Student Tailgating

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Rog

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I understand that one block of Oak Street in front of Mariucci Area has now been approved for student tail gating (and will be closed) before home football games. Not clear yet whether it will be closed during or after the game.
 

It's good that they do a little something for the students. The football experience at the U has been catering to rich alumni for many years.
 

Great news!!! And I love the location. Right by the stadium, which will add good tailgate infill. Hopefully they dont charge for it, and also hope the dont regulate it too much.
 

This would be awesome if true. I wonder if the Alcohol rules would be the same as the other lots. I can't see the U budging much on a students
and booze issue.
 



It's not a bad idea, but how do students go about getting passes for it, and what are the terms of engagement once there?
 


Anything that works on pumping up the environment, I'm in favor of it!
 




everybody knows my name said:
It's good that they do a little something for the students. The football experience at the U has been catering to rich alumni for many years.
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gopherjay said:
Catering to the rich?
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I had the same reaction, but didn't reply. We are on the low-end of catering to "the rich", here in self-loathing, passive-agressive Minnesota. We want success, but we hate those who succeed. We want a bigger, better program, but we don't want any income generation that caters to "the rich".

We have one of the cheapest season tickets in the BCS. We have some of the lowest seat licenses in the BCS. Our athletic department has to pay back the U for scholarships.

It takes money to make money. We are nowhere near wealthy, but we consider every dime we spend on Gopher football as an INVESTMENT in the future of this program--our GLC membership, the season tickets, the seat licenses, the $50 a month to the stadium fund. We even "sponsored a hole" at the GLC golf event for the ridiculous price of $200--that money went to the promotional films budget, the "Webisodes". A pair of sideline passes go for a couple hundred bucks at auction. Try that at Michigan, Notre Dame, or even Iowa.

We do this so that "voila!" the students can have a place to tailgate--yup, your money goes to that, too.

Sorry, didn't want to hijack this thread, but this elitist BS is ridiculous. I am excited for the students, and excited for the future of Gopher football. I am in favor of anything (legal) that helps this program succeed--anything. I hope we can cater the sh!t out of "the rich".
 

Blame It on the Scandinavian DNA

highwayman said:
I had the same reaction, but didn't reply. We are on the low-end of catering to "the rich", here in self-loathing, passive-agressive Minnesota. We want success, but we hate those who succeed. We want a bigger, better program, but we don't want any income generation that caters to "the rich".

We have one of the cheapest season tickets in the BCS. We have some of the lowest seat licenses in the BCS. Our athletic department has to pay back the U for scholarships.

It takes money to make money. We are nowhere near wealthy, but we consider every dime we spend on Gopher football as an INVESTMENT in the future of this program--our GLC membership, the season tickets, the seat licenses, the $50 a month to the stadium fund. We even "sponsored a hole" at the GLC golf event for the ridiculous price of $200--that money went to the promotional films budget, the "Webisodes". A pair of sideline passes go for a couple hundred bucks at auction. Try that at Michigan, Notre Dame, or even Iowa.

We do this so that "voila!" the students can have a place to tailgate--yup, your money goes to that, too.

Sorry, didn't want to hijack this thread, but this elitist BS is ridiculous. I am excited for the students, and excited for the future of Gopher football. I am in favor of anything (legal) that helps this program succeed--anything. I hope we can cater the sh!t out of "the rich".
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It is called being egalitarian. I lived in Norway for two years and they had it real bad there. For example, personal tax filings are public information there. People would line up when they are released ever year to see what their neighbors income and net worth were. They were just making sure that their neighbors were not trying to be better than them. To me it often seemed like jealousy.

They claimed to be egalitarians but I often found it amusing that that they had a huge barter economy because of their high income tax rates. If you wanted to get an affordable plumber you needed to pay him cash.

As a result of this Scandinavian DNA, many Minnesotans feel it is wrong to allow University of Minnesota to sell alcohol at inflated prices to people who are willing to pay more for their tickets. This would not be consistent with their egalitarian principles. I myself would be happy to let them do it. Then I wouldn’t have to pay higher taxes. But because Minnesota is an egalitarian state, we won’t allow this. Yet, isn't it ironic that we have the lottery here which is probably the most regressive tax or revenue enhancement methods around? In case you didn't know, the poor buy a lot of lottery tickets. Ah, the paradox of being an egalitarian.
 

(shakes head as thread takes a hard turn towards OT board political commentary)
 

Say what you want, but I can go to a Timberwolves game cheaper than a Gophers basketball game, and I can go to a Vikings game cheaper than a Gophers football game. Tickets aren't cheap, tailgating is expensive, parking is restrictive...what used to be cheap entertainment is now too expensive for a lot of people to do more than once or twice a year.

It's funny to me that my earlier comment would be construed as class jealousy. I'm not rich, but I'm as conservative a Republican as you'll find, and I'd like to be rich as much as anybody. I guess I'll just invest in lottery tickets, sit on the floor of my shanty, and hope for the best. ;)
 



Has anyone actually tried to answer the question about A) How are students going to get these passes and B) What are the rules of engagement once they get them?

Or are we too busy pissing in everyone else's Cheerios to care about the main topic?
 

GopherRock said:
Has anyone actually tried to answer the question about A) How are students going to get these passes and B) What are the rules of engagement once they get them?

Or are we too busy pissing in everyone else's Cheerios to care about the main topic?
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I don't think anyone knows. There hasn't been a link posted to details.
 

Yeah, I think it's speculation at this point. I wouldn't mind it happening, although I question how many students would show up. Not necessarily a knock, but most students are going to be at a house party or something prior to the game I'd imagine, especially if this would be fairly regulated and structured (I'm thinking something like activities and tents set up). That, and our student section can be late arriving and smallish.
 

Gopher07 said:
Yeah, I think it's speculation at this point. I wouldn't mind it happening, although I question how many students would show up. Not necessarily a knock, but most students are going to be at a house party or something prior to the game I'd imagine, especially if this would be fairly regulated and structured (I'm thinking something like activities and tents set up). That, and our student section can be late arriving and smallish.
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On the plus side, this is a good year to start a tradition like this a the large number of 2:30 games could definitely help improve attendance (to both tailgates and games). The other plus is that this is that Kill was there when this tradition was started at other schools. So if the U is listening to him/his staff they can share what made it a success elsewhere.
 

I'm also very curious about the rules and how to get a 'pass'. I'd love to be able to tailgate right outside of the stadium. Also curious what the liquor rules will be. What is it in the normal tailgate lots? I'm assuming that they might not allow beer/drinks in the area but hopefully they won't really check out what is in my giant drink too thoroughly :)
 

NIU has encouraged student tailgating and from what I've seen it's pretty lax. It's all up to the city, though.
 

CrocShots said:
NIU has encouraged student tailgating and from what I've seen it's pretty lax. It's all up to the city, though.
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Then the students are going to be screwed (sigh). For whatever reason the fact that it was a city street never entered my head.
 

highwayman said:
Sorry, didn't want to hijack this thread, but this elitist BS is ridiculous. I am excited for the students, and excited for the future of Gopher football. I am in favor of anything (legal) that helps this program succeed--anything. I hope we can cater the sh!t out of "the rich".
Click to expand...

I know the word "elitist" is very popular, but this isn't elitist at all. Elitist would be neglecting the students in favor of the wealthier alumni. Those alumni with deep pockets were once students. If the students are neglected, they aren't going to be interested in filling the coffers of the athletics department when they become older.
 

RodentRampage said:
I know the word "elitist" is very popular, but this isn't elitist at all. Elitist would be neglecting the students in favor of the wealthier alumni. Those alumni with deep pockets were once students. If the students are neglected, they aren't going to be interested in filling the coffers of the athletics department when they become older.
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I couldn't agree with you more. It is to bad some people wanted to frame the issue in this way. The only thing they accomplished in doing this is to reduce the athletic department's revenues. With all the problems that exists today, we didn't need to create a new one.
 

I mis-spoke (or really thought/typed/under and over analyzed). We can have both big-buck supporters, and the student experience. They are not mutually exclusive. I think the issues are a result of growing pains associated with the U running their own stadium and parking. They saw a golden goose. I think the students will come with Kill and Kaler's support. I think the money will flow from the top as well, with Kaler's leadership. I'm neither a rich guy or a student--I'm somewhere in between. I support all fans who support the U, whether half-naked in the student section (with a flask) or half-naked in a private box (with a served drink).
 

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