Opinion: UNC should consider options to improve tailgating

W ith two night games already in the books, this year’s football season has started well for the UNC fan base.

Night games allow for much longer tailgates and generally create a more exciting vibe for fans. There is room for improvement in UNC’s football game day culture. Creating public tailgating spaces in new areas around campus would bring students and alumni together in a fun, positive atmosphere and generally enhance the game day experience at UNC.

Readers might have seen the cartoon run by The Daily Tar Heel on Wednesday regarding this week’s football opponent, East Carolina University. That banter was reciprocated in ECU’s school newspaper, The East Carolinian. Several lines of their “Pirate Banter,” the ECU equivalent to the Kvetching Board™, targeted UNC.

Despite the cartoon’s condescension, it at least acknowledged ECU’s tailgating prowess. But who says UNC can’t have both? We are only a few improvements away from competing with the tailgate atmosphere at ECU.

Much of the tailgating around UNC’s campus is monopolized by fraternity houses, predominantly because they provide students and parents a safe place to eat and drink together. Other tailgates on the quad and various parking lots are almost completely run by families, often with small children.

This contributes to an air of exclusivity on game day, with many students left with nowhere to go and no place to set up a tailgate.

Hooker Fields are a short walk from the football stadium and provide a nice, even surface to set up tailgates. Parents, students, and alumni would all get to interact in the same space — a rare occurrence for UNC students.

Having alumni interact with students in such a genuine way could benefit the University. Alumni are a great source of private donations — which the University is always happy to accept. Alumni would probably be more likely to donate if they could interact with the students that their donations would benefit.

The greatest downside to this would be the trash and wear and tear on the field — fortunately, Hooker Fields are artificial turf, making clean up much simpler than on natural grass.

The next step in improving the game day experience would be a review of UNC’s campus alcohol policy, which prohibits consumption in open spaces. But since that is a matter of legality, it will not be easily changed or amended.

Therefore, opening Hooker Fields for tailgaters this season would be an easy first step toward creating a better game day experience for UNC students. If UNC creates and advertises the space, the fans will come.