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Alright - hoping someone can help me out here - a little frustrated.

In year's past my group (3) tailgates with some good friends of ours (also a group of 3) but we have not had seats near each other. So we hang at the tailgate, but do not sit together in the games.

This year, we decided that I would buy tickets for all 6 of us, and the other group could just put in their donation and buy a parking pass separately. This way, we could get 6 seats together, and still tailgate in the same lot (its the Monarch Village lot, which is the cheapest lot, and is grass so no assigned spots).

My friend went to sign up for their tailgate pass and was told by admin that for whatever reason they could not do it. They said that we have two options:

1) Refund 3 of the tickets to me, and then have their group buy 3 tickets plus the parking pass...then whichever of us has lower priority points, we wait until that person's appointment to buy tickets, and both sign in at the same time and try and get tickets together. This seems like a horrible idea to me, and likely that something will go wrong and we will be separated.

2) Their group buys an additional General Admission ticket for $100 and then they can get a parking pass and we could try and sell the extra ticket. Don't like this either - doesn't seem fair to make them buy an extra ticket that they won't even use.

I don't like either option and don't understand why the admin can't just let them buy a parking pass. The same amount of money is changing hands (6 tickets, plus two ODAF donations for the pass). We aren't trying to game the system - we just want to sit together.

Anyone in a similar situation? How do you handle?

Dr. Chandler - any way you could assist here?

A suggestion that I realize is not ideal: are you guys willing to switch off who "hosts" the tailgate spot, and only have one spot? Or do you need both?

If you can get away with one tailgate spot, then you can still do everything together and you split the yellow garage pass for $25 per group. Every game you determine who the "host" is, aka who gets the tailgate spot. The other group parks in the garage and meets at the tailgate.

Again I realize this is not ideal, but at least you definitely get the same seats together and select your seats earlier. For me personally, having the better seat selection outweighs having a 2nd car in the lot, but that's entirely up to your group.

(05-09-2019 08:48 AM)odu09 Wrote:  A suggestion that I realize is not ideal: are you guys willing to switch off who "hosts" the tailgate spot, and only have one spot? Or do you need both?

If you can get away with one tailgate spot, then you can still do everything together and you split the yellow garage pass for $25 per group. Every game you determine who the "host" is, aka who gets the tailgate spot. The other group parks in the garage and meets at the tailgate.

Again I realize this is not ideal, but at least you definitely get the same seats together and select your seats earlier. For me personally, having the better seat selection outweighs having a 2nd car in the lot, but that's entirely up to your group.

We have considered that. Also not ideal for us. Groups arrive at different times - we both like to share duties on what is brought. They have stuff that we dont have and vice-versa. Also they have a kid who is in sports so cant always be there right when the lots open. No one wants to park far away and lug stuff to the site just to have to lug it back after the game. To me it's just a non-starter.

Again - same amount of money will be going to the school...don't understand why we can't just make this easy.

Parking is under ODAF's jurisdiction. I don't know the answer to your question so I defer to them. We are losing two of our better tailgating lots due to construction on campus and we are adding 2,000 seats to the stadium so tailgate parking is becoming more of a premium.

(05-09-2019 07:22 PM)JChandler Wrote:  Parking is under ODAF's jurisdiction. I don't know the answer to your question so I defer to them. We are losing two of our better tailgating lots due to construction on campus and we are adding 2,000 seats to the stadium so tailgate parking is becoming more of a premium.

Appreciate the insight - although still disappointing. They aren't telling us we can't have the pass. They are just making us jump through unnecessary hoops to get it.

In an environment like today's where attendance is falling nation-wide (and ODU itself had it's worst attended season in a decade), where the tax bill eliminates incentive to donate, and where the university has raised ticket prices by a fair margin, you would think the school would do whatever it can to make things easier for the people who ARE willing to give.

I know it's not ideal. But if you're tailgating in monarch village, it's right next to the free garage. It wouldn't be that cumbersome for the later arriving parties to drop off stuff at the lot and go park. When we parked there in 2016, that's exactly what we had our friends do.

(05-10-2019 07:59 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  I know it's not ideal. But if you're tailgating in monarch village, it's right next to the free garage. It wouldn't be that cumbersome for the later arriving parties to drop off stuff at the lot and go park. When we parked there in 2016, that's exactly what we had our friends do.

Understood - and we may go that route. The other family is just disappointed and I am frustrated for them.

I had that issue a few years ago. We were all in the green lot. The donation levels changed and the 3 of our 4 groups fell out of range of green but thankfully someone knew someone and some strings were pulled and we could all stay together. But that someone eventually left the area and/or school and said strings went away and we were given the same option. Everyone drops down to the lowest level donor and pick together.

We opted to just pick our seats and hope for the best. Last renewal I did that and picked my seats in a open area around the 10 or 15 yd line and hoped the entire area didn't fill up before the rest of our group got to pick. Now with everyone having kids in sports and other stuff making every game is harder and so we're all just going to get the best seats available to us at the times of our picks and go from there.

Thankfully my firm has a sweet tailgate spot right by the east entrance so I've just resided to attending that and helping out when needed vs trying to do my own tailgate with a 2 year old and 6 year old in tow. It just isn't enjoyable for me working my arse off. That'll all change in a decade. =]