Minnesota Gophers' Head football coach Jerry Kill wants a party atmosphere for the upcoming football season. He wants input from the students on how to improve the program. He also says he plans to be tailgating at 7 A.M. when he retires!
You have to admire a coach that wants that!
http://www.mndaily.com/blogs/upon-further-review/2011/04/21/jerry-kill-party-animal-heart
This fall, the pre-games will truly be pre-games.
New regulations handed down by the university require football tailgate parties to end 30 minutes before kick-off, in an effort to increase the traditionally low student attendance at the games.
“A tailgate is a social event intended to create a festive atmosphere among fans prior to attending football game. The purpose of a tailgate is to mobilize fans to support their team,” wrote Dean of Students Mark Bandas in an e-mail to The Hustler. “We want the Vanderbilt community to show its support for our football team, our new coach and our dedicated student athletes.”
According to Bandas, Vanderbilt University Police Department will report non-compliance to the Office of Greek Life. Failure to comply will result in loss of tailgate privileges for the following home game. Repeated failures to comply could lead to a loss of tailgate privileges for the season.
Members of the Greek community vocalized disapproval of the new regulations, which some have characterized as a deliberate effort by the university to limit the Greek community.
Will Marshall, freshman and Lambda Chi Alpha brother, pointed to the football team’s losing record as the reason for low student attendance.
“A team that doesn't win games is not going to attract a fan base, regardless of absurd rules enacted to attempt to do so,” Marshall said. “The administration ought not be surprised when their actions cause students to return to their rooms and conduct more nefarious acts than they would at a tailgate rather than going to the game.”
Head football coach James Franklin took to Twitter to respond to anger directed at him over the new policy.
“I don't know where it started but I am not involved in shutting frats down 4 the games, I want them 2 come because they want 2 be there,” he tweeted.
Earlier this semester, Franklin visited Greek chapters in an effort to increase excitement for Vanderbilt football. Although some have placed blame on Franklin for the new tailgate restrictions, Lambda Chi Alpha and junior Vann Bentley placed blame on the university.
"It seems like the university took a request from Coach Franklin to the students to come to the games earlier and turned that honest request into another opportunity to systematically wipe out any fun at this school,” Bentley said. “Ultimately, it will most likely result in students leaving frat lawns 30 minutes before the games and finding somewhere off campus to get belligerently drunk.”
“The Vanderbilt community is very stubborn. People aren’t going to start going to the games just because they’re not allowed to tailgate. It’s an unfair policy and it’s going to be hard to control,” said sophomore and Alpha Chi Omega sister Francene Corradetti. “They can’t prevent college kids from drinking, from going into their dorms or off campus.”
When the Fall semester begins in August, the art of college football tailgating will once again take over the stadium parking lots and campus courtyards across the country when the 2011 season kicks off in September.
The pageantry of college football comes out well before the games start as it extends to the pregame where the campus' are littered with people grilling out on a warm Saturday morning to the ceremonial walks that certain programs conduct on the way across the campus to the stadiums.
No matter the stadium size or how good the school is during a given year, tailgating is an essential part in the world of college football across the country that differentiates the college from the pro game, and the teams are like extended families during the fall.
With that, let's check out the places that know how to tailgate better than any other student body on a Saturday game day.
Clemson Tigers
Location: Clemson, SC
Location: Gainesville, FL
Student Body: 50,000-plus
With the most picturesque scenery of this list, the Florida Gators' tailgate festivities throughout the year are lead by the annual Gator Growl, one of the biggest student tailgates in college football, at the Swamp headlined by different celebrities and musical acts during homecoming week
News by Charley | Tagged Clemson Tigers Florida Georgia Bulldogs LSU Tigers Oklahoma Sooners Ole' Miss Tailgating News Tennessee Texas A&M West Virginia 
Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band returns to The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands on Thursday, May 5, 2011. The concert starts at 8 p.m. and gates open at 6:30 p.m. Concertgoers attending the event have several parking options, including premium parking in the Official Jimmy Buffett Tailgating Lot. Tents can come back at North Campus.
Slightly bigger tables are also allowed – up to six feet long.
And the celebrating can start earlier, five hours before kickoff instead of the four.
But fans still can’t bring grills.
“The hope is that it will bring more people out and they will have a good time,” said UGA Vice President George Stafford, a member of the committee that adopted the changes at a meeting Thursday.
The school adopted new rules a year ago in an effort to control some of the out-of-control behavior by fans who left tons of trash on the grounds. The breaking point came on Sept. 12, 2009, when workers collected from North Campus about 70 tons of garbage and mounds of tents, grills, coolers and chairs. That day, fans were witnessed urinating on public buildings and defecating outdoors.
Stafford said the changes in the rules adopted Thursday were based on comments from fans and students.
“We cannot go back to where we were,” Stafford said. “The damage that was being caused. The all-day drinking The behavior issues… We were just tearing up the grounds there.”
http://www.ajc.com/news/uga-eases-tailgating-restrictions-884869.html
University of Iowa officials say off-campus patrols by campus police are causing a spike that led to twice as many arrests in 2010.
A clampdown on excessive tailgating on home football Saturdays is also a factor.
UI police doubled the number of arrests in 2010 compared to 2009, or from 955 to 1,970, according to an Iowa state Board of Regents report. The number of charges is up from 1,229 to 2,395 and incidents are up from 2,344 to 3,003.
Similar statistics at University of Northern Iowa and Iowa State University are nearly identical from 2009 to 2010.
“When our officers are into the downtown area they are dealing with whatever comes about,” UI Vice President for Business and Operations Doug True said.
True noted that UI students only account for about one-third of charges, and there has been a 42 percent reduction in alcohol emergencies, such as alcohol-related emergency room visits and contact to students’ families.
True said he believes by next year the surge will stabilize.
Rawlings Sporting Goods® is reporting that they’ve signed an exclusive multi-year deal with the National Football League for NFL-branded tailgating products, including tent canopies, grills, and chairs.
This will basically consolidate the NFL’s tailgate rights landscape under such quality brands such as Coleman®, Rawlings®, Bicycle® and Shakespeare®. The new tailgate collection, which in addition to canopies, grills and chairs will include a number of non-exclusive tailgate products, including coolers, stadium seats and footballs, will merchandise under the new TLG8™ brand umbrella and its “Real Brands for Real Fans™” tagline. The collection is set to launch April 2011, aimed at creating a “one-stop shop” for all NFL tailgating needs.
Although this could be a great thing for tailgaters, it could potential put an end to many Ma and Pa tailgating shops. I guess we’ll have to see how it all plays out when the deal kicks into play in 2011.