "There are a lot of people here today."

Parking plans

Among the issues stadium and city officials are preparing for is an increased demand for parking which sometimes can be difficult at the stadium during well-attended football games.

But Knight said that unlike the Senior Bowl and other football-related activities, the east end of the stadium's parking lot will be open for vehicles. He estimates 1,500 parking spots will be available.

Knight said a decision on whether there will be a fee to park will be made Friday.

Wave transit buses will also be operating throughout the evening, although a location of any special pick-up locations was not available late Thursday.

The stadium's parking lot will open at 4 p.m. The gates to Ladd-Peebles will open at 5:30 p.m.

Tickets: First-come, first-serve

Tickets are free and remain available on Eventbrite.com.

"The good thing is we were already in the process of getting ready for the start of the football season and there have been a lot of things going on out here in the last two weeks to get ready for a big crowd," Knight said, referring to a stadium that hosts high school football games on Friday nights and the University of South Alabama Jaguars home games.

Ladd-Peebles, which opened in 1948, has a capacity of slightly under 40,000 people, Knight said.

No VIP passes will be entertained during the rally, which is a first-come, first-serve seating arrangement. Companies that lease one of the stadium's suites will be allowed to host gatherings during Friday's event, Knight added.

Media, meanwhile, are expected to be positioned on risers near the stage. There are no plans for any of the national or local media to be positioned inside the stadium's press box.

WKRG-TV will broadcast the event live, and the show will include analysis. Trump was interviewed on The "Middday Mobile" show on 106.5 FM Thursday.

"These are my people," Trump said about Alabama voters.

A large crowd

The Mobile crowd could be one of the largest to attend a 2016 primary event. Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders has received national media attention for drawing more than 100,000 at his rallies including an estimated 27,500 people at a rally in Los Angeles. According to a Washington Post story, that was about five times more than any crowd that has shown up for front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Trump, on Wednesday, drew an overflow crowd of 2,000 people that crammed into a New Hampshire gym with a capacity of less than 900. He taunted his rival, Jeb Bush, who was making a campaign stop nearby that drew an audience of around 150 people.

A new Quinnipiac poll released Thursday shows Trump ahead in nearby Florida, which is Bush's home state.

"You know what's happening to Jeb's crowd right down the street?" Trump said during his rally. "They're sleeping now."

Demand for a Trump ticket skyrocketed in recent days after it was announced he was coming to Mobile. As of Wednesday afternoon, the Trump rally was scheduled to take place inside the Mobile Civic Center's Theater that holds 1,950 people.

Consideration was later given to having the rally inside the entire Civic Center complex, which can hold up to 14,000 people.

"There are a lot people who will come to the event who are not your typical standard bearers of the Republican Party," Jonathan Gray of Strategy Research said. "They will be somewhere in the neighborhood of those who are engaged people who are excited about Donald Trump. Maybe it's a bit of celebrity."

Gray noted that if 35,000 people attend the rally, it will represent about 80 percent of the 46,000 voters who cast a ballot in Mobile County during the 2012 GOP presidential primary.

"This is great for politics," he said. "It's great for the country. I think the guy is a serious contender and he's drawing massive amounts (of attention)."

Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson said that while the city will accommodate any and all political campaigns that come to Mobile, he acknowledged that Trump's caravan is unique.

"I will agree to everyone one of them and treat them all the same way," Stimpson said about any other potential presidential campaign rally in Mobile, of which Trump is the first to come to the city since the Aug. 6 GOP debate. "Of course, when Trump comes in he'll be expected to be treated different from the rest of them."

Stimpson said he was unsure how overtime costs will be handled for the event, although WKRG-TV said the campaign plans to pick up the entire bill.

"In five to seven hours, they are planning an event that will take most organizations months to do," Stimpson said.

Water availability

Knight said one of the things he is assured will happen is that enough water is available for people attending.

Stadium officials were criticized with the handling of concessions during the Sept. 13, 2014, football game between USA and Mississippi State University. A large crowd attended the afternoon game in which temperatures soared to above 90 degrees. Fifty-eight medical calls were made related to heat-related illness and there were multiple reports of a lack of cold water availability.

It's expected to be 83 degrees (92 degrees with the heat index) by 7 p.m. with a 45 percent chance of a scattered thunderstorm Friday, according to The Weather Channel.

Knight said that Turner Foods, the company that oversees the stadium's concessions, is prepared.

"He has been notified of the approximate attendance and he's prepared to deal with it," Knight said.

Toast of the town

But the Trump rally isn't expected to last as long as a football game despite excitement that seems to be growing for an event that might rival gridiron battle between two popular teams.

"I had an older woman call me the other day asking how I can get tickets ... she didn't have Internet and she couldn't get tickets," Gray said. "I asked her, 'Why do you want to go?' I asked her, 'Are you backing Donald Trump?' She said, 'I don't know think so.' She said that she regretted 'all my life that she didn't see Elvis' and didn't want to regret the opportunity to see Donald Trump."

Trump's visit also could theoretically produce some news ahead of Sunday morning talk shows such as NBC's "Meet the Press," CBS' "Face the Nation," CNN's "State of the Union" or "Fox News Sunday."

"You can never predict what the Donald will say, that I can guarantee you," Gray said.

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