Tailgating in Vermilion

[yodayote]

New Coyote fan here and want the low down on the tailgating at the dome. I see that "Tailgate Nation" is sold out. Is tailgating permitted in other areas?

[yote14]

There is tailgating in the grass lot next to the student tailgate/alumni center that is first come first serve on game day. We have a group of 25 season ticket holders that had a spot last year and did not get one this year making it really tough for everyone to plan for each game. Before we always had the same spot so everyone could show up whenever with no communication and know where to go. Now a lot of the group will either not be coming down early or going to the bar instead of tailgating. It's sad.

I really wish USD would do a better job of putting tailgating together. There are a lot of people the last 3 years I have spoke with that wanted spots or knew people that did but its always "SOLD OUT". Yet every week when you get there hardly anyone is tailgating. I know I have said it a 1000 times but we should not be turning anyone away right now as we are trying to build fan support. Does anyone have a good contact for who I could talk to on this. I would gladly make a phone call to give some feedback. I talked to the associate AD last year about it during tailgating and he was a jerk about it. Kept saying if people are going to pay for them who cares. the issue is poor fan turnout not the money in my opinion. It would be nice if one of the lots closer to the normal tailgate area would be open the morning of game day for first come first serve like the lot South of the dome was before the arena. It's too spread out right now to get any MOJO going.

[Yotes]

I really liked our tailgating before the arena construction. Now it's tiny and just not inviting. What few spots are available are apparently offered only to people who donate more than I do to Howling Pack. I remember as a student I was able to pull right into the lot south of the current construction zone and start tailgating. Now I have zero chance of ever getting a vehicle in there and am probably going to avoid it altogether this year after feeling so awkward bumming around last year.

Where is the work on getting a permanent solution here? Is the idea to wait until the new soccer complex is built then remove their current field so that tailgating can expand there?

[Yote 53]

Our group has been tailgating from the beginning. This season we almost did not get our spot because we were not high enough on the donor list. Actually that isn't true, individually none of us hit the level we needed, collectively we were well over. Fortunately one person in our group was high enough on the list so we were able to get our spot through him. If we lost our spot, no big deal, we were going to take over the grassy lot to the west. Yeah, you're only supposed to get one spot, I saw groups take over areas in that lot last year, they had a good time, and didn't have to pay to tailgate. Honestly, that is where the happening tailgate scene should be.

The spots in the East Lot need to be downsized so there are more spots available, they need to only be made available on a game by game basis (you can buy a whole season if you want, or just game to game), so you don't have political groups buying up an entire season for D-Days and then leaving the spot vacant the rest of the year. There are a few things I would tweak and change but those would be the top 2 things. Overall, the mentality has to be that anybody who wants to tailgate should be included and not turned away. Need to shed the mentaility of "well, we sold out". If you're sold out, create more. I guess the answer would be the west lot (grass lot)

So to answer the question, go to the grass lot to the west of the Dome, set up your tailgate, have a blast, you'll be fine. If enough do that it will end up being the place to be.

[fightsd]

Tailgate wherever you can find a spot. I'm usually a pretty big supporter of following dome protocol, but they have handled the tailgating very poorly the last couple years. It drives me nuts to see the politician tour buses filed in the parking lot on DDays then have half the tailgate area sitting empty for the other 5 home games. Or this one's my favorite. The elderly couples that treat it like they're buying VIP parking. Reserve the tailgate spot in the first row for the whole season then pull in 5 minutes before kickoff and go inside.

But to answer your question, I would set up in the grass lot to the west of the dome. There will be plenty of people doing the same thing.

[MD]

We will be in the West lot as well...as we didn't "make the cut" to get into the other lots.

[Yotes]

I didn't realize people were having festivities in the west lot. I think I'll setup shop over there on Saturday.

[Yote 53]

I just looked this up because I do not want to give bad advice. I could have sworn that tailgating was allowed in the west lot last year but that you were limited to just your one spot (couldn't block off a large area) kind of like how you used to be able to buy single spots in the old parking lot that was immediately to the south of the Dome. I don't see anywhere it says tailgating is "allowed" in those open parking areas on the GoYotes.com website. I am 99% positive it was ok to do so last year.

Personally, I wouldn't care and would do it until somebody told me to leave. Then I would just go to Howlers if that happened. I can't imagine anybody telling you that you can't tailgate in the west lot. Also, I would stick to tailgating only in the west lot. Not sure about Lot 36 as I believe they want to discourage any activities there because you need to pass by the construction site on the way to the Dome. I just say that because it is the reason they didn't move the Tailgate Nation there in the first place.

Bottom line is this school is in no position to discourage gameday activities given our current status in the FCS world and our recent records. It should be a place and day where everything and everybody is welcomed. You can't just limit gameday festivities to those alumni/fans who can afford it and are able to secure a place and the students. You're leaving out a whole mess of people by doing that.

[Yotes]

Just got the weekly newsletter. It says tailgating is permitted in the West parking lot, noting that you are limited to one car and that there is no charge. That should settle the ambiguity of whether or not people are allowed to do regular tailgating activities over there.

[Yote 53]

Looked like they were having a good time in the West Lot when I left yesterday.

[yoteforever]

I think we should have some discussion on this tailgating issue. I get the feeling there are some hard feelings about not being able to get into certain spots, and I would like to open up this thread to find out what's going on, and ideas for improvement. I stand corrected, but in order to get a spot on the east side of the Dome right now, you have to be a member of the Howling Pack at a certain level. I don't think the bar for that amount is all that high, but I stand corrected if it is.

I agree that we need to get everyone involved and grow this thing as one large group, and let everyone feel they are part of the experience. So let me throw a few bones out there, and let's find out how everyone feels. First of all, the tailgating has become a revenue source of the department. It is also a motivating factor to get people to join the Howling Pack, which in deed funds the athletic department with monies to use in their budget. So knowing that, let's talk about the issues everyone has with how it's run today, and if there is a solution to meeting the needs of more fans, let's find it.

10 years ago, Joel Nielsen told me that there would never be a demand for tailgating. I argued vehemently that there not only was a need, it would be a huge factor to getting people coming back to Vermillion and supporting the Coyotes. This was even before the whole D-1 one thing. Needless to say, there is a demand for tailgating spots, and it probably will only get stronger, specifically if we continue to get better. All that being said, knowing it is a revenue source for USD, and a tool to get people to join the Howling Pack, what do you like, not like, and what improvements would you make? Keep in mind with the construction of the new arena the department had to juggle the land area they had and put it to best use. Once the arena is finished, and construction barriers are down, maybe that will open up more space, I don't know.

I thought the east lot was fairly full yesterday, and pretty darned active. Subject to a Dakota Days tornado or totally crappy weather, 2 weeks from now, I'm guessing will be insane. But if you were in charge of this lot, how would you handle it different? I really don't think they want the reputation that only "people with money" get to tailgate, but the reality of it all is if you didn't have the spots to rent, and just gave them to whoever signed up early for, or whatever, you run the risk off cutting off a funding source. That they can't afford either. They don't want to be stuffy, yet they can't be dumb. So what are some possible solutions?

I have one. If I rent a spot for season to tailgate and entertain friends, family, and clients, and I know I'm not coming to the game, I could notify the person in charge inside the athletic department, and make my spot available to either "sell" or "give" to another deserving fan so that the spot is used. And to the best of my ability, I would do all I could to eliminate the POLITCAL PARTIES to pull in and hand out that crap none of us want.

In summation, the athletic department needs the revenue, and tailgating is becoming more popular, so what's the best way to get everyone involved and part of the fun? I know in my case, anyone is invited to come to my spot and have a good time and mingle. Also I know for a fact that Herbster and Williams, and all those involved with promoting the sports teams don't want to come across as anything other than 100% accomodating to all fans. So rather than just be criticl or mad on how it's currently being done, let's find some solutions to the problems as we all see them. I offered one, any other ideas?

[Yote 53]

We had this conversation yesterday as well. I know of one group that lost their spot due to the new donor requirements and no longer tailgate. Bottom line though the demand is there and somebody else came in and bought the spot.

After thinking on this things are fine the way they are, just need some tweaking. First, we're not in a position to turn anyone away, let's make that clear. I tailgate often in Iowa City which is big on tailgating and I'm going to steal some ideas from there.

First, Iowa has a donor lot right next to the stadium and the Dental school lot is also for donors. USD could just market the tailgate a little different in that the East Lot is the donor lot, which is prime real estate, and the West Lot is first come/first served tailgating lot for $10/car. This way everybody knows there will be a place for you no matter who you are. It's all about the presentation.

Second, some of the spots in the East Lot are huge. They could be shrunk down and more created. More spots, more revenue. Make some for RV use and others smaller in size.

Finally, the student lot was awesome yesterday. Good job students.

[ctc2010]

Just to clarify, the Howling Pack is the student-athlete scholarship fund, not a general fund

[yote14]

As someone who had a spot in the east lot last year and do not this year I recomend the following.

cut the size of the spots down. 8 is huge. 2 spots would be enough in most cases. one for a car and one for tents etc. maybe the other half could be 4 spots to accomodate RV's.

Do not start charging for every single lot. Free tailgating is the only way some people may come. In 10 years maybe there will be so many people wanting to do it charging everywhere makes sense. but not yet.

It's so spread out. We had a great time in the west lot but had no idea what was going on in the east side. It's also so far away that some of the people in our group wanted to go check out the alumni gear tent and food from the one agricultural group but its just too far away.

last, there seems to be a ton of room on the grass between the east parking lot and the art museum. Put spots there and where the old soccer fields are etc for next year. It all needs to be next to each other. Like it or not the tailgating is getting a really bad reputation of not being accomodating causing a lot of people to not only skip tailgating but skip games all together. They need to figure it out and fix it ASAP or the may lose a lot of fans unwilling to come back when it is fixed. We should never tell our fans its "SOLD OUT". thats BS. We were more accomodating for NDSU last year than we have been for our own fans the last 4 years. We gave them a 40 acre grass lot. How many NDSU tailgaters were told that area was sold out when they came down?

[Yote 53]

That is a damn good point about the NDSU tailgaters.