You may have seen this yesterday over at Blutarsky's blog. According to the Tuscaloosa News, Alabama will start charging for premium tailgate spaces on The Quad, their version of our North Campus or Ole Miss' The Grove.
The plan doesn't encompass the entire Quad, but it does involve 155 tailgate spots that are being sold for $729 each. Each spot "comes with a tent, electricity and a parking spot near the engineering buildings."
I'm with Blutarsky on this one in that I saw it coming. When the new "family friendly" tailgate rules were announced -- particularly those involving large "corporate" tailgates, I thought the auctioning off of tailgate spots on North Campus was inevitable. I'm only shocked that Bama beat UGA to the punch. As yet, no plans in this area have been announced from our guys.
In Bama's Defense:
Alabama officials estimated in other articles that approximately 35,000 fans attended the Georgia and LSU games without tickets last year. They simply showed up, tailgated and partied all day.
With modern tailgate enhancements such as portable generators, "bag" furniture, satellite TVs, and light weight tents, tailgating continues to explode in the SEC. Anyone who saw the chaos surrounding The Quad last year for our match-up could see that more structure was needed there.
Their Pricing:
For groups who tailgate with 4-8 people, $729 for a tent, roughly 10x10 worth of reserved premium tailgate space for the season, power, and a premium parking spot isn't that bad of a deal. If they were to throw in cable access, it would be a sweet setup.
It would never work for my group as we need 6-7 times as much space for our configuration, and that price per square foot would cost us $6000 or so. But I digress.
My Beef with These Types of Plans:
My real issue with selling tailgate spots isn't the cost. It's the continual fleecing of the fan base. Much of the affection I feel for The University of Georgia is wrapped up in the entire game day experience. It's not just what happens on Saturday Between the Hedges. It's the complete experience, and that starts with the way we tailgate.
I don't mind more tailgate structure, and I recognize that clean-up and policing of an expanded tailgate experience costs money. But isn't the simple answer to fine or punish people who abuse the rules, generate outrageous amounts of litter (this is bad fan issue #1 that pisses me off), set-up too early or behave boorishly rather than price loyal givers out of the market?
If they would enforce existing rules, some of the problems surrounding tailgating would fix themselves.
PWD
