Tailgaters Wag the Hog by Partying Hardier in LR

The University of Arkansas is just not a party school — at least not when it comes to tailgating.

Veterans of the football circuit say the UA just doesn’t measure up to the hospitality standards set by most other Southeastern Conference schools. Pre- and post-game tailgating hasn’t caught on in Fayetteville, despite efforts to, in effect, teach the fans how to do it.

This wouldn’t be a business story if not for the times. But this is the age of mega-entertainment venues, each competing for consumers’ attention, and those consumers have come to expect “value-added” in everything from chicken products to amusements.

“In the world today, there are a lot more forms of entertainment than there were 20 years ago, and we compete with those things,” says Alan Thomas, assistant athletic director for marketing at the University of Auburn in Alabama. “We’re competing with everything you can think of. … We’re trying to add more to our event so people, whether they go home winners or losers, say, ‘We enjoyed our day.'”

As the debate rages over where Razorbacks football games will be played, UA administrators have acknowledged the need for ancillary festivities apart from the main athletic contest. Athletic director Frank Broyles and Chancellor John A. White have broached the idea of using the lawn of Old Main for such activities.

Major Whisnant, a Columbia, S.C., businessman whose company has developed facilities for events complementary to football games, hopes to present a proposal for Fayetteville this spring.

He explains, “A lot of athletic directors have done studies … and found out the game is really not the most important part [of the activities]. It’s really camaraderie with family and friends, being able to visit with people and other enjoyment [fans] have during the day.”

In recent years, the university has promoted tailgating on campus with the Alltel Trough, where local caterers set up stands and dish up food to hungry patrons.

But fans who have attended games on other SEC campuses say the social activities and camaraderie, i.e., the fun, is noticeably lacking around the newly christened Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

In that regard, they say, Little Rock and War Memorial Stadium are unquestionably superior to Fayetteville.

Location, location, imagination

One reason is location. The landscape around Reynolds Stadium (known for decades as Razorback Stadium) isn’t as conducive to tailgating festivities as War Memorial Stadium.

The Little Rock stadium is adjacent to War Memorial Park, sprawling acreage to the stadium’s west. Vehicles by the hundreds are allowed to park (on a first-come, first-served basis) on the golf course when the Razorbacks play in Little Rock. That set-up makes it easy to socialize with fellow fans.

But location is not an insurmountable problem.

Other SEC schools have adapted to and even exploited geographic features that initially may have seemed restrictive.

The University of Tennessee, for example, has little parking space around its Neyland Stadium.

As UT’s sports information director, Bud Ford, explains, “On the south side is the [Tennessee] River, on the east side is the city of Knoxville. On the north side … are all the academic buildings. The only parking is on the west side and they’re small lots.”

It hasn’t stopped Tennessee fans by the thousands from flocking to the game site, hours or even days before kickoff. Many fans tailgate; others “boatgate,” arriving in boats to form the famous “Vol Navy.”

Ford estimates as many as 200 boats dock along what’s called Fort Loudon Lake when the Volunteers play at home.

While Arkansas fans from the far corners might have to trek five hours to arrive in Fayetteville, the three-hour trip from Little Rock may not be that unusual. Parking is so scarce in Knoxville, city police advise local residents to leave their homes at least 3 1/2 hours before game time — ample time to make the 200-mile trip from Little Rock to Fayetteville.

Why hasn’t a stronger tradition developed in Fayetteville?

Quite possibly it’s the very issue that has mesmerized people across the state in recent weeks: the dual-stadium playing arrangement.

Three or four games a year are just not enough to help promote traditions like intensive tailgating, some fans say.

That’s especially true when the schedule puts just one game a month in Fayetteville during September, October and November. Throw in the possibility of inclement weather for at least one of those games, and there’s just not enough momentum to develop such tradition.

Tailgate champions

The University of South Carolina gets top marks from sports fans for its festivities.

“I’ve always said if we could play as well as we tailgate, we’d be pretty good,” says Kerry Tharp, SID for South Carolina, which had an 0-11 record last season.

Even with such a dismal record, the Gamecocks averaged more than 78,000 fans at each of their home games in Columbia.

Location is an asset for South Carolina. Its 80,250-seat Williams-Brice Stadium is across the street from the state fairgrounds.

“We have ample parking and a lot of room around the stadium for our fans to tailgate,” Tharp says.

But South Carolina has a couple of other attractions that help pull in fans, too. For one, there are the Cockaboose cars, 22 refurbished cabooses permanently parked on the south side of the stadium. The cars are privately owned and furnished with many of the comforts of home, including electricity, cable, water and television.

The other South Carolina innovation is the “parking condo,” a facility that gives lease-holders a parking spot, a place to party, clean restrooms and entertainment — before, after, even during the football game.

Whisnant, the Columbia businessman, has found the condos to be so successful, his company, Gameday Parks, has decided to expand to other campuses. Whisnant says the company is negotiating with at least five other schools, including two in the SEC, and he expects to bring a proposal to the UA this spring.

Lease-holders pay $10,000 to $20,000 for a single space at Gameday Park and then pay an annual “regime fee” of $300 to $500. Leases are generally for 15 to 20 years.

The lease-holder also gets 12 passes per game to the parking condo. Individuals entering the parking condo must all have passes, which entitle the bearers to use the facilities and enjoy the entertainment. Each facility can accommodate 1,500 to 2,000 people.

Whisnant’s company provides the entertainment, including a band, as well as security and maintenance of the facility. The park opens four hours prior to kickoff and remains open at least four hours after the game ends. That eases the mad rush of departing fans. On the 359 days when there is no game, the university is free to use or lease the facilities as it wishes.

Two or three people sometimes share a lease, making the facilities affordable to many people, Whisnant says.

“It’s not just for the ultra-rich.” Noting that a stadium skybox can cost $25,000 to $50,000 annually, Whisnant says Gameday Park facilities are “much less expensive than that.”

Tide rolls

Butch Henry, a University of Arkansas graduate and former employee, is general manager for Crimson Tide Sports Marketing, the multimedia rights holder for the University of Alabama.

The 1999 season was the second year for the Tide’s corporate village. Located on one quarter of the school’s Denny Quad, the village is a fenced-in area with tents available for corporate sponsors. Admission to that area is restricted to those sponsors’ guests, but the sponsors pay fees based on the number of guests and accommodations at each game. Fees start at $7,000 per game.

Henry says there are usually about four such tents but there have been as many as 11.

For the general public, the Quad has a “legends” tent where one of Alabama’s former athletes sign autographs. That event is staggered with another tent where current Bama athletes are available for signings.

Henry says Old Main’s lawn is not too far from the stadium for activities there to be a success. The distance between downtown Tuscaloosa and Bryant-Denny Stadium is probably equal to that of downtown Fayetteville and Razorback stadium, he says. In Tuscaloosa, people park downtown and pay a nominal fee, about $1, to ride trolleys to the stadium.

“People park miles around and a lot of people park as far as Old Main is from the stadium. Lots of people from Alabama walk that far to the game.”

The availability of alcohol isn’t a factor in the festive atmosphere that prevails at Alabama, says Daniel Hopper, the school’s athletic marketing and promotions director.

Alcohol isn’t served nor are people allowed to bring their own.

“It can be done without [alcohol],” Hopper says. “It’s a state of mind.”