Parking Lot/Tailgate Changes

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Just curious, but by being "farther away" within the lot, how much walking time would it really add? Or is there another reason this is a big deal to people?
 

Come over to St. Paul and party with the poor people! You can park wherever the hell you want with whoever you want. Plenty of great tailgaters there and you'd also get a chance to see our "M"Bulance! And the best part is, it's $70 a year!
 

JoeDirt said:
Come over to St. Paul and party with the poor people! You can park wherever the hell you want with whoever you want. Plenty of great tailgaters there and you'd also get a chance to see our "M"Bulance! And the best part is, it's $70 a year!
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Or the River Flats. Best tailgating experience I've had was at the flats, and surprise surprise it isn't administered by the University.
 

Few thoughts from someone who has had season tailgate passes in both Lot 37 and the old Northstar lots.

The folks that make decisions on parking rules seem to be very pleasing to the minority of loud complainers and change the "rules" every year. Here are some of the changes I've seen over the years that were not so good, and ok.

1. Northstar - after the 1st year, the divided the lot into tailgaters in the front and parking only in the back. Seemed ok, but the park-only crowd complained they had to park in the back.

2. Lot 37 - I moved there after 2nd season. They re-designed the main entrance in year 3, that removed about 40+ parking spots. Idea was to avoid cars from sitting in the street while in line, but really it ended up creating an issue with traffic flow once you entered the lot, as you only had 1 way to go. Not safe when traffic in the lot picked up with 1-2 hours before the game. Plus, eliminated 40+ spots. I honestly think this is the prime issue with traffic flow into the lot right now.

3. Lot 37 - Year 4, they decided to block off the end cap parking spots in the BACK of the lot for handicapped parking. HOW F-ING STUPID WAS THAT!!! I repeat the back of the lot! They kicked people out of the spots after they already parked and set-up. There were no signs to let those people know that got kicked out of the spots when it opened. Glad that train-wreck of an idea only lasted a few games.

4. Lot 37 - I think it was year 5, they did try and divided the lot into tailgaters and parking only. Seems ok, not sure why they stopped that after 1 year or so.

So now they want to change the "rules" again. Honestly, they don't seem too bad. However, it does punish the fans that get their early to get the prime spots on the end-caps that have the extra space for setting up your stuff. Yes, those fans do have more tailgating gear that the average fan that arrives 2 hours before the game. If the parking police really cared about safety, the would make the aisles and spots bigger.
 


More than 5 years ago I predicted this issue and discussed it with Joel Maturi. In an open lot, it should be first come, first serve. If your going to assign spots so groups can stay together, you have to set a time limit for arrival. In this case, there are no assigned spots but there is a time limit. It is about time they do this.
 

Wonder what they'll do when I get there early, park in Zone 1 across from an end cap and throw two of my group's 5 canopies and gear on it.
I'll have the space behind my vehicle and the whole end cap across from me. Already gearing up for those complaints and the next set of rule changes.

LC, I believe they eliminated 40 spaces from 37, but still sold parking passes for those spots. Whoops.
 

TexasAggie11 said:
I've said this on the board a number of times: tailgating and parking should be two completely separate things. They may be adjacent to each other, but trying to completely combine them dampens the party in my opinion.

Now, I do realize that it sounds silly to remove the tailgate party from the literal tail gate of a truck or SUV, but the schools who do it best (roll backwards on the slide show) tend to have tailgates in park-like areas free from cars, push tailgates to the grassy areas at the perimeter of the lots, or have limited access lots for RVs and reserved tailgaters who get there early.

Of course, many of the schools near the top of the linked list above are in warmer climates than Minnesota, so I can see the appeal of being able to hop inside your vehicle to warm up. However, imagine the party if Ski-U-Mah and other areas had a drop off zone for people and equipment. Early arrivers can park and set up the tailgate, then the lot closes two hours prior to the game. Members of your party arriving later could be dropped off with their coolers or chairs. The driver could go park in one of the ramps and take a shuttle back to the tailgate area.

23rd next to the lot could be a 10 minute parking drop off zone once the lot closes to traffic. That's enough time for your friends to carry in their stuff and get back to their car to move it to a parking area rather than a tailgate area. I've also said the grass in front of Mariucci should be made into a tailgate zone similar to Ole Miss' Grove or Bama's Quad, and that the small parking lot at the corner of Oak & 5th would make a perfect loading zone. Same for Williams and McNamara and the small lots there as loading zones.

Combining parking and tailgating means that 90% of your area is devoted to storage of giant hunks of steel and rubber and traffic lanes that aren't really being used to capacity, but have to be reserved for the occasional late-arriver.

An actual tailgate zone can be held in a much smaller area, and creates more of a festive environment. See this video for examples (ignore the stupid title and that it was shot 3.5 hours prior to the game).
0:27 - 0:38 Tailgate in a park
1:00 - 1:04 RV area with limited vehicle access
1:32 - 1:41 Corporate tailgate area (a vendor who sets up and caters your tailgate for you) behind set
2:28 - 2:32 Another RV area with limited vehicle access
2:36 - 2:54 Tailgating pushed to the grassy areas at the perimeter of a parking area
3:13 - 3:20 Additional corporate tailgate area
0:00 - 0:10 Fraternity tailgate area (bottom center - dirt lot) and additional RV lot with shuttle to stadium (mid-top right) - Might be better seen on this video.

Or, this video, starting about 1:20, shows how if you do it right, ALL of your friends will be within a 5 minute walk - you don't have to worry about parking next to each other.

This video, starting around 3:05, shows just how much space is wasted with a parking / tailgate combo.
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TEXAS AGGIE 11 IS BALLS ON. We are an urban school and our lots are going to get smaller and fewer number. We should be looking at our actual tailgating locations as totally separate from where we are actually parking our car. I'd love to tailgate on the Knoll or near the Mall or anywhere near the heart of campus. Dump my tailgate gear off and then go and park my car. Part of the fun on Saturday's is walking through these areas on the way to the game.

I've brought this up to the UM Athletics during surveys and whatnot and I'm pretty sure they aren't even close to doing something like this but they should because our parking in and around campus is just going to get fewer and will be replaced by parking ramps.
 

GoGophers2005 said:
TEXAS AGGIE 11 IS BALLS ON. We are an urban school and our lots are going to get smaller and fewer number. We should be looking at our actual tailgating locations as totally separate from where we are actually parking our car. I'd love to tailgate on the Knoll or near the Mall or anywhere near the heart of campus. Dump my tailgate gear off and then go and park my car. Part of the fun on Saturday's is walking through these areas on the way to the game.

I've brought this up to the UM Athletics during surveys and whatnot and I'm pretty sure they aren't even close to doing something like this but they should because our parking in and around campus is just going to get fewer and will be replaced by parking ramps.
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Great ideas!
 



GoGophers2005 said:
TEXAS AGGIE 11 IS BALLS ON. We are an urban school and our lots are going to get smaller and fewer number. We should be looking at our actual tailgating locations as totally separate from where we are actually parking our car. I'd love to tailgate on the Knoll or near the Mall or anywhere near the heart of campus. Dump my tailgate gear off and then go and park my car. Part of the fun on Saturday's is walking through these areas on the way to the game.

I've brought this up to the UM Athletics during surveys and whatnot and I'm pretty sure they aren't even close to doing something like this but they should because our parking in and around campus is just going to get fewer and will be replaced by parking ramps.
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So then do you go get your car and pack your stuff up before the game? or just leave it out for the students to pillage during the game?

Just for the record I actually think this is a pretty good idea and have seen it done at other campuses.
 

bottlebass said:
So then do you go get your car and pack your stuff up before the game? or just leave it out for the students to pillage during the game?

Just for the record I actually think this is a pretty good idea and have seen it done at other campuses.
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TEXAS AGGIE 11, What do people do when they go into games and don't have a car to pack up their gear?
 

GoGophers2005 said:
TEXAS AGGIE 11, What do people do when they go into games and don't have a car to pack up their gear?
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That is one of the major differences between many places that offer drop and tailgate options. The "U" is in the middle of a major city whereas TAMU, Ole Miss, etc... are in small collegiate communities. To wit, the approximate population statistics (by Metropolitan Statistical Area) for these communities are:

Minneapolis-St. Paul- 3,500,000 people
College Station, TX- 235,000 people
Oxford, MS- 19,000 people

Along with location and population essentially comes a lack of green space, traffic flow issues in your drop areas, and unfortunately crime. I have tailgated 1 block from TCF since it opened in 2009. Prior to that I was in the Metrodome GLC lot for 5 years. While I love the lots, it is almost a given that if you don't lock everything up- something will be missing when you return. Over the last 10 years, our group (5 cars) has had the following issues: Tailgate flag pole (old homemade PVC) broken x2, stolen 1x; flag stolen 2x; cooler stolen, booze stolen, car broken into, beanbag game stolen for a rate of a little under 1 incident per season. Granted this is spread amongst 5 cars and we have a few others who drop and park in the ramps, which is why not everything will fit into our cars, but we have taken to leaving one person outside the stadium each game to watch over our stuff for the past 2 years. So we have had nothing stolen or broken fortunately since then. Granted, most of that stuff is small and nuisance stuff, but it is something the University would have to protect against. It is always amazing how many people walk through the lots during games "just wandering". We actually had a kid try to take a case of beer from the back of an open SUV while the owner was about 10 feet away around an hour before kickoff one year in the dome lot. For the drop option to work would take a lot of planning and work on behalf of the University. Given the current state of our tailgating, I suspect the University is not interested in making the effort to provide the location and security it would require. The best we can hope for is that the tweaking stops and the University will let people work out their own solutions in our lots.
 

GoGophers2005 said:
TEXAS AGGIE 11 IS BALLS ON. We are an urban school and our lots are going to get smaller and fewer number. We should be looking at our actual tailgating locations as totally separate from where we are actually parking our car. I'd love to tailgate on the Knoll or near the Mall or anywhere near the heart of campus. Dump my tailgate gear off and then go and park my car. Part of the fun on Saturday's is walking through these areas on the way to the game.

I've brought this up to the UM Athletics during surveys and whatnot and I'm pretty sure they aren't even close to doing something like this but they should because our parking in and around campus is just going to get fewer and will be replaced by parking ramps.
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I'm not going to rile myself up again over the awful tailgating decisions the administration has made over the years, this being another ham handed attempt to appease the only group they care about(rich donors who show up 5 minutes before the game).

As the parking lots become fewer(another brilliant plan) the U is going to have to address the giant gorilla in the room which is the metrodump's monopoly on private tailgating lots in Minneapolis. There needs to be a decision made to sway the city council to open that special "tailgating zone" up to include the area around TCF bank maybe from 280 over to the river. The viking rental of the Bank should have been directly tied to a permanent release of that monopoly and the city to relent their war on Gopher gamedays.

Of course this would require the U administration to actually care about their campus gameday atmosphere and to lobby for a better "party", which isn't going to happen so long as the decision makers still consider beer the equivalent to crack cocaine.

I gave up on Norwood making a difference here when he openly questioned why tailgaters would need more than a few hours before the Thurs season opener to hang out. It all sucks and I'm just hoping the U doesn't pull some nazi crap with the new Surly brewery going up nearby on gamedays. That's probably going to be the best party on campus in a few years once the lots dry up and dwindle in popularity.
 



vinko bogataj said:
That is one of the major differences between many places that offer drop and tailgate options. The "U" is in the middle of a major city whereas TAMU, Ole Miss, etc... are in small collegiate communities. To wit, the approximate population statistics (by Metropolitan Statistical Area) for these communities are:

Minneapolis-St. Paul- 3,500,000 people
College Station, TX- 235,000 people
Oxford, MS- 19,000 people

Along with location and population essentially comes a lack of green space, traffic flow issues in your drop areas, and unfortunately crime. I have tailgated 1 block from TCF since it opened in 2009. Prior to that I was in the Metrodome GLC lot for 5 years. While I love the lots, it is almost a given that if you don't lock everything up- something will be missing when you return. Over the last 10 years, our group (5 cars) has had the following issues: Tailgate flag pole (old homemade PVC) broken x2, stolen 1x; flag stolen 2x; cooler stolen, booze stolen, car broken into, beanbag game stolen for a rate of a little under 1 incident per season. Granted this is spread amongst 5 cars and we have a few others who drop and park in the ramps, which is why not everything will fit into our cars, but we have taken to leaving one person outside the stadium each game to watch over our stuff for the past 2 years. So we have had nothing stolen or broken fortunately since then. Granted, most of that stuff is small and nuisance stuff, but it is something the University would have to protect against. It is always amazing how many people walk through the lots during games "just wandering". We actually had a kid try to take a case of beer from the back of an open SUV while the owner was about 10 feet away around an hour before kickoff one year in the dome lot. For the drop option to work would take a lot of planning and work on behalf of the University. Given the current state of our tailgating, I suspect the University is not interested in making the effort to provide the location and security it would require. The best we can hope for is that the tweaking stops and the University will let people work out their own solutions in our lots.
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Valid point, but when you increase the density of the actual tailgate area, you increase the number of "eyes on the street." University police have a smaller physical area to patrol, and it is much more likely that you will have a neighbor tailgate within close proximity who will have one or two persons staying at the tailgate throughout the game. We just leave everything out, including televisions, generators, coolers, etc. because there are enough people close by who will keep an eye on things during the game. Plus, as the tailgating scene grows to become the place to be on Saturday, it is even more likely that there will be many who tailgate only without tickets. On a big weekend, we might have 20-30k fans who never step foot into the stadium. It would be highly unusual to see someone walking off with a television or tent during the game, so they would definitely be called out or the authorities notified.

You can see here (starting about 3:30) that during halftime of the game (we have no re-entry privileges), there are enough people outside in the tailgate areas to keep things secure.
 

It would be sweet if they opened up parts of campus for tailgating, but that'd be too much fun
 


As someone else already said...It's a matter of time before the lots are replaced by parking structures or buildings. Unless they decide not to follow the master facilities plan.

If my group doesn't have a tailgate option at that point, I'll drop tickets(they're all in my name). It is the only reason we stuck around through bad seasons. We knew we could have a half day of fun regardless of the game outcome. We bring in a lot of people that don't normally go to games too.

If the tailgate ceases to be fun or disappears before then I know my spouse will want to drop instead of add tickets for kids.

We don't pay the donation for the seats.
 

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