Tailgating improvements?

[chrisattsu]

As with most football programs, tailgating is just as important as the game itself to the fans.

Texas State is looking at ways to improve tailgating on their campus. How to get the community (townies) involved? and make things better overall.


Why do you love tailgating, and whats does your school do that makes tailgating great?

[DFW HOYA]

Wish I could add to this, but there is practically no tailgating at Georgetown because of one simple fact: there are no parking lots from which to drive cars onto campus. It's hard to create an environment when you've got an underground parking lot for "atmosphere".

[Retro]

We start on friday, allow alcohol, have student specific area, welcome visiting fans, have live bands, all kinds of food and there is a waiting list for spots some 50 deep i believe!xrulesx

[Touchdown Yosef]

We start on friday, allow alcohol, have student specific area, welcome visiting fans, have live bands, all kinds of food and there is a waiting list for spots some 50 deep i believe!xrulesx

Those seem to be the keys. Ours changed for the better when Chancellor Peacock took over and started loosening drinking rules on gameday. It made on campus student tailgating much more popular and that atmosphere seemed to spread.

[CatMom07]

I think we need to lose the early start times and go back to what we had before this season. Seriously. Until this year you couldn't find anyone at tailgating because of the crowds. This year it was so sparse you could have run a tractor trailer through the parking lot. It was way lame.
I really missed it but peole had a hard time getting out of bed let alone getting there for the early games.

The students don't want to have to be there at 11 for a 2 PM game after Friday nights. More like 2 PM for a 6 PM game. I know I had a time because of working Friday nights.

The U needs to rethink the changes they made that killed tailgating in 2008.

[JMU Newbill]

JMU kids usually get out there pretty early. But obviously, as CatMom said.... later start times allow for bigger crowds. I only tailgate in the student parking lots as I have not yet become important/rich enough to pay for tailgating spots near the stadium, but then again, I act way more like a student then I do an alumni (minus the whole real world thing).

Keys to a good tailgate are simple and somewhat universal: Grill, food, alcohol, game of choice.

[andy7171]

Students love tailgating so much at Towson, they forget to come into the game! xnonono2x

[HiHiYikas]

Charge $2,500 for an good (not great, good) parking space. That sounds sarcastic - and I'm sometimes a little bummed that I'm not able to sign up at that level.

But when you pay thousands of bucks for your tailgate spot, you're probably going to take tailgating seriously. And you're not likely to miss a home game. And the money goes back to athletics, which allows the department to spend more money on gameday festivities, not to mention improve on-field product.

Of course, there are plenty of spots available for students, too. My brother's a senior at App State, and he (or one of his roommates) won the parking lottery for six games this year. Sometimes they won multiple passes.

[Thunderstruck84]

Charge $2,500 for an good (not great, good) parking space. That sounds sarcastic - and I'm sometimes a little bummed that I'm not able to sign up at that level.

But when you pay thousands of bucks for your tailgate spot, you're probably going to take tailgating seriously. And you're not likely to miss a home game. And the money goes back to athletics, which allows the department to spend more money on gameday festivities, not to mention improve on-field product.

Of course, there are plenty of spots available for students, too. My brother's a senior at App State, and he (or one of his roommates) won the parking lottery for six games this year. Sometimes they won multiple passes.
It costs $3 per spot in the lot (and grass) immediately west of the Fargodome and beleive me, people take their tailgating seriously. I think getting a few hardcore fans to start going all out with custom tour buses and grills that are pulled as trailers seem to have a trickle down effect. It's to the point now at NDSU tailgating where it's worth going just for the spectacle, I would guess we had 4,000 tailgating before homecomeing this year in the west lot alone.

...and there's nothing more beautiful than seeing several hundred Bison flags at the same time flutter in a crisp North Dakota fall breeze. xnodx

[JMU Newbill]

Student lot at JMU is free!!!!

But yea... the official "tailgating" spots for alumni come with a hefty price tag.

[R3TRO]

At UNH, a football game is an excuse to wake up at 8am and black out by about 2 or 3... sleep it off and get up around 8 or 9 and hit the bars/parties.

This is how it works at UNH:

Students can enter Boulder Field (alcohol allowed tailgate area) for free, anyone else must have a game ticket. *Fixed

To get a bracelet to drink, you have to be ID'd at the gate with officers nearby. Police officers are always on the prowl looking for underage drinkers.

No one can carry alcoholic beverages in on foot. All alcohol has to be driven in. ($10/car)

First come, first serve on spots.... and the traffic is so bad it promotes a competition to get there early.


Unfortunately, most of our tailgaters get so drunk they can't get into the game if they want to. Usually its not their intention to go anyways. So, we have a completely different problem. We have the attendance, we just want them to enter the games. xoopsx

[ASUG8]

Charge $2,500 for an good (not great, good) parking space. That sounds sarcastic - and I'm sometimes a little bummed that I'm not able to sign up at that level.

But when you pay thousands of bucks for your tailgate spot, you're probably going to take tailgating seriously. And you're not likely to miss a home game. And the money goes back to athletics, which allows the department to spend more money on gameday festivities, not to mention improve on-field product.

Of course, there are plenty of spots available for students, too. My brother's a senior at App State, and he (or one of his roommates) won the parking lottery for six games this year. Sometimes they won multiple passes.

I'm with you, but it's the price we pay for having success over the last several seasons. I parked in the same lot for 18 yrs. with no pass, and now it's Yosef Club only. Boone's geography makes it tough to get a spot reasonably close to the stadium if you're coming in from out of town. We've resorted to parking where we can, then dragging some of our stuff down and crashing with some "new friends" in Raley if possible. App is fun and I think pretty accomodating to visitors (at least where I've been).

[appfan2008]

I love app tailgating and it has truly taken off in recent years... When i started in 04 the tailgating got going only a couple hours before the game and you were able to pull up and park relatively close to the stadium... now it cost 250 just to park on campus... I love it!... my wife and I park at our old church First Baptist Church pay a little money and break out the tailgating there...

[UNH_Alum_In_CT]

At UNH, a football game is an excuse to wake up at 8am and black out by about 2 or 3... sleep it off and get up around 8 or 9 and hit the bars/parties.

This is how it works at UNH:

Anyone can enter the tailgaiting area for free.

To get a bracelet to drink, you have to be ID'd at the gate with officers nearby. Police officers are always on the prowl looking for underage drinkers.

No one can carry alcoholic beverages in on foot. All alcohol has to be driven in. ($10/car)

First come, first serve on spots.... and the traffic is so bad it promotes a competition to get there early.


Unfortunately, most of our tailgaters get so drunk they can't get into the game if they want to. Usually its not their intention to go anyways. So, we have a completely different problem. We have the attendance, we just want them to enter the games. xoopsx

Technically, you need a ticket for the game to get into the alcohol allowed tailgate area on Boulder Field.

UNHWILDCATS05 has won that traffic competition more than once! :p xlolx xlolx xlolx

[UNH_Alum_In_CT]

After what we experienced at Villanova this year, somebody from 'Nova better man up and provide a long list of improvements! ;) xnodx xlolx xlolx

[CSUBUCDAD]

Believe it or not tailgating for a Chuck South home game is a blast. Alumni tent with lots of food and music. Not supposed to have any alcohol in campus but they look the other way on game day. I know the folks from Georgetown that came down season before last could not believe the party that was going on there before the game. I got to meet LBPop and his gang and we all had a ball.

[R3TRO]

Technically, you need a ticket for the game to get into the alcohol allowed tailgate area on Boulder Field.

UNHWILDCATS05 has won that traffic competition more than once! :p xlolx xlolx xlolx

My mistake, i'm just used to walking in as a student and not having to pay for anything.

[slycat]

I think we need to lose the early start times and go back to what we had before this season. Seriously. Until this year you couldn't find anyone at tailgating because of the crowds. This year it was so sparse you could have run a tractor trailer through the parking lot. It was way lame.
I really missed it but peole had a hard time getting out of bed let alone getting there for the early games.

The students don't want to have to be there at 11 for a 2 PM game after Friday nights. More like 2 PM for a 6 PM game. I know I had a time because of working Friday nights.

The U needs to rethink the changes they made that killed tailgating in 2008.

Agreed. When it was evening games I had time to roll out of bed and tailgate. I loved tailgating all day. It wouldn't be fun to do it for a couple hours.

[blueballs]

Any and Everything one needs to know about tailgating can be observed and learned in two short weekends... one at McNeese at the GeauxCowboys tailgate and one at GSU at the Red Flag tailgate.

[UNH_Alum_In_CT]

Any and Everything one needs to know about tailgating can be observed and learned in two short weekends... one at McNeese at the GeauxCowboys tailgate and one at GSU at the Red Flag tailgate.

Why didn't I know that in 2004? xconfusedx xbangx xbangx xbangx xbangx

[ngineer]

The lots and fields outside of Goodman Stadium provide a great venue for our tailgating. Unfortunately, the weather the past two years has been abysmal. With seven home games this year, we're hoping for a lot of blasts. The only 'down' thing has been the administration's clamping down on the student drinking, which has resulted in reduced attendance. It's still a great game-day atmosphere with some pretty high class 'bill of fare'..xthumbsupx