Agreed. Thatās my take. Iād definitely set up shop somewhere else but I have a hard time rationalizing $5500+ to park
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I went to a Florida game two years ago in November. Unbelievably easy. No restrictions, find a place and park. Any lot, anywhere. No fees. Thatās how you do gamedays. Mike Hill should be very aware of that model. Maybe 4X-5X more people. If people are spread around like in downtown Charlotte for Panthers the traffic in and out isnāt an issue either.
And there is no easy way to pool money and go in with a group. It would be much easier for two families to share but then someone doesnāt get the donation credit. Hopefully this gets better in the coming years. Definitely needs to be addressed when and if we expand the stadium too.
Would you all be open to increased ticket prices to reduce or eliminate parking prices? It sounds good at first, but I would be afraid that this would reduce the demand for the average/first time fan.
Iāve traveled quite a bit in young history for away games, grew up cheering for a (at the time) Big 12 school, and have made a few observations.
- Tailgating needs to be as close to the stadium as possible to have the biggest impact.
- Student tailgating needs to be visible and encouraged
- Do we really need parking lots and garages to tailgate in? Is there a way we could drop off equipment, park somewhere else, and come back to enjoy ourselves?
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There are plenty of places closer to the stadium that could be used for drop- off tailgating. We have done a few drop-off tailgates for baseball over the years. It was a little bit of a pain but it worked. The area on Phillips Rd between the RF line at the Hayes and the football stadium is prime real estate. I donāt know if there is a demand for this yet with our crowd. If we had 6 Saturday games instead of 3 Thursday/Friday games, it might be worth it.
What a great trip! After last week, I never thought I would say those words. Proud of the Niner faithful that made the trip. We looked like a much improved team and still have a lot of room for improvement. You could definitely see what the offense is supposed to be. I havenāt said that very often this season. It also helped that we were playing with the lead.
What a great tailgate scene. We are wasting a golden tailgate opportunity not using the available grass spaces near the stadium for tailgating. The energy around the stadium before the game was fantastic. Plenty of green and purple tailgating together. We have a lot to learn about building a football culture but I was a proud NIner on Saturday. ECU fans were great hosts. Lots of beers, food and shots shared.
I always knew having an in-state university in our conference would be big but i may have underestimated it. Walking around and seeing familiar faces was awesome. There was plenty of chatter at the office all week and there will be plenty more tomorrow.
You could tell what it meant to our players to win that game. They came over to our sections afterward to thank the Niner fans. Winning that game was HUGE in so many ways. Letās keep improving.
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I agree with this - BIG time schools use every bit of real estate for tailgating. As the stadium gets bigger we will have to accept that and stop letting PATS be the most powerful group on campus.
Your points about the tailgating scene at ECU are spot on 
. Improving the tailgating scene around our stadium needs to happen.
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Itās all about $$$$$$ we have to figure out a way to keep big donors who donāt tailgate happy while improving atmosphere near stadium. Itās a tough nut to crack
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And yet most every other school has found a way to do it.
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I wouldnāt say that. The schools that play in the middle of towns have it easier chapel hill, app etcā¦ Lots of small private local lots. Also schools that have a large lots like State or Louisville have it easy too. Fairgrounds and big open spaces.
We have a tough position we have a relatively small lot right at the stadium that is sold out with a donor level of $5k which is actually a deal when compared with proximity to stadium. Those donors want to be able to roll right up to the stadium and walk in without tailgating or being there early. We donāt have enough of those donors to tell them otherwise.
I love our stadium location but it does make for some challenging dynamics from a tailgate and atmosphere perspective. Iāve been saying they should allow donors to pool their money for lots among maybe 3 or 4 donors then place people by priority points. I think that would drive more money and more festive atmosphere but I totally understand their aversion to upsetting donors. They have encouraged non tailgating folks to opt for other spots but havenāt had luck with that.
Itās a never ending challenge at schools to balance donor wishes and access with real fans passion.
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I eyeball all the grass/shaded areas around the baseball stadium when walking up to JRS. If we can figure out how to park people close to the Hayes along Phillips Rd. that would be a great space. Also the magenta lot rarely has people parked in it. That lot seems decent but must be over-priced. I sure miss the Black Lot.
With all that being said, I am not getting down on the Niners this week. Having to fly in from Utah late Thursday night to be there Friday but I will be there.
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I cant think of any school at the fbs level who has their tailgate lots spread as far apart or as far from the stadium as ours.
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Man go to a game at VT. Those lots were a crazy far walk and they run shuttles. UT wasnāt bad but that is a lot of Knoxville parking, not campus. Louisville uses church hill downs lot so not bad. Oregon has a huge lot next to their lot, stadium isnāt in the middle of campus so not bad either same with Clemson. App lost their primary close lot, most of theirs is a walk now or in Boone. Chapel Hill parking is very spread out, but alot of that is city lots. Florida State has some gigantic lots but is also a hike. USC has the gamecock park area and a huge fairground lot. MD has some decent size lots but was still a hike. Duke has a handful of close lots but then some other lots that are a BIG walk. Michigan has large lots and fields all around their stadium and the city of ann arbor. UGA runs shuttles around athens to their lots. Those are all places I have experienced game days in.
We are a bit unique that our stadium is in the middle of campus, but we are not in a small town. This is the challenge we have with our stadium location and it will only become a bigger challenge as stadium and crowds grow. We didnāt build the stadium in a open part of campus or near a downtown with private lots or near a fairgrounds. The result is having to use surface lots all over campus but I donāt think they are any more spread out than having to walk from one end of ann arbor or chapel hill to the stadium.
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Ive been to a number of those as well and others. I dont think any of those have walks of nearly half a mile between lots like we do (Red lot to the stadium). It kills the atmosphere when the lots are ALL spread so far apart.
I do agree it makes atmosphere tough. I think our walks are comparable - just feels longer because its broken up in so many smaller lots on campus.
From where we parked for USC game last year with alumni association to the stadium was around .7 miles from our red lot is .6 according to google. At Louisville the back of their big lot to the stadium is about 3/4 mile. The difference is at so many places its just walking through a big lot or sets of lots like USC or Lville or its down city streets like Chapel Hill or Boone where the walk was about .5 and on the walk you see more people and more tailgates. Ours is a hike through campus or a trail thru the woods - often times not even going thru another lot until you are right at the stadium.
Having just one smallish lot, that is sold out, at the stadium def makes it difficult for sure. I am not aware of another school that has our setup - a stadium set in the middle of campus but without private lots or a large on campus lot.
Doing what was mentioned which is opening up grass areas or other open spaces for parking and tailgating would help. But we all know if your wheels touch the grass PATS gets all upset. I donāt want to trade our location, but I am jealous of schools like ECU and Lville that have some really big lots right at the stadium - even if the walk up to the stadium is comparable to ours. I still think if we filled lots by priority points and filled them up it would help. Might not change the atmosphere at the stadium much but would help lots fill up. Biggest thing is somehow convincing the non tailgaters to stop wanting spots in the lot at stadium, but they havenāt been able to do that even though they have offered parking decks and golf cart service to some of those folks.
Yes, I agree with most all of this. The difference is our lots are on distant āislandsā.
We have to build our own college football culture no two schools are going to be alike. If the stadium was built next to the music amphitheater or the speedway we wouldāve had more tailgating lot parking but lose the electricity of being on campus. We just have to work with the geography in place and maybe get more creative. SMU has a really classy tailgating row between two streets under live oak trees. Tailgating can be done in a lot of different places.
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Yup - not only are they distant islands but most of them are smallish. Some how we have to make them feel more connected. Not sure how to do that though. We could make Cameron one way on gamedays and make half the road tailgate friendly. The Toby Creek flood plane where the students were I think would be really cool but I know the rain can be an issue there. At Clemson I was parked on the Littlejohn plaza. I know its a hike from Halton, but that would be a cool place to open up. At JMU we were in staff parking for their basketball arena. Just have to loosen PATs up some.