And then thereās sailgating at Baylor, Tennessee and Washington!
Husky Harbor in Seattle:
1 Like
Isnāt that a thing at Wisconsin too?
it was cool to see some of the Vol Navy stuff when we played there.
All I know is I want to get the Ambulance to 25 years of tailgating and turn it over to someone else - maybe one of my daughters. Canāt wait to see what the environment is like then.
An important note is that ECU uses ALL their surrounding athletic venues for football. They had a full spread activity with food going on in their baseball stadium. I feel like if we used Hayes for football events it would be seen as a form of intrusion on sacred ground.
The Hayes been used for football in various ways over the years. The biggest thing preventing that at the moment is the lack of event space. The suite is being used as office space.
The band played a concert on the field at one point but it has been years since that occured.
Maybe after the expansion there will be more opportunities if the demand is there.
1 Like
If we had more people tailgating and coming early for stuff probably could use more of our venues. We donāt have enough people coming out and too many folks walking up right before the game.
I can. Tennessee. There is one lot across the street from the stadium but it isnāt that big. Maybe about the size of our horseshoe lot but square. Thereās also a deck in between Neyland and Thompson Boling Arena. And thereās not many spaces to park (or the spots are permanently full) but Circle Park has some strips of grass around the admin buildings there to setup tents.
The rest of the Vol tailgates are spread all through campus and down Cumberland avenue, the river, etc etc. See the football parking map below. The rest is off campus.
We have a woe is me mentality about tailgating that I frankly donāt get. Sure itād be great if it was all one big lot or several grass fields against the stadium.
But our on campus setup isnāt that much different than UT, and they donāt have a student tailgate lot like we do.
5 Likes
I was at the UT and Charlotte game. There was a sea of tailgating as far as you could see within sight of Neyland, with no gaps between lots and tailgating areas.
I think the issue isnāt the distance walked itās the āfeelingā. You can have far flung lots and still feels good if they are connected. Our set up is just very difficult to replicate some of those environments because our stadium is in the middle of academic buildings not a downtown or edge of campus with large lots around. We have little lots, some sparsely used that are far away from other lots, so until you get to the stadium you may not even see another tailgate.
Man losing the black lot really sucked as that was the only place we had that created anything like that atmosphere.
3 Likes
I donāt think we will see any creativity with our tailgating set up or guidelines until the crowd gets bigger.
2 Likes
As someone thatās been tailgating in the red lot for the past couple years, I think youāve hit the nail on the head on that things feel ādisconnectedā
We get some good crowds out there, but weāre on an island. One of my hopes when Hill was hired that some fresh ideas would occur to fix that feeling and consolidate the tailgaters we have. Still waiting on that.
I think shutting down some of the roads around the stadium and letting people park and tailgate, utilizing grassy areas and maybe have some ātailgating pointsā that allow folks to get into better lots if theyāre consistently getting their parking tickets scanned 4 hours before kickoff are all good ideas.
The big issue (which youāve touched on) is that the atmosphere immediately around the stadium is poor. The spring game was probably the best Iāve ever seen it, and I wish we could replicate that.
Lots of areas we could improve upon, itās frustrating to me how the administration has not acted on much, at least from my perspective.
The only thing I know they have done is reach out to gold lot non tailgaters and offer alternatives. They didnāt get much traction and they donāt wanna piss those people off.
I hadnāt really Thought of closing roads but as long as there is emergency access that seems doable to me, but likely some logistics. Using grassy areas is a no brainer and I think it would be worth investing and seeing what the options are in the creek flood area. I also think closing the further out lots and filling lots by priority makes way more sense. Fills lots and shrinks number of lots to manage until we need more space. I guess the draw back is each year you could be in a different lot.
Just need some creative thinking and for the people with big money to be willing to move around.
I donāt understand why we donāt close down most of the roads pictured below with the exception of access into the adjacent gold lot (lot 23) and the CRI lot and CRI deck. And I would open up all the road areas and spaces in between buildings to tailgating.
The lot curving around the baseball stadium would be really full of tailgaters and push it all the way to Cameron and then make Cameron one way.
Thats an area they could make available ONLY for tailgaters and leave lots for those just parking.
1 Like
Someone up-thread mentioned the grassy area in between Phillips Road and The Hayes as you come up the hill. Thatās a great spot. We have tailgated there for baseball in the past. It could be fantastic if they marked off spaces and let people set up in there. It would make for good optics coming up Phillips as well.
6 Likes
Yes , the first year we had a band, they would play a skull session at the Hayes. I went a few times but there wasnāt much of a crowd. Now they just move from lot to lot and the Niner Walk. I think initially the Hayes was also used as a gathering spot for event staff/ security before games.
As far as tailgating in the grass areas near the Hayes, we did that for baseball a few years back, but we were not allowed to park there. We had to unload and park elsewhere. It was fun but more work than it should be.
There is literally a graveyard there marked off by a wooden rail so that complicates things.
Iāve always wanted us to turn the bike lane there to on-street parking and selling marked off areas as tailgating spots in the grass. Not as much if a hassle as dropping off and parking elsewhere. You would be able to set up pretty easy and still be close to you vehicle. They do something similar at UGA.
I happened to walk by the track and the lot where they park the athletic vans prior to the last game and it was all Navy fans. Is it always reserved for opposing teams? I was surprised at the size of the area. I guess itās nice to allow the opponent a prime place on campus to tailgate but I would rather it be filled with Niners.
1 Like
Yeah I think they are going to have to reevaluate where the band plays. When they play at epic they stop all traffic off 29 for like 45 mins created a huge mess last game.
I agree. I think this is part of the atmosphere problem we have. Iāve been to several SEC and ACC tailgates where people just pick a spot on campus to tailgate. They might have to park far away, but they take their stuff closer to the stadium for the actual tailgating. We do not currently have that happening at all. This would help fill the gaps people are talking about between the official lots.
Ill say it one more time. Got to get PATs to lighten up. I am pretty sure they are the most powerful group on campus.
2 Likes
The band now plays at the student tailgate which they got right.
5 Likes