According to KSR UKAA is looking at taking all the greenspace at Kroger Field next year and charging for tailgate spots and reserving more space for corporate tailgates.....pony up tailgaters!!
Pony Up Tailgaters!!!
- Thread starter flyingkat
- Start date
The way UK is playing there won’t be any fans there.
Long overdue . When I tailgated for forty years I would have loved to have a paid for reserved space for my tent . Good idea and very fair way to raise money from those who benefit from the space .
For better or worse, College Football is fully monetized, soon to include profit sharing of 20% of revenue with athletes. In reality, success has long been at least loosely connected to profitability.
But that profitability allowed for massive contracts for coaches, gold-plating athletic facilities, and in a few instances, at select schools, the actual funding of academic facilities such as UK’s Young Library.
Those days are suddenly and irretrievably gone.
Look for coaches salaries to increase in small increments compared to the last 45 years, the end of construction of lavish dorms and practice facilities, and the end of any cash flow toward academic causes.
We are in an era of battle directly based on dollars in every respect, and can’t bring a water gun to the fight.
And we need to fight the battle with both the very large and the very small . . . large donors have traditionally benefitted UK and most “Old State U’s.” They will in the future.
But on the smaller scale, we need to aggressively seek opportunities for “ponying up,” without excessive pain. We need an enterprising capitalist or two to establish the business models that directly benefit NIL. How about Blue caps with a favored player’s number emblazoned, with the word “Kentucky” also noticeable . . . hence free of a direct object that must be marketed by UK. And how about stores in malls and medium sized cities with “NIL” directly in their name/title, to allow hundreds of thousands to slightly amend their shopping habits to the benefit the cause?
Kentucky Blue Lite is a hit, my local stores/bars struggling to get their hands on it, but does not advertise UK by name. That effort is a good source of how it can be done: UK and their corporate partners do not own the color blue, the name of the state, or a player’s Name, Image, Likeness or jersey number.
We are a comparatively small state, and hardly the wealthiest. But cumulative, incremental spending can produce huge results. I know of a local community (750 people) where a small convenience store pays $4,000.00 every three months to the city for a 5% tax on the sale of beer . . . meaning that small store is selling $80,000.00 per quarter in beer. And this small community is surrounded by other small towns, all of whom have gone wet the last ten years, and is dominated by the Southern Baptist Churches, with a local Catholic population of less than 3%. (I’m not picking on Catholics, I admire their lack of hypocrisy and I am a rural charismatic Christian by Faith, Grace and tradition).
I had NO IDEA, how much beer was consumed in rural Kentucky.
If Kentucky Blue Light could capture 5 percent of Kentucky’s massive beer consumption, that alone would fund half of NIL at UK.
But that profitability allowed for massive contracts for coaches, gold-plating athletic facilities, and in a few instances, at select schools, the actual funding of academic facilities such as UK’s Young Library.
Those days are suddenly and irretrievably gone.
Look for coaches salaries to increase in small increments compared to the last 45 years, the end of construction of lavish dorms and practice facilities, and the end of any cash flow toward academic causes.
We are in an era of battle directly based on dollars in every respect, and can’t bring a water gun to the fight.
And we need to fight the battle with both the very large and the very small . . . large donors have traditionally benefitted UK and most “Old State U’s.” They will in the future.
But on the smaller scale, we need to aggressively seek opportunities for “ponying up,” without excessive pain. We need an enterprising capitalist or two to establish the business models that directly benefit NIL. How about Blue caps with a favored player’s number emblazoned, with the word “Kentucky” also noticeable . . . hence free of a direct object that must be marketed by UK. And how about stores in malls and medium sized cities with “NIL” directly in their name/title, to allow hundreds of thousands to slightly amend their shopping habits to the benefit the cause?
Kentucky Blue Lite is a hit, my local stores/bars struggling to get their hands on it, but does not advertise UK by name. That effort is a good source of how it can be done: UK and their corporate partners do not own the color blue, the name of the state, or a player’s Name, Image, Likeness or jersey number.
We are a comparatively small state, and hardly the wealthiest. But cumulative, incremental spending can produce huge results. I know of a local community (750 people) where a small convenience store pays $4,000.00 every three months to the city for a 5% tax on the sale of beer . . . meaning that small store is selling $80,000.00 per quarter in beer. And this small community is surrounded by other small towns, all of whom have gone wet the last ten years, and is dominated by the Southern Baptist Churches, with a local Catholic population of less than 3%. (I’m not picking on Catholics, I admire their lack of hypocrisy and I am a rural charismatic Christian by Faith, Grace and tradition).
I had NO IDEA, how much beer was consumed in rural Kentucky.
If Kentucky Blue Light could capture 5 percent of Kentucky’s massive beer consumption, that alone would fund half of NIL at UK.
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Yeah. This will hurt Lexington businesses, but UK has never cared about them anyway.
Won't affect me or those I know. Most have stopped tailgating at UK games. They only do that at road games or do their tailgates at people's houses. Kids and adults all have more fun that way. Some miss the games still. Most don't since they stopped going.
I passed on the game and a tailgate this weekend. Didn't think we'd play well. Stayed home and enjoyed time with family. Glad I gave up my season tickets when I did. All of our donations to the program are at an end.
To your point @The-Hack
Me and some business associates had a business idea and they pitched a co-branded product to UK people decades ago as a way to generate revenue for the ath dept. Frankly, they were rude, condescending, and dismissive. They haven't donated a dime since.
UK couldn't be bothered to help local businesses for the 30 yrs I've been here. They'll have a rough row to hoe if they don't find big corporate sponsors for everything, and then they're a little fish in a big pond compared to other SEC football programs.
Won't affect me or those I know. Most have stopped tailgating at UK games. They only do that at road games or do their tailgates at people's houses. Kids and adults all have more fun that way. Some miss the games still. Most don't since they stopped going.
I passed on the game and a tailgate this weekend. Didn't think we'd play well. Stayed home and enjoyed time with family. Glad I gave up my season tickets when I did. All of our donations to the program are at an end.
To your point @The-Hack
Me and some business associates had a business idea and they pitched a co-branded product to UK people decades ago as a way to generate revenue for the ath dept. Frankly, they were rude, condescending, and dismissive. They haven't donated a dime since.
UK couldn't be bothered to help local businesses for the 30 yrs I've been here. They'll have a rough row to hoe if they don't find big corporate sponsors for everything, and then they're a little fish in a big pond compared to other SEC football programs.
How about NIL Bingo or open up a NIL casino and start recruiting at the grade school level. Be bold or go away.
That might be hyperbole, but your suggestions are no more outrageous than some actual NIL activities.
Hell, stain rolling papers Blue and for 5% to UK NIL, fire up, for all I care.
Your grade school remark sounds outrageous, but I wonder how old the three All-Americans from Texas who were "placed" at Somerset High School, prior to their Title winning days at Centre were when initially recruited/bought by Centre boosters.
That was now more than a Century ago, but NIL is hardly a new reality, for those that really "cared."
Not when they are talking about $1000 per game which is the number that has been thrown around
If they are talking about a grand a game they are intoxicated with their own importance and the lots will not sell . Should be a couple if hundred a game or a grand for the season
Mmmmm.
I foresee lots of empty space.
Surely, a grand a season!!
But, if $1,000.00 per game, they only have to sell 1/8th as many slots . . . .
These ought to be graduated, based upon quality, distance to the stadium, etc.
Say, spaces in the arboretum furthest from the stadium and other spaces South of Alumni are the cheap slots. If you are in the shadows of the stadium, each license is good for 2 or 3 parking slots, and maybe some pay 8 grand a year?!?!
The owners of all closely related private parking areas should licking their chops . . . that $30.00 parking slot might just hit $100.00 next season!
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The athletic budget is 166 million dollars. The money they raise with this will be a drop in the bucket. I don't see how chasing off tailgaters is worth it. Even if you don't participate, it adds to atmosphere of GameDay. It's that intangible thing mbas don't put a dollar on, and hurts in the long run.
Mitch Barnharts signature has been he doesn't give a shit about the fan experience.
You are 100 percent right about it adding to the game experience . I have tailgated at both Clemson and Alabama . They all have the same tents for a mile it seems . Really really adds to the atmosphere
For 10 years my group used to tailgate in the green spaces in the Blue lot, out between the lot and Alumni. When they renovated the stadium in 2015, those green spaces disappeared and we lost our Blue lot passes and seats when they reticketed everyone. So we ended up on the other side of the stadium in the Green lot and started tailgating in the grass by BCTC. We've gotten to know everyone that tailgates around us and it's become a great atmosphere on gameday with 6 tailgates basically becoming 1 large one. If they take those spots away from us, we'll probably just stop tailgating, as sad as that makes me to say.
We tailgate in that same area close to the student entrance with a bunch of friends from our college days back in the 90s. We are next to the Kattus family and have become friends with them as well as others around us. My buddy has been tailgating there for years. I just started doing it last season with him when another buddy of mine got season football tickets. I have season basketball tickets and we basically trade ticket for ticket. I really hope we aren't forced to find another spot.
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