2 ideas to improve Gopher football - need feedback

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Schnauzer said:
Can you show me a map of the “plenty” pay per use tailgate spots? I want to tell my friends that keep asking about that when they tailgate with me.

I go to an away game about every other season and when I do, we usually drive and haul all our tailgate gear (even all the way to Happy Valley a couple years ago). I am amazed at the ease of reserving a per use tailgate spot at many other B1G schools or others, where you can just drive up with no reservation. Understandably some of the barriers come with being an urban campus, but find a way to at least add a meaningful number of per use tailgate spots within walking distance. Perhaps there will never be nearly unlimited grass fields to use like Nebraska or Penn State, but there might be a way to work with the city or railroad to create a decent number of per use spots.

Quite frankly, I talk tailgating all the time and this is the first time I have ever heard the word “plenty” used to describe home Gopher tailgating opportunities. For the tailgating that does exist, almost all of it comes with high donation levels or suites.
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I'm not arguing against you because I don't know the answers, but isn't Lot 37 open for first come, first served? I have attended tailgates in there and have always noticed a few open spots. I love this location and have always had a blast in there prior to our short walk over to the stadium. Again, just asking for clarification on what I thought was the case.
 

Schnauzer said:
Can you show me a map of the “plenty” pay per use tailgate spots? I want to tell my friends that keep asking about that when they tailgate with me.

I go to an away game about every other season and when I do, we usually drive and haul all our tailgate gear (even all the way to Happy Valley a couple years ago). I am amazed at the ease of reserving a per use tailgate spot at many other B1G schools or others, where you can just drive up with no reservation. Understandably some of the barriers come with being an urban campus, but find a way to at least add a meaningful number of per use tailgate spots within walking distance. Perhaps there will never be nearly unlimited grass fields to use like Nebraska or Penn State, but there might be a way to work with the city or railroad to create a decent number of per use spots.

Quite frankly, I talk tailgating all the time and this is the first time I have ever heard the word “plenty” used to describe home Gopher tailgating opportunities. For the tailgating that does exist, almost all of it comes with high donation levels or suites.
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The few times I went to St. Paul campus to tailgate, there were plenty of parking spots available.

You have to take the shuttle, but there is tailgating there.
 

Been a few years, but they used to have the small scale programs for free as you walked into the stadium. Definitely one of the things I miss the most from gameday too. The digital program is okay.....but coverage stinks (in nearly every stadium) and the time it takes to load the thing is a deterrent.
 



GopherPoke said:
I'm not arguing against you because I don't know the answers, but isn't Lot 37 open for first come, first served? I have attended tailgates in there and have always noticed a few open spots. I love this location and have always had a blast in there prior to our short walk over to the stadium. Again, just asking for clarification on what I thought was the case.
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You have to donate to get a season-long right to park and/or tailgate there, just like the other U lots within walking distance. I am talking per-use capability. Somewhere that could be managed to reserve or drive up to a tailgate spot for a single game. Charge $50-$100 and let Joe public reserve access and plan a day with his friends. U of M doesn’t have a lot like that, while being very common elsewhere in the B1G. Another way is to let local citizens or businesses to offer their small lots for a few small tailgate opportunities, each. But it is my understanding MPLS ordinances say “no” to that.
 

Schnauzer said:
Can you show me a map of the “plenty” pay per use tailgate spots? I want to tell my friends that keep asking about that when they tailgate with me.

I go to an away game about every other season and when I do, we usually drive and haul all our tailgate gear (even all the way to Happy Valley a couple years ago). I am amazed at the ease of reserving a per use tailgate spot at many other B1G schools or others, where you can just drive up with no reservation. Understandably some of the barriers come with being an urban campus, but find a way to at least add a meaningful number of per use tailgate spots within walking distance. Perhaps there will never be nearly unlimited grass fields to use like Nebraska or Penn State, but there might be a way to work with the city or railroad to create a decent number of per use spots.

Quite frankly, I talk tailgating all the time and this is the first time I have ever heard the word “plenty” used to describe home Gopher tailgating opportunities. For the tailgating that does exist, almost all of it comes with high donation levels or suites.
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You didn't have qualifiers on your post. Have you been to Nebraska or Penn State.
 

Schnauzer said:
You have to donate to get a season-long right to park and/or tailgate there, just like the other U lots within walking distance. I am talking per-use capability. Somewhere that could be managed to reserve or drive up to a tailgate spot for a single game. Charge $50-$100 and let Joe public reserve access and plan a day with his friends. U of M doesn’t have a lot like that, while being very common elsewhere in the B1G. Another way is to let local citizens or businesses to offer their small lots for a few small tailgate opportunities, each. But it is my understanding MPLS ordinances say “no” to that.
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I did not know that. I thought I could have driven right in and claimed a spot, maybe for a fee. Anyway, I learned something today.
 

PMWinSTP said:
I get a minimum of eight emails a month from Gophersports right now, in the Summer. It increases once school starts. All different kinds of info and content. I have Gophersports.com bookmarked and have the app on my phone. There's a tab called "Fans" and "Media" that has a ton of stuff. They put out a very comprehesive electronic Media Guide every year (2023 was over 200 pages). They also put out Game Notes for every matchup. Here is the one for Wisconsin last year:

Point is that there's plenty of good info put out frequently by the AD's media/communications staff.
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I have the app, too. I can find the stuff we put ou because I look for it.

It's not hard to make it easier to find it and to actually take pride and make an effort to promote the team.

Top tier programs do this regularly. If you want to see how easy it is, buy tickets to a Kansas Basketball game.

My dad went to KU. I took my young soon to see a game at Allen Field House 6 years ago (every sports fan should see a game there, truly special place) and have gotten more information about the University of Kansas Athletic department in the past 6 years from them about all aspects of their department, including detailed updates on fundraising efforts and notes from the AD than I received from the U in the 30+ years since I graduated from the U including when I had season Football and Hockey tickets when I still lived in Minneapolis, and then again when I moved back closer to Minnesota and had regular season football tickets for six more years, driving in for games, all the while making an annual donation to the department as well as a life member of the UMAA.
 



caliGopher said:
I have the app, too. I can find the stuff we put ou because I look for it.

It's not hard to make it easier to find it and to actually take pride and make an effort to promote the team.

Top tier programs do this regularly. If you want to see how easy it is, buy tickets to a Kansas Basketball game.

My dad went to KU. I took my young soon to see a game at Allen Field House 6 years ago (every sports fan should see a game there, truly special place) and have gotten more information about the University of Kansas Athletic department in the past 6 years from them about all aspects of their department, including detailed updates on fundraising efforts and notes from the AD than I received from the U in the 30+ years since I graduated from the U including when I had season Football and Hockey tickets when I still lived in Minneapolis, and then again when I moved back closer to Minnesota and had regular season football tickets for six more years, driving in for games, all the while making an annual donation to the department as well as a life member of the UMAA.
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We are terrible at everything
 

PMWinSTP said:
You didn't have qualifiers on your post. Have you been to Nebraska or Penn State.
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I actually did qualify my original post with the “per use” stipulation.

Yes, I have been to BOTH Penn State AND Nebraska and hauled my tailgate gear to both locations. Both had systems where certain lots were set up for per-use tailgating and you could reserve a ticket to a general tailgate lot months in advance all the way up until they were full.

At Penn State, we were in a block-long line by 7:30 AM to get into the lot for a game that didn’t kick off for another 12 hours. That was too much tailgate time even for me so we walked the campus and got breakfast downtown prior to walking back to start tailgating mid day. Then, all day it was a stream of really nice people stopping by to ask if we had really road tripped all the way from MN with tailgate gear. It was a great conversation piece.
 

Schnauzer said:
I actually did qualify my original post with the “per use” stipulation.

Yes, I have been to BOTH Penn State AND Nebraska and hauled my tailgate gear to both locations. Both had systems where certain lots were set up for per-use tailgating and you could reserve a ticket to a general tailgate lot months in advance all the way up until they were full.

At Penn State, we were in a block-long line by 7:30 AM to get into the lot for a game that didn’t kick off for another 12 hours. That was too much tailgate time even for me so we walked the campus and got breakfast downtown prior to walking back to start tailgating mid day. Then, all day it was a stream of really nice people stopping by to ask if we had really road tripped all the way from MN with tailgate gear. It was a great conversation piece.
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My recollection is the tailgate areas at both are far from the stadiums.
 

PMWinSTP said:
My recollection is the tailgate areas at both are far from the stadiums.
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The ones that don’t require donations are definitely on the outskirts among all their tailgate lots but both were walkable.
 



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