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August 20, 2010

Parking Is A Bitter Bitch

Filed under: Fans,Football,General Stupidity — Chas @ 5:09 pm

Pitt better meet/exceed expectations early, because the frustration over parking and construction will only make it that much more likely people opt not to turn out for games.

Since this matter is taking over some comment threads, I might as well put it in a post.

Sorry to be late on this matter. I don’t handle the tickets and parking passes in my group, and since I don’t live in the ‘Burgh I did not know about yet another Northside giveaway to the Rooneys. In this case, the huge chunk of parking near Heinz Field for an unnecessary amphitheater. This eliminated some 800 prime Gold parking spots. Amazing ripples across the entire spectrum.

My group has been parking in Green 22 and then Green 23 since 2000. A bit detached from most of the action, but convenient in terms of getting in and out of the Northside. Especially since our group is almost all out-of-towners, and often at least one of us is running late or has to get home with some haste. It was also useful since our seats are on the Allegheny Avenue side.

Now we find ourselves with most of our parking relegated to the Red 5 Garage and one spot in Red 7B. The first thought was that we might go “old school” with the whole parking garage — tailgate in there. Just like everyone did when we were in Oakland with Pitt Stadium.

Problem is, Alco prohibits grills and glass bottles in the garage. Not sure how strictly this is enforced, but given this is Alco and a Pitt game — not a Steelers game — I expect rather stridently.

I think everyone understands that space is limited with the removal of some key parking, there would be some problems and frustrations.

The way that Pitt has handled it, however, has been mind-blowingly stupid.

It starts with the lack of any warning or advanced notice. No letter in advance laying out the problems. No explanation as to what the options are, and especially the possibility of splitting up parking passes. That’s really the big thing. No one knew until they received their parking passes in the mail, and then they had to call the ticket office/athletic department/Panther Club  to find out what the hell happened.

Instead of any bracing, you get season tickets and parking passes — especially in a large group — and find out that you are scattered all over the stadium parking lot.

There is absolutely no excuse for not giving any advanced notice. I fully expect an apology about it at some point. An empty, hollow, useless, and meaningless apology only about the lack of notice. Not for anything else, though.

They had to know there would be a huge backlash. Part of the reason for the popularity of going to football games is the tailgating. For many of us, football season is one of the only times we can get together with old friends, just hang-out and be.

Tailgating before hand is almost as important as the football game. Bill Simmons may be playing a lot of the same notes after all these years, but he hit it right when talking about the NFL and the pain of going to live football games (and is already beating this into the ground). It also applies to college football as well.

This isn’t about the economy. It’s about the fact that it’s more fun to stay home and watch football than it is to sit in crappy seats to watch any team ranging from “lousy” to “mediocre.” It just is. For many fan bases, here are the two choices every Sunday:

Door No. 1 (more expensive): Traffic, parking, long walk to stadium, lousy seats, lifeless state-of-the-art arena, TV timeouts, dead crowds, drunk/bitter fans, more TV timeouts, hiked-up concession prices, PDAs with jammed signals as you’re searching for scores, even more TV timeouts, long walk to car, even more traffic.

Door No. 2 (less expensive): Sofa, NFL package, HD, fantasy scores online, remote control toggling, gambling, access to scores, seven straight hours of football, cell phone calls, beer and food in fridge, no traffic.

I can see going through Door No. 1 once a year just to remind yourself that going to an NFL game sucks. But eight times a year? Unless you had good seats, or unless this was your only excuse to get out of your house and get plastered, why would you? It’s a blue-collar sport with white-collar ticket prices.

As far as Pitt goes, the ticket prices are fine. Even the parking pass isn’t too expensive on its own. But then comes all the mandatory donations, and clearly you have to pony up big to keep a group of any size together in the lots. I know plenty of intentional moves to ruin tailgating happen all over the place. That doesn’t make it acceptable.

My group is spread from Harrisburg to Cleveland and places north and south of Pittsburgh. We have families, jobs, all the crap that keeps us from just popping in the car and going some place.

When we put up the money in March or so for season tickets, it isn’t just buying tickets for the games. It is each of us making a commitment towards getting together with one another in the fall on set dates. Those home dates serve as the lodestone for getting together. Set days that don’t allow the excuse to cancel and argue to do it on another time.

We plan for it. We start to bring our kids so they can experience the fun. The activities before the game. Playing some games in the lot with them. Taking them in and conveying the joy of being at the game and the love for Pitt.

I’m sure Pitt’s braintrust put a lot of thought into this, and concluded since tailgating is important better to at least give large groups at least one outside spot. Of course, they appeared to put no real thought into the best way to do it. Sending people scattered throughout and making it an absolute pain to get to one spot.

That also doesn’t begin to address the other concern. By giving people only one (or maybe two) spots in a regular lot and assuming others will come to those spots they are going to make the parking lots that much more crowded with people relative to space. Rather than 2-4 people per car in the lot, you suddenly jump it to 4-8  or even more.  Space becomes more compressed.

Noise is up. More aggravations. Frustration. Then toss in some alcohol.

I can’t help but think that the Pittsburgh police are going to be dealing with some shorter tempers in the lots.

I really am surprised at how dumb this whole thing appears to be. After years of trying to make Pitt games at Heinz Field more fan friendly. Trying to drown out the hardcore naysayers still bemoaning the lack of an on-campus stadium, they do what they can to make the experience as brutally frustrating and painful as they can.

This brings me back to Pitt on the field. If Pitt stumbles in Utah. If they can’t beat Miami on Thursday night. Suddenly they are 1-2. They are out of the rankings and the next game is FIU? What happens then?

Fans still pissed about the extra barriers to tailgating. To getting to their seats. To simply trying to get to the stadium. For what? A team that appears to be failing to meet expectations?

Pitt has sold a lot of tickets this year. Expectations are high. If they don’t meet those expectations and you toss in the complete fuck up that is this parking situation, what happens to those ticket sales in 2011?

I’m not trying to be negative or look for the doomsday scenario. It just looks like this is set up to put even more pressure on the football team. Whether they realized it or not.





I have no idea, but how far are the parking lot from the stadium?

Comment by Salgado 08.20.10 @ 9:07 pm

Well written, Chas. I hope somebody in Oakland reads this entire post, and maybe, at the least, worries a little tiny bit before returning whatever they were doing in that mountain of cash beforehand.

The tailgating is at least as important as the game to us old farts, and they just took half of the fun away.

Comment by Lee in Altoona 08.20.10 @ 9:19 pm

Not that this makes it better…I can tell you that we did have red 5 for the past several years…and we did have grills and tailgates in there without issue. That is until we were relocated to BFE this season…

Comment by Bryan 08.20.10 @ 9:41 pm

The two games I year that I get to are always a nightmare of coordinating multiple vehicles along crowded one way streets to a nameless, random parking spot that the first car there found. Once they put that light rail station in the North Shore, things will become much easier for those that have that option available.

I had Jets (and Devils apply here also) season tickets last year and it was beautiful. They built a full on train station 100 yards from old Giants stadium and literally ten feet from the new stadium. I could watch pregame or the 1PM games at the bar by my town’s train station and smuggle some roadies aboard the train, safely arriving at the stadium 40 minutes later. After the game I just immediately hop back on the train and go home. No walking, no warming the car up, no traffic, no drunk drivers, no tolls. Not to mention that the drunk Jets train was a hilarious bizarro reflection of my morning commute to the city.

I live in NC now hoping that Pitt will join the ACC putting me less than an hour away from 4 opponents. No parking troubles down here. If they have anything, its space.

Comment by Chris 08.20.10 @ 9:55 pm

I’ve been parking in the garage since it opened and for some reason I got moved to the lot next to the Clark Bldg, this year. Didn’t request it, just got moved. I have seen people tailgating in the garage- they usually stake out spots at the north and south end of the lot (the short sides where you turn your car 180deg. to go to the next level) and do it there.

Comment by Annie 08.20.10 @ 10:23 pm

Annie – you got upgraded. I was upgraded from Red 5 to a blue surface lot also. This was made possible because they limited groups to one surface parking pass each. So alot of good will still come out of this mess, as more people will be able to tailgate.

It’ll just take more coordination and headaches on the part of the large groups. but it’s worth it. Hey, everyone loves to complain about the atmosphere down there, and the athletic department is trying to do something about it right?

Comment by Jamie H 08.20.10 @ 10:48 pm

Except that they didn’t limit groups to one surface pass…my group ended up with 4 surface passes, but they are in 4 different lots. Add that to the 9 that we got in the garage, and we are just too spread out to have the type of tailgate that we’ve done in the past. The result is that we probably won’t tailgate at all this year. I’m glad it works better for you, but I’m guessing they’ve alienated more people than they’ve made happy…

Comment by Pantherman13 08.20.10 @ 11:12 pm

Whaaaaaah! Hold on while I tune the world’s smallest violin to play you all a sad song. We used to drive up from DC Saturday mornings to support the team leaving little time to tailgate. Now I relegated to seeing two or three games a year on TV here on the West Coast. Tito, get me a tissue!

Comment by Chris 08.20.10 @ 11:30 pm

Being that I don’t live in the Burg anymore, I’m not I’m to snuff on the latest parking over in North Side. But since they built the subway, doesn’t it go over to the North Side now, and if that’s the case, there are plenty of parking garages downtown where you can walk over the Clemente Bridge or take a cab or take the subway. I use to always park up by Allegheny Mall or that park that is west of there that has tennis courts. That is I if didn’t know a Pgh. cop who would let me in one of the close lots.
But come on people, I might drive up from South Carolina for a game, that’s like 900 miles roundtrip. Surely we can overcome parking.

Comment by carolinapanther 08.21.10 @ 1:18 am

Bryan – I too was in Red 5 (FWIW it was pretty convenient to get in/out and a nice walk to the stadium)… now I’m in Blue 10 somewhere in Erie County.

Hmmm, maybe a little extortion re: my donations to the University’s other schools rather than the Athletic Dept is in order.

Comment by Reed 08.21.10 @ 4:51 am

Very good point Chas, on the point. Especially about the large groups that join together to spend a few hours together each weekend. My situation is similar to yours. Was in green 23 with about 25 people. Now everyone is scattered. How that handled it is ridiculous, but I wish I could say Im surprised. I am not. Maybe we’ll get a coupon for a free hot dog like we did last season when I drove to my lot for a game and found out I couldnt get with my permit because space was taken by the G20 summit. At the VERY LEAST, they should of notified us. Has anyone tried to get a refund/credit for their pass. Where they put me, I really dont need it now. I can park in my work area and be closer. I can only imagine the respone I will get when I call down there. Thats IF im even able to get through to someone.

Comment by Z-Boy 08.21.10 @ 8:00 am

as for me .. unless invited, I gave up tailgating a while ago. Further, I would MUCH rather park downtown– not so much of the cheap price (usually $5) but it easier to get out if I want to leave right after the game

Comment by wbb 08.21.10 @ 8:06 am

My wife and I drive from Philly for the games and have been parking in Red5. They will drive around in a golf cart and tell you no grills, but once they turn the corner you can screw the propane back on and keep cooking. Its not terrible. However, I just got bumped to a garage 4 blocks away in the OPPOSITE direction of the stadium. Now because we don’t make a per seat donation we are not eligible to park in those lots!? How about the nearly $1,500 we will spend in gas, tolls and hotels for 5 games this year to make sure there are two less yellow seats you can see on tv? Or the $100 dontation to the Alumni association? Or the merchandise we don’t have to buy…but will anyway? I know we can stay home and don’t have to deal with any of these headaches, but we are surrounded by Penn State idiots and choose to support our Panthers and want this program to get to, and remain at a high level. When we care more about the team than the athletic department cares about its fans that support them is when it gets frustrating. Thats fine if they want to go that route with the parking slap in the face, but some notice would have been nice! Unbelievable.

Comment by TRay 08.21.10 @ 9:51 am

I agree about the amphitheater. It was totally unnecessary and a complete waste of time and money.

The subway tunnel isn’t opened yet and won’t be available for football traffic until the 2012 season. I hate that thing. The construction has been screwing up downtown traffic flow for years. Then again, the “renovation” of Point State Park has been going on forever as well.

Tailgating is being phased out in order to make those who are going to the game spend their money at the nearby bars and restauraunts.

Comment by Penguins Fan 08.21.10 @ 10:18 am

Z-boy,
I tried calling down there, and they won’t give you much help. All they said is next year try to specify which lot you wish to be in or if you are with a large group, have everybody specify that when they order their tickets next year.
As for the scattering this year there isn’t anything they can or will do about it.

Comment by Twink 08.21.10 @ 10:25 am

TRay, if only we could get more fans within a 100 mile radius of Pittsburgh to have your willingness to attend games from 300 or so miles away, we would not have any “yellow” seats for home games!…Chas I completly agree with your post. I just don’t think that the City or the University gets it…It is not just about the game. It’s about the whole game day experience…The anticipation during the drive to the game, the tailgate, the game, celebrating victory or bitching about defeat after the game. Its a social event that they are slowly killing. I doubt the construction on the outdoor lots is done. Penguins Fan nailed it. The City can make more money by driving us into downtown establishments to eat and drink and by building facilities on those lots that generate revenue year round. I always said that what I liked best about the move to 3 Rivers and now Heinz Field was that it brought a real tailgating atmosphere to the game day experience…well that’s slowly fading.

Comment by HbgFrank 08.21.10 @ 11:19 am

i live in stanton heights and had parking in red 7c for the last two years, and i was in the red garage the season before. i never noticed “real tailgating” in the garage but made some use of it. there are limited electrical outlets that we used for crock pot meals.
i’ve been relocated to green 23 this year and feel like i’ve been exiled. this will make it as difficult as possible to get to and to leave the stadium. i’m willing to trade passes with someone in a red or blue surface lot. any takers?
i was told that the stadium lost 800 parking spaces this year and that the cut off for preferred parking was the donor number. was told it was 3100. i know there needs to be a cutoff point, but that doesn’t make me feel better at 3111.

Comment by pittkeith 08.21.10 @ 11:30 am

I too would love to trade my Green 23 paking Pass for a Red Lot pass. Anyone interested, email me at paul_pirozzola@hotmail.com. Thanks.

Comment by Pauly P 08.21.10 @ 12:48 pm

I’ve had my share of problems with the ticket office over the years. Twice, I marked on my online application to mail me my packet … and I was told, after I had to call them at the last minute, that I had to go to will-call.

Last year, I ordered a few extra ND tickets in addition to my season ticket, and was told that I had them reserved (this was in early Sept; the ame was in Nov.) I called in 3rd week of Oct and was told I had to call to confirm (even though they had my visa card number.) This was like the Seinfeld episode when he told the car rental girl that “no, I on’t think you know what reservation means” I finally ot my tickets but wouldn’t have if I hadn’t called.

Comment by wbb 08.21.10 @ 4:13 pm

I think Jamie H has consumed the athletic department Kool-aid, as evidenced by his Vegas Gold Kool-aid mustache. His is almost the exact same sentiment expressed by a grand total of ONE poster on the Rivals boards – probably the same guy.

I can just see Pederson and some of his intern-flunkies (maybe including Jamie H) sitting around concocting this rediculous scheme.

Chas mentioned why this may not necessarily be a great idea; instead of a tailgate party consisting of 2-3 cars right next to each other, with 10 people, this idea attempts to force that same 10 person tailgate to one single parking space – right between two other 10 person tailgates in the spaces right next to them. Might make for more telegenic tailgating, but very crowded – the likelyhood of being forced to listen to yet another mix tape of old skool rap cranked up to 11 is almost a mathematical certainty.

Now it could be that some people actually want that experience. And there has been quite a lot of inactivity in some of the most prime tailgating lots in the past, as many people choose not to tailgate at all…and may prefer to be as far away from it as possible.

So why not ask fans their preferences? Set aside a lot, we’ll call it the “Spirit Lot” or “Steve Pederson Memorial Tailgate lot”, where tailgaters are assured ahead of time that they can only have one parking pass, and the rest of the people in their group will have to park elsewhere and walk. Promise them the cheerleaders and dance team will make a pre-game visit, maybe Pitt greats from years gone by will stop by as well to meet-and-greet. There will be so much tailgating per square foot they’ll have to wipe it off their faces once game time comes around.

Set aside another lot as the “Family Lot” or the “Alcohol Free” lot, where those who don’t really want to tailgate can congregate – maybe even make that a parking garage where open flame and bottles are banned?

Then, the rest of us can have the chance to request to be in a lot with all of our friends, even if it isn’t all that close to the stadium.

Comment by Patrick 08.21.10 @ 4:53 pm

Our group got screwed as well. 40 tickets, 5 parking passes. People as far as DC, Michigan, Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore for every game, every week. Two years ago we had 2 red 6 passes and the others were in Blue 10 garage. No big deal because if you got there at lot open, they actually allowed cash entry to Red 6. So we typically had 5 consecutive spots for our tailgate of 40-60 people.

Last year they stopped the cash entry because of construction of the 2nd hotel in what was the footprint of Red 6. So we were down to those two spots and for the sake of not having to move equipment (tables, coolers, extra propane, etc) we ended up renting a U-Haul van for each game, extended our prep time an hour to get all said stuff in the van and an hour afterwards to clean up, split up the stuff and head home.

We knew the Rooneys were tarting up the North Shore with another Ampitheater, so we planned ahead, made sure our ticket orders for our seats each included 1 parking pass item, and that our top donors did the ordering. On top of that we more than doubled our donations. End result: We didn’t slip on our Blue 10 passes where we can’t cook, but our surface passes are now down to one 7g pass.

There’s talk of grilling down there and delivering the food to the roof of the deck, but at this point I’m about fed up.

It’s enough of an insult that all of these Ticket pick-up, fan “appreciation”, kickoff luncheons and everything else are scheduled during the week that nobody from out of town can realistically attend, but the russian roulette with where your $90 is going to screw you for parking has got to stop.

First come first serve it and jack up the surface lot parking passes. Push those that just arrive before kickoff to the parking decks and declare a tailgate lot like Patrick said.

I also noticed that the “Family Tailgate” is now a “Family block party”, I guess they’re preparing for the time when there won’t be any surface lots left.

Any readers get corporate packages? I wonder where they stuck their parking passes at? With the sheer volume of tickets in our group it may be easier to show up as a “Corporate partner” just to at least get the tickets in the same lot every year.

Comment by Brian 08.22.10 @ 12:31 am

Pitt vs. Utah Game Watch in New Jersey

Event Title: Pitt vs. Utah Game Watch in New Jersey

Date: Sep 2, 2010
Time: 8:00PM – 11:00PM ET
Location: Fox and Hound Restaurant & Sports Bar at the Menlo Park Mall in Edison, NJ
link to foxandhound.com
Description: Join the New Jersey Pitt Alumni Club for a game watch as the Pitt Panthers kick off the 2010 Football Season.
Fox and Hound Restaurant & Sports Bar
near Macy’s at the Menlo Park Mall in Edison, NJ
The location is only minutes from major NJ routes: Route 1, Garden State Parkway, 287 and the Turnpike.

A room is reserved with wide-screen HD tv. If 15 or more Pitt Fans attend, then a sampling of free snacks will be provided by the Fox and Hound. So BE SURE TO RSVP so we can guarantee our number and provide great snacks for everyone!

Cash Bar

RSVP by email to: newjerseypittalumniclub@gmail.com

Comment by Steve 08.22.10 @ 10:10 am

I swear…Pittsburgher’s favorite pastime (even transplanted Pittsburghers) is bitching & moaning. I will say this, the noise over this one lot has generated will pale in comparison when all of the North Shore lots are turned into bars/restaurants/expensive/less desirable extortions to tailgating. Within the next ten years, all of that open space between the stadiums will be turned in ‘development’ at the expense of the tailgaters.

I am amazed at what some of you think Pitt should do about this. If Mark Nordenburg called you on the telephone and told you all of the above? Some of you wouldn’t bitch & moan? Yeah, right.
Maybe they could work towards an on-campus stadium but the real outrage should be directed at the Rooneys and the sweetheart deal they got to develop all of that prime property between the stadiums.

Comment by George 08.22.10 @ 1:49 pm

I am more worried about Greg Romeus’s Back and Ray graham’s Knee suck it up I guess u guys never had to walk up the hill at the old PITT Stadium drunk.

Comment by POLE 08.22.10 @ 1:54 pm

Sorry that we bitch Georgie. We just prefer tailgaiting over some Zima and smirnoffs that you’ll enjoy at said establishments.

Comment by Stache 08.22.10 @ 3:14 pm

You are absoultely spot on Stache. Many of us with disposable income (declining by the day), want a hassle free game day experience in a tailgate atmosphere. At least I know I do. As an alternative, I won’t be at “36” paying $7 a beer and waiting an hour and a half for a table to buy $10 nachos. I will be in my recliner in my Pitt room with the fridge and restroom 15 feet away. If they think the next generation is going to have the income to support all of the establishments they are purportedly building, good luck with that pipe dream. Meanwhile, the old farts will continue to be ignored just because we wanna play Penn State again and drink some beers in the parking lot before and after remembering how much fun it used to be.

Comment by wally 08.22.10 @ 5:47 pm

Very well said Stache. And POLE , some of my best football memories were walking up the hill to the Pitt games and even more so, stumbling back down! What I wouldnt give for a good ole tailgate behind George Aikens!

Comment by Z-Boy 08.22.10 @ 8:04 pm

steve, I can’t make it to your event because of a Board meeting that I must attend, but your efforts are appreciated. Maybe Arnie, Ron and Susan can shake the tree and bring the faithful and semi-faithful out.

Comment by BigGuy 08.22.10 @ 8:04 pm

Please get your priorities in order, BigGuy (grin).

Comment by Steve 08.22.10 @ 8:21 pm

As a lot of other tailgaters have mentioned, they’ve split up the groups. My group at the corner of 7G was just obliterated. We had 4 passes in 7G the last few seasons. Now we have one pass in Blue Canal and the rest of us are spread out between 2 different garages. We drive in from Philly, Baltimore, and NC and we all are upset. The home opener is a 1pm game, meaning we can all show up 5 hours early, but can’t tailgate together and have no where to go because none of the “restaurants and bars” open at 7am. I can’t forsee the businesses catering to the 7am crowd like the places in Oakland did. For those of us who are there for the full 5 hours, we know truly how many people show up early (not many). I know alot of us are pissed, but there really is nothing we can do about it. To get a large enough donation to get our 4 passes back, we could send our kids through college. One of our local friends talked to the Panther Club representative at the season ticket event at the Pete and was told it would take 12000. (seriously?) The ugliest part is going to be walking out of the garage and to a local bar or restaurant through an empty parking lot with tons of spaces.

They really should designate one lot as a first come/first serve cash lot. That would accomodate all of us early starters. Or they could sell season passes per each lot and when they sell out, they sell out. They can set the prices and get their money, just like Alco does for the Steelers games.

Comment by Adam 08.22.10 @ 9:02 pm

Here’s a good site to get a locally generated map of parking for stadium events… best I’ve seen – and the other maps he does are nice also.

link to bobsmaps.com

Comment by Reed 08.23.10 @ 4:24 am

Hey Stache, I prefer the tailgating as well. Just saying that it is going to get worse as the years go on. And I do believe that there is an effort to do away with the tailgating and ‘force’ fans to pay the big money for the food and booze at those establishments.

Just saying that I don’t think that Pitt is the one pushing this agenda and that the outrage should be leveled at the Rooneys/City.

I have been in Red5 for the last couple of years and I can say for certain that tailgating is allowed. They seem to be somewhat lax on the enforcement of bottles but do discourage the grilling/open flames. But there are plenty of chairs and tables set up…

Comment by George 08.23.10 @ 11:22 am

@Adam, There’s a little neighborhood bar on Federal Street that’s been there forever that I would imagine is open at 7am or thereabouts.
It’s on the same side of the street as Firewaters, but it’s like a block or so towards Allegheny Mall.
Or what use to be Allegheny Mall. Can’t remember the name of it, but it’s a great little local place that doesn’t rip you off for drinks.

Comment by carolinapanther 08.23.10 @ 12:40 pm

pittkeith, I am in a similar situation. Several of my tailgating crew have been moved to Green 23. I have been moved to Blue 7J. I would certainly be willing to work out a trade.

Comment by Dave 08.23.10 @ 1:40 pm

Is anyone interested in moving TO Red 5 Garage?
I hear it’s great! 😉

Comment by Patrick 08.23.10 @ 2:15 pm

Wow, I just looked at the Bobsmaps. Good thing I only come up every other year. We used to get to 1A while the fog was still lifting and park with cash. A bad spot used to be 4 or 5.
Last year (Navy) we got hosed because of construction and the 10 people at the Pirates game, we ended up behind some store by the green lots. Not a bad walk, just a boring tailgate.
I’ll need to do some research for my next trip out, most likely 2011.
Good luck to everyone…

Comment by DaveG 08.23.10 @ 2:31 pm

Unfortunately, the “powers” underestimate what the activities within a parking lot add to the experience of a game. One doesn’t feel the excitement of the band playing, seeing everyone wearing blue and gold paraphernalia, the camaraderie, etc. if he/she is home watching the game on the TV screen. The “parking lot” experience justifies the inconvenience of the trip to the stadium.

Comment by BigGuy 08.23.10 @ 3:05 pm

Is anyone interested in trading two parking passes in Lot 22 Green for somthing in lots Red 7A,B or C? we were the “anchors” for out tailgate and this move to the west side of the stadium has really screwed things up!

Comment by Bart 08.24.10 @ 11:31 am

I have 2 blue 10 spots. If I show up at 7am on 9/11 with a charcoal grill in the back of my truck, am I gonna get turned away? If thats the case, I’ll just park at one of the private lots up by CCAC.

Comment by bulldiser 08.30.10 @ 9:44 pm

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