We will release our tentative 2023 Season schedule next week, but as you might guess, we are in full planning mode at this point. That means making flights, booking Airbnb’s, and reserving hotel rooms. In conjunction with our Tailgating Booking site (that should also be up in the next week or two – just wrapping up the testing), I am making a bigger effort to tailgate more. It is tough to tailgate on the road, so that means I am revisiting some local venues. They won’t be adding to the count, but hopefully I will be able to see how effective the Tailgate Booking site actually is.
The first tailgate on the list is at Old Dominion. The Monarchs host the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest on Saturday, September 16. It is a noon kickoff, which means a breakfast tailgate
I actually don’t mind morning tailgates. There are lots of options for breakfast and all of them are pretty good. In past, we have done it simple like donuts and orange juice to the full blown meal of pancakes, hash browns and bacon. It is hard to beat the smell of bacon at a morning tailgate. ODU is also only an hour away for me and I should be able to muster some buddies to join me. Given this positive outlook, on to the logistics I went. I checked the ODU website and to my chagrin, parking passes are sold only on an annual basis with a “donation”. I called the Old Dominion Athletic Foundation (ODAH) and they confirmed this is the case.
This is not great. It is one of my pet peeves with small schools like ODU. If you are a visitor, this approach makes visitor tailgating very unappealing. I have been to ODU before and I had a good time. Let’s not kid ourselves though, this isn’t like rolling into Blacksburg to see the Hokies play at Lane Stadium. I have paid big bucks to tailgate at other stadiums, as much as $200 on after-market sites like StubHub. And, despite the high cost, the experience usually doesn’t disappoint because the lot is jam-packed and people are partying everywhere. On the other hand, tailgating at smaller schools is hit or miss. Worse yet, because of their size, there’s virtually no after-market for the parking passes. I checked the sites yesterday and there were no ODU home game parking passes for sale. Shocker, there were a number parking passes for sale at games where ODU was the visiting team. Truth hurts Monarchs, but you aren’t exactly a big draw.
When I complained to the ODAH rep that their approach to tailgating is frustrating, she began extolling the virtues of the ODU experience. The tailgating is almost more popular than the game, she explained. This is, perhaps, not the best endorsement of the actual football program (hello Ole Miss). Also, the annual parking passes for the Brown lot (the furthest one away) aren’t expensive – all of $100 bucks for an entire season. So, if visitors from Wake Forest want to tailgate, they can just make the $100 donation and the pass is theirs. I am not exactly sure what the Demon Deacons (or I) are going to do with the passes for the rest of the season. Maybe they could list them on Stubhub – they’d be the first. She also said the Brown lot is great fun and not that far away from the stadium.
Her enthusiasm aside, this is not my first rodeo. I have seen how this approach to tailgating leaves the stadium with lots that are half empty with little actual activity. I submit Troy football as exhibit “A”. Troy, ironically is the latest review to get updated so check it out here. However, at somanystadiums, we are committed. So I am going to plunk down my $100 for a season parking pass to the Brown lot despite my misgivings and knowing I am way over my budget for a game that doesn’t even add to my total. My biggest frustration is that with our move to Williamsburg, ODU is kind of like my local FBS team. I want to support the Monarchs. Really. I want to, but this kind of policy drives me up a wall.
I will leave you with this. If you are in the greater Norfolk area and have an itch to see some local FBS football, go to the Tailgate section of the site in a couple of weeks. There will be my tailgate at ODU ready and waiting to accept you as a guest. After all, the ODU tailgating is the hottest ticket in town, or something.
Troy Tailgating – It ain’t exactly Notre Dame
