For years we had 30k people outside the stadium partying all day, and the struggle was convincing them to come in to the game. That was tough to do when the team sucked but Hudspeth's community involvement + better quality of play put butts in seats.
Then we
- Raised ticket prices
- Raised tailgating prices
- Quadrupled down on mid-week games to get on TV
- Forced people to park away from the stadium then walk THRU the empty stadium lot
- Added food/drink options but chronically understand concessions, even with 10k people
- Blast PA music between plays that 90% of those old fans don't enjoy, in hopes of getting thousand more students to show up
List goes on and on
Yes, some festivals do charge for a party spot and some charge admission. Those that don't have those costs covered by sponsors. So I guess the answer to "MAKE TAILGATING GREAT AGAIN" (AKA free) would be to find sponsors to offset the income it currently brings into the program.
What was the biggest issue when tailgating was free? Getting those people into the stadium. Those 15K you're referring to won't enter the stadium if tailgating is free and if they do, they'll say concession lines or food costs are the reason they won't return. Random people aren't showing up these days. We're now seeing what the Baldwin hire did. The lack of cultivating fans those days is starting to show.
RCAF membership can cost $100 per year.
Joining RCAF also helps athletics.
There are people posting on here they haven't been asked to donate; this is a way that is done. If people are not willing; wait let me reprhase this; if people are ONLY interested in going if it is free, of what value are they?
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