When the Democratic National Convention Committee announced yesterday that tonight’s festivities—culminating in President Obama accepting the Democratic nomination for re-election—would be moved indoors, tens of thousands of eager Obama volunteers were instantly cut off from a moment they expected to savor.

Instead of the 75,000-seat Bank of America Stadium, where the NFL’s Carolina Panthers play, the convention will remain inside the much smaller Time Warner Cable Arena, an NBA venue that holds about 20,000. The Obama campaign, which four years ago also held the final night of its convention in an NFL stadium, intended to bring in tens of thousands of its volunteers and donors from around the country who received a “Community Credential” in exchange for their contributions.

But the extra 55,000 people heard last night that with thunderstorms pouring over Charlotte, the convention would remain under a closed roof and they would be cut off from witnessing one of the critical moments in the 2012 presidential election. Instead, they got a conference call earlier this afternoon in which Obama and his campaign manager, Jim Messina, attempted to explain the change in venue.

The Huffington Post recorded the call, during which the president apologized to his supporters, some of whom had traveled several thousand miles and taken time off from work to see him speak:

Obama and Messina framed it as a safety issue, but also said that moving back inside was a decision that upset some campaign staffers who spent a good chunk of the year planning for the convention:

“I know it’s disappointing. … I’ve got to tell you, I saw some of my key staff who had come down here and they’ve literally been working nonstop for months just getting the logistics of this all put together. Obviously they were a little bit crestfallen, and I know it’s especially disappointing to for a lot of you who worked hard to get your tickets to the event and traveled or planned to travel at your own expense to be here.”

The lucky-turned-unlucky credential-holders who made it to Charlotte were referred to the Obama campaign’s scheduled watch parties and the live streaming video on the convention’s website.

That’s not exactly equivalent, though. “It made me want to rethink my vote just because I was told one thing, and I get here, and there’s something else,” one put-out volunteer from Raleigh, N.C. told Huffington Post.

Would-be convention-goers from the Washington area were less severe in their response, but still disappointed. Darla Bunting, a D.C. resident tells DCist in an email she traveled to Charlotte but now finds herself shut out.

Kimberly Thomasson, a member of the Arlington County Democratic Committee, managed to get the news before heading down to North Carolina. She’ll be watching from an Arlington barstool instead of a stadium seat. Still, she had plans to take a day off from work and take in Obama and Vice President Joe Biden’s acceptance speeches.

“It’s disappointing to miss out on the biggest night of the convention,” she says. But she’s not displeased with the consolation prize Obama for America offered the displaced supporters—first dibs on tickets to future rallies with Obama and Biden.

Of course, considering Thomasson’s hometown—a major city in one of the most competitive battleground states in the election—it’s safe to say she won’t be at a loss for those opportunities. And unlike The Huffington Post’s newly lapsed Obama fan, Thomassen, who had an internship with Obama’s 2008 campaign, plans to continue volunteering for the 2012 effort.

Still, if it were up to her, the compensation for being shut out of the convention would be a bit swankier than queuing in line for a stump speech.

“Personally, I think a ticket to an Inaugural Ball would be sufficient.”