dmksioux Posted October 9, 2013 Posted October 9, 2013 I can only speak for myself, but I think it's still a pretty good deal. I have 4 season tix(split the cost with my dad actually)at $90/ticket=$360. Add in $100 for two tailgate spots for a total of $460 or $115 per ticket. Divide that by 7 games and paying around $16.50 per ticket/parking spot...which in this day and age, is a pretty good bargain. Quote
82SiouxGuy Posted October 9, 2013 Posted October 9, 2013 And I am happy to help the Alerus make money. I'm glad it's there. Wouldn't have it any other way. I go to as many concerts as I can (and gladly pay for parking) even promoting the concerts here on SiouxSports (see George strait thread). But as a fan of UND Football, I try and support the team and try to get others to help support it more. And the only real way to do that is by having great attendance. Which most would agree is an issue. I'm just pointing to one issue. I understand money rules the world. Minus food and alcohol sales, I feel the Alerus would rather have 7,000 people attending the games at $15 a ticket rather than 10,000 at $10 a game ($105,000 vs $100,000). And in a way I think that's what is happening with the cost of tailgating. I feel in the long run UND is losing money because of this. They need to build a bigger fan base and the cost of tailgating isn't helping! So I didn't buy tailgating season tickets. Yeah its sold out but c'mon the price for one spot is more than my actual game ticket for Pete's sake (Cause I actually did buy season tickets for that)! They need to concentrate on trying to get closer to the equilibrium point for maximizing profits. The Alerus Center doesn't get the ticket money, at least not most of it. UND gets the majority of the ticket revenue. UND pays a fee to rent the facility, I don't remember if that includes a small piece of the ticket or not. More people does mean more concessions, but more tickets sold doesn't mean much more to the Alerus Center in ticket revenue. I don't think that decreasing tailgating fees or opening more spots would increase attendance a great deal. They sold out the season spots, so they must be doing something right. And I don't think that people who aren't used to tailgating are going to start just because it is cheap. Certainly not in the numbers you are talking. You aren't going to add 1,000 people, much less 3,000. People can show up and take part in the tailgating right now without having to go through all of the work and expense. So they probably aren't going to spend money on a rig, or some kind of picnic set up, plus food, and beverages, to show up and suddenly become tailgaters because the spot is $5 or even free. Quote
Cratter Posted October 9, 2013 Author Posted October 9, 2013 People aren't going to start tailgating cause its cheap, but let me say it is and will drive away people that could or would otherwise tailgate such as myself. As is seen in my picture, the tailgating spots sat empty the whole time. None of us know how many people aren't going tailgating now because they, like myself, can't buy season tailgate tickets because they sold out and don't want to pay $45 or more to park their rigs and tailgate anymore....non of us know how many people quit going because of that...and some day I might quit too like them. Don't kid yourself if tailgating was more popular and sold out everygame at these prices the Alerus would just open another tailgating lot to make sure they even made more money! Quote
82SiouxGuy Posted October 9, 2013 Posted October 9, 2013 People aren't going to start tailgating cause its cheap, but let me say it is and will drive away people that could or would otherwise tailgate such as myself. As is seen in my picture, the tailgating spots sat empty the whole time. None of us know how many people aren't going tailgating now because they, like myself, can't buy season tailgate tickets because they sold out and don't want to pay $45 or more to park their rigs and tailgate anymore....non of us know how many people quit going because of that...and some day I might quit too like them. Don't kid yourself if tailgating was more popular and sold out everygame at these prices the Alerus would just open another tailgating lot to make sure they even made more money! They have limited parking space. Back when they had sold out, or close to sold out, games against NDSU or in the playoffs, they didn't have enough room for regular parking. That was with much less tailgating. They were parking people across the street in fields where the new motel is, and where an apartment building is going up. Those spaces aren't available anymore. They don't have any more room to open more tailgating lots. I know that some people like tailgating, but it isn't going to drive large numbers of people to attend the games. Quote
Cratter Posted October 9, 2013 Author Posted October 9, 2013 The Ralph lacks parking too. Doesn't seem to be an issue as it increases profits for bars running shuttle buses. Why can the Ralph do it but all of a sudden be an issue for the Alerus!!? Don't kid yourself....The Alerus would much rather sell that $5 spot to a $15 tailgator if it meant more money for them (as you pointed out. People were complaining about its bottom line). Quote
82SiouxGuy Posted October 9, 2013 Posted October 9, 2013 The Ralph lacks parking too. Doesn't seem to be an issue as it increases profits for bars running shuttle buses. Why can the Ralph do it but all of a sudden be an issue for the Alerus!!? Don't kid yourself....The Alerus would much rather sell that $5 spot to a $15 tailgator if it meant more money for them (as you pointed out. People were complaining about its bottom line). They would love to sell the spots for $15 each. But as I pointed out in an earlier post, they have to balance the distribution of parking spots. They have a contract with UND that specifies a certain number of spots for Champions Club members. They can't sell those as tailgating spots. The contract may also include the student tailgating spots. And they would face holy hell if they turned a bunch of the regular spots into tailgating spots, leaving regular parkers without a place to put their car. The general public and the City Council would be upset. The Alerus Center reports to the City Council, not a good idea to upset your boss. They can adjust the balance a little one way or the other, and may turn a small number of regular spots into tailgating if that balance works better for the needs. There are already shuttles that bring people to games. Since they normally come from bars, they aren't really good for families. But there is a difference between the Alerus Center and REA. The Alerus Center is a public facility, owned by the city, so they have to answer to someone else. REA is owned by a private trust. They have a contract with UND and their mission is to support UND. But they only answer to the trust on day-to-day things. So the REA can do things differently than the Alerus Center. Quote
mksioux Posted October 9, 2013 Posted October 9, 2013 I was surprised when the Alerus Center opened up and tailgating was free. The facility was actually losing money by allowing tailgating because they'd have to clean up after the tailgaters while getting no revenue from them. I'd be surprised if you can tailgate for free anywhere these days. $100 per season for two spots seems like a pretty good deal. The single-game tailgating pass is a bit more spendy, but it's not way out of line. The big thing is for the team to start winning. That would liven up the tailgating atmosphere quite a bit and really make the experience worth the money. Quote
Cratter Posted October 18, 2013 Author Posted October 18, 2013 Tailgating... a friend of mine came tailgating for the first time last week, but he didn't get his pass from the union beforehand. They made him pay 15 dollars and park by the non-students even though the whole student lot was empty. The university/alerus make such a hassle out of everything, most students just say screw it. Thought this was an interesting post. I always enjoy going back and reading old topics. Quote
Cratter Posted January 30, 2014 Author Posted January 30, 2014 Dexter Albrechat and myself had a nice long chat the other day. I called about getting a season tailgating spot. The bad news is they are still sold out with a waiting list. The good news is they are in talks with the Alerus about expanding the reserved spots and was pretty optimistic that the Alerus would do so. The offseason: a perfect time to get ready to step it up for tailgatig next year. I'd love to have full size UND football helmet. I have searched online but all I could find was someone selling cheap crappy ones on eBay that aren't even close to a replica. Does anyone know where I can find one? Quote
geaux_sioux Posted January 30, 2014 Posted January 30, 2014 Dexter Albrechat and myself had a nice long chat the other day. I called about getting a season tailgating spot. The bad news is they are still sold out with a waiting list. The good news is they are in talks with the Alerus about expanding the reserved spots and was pretty optimistic that the Alerus would do so. The offseason: a perfect time to get ready to step it up for tailgatig next year. I'd love to have full size UND football helmet. I have searched online but all I could find was someone selling cheap crappy ones on eBay that aren't even close to a replica. Does anyone know where I can find one? I bet you could buy some used ones from the team. They replace some of the olds ones each year. Quote
Cratter Posted January 30, 2014 Author Posted January 30, 2014 I'd think something like that is my best bet. Quote
Siouxperfan7 Posted January 30, 2014 Posted January 30, 2014 Dexter Albrechat and myself had a nice long chat the other day. I called about getting a season tailgating spot. The bad news is they are still sold out with a waiting list. The good news is they are in talks with the Alerus about expanding the reserved spots and was pretty optimistic that the Alerus would do so. The offseason: a perfect time to get ready to step it up for tailgatig next year. I'd love to have full size UND football helmet. I have searched online but all I could find was someone selling cheap crappy ones on eBay that aren't even close to a replica. Does anyone know where I can find one? They should handle the tailgating spots like they did the student section. If they don't use them, open them up to the public. Students weren't packing out the student section, so they moved the sections over and opened the section up to the general public for season tickets. Same souls be done with the student tailgate lot. That lot is maybe 20% full at most, and I am being very generous. They could cut that in half and open a bunch of spots and sell them to people that are actually gonna use them. I would think they would be looking into this option already. Quote
Cratter Posted January 30, 2014 Author Posted January 30, 2014 It's generally not the number of tailgating spots. It's the tailgating "season pass" where your spot is reserved and you pay less for the whole season: $15 per game per space vs $50 for the season. Quote
jdub27 Posted January 30, 2014 Posted January 30, 2014 Dexter Albrechat and myself had a nice long chat the other day. I called about getting a season tailgating spot. The bad news is they are still sold out with a waiting list. The good news is they are in talks with the Alerus about expanding the reserved spots and was pretty optimistic that the Alerus would do so. Curious how they can be sold out for next year when I don't think they have done renewals yet? Or are they assuming they will be due to the waiting list? Quote
Cratter Posted January 30, 2014 Author Posted January 30, 2014 I believe it has to do with the waiting list and the amount of people such as myself looking for spots. He said a few others also called and wanted numerous spots as they bought tailgating rigs....shoot can't remember the number he gave me...30 or 50 are on the list....IIRC they were going to send out renewals in a month or two after the meetings with the Alerus officials. Quote
jdub27 Posted January 30, 2014 Posted January 30, 2014 I believe it has to do with the waiting list and the amount of people such as myself looking for spots. He said a few others also called and wanted numerous spots as they bought tailgating rigs....shoot can't remember the number he gave me...30 or 50 are on the list....IIRC they were going to send out renewals in a month or two after the meetings with the Alerus officials. Makes sense. I thought in the past they did the renewals around the same time as tickets so that sounds about right. Quote
andtheHomeoftheSIOUX!! Posted January 30, 2014 Posted January 30, 2014 It is nice to see tailgating appears to be an "in demand" thing. Quote
Cratter Posted February 12, 2014 Author Posted February 12, 2014 Anyone thirst? Is it football season yet? My newest tailgating paraphernalia. Quote
gfhockey Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 thinking about upgrading some of my equipment this off season. thinking about upgrading the bus to a bigger bus with a stripper pole and speakers Quote
Cratter Posted February 12, 2014 Author Posted February 12, 2014 Or you could just buy one of these... http://www.tailgatingideas.com/tow-hitch-stripper-pole/ Quote
gfhockey Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 I have a pretty good deal on a former party bus. Only problem is id need 2-3 more spots and UND (I think it was Dexter but not sure) said he would work on getting me some more but who knows how that will go....might be stuck in the no name lot but if I move out there and people see what is going on im sure ill draw more of a crowd free food and keg beer will draw people wont always have free food tho Quote
MerffCAT33 Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 Happy Off-Season UND fans! I needed a football fix today and read everything on our site Bobcat Nation and figured I would check and see what you guys were up to. Congrats on the new Coach and staff, hope they right the ship for you guys. Also hope you were able to land some top recruits this past Feb. 5th. Well on to some business. I LOVE TAILGATING! Its one of the reasons alot of fans support Bobcat football. Even if it is a later kickoff that day, we still get up to the stadium by 8 AM. The later kickoffs alow us to have Breakfast and Lunch! I have an old short bus painted Blue, Gold & White that holds all my stuff and it pulls a matching utility bed tailer that has a 4-burner Wolf 4'X2' grill mounted in the back. My stuff includes tents to make a 20X30 structure, 5 (6 ft.) folding tables, popcorn machine, 3 roaster ovens, Flat screen w/ sat. TV to watch College Gameday and other football games, propane heaters (for the cold games), about 8 coolers (for the food & COLD ones), party lights for the night games, and two generators to power the whole party. ITS A BLAST! Our theory is "If you build it, they will come". this all comes with a price of course. In the lot we are in, car spots go for $200 a season and RV spots go for $300 a season. Our little party village takes up 3 RV spots. We spit the $900 amongst all of us, about 6 families, and of course there is a donation jar at the food line so if anyone drops in and has some great food and drink, they can always throw in a couple of greenbacks. The extra cash go towards the next games groceries/beer. And by all means, any UND fan is WELCOME at my tailgate as long as you have a good sense of humor and no one in your group is wearing maroon and silver! Thanks for letting me get an off-season football fix. By the way, if you make the trek over here this fall, we have around 6 local brew pubs that craft some pretty good brew also. After reading this topic about the beers you guys are pushing, I might have to make a road trip that way soon! CHEERS! Here's to Spring Ball starting soon! 2 Quote
Cratter Posted June 15, 2015 Author Posted June 15, 2015 Here's my latest project that's going on the front of my mobile tailgating bar that I wood burned. I also wood burned the sioux logo on the top of the barstools that looks pretty sweet. 2 Quote
UNDColorado Posted June 15, 2015 Posted June 15, 2015 Here's my latest project that's going on the front of my mobile tailgating bar that I wood burned. I also wood burned the sioux logo on the top of the barstools that looks pretty sweet. You should trek that mobile tailgater down to Laramie! Quote
Cratter Posted June 15, 2015 Author Posted June 15, 2015 Eric needs to come to gf for tailgating. 1 Quote
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