Texans tailgating fee

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=193515

Most people I spoke to yesterday were very happy about the changes. Of course these were the season ticket holders that have been inconvenienced the most.

Astroworld lot was open to tailgating. Not sure how it went over there.

If someone charges you to come into their "station" and are caught they are subject to removal from the property after an initial warning. Tip jars are not allowed either. If they are seen they are asked to remove them.

 

We tailgated, it wasn't a big deal.

The ticket checks are very cursory, no real hold ups.

Pedestrians are forced to enter through controlled gates, but that was only a slight inconvenience.

 

My beef with the policy is that you have to get your tailgate pass from a season ticket holder.

They should be open to purchase for the public, IMO.

Giving season ticket holders that much power over who can come tailgate is kinda bunk.

 

Being a season ticket holder, I was kind of on the fence about this before it all went down.

This season it was becoming apparent that the Houston Texans were getting greedy and letting way too many cars into the parking lots.
Especially the Blue Lot and surrounding areas. I was somewhat shocked that people began parking at Astro World and even way down 610 just to be near the Blue lot.
I had no gripes about the crowd, but it did appear the Houston Texans were trying to jam as many people into the lots that would pay to park in them. So don't let them fool you with that little white lie that they did not make any money off these people who technically were not attending the game (yet paid to park in the lots). Being an event coordinator, I know the bigger the crowd, the more need for security. I saw a massive increase in the crowd, and virtually no increase in security. It was a problem waiting to happen.

Still without fuss, I made the extra effort to leave the house early so I could avoid traffic, park, maybe even visit my friends tailgate if we had time, and finally get inside to visit the snack bar and get to my seats just in time for kick off.

Upon leaving the Cowboys game, I witnessed one of the fights. I'm not sure if it was the one on Youtube or not, but I can tell you that it was taken care of quickly by Officers on horseback who stampeded through the crowd. Thankfully not injuring anyone else in the process. I think that the Texans received a huge wake up call of how quickly things can go wrong when tens and thousands of their fans had to do that walk of shame home with thousands of Cowboys fans taunting them. They had a knee jerk reaction to do something about it, and over did it. Possibly shooting themselves in the foot. BIG TIME!

When I showed up to the Giants game yesterday, there were still quite a bit of cars there, but the place was like a ghost town. After several years of hard work, the Cowboys game had an atmosphere that I havent seen in decades! And all that was wiped out instantly. Even inside of the stadium it was deflated. A sell out crowd but you could definitely tell the difference that the fans were not as wired up as usual. However, once Cushing was introduced and rejoined the Defense for two great series on the field it made up for a lot of it. But then the timid crowd was quickly taken out of the game when the Giants went up 21-0.

To me the Texans made a big mistake banning tailgating and turning their back on the average joe. It's hard to earn that kind of grass roots fan support, and once you turn your back on them, its not going to return overnight. They may have been trying to take care of their corporate fans, but being Rockets fans we know all too well those are the most fair weathered fans, and although they buy season tickets, losing games equals a lot of empty seats. And empty seats doesnt look good on television to the average joe and your corporate audience.

To me they should have just upped security for the rest of this season (six more games). And then come back next season with a new well thought out tail gating policy instead of just shutting the entire thing down. I would have advised them to charge tailgaters a small fee, to cover any cost of upped security, but put some official big screen viewing areas on each end of the stadium, maybe some public games, food, music, and entertainment (kind of like the Rodeo), and make tail gating more of an official Texans event.

I think the Texans are going to really regret this decision.

Btw,
I saw the banned freeloaders that relocated to the Astro World ruins. What a pathetic and laughable scene. I hope the world never sees that as how we treat our fans.

 

I'm also a season ticket holder and I pretty much shared your thoughts/game experience, entirely. When I heard the new policy the first thought I had was there goes our #1 tailgating city title, but I didn't have my ticket checked once, it didn't seem like they were in forcing the rule.

 

I'm a season ticket holder. I went to the game on Sunday and I still saw a lot of people tailgaiting. Not as much as the Cowboys game, but that was a hyped up game. Most of the people I saw there were more confined to their alotted space too, not taking up multiple spots.

I didn't look across 610 to see the non-ticket tailgate section. But I do know it was much easier getting into the stadium and parking than it has been before, even excluding the Cowboys game.

I don't have a problem with this rule, except that I think they shouldn't have done it mid-season since so many people just have "parking season passes".

Plus, I still say if they enforced the rule "one pass - one spot" you wouldnt need this new rule.

 

I hate when people say the banned tailgating. No they didn't.

Also, it seems like the biggest impact of this is to stop the people were walking into the parking lot to tailgate.

 

The tailgate wasn't as fun without as many people there. The atmosphere was definitely different. As a season- ticket holder, it never bothered me that there were extra people there.

The extra people didn't stop me from getting to the tailgate on time, and they never bothered our tailgate.

Also, it sucks that you cannot buy a tailgate pass until 10am. We usually get there around 9:15- 9:30, and one of my friends had to wait.

Anyways, there seem to be easy ways to get around this policy. First, they don't check people;s tickets if they are in a car. Secondly, they don't scan your ticket. Just print out extra copies of your ticket, and you should be able to get extra people in.

 

I walk into the parking lot to tailgate. I have season tickets but no parking pass.

 

Tailgate only tickets aren't going to be for sale the day of the game. They did have some on hand for the NY game and probably for the KC game since this is a new policy and some people live under a rock.

I think at some gates they weren't asking every car that came in if they had game tickets. The Tailgate Ambassadors with the assistance of an officer did do a sweep of the major tailgate areas starting at 12:30 for anyone still in the parking lots.

 

They way they played Sunday you should have been paid to come. In fact, you deserved free parking, free tailgating, and free food. A voucher for free counseling should have been included.

 

So what's your point? Are you arguing that you should be able to use parking space to tailgate without paying for a pass?

 

I'm saying that's not the reason for the rule. I meet up at a friend's tailgate. Not everyone who has a season ticket will have a parking pass.

 

Oh ok. I was just going by the stories that they weren't really checking cars as they came in but were cracking down on pedestrians.

 

I absolutely love how some people simply ignore the basic. Where are the tailgates? The stadium parking lot. That's right, the place designated for people to park when they are going to the damned game.

People insist on acting like these are tailgate areas where they happen to let people park. Wrong.

 

correct me if i'm wrong but isn't the youtube video of TEXANS FANS fighting other TEXANS FANS? i hate the Cowboys fans as much as the next guy but it would be irresponsible of us not to own up to own dumbassery.

 

They really didn't check for my ticket when I drove in, and I'm sure they would let you in if you said someone else was holding your ticket. The Texans just stating that they won't let people in without a ticket will keep many from even coming up there.

 

why do you blame the cowboys fans in houston for this?

in the youtube vid, the fight is Texans fans against texans fans, you dont see any cowboys fans provoking texans fans (at least in the youtube vid I saw).