I have not tailgated at Ford field, only the silverdome. The silverdome parking lot was just one huge lot, so in that sense I feel it was easier to walk around and mingle if you wanted to.
I cannot speak from experience at FF but every time I’ve gone to a game there we always parked a ways away and walked. So we would come across tailgates but it wasn’t centralized like it was at the silverdome. But I might have just been walking through the wrong places.
My dad and I would always park at Lindell AC (I think that was the name) and take a nice long walk to the stadium. Back when we had season tickets and he could walk long distances…
Anyway, maybe that’s the difference from Detroit and Pontiac, not so centralized tailgating but a lot of it scattered about.
I’ve only been to 1 game at Ford Field but this was my experience as well. Parking garages and little parking pockets here and there. Ironically they could throw the ultimate tailgate party at Comerica Park across the street if they really wanted to.
I don’t have alot of tailgate experience but I can say some of the ones I’ve been to were good tailgating conditions. The tailgate parties in Louisiana around the stadium were not even on asphalt/concrete. The stadium was built with row after row after row of low cut grass to park and tailgate in. And there were bathroom facilities built for the tailgaters to go pee in around the tailgating area. They took it seriously.
I’m assuming you’re speaking on the college. I have been to many college stadiums on the west coast where the set up is very similar to what you describe. Pro sports tailgating cannot come anywhere close to college game tailgating… There is something very cool about 19 and 20 year olds slapping fives, drinking beers, and bbqing with silver haired alumni. I think the universities go the extra mile to make sure the outside of the stadiums are as conducive to that as possible, it’s good for business.
For the record, I drove to a soul food restaurant tonight because of this. That’s how good it sounded. I just replaced the chicken with ox tails.
Thanks for the push in that direction.
My tailgate experiences have been with adults, even when they were at colleges. You just made me realize that. I’ve always found myself in areas that most college kids can’t afford to get into.
Random story. We went with some new friends to the Michigan/Michigan State game in Ann Arbor. I am MSU alumni but I don’t want that thunder. I also considered it bad form to show up decked out in green when the people we were hanging out with were UM season ticket holders…they had us in a UM tailgating section right next to the stadium across from Pioneer…and they gave us tickets in the 4th row in a UM section. I wore honolulu blue and my Lions hat. That was back in the Chad Henne days. It was funny watching ESPN highlights of that game and seeing a sea of yellow and then there’s some dude wearing honolulu blue near the front row of the crowd. That was me!!!
Yeahhh, but you still thought about pulling that Sparty green gear off the hanger more than a couple times before you got dressed. Say you didn’t! Hahaha. The business choice though, I respect that.
The issue isn’t the dome, it’s the locale. A stadium in the middle of city, next to another large stadium (Tigers). Basically, you have to find parking at whatever city street, parking garage or parking lot you can find. With the entire fanbase being so scattered, it’s probably led to better gatherings at establishments that will bus you over to the field and back.
By contrast, the Texans stadium is in a literal sea of parking spaces. There are so many that parking outside of stadium property would have you so far away you would want a ride to the stadium’s doors. The tailgating area is in the parking spaces closest to the stadium. You see everything there, from Prevosts with their TV’s going to simple canopies that provide a bit of shade.
Roger that. Except for the LA Colleseum, wide open parking lots are all I am used to, so I just assumed most stadiums were similar. I can definitely see where sporadic ponds of parking would completey kill the constant flow of people necessary to make tailgating its best. Thanks for letting me know. I’ll make it there one day…soon!
Detroit’s downtown is really small. They could have easily built a stadium a couple miles out of downtown still in Detroit proper and found the room to have that huge parking lot that a lot of stadiums have surrounding them. The Vikings stadium in Minneapolis is similar, right in DT and there is literally less tailgating space than in Detroit. I go the the game in Minnesota every year, and I don’t even bother tailgating before, just head to a bar.
Here’s an overhead shot of what they are talking about. And when we say the Tiger’s play right across the street, we mean literally right across the street.
I never realized Comerica was that close to FF. Yeah, it definitely looks like they shoved both of them in there without lube. There are many people I have trouble relating to when it comes to thought process, civil engineers are usually near the top of that list.
I have never been, but just hearing that place on TV has made it one of few stadiums I would absolutely love to take in a game at. That place gets Richter scale crazy!!
Tailgated at a Royals game many years ago. When I was stationed at Scott AFB near St. Louis 2 friends of mine were Yankee fans. We bought a keg of beer, loaded it in the back seat and took off to KC. That was one long and drunk weekend.
I’ll say this, though … it’s way easier to leave a Tigers or Lions game than it was in their previous stadiums. Because you aren’t funneled to a particular street or out of particular large parking lot exits, you can go whichever way works best of you, from like a half-dozen choices.
