Not to come off as snobby but it takes quite a bit to make us say, “oh, I didn’t know that” when it comes to the topic of tailgating and the tailgate party lifestyle. We recently read a blog post on OnlineColleges.net that taught us a few things that we did not know about tailgating. You can read their entire post entitled 25 Facts You Never Knew About Tailgating and see if they discovered some things you didn’t know either.
A handful of items that struck us as odd or did not seem quite right were:
Americans spend over $35 billion on food, beverages, and supplies for tailgating each year.
Tailgating isn’t just fun and games for companies selling supplies and food products. It’s also a serious source of revenue and a multi-billion dollar industry that hasn’t shown signs of slowing down even in the face of the recession — especially when it comes to college games.
Honestly, where do you come up with $35 billion? How can you quantify that a particular food item purchased at a store was brought to a tailgating parking lot? Is there someone at the door checking bags as they leave and asking for a breakdown of how many hamburger buns in the bag are going tailgating and how many will be consumed in the week leading up to the game? Since most anything and everything you can buy in a grocery store has a tailgating application, it is hard to narrow down a specific dollar figure as to how much is spent on tailgating. I found this number to be a bit questionable and was wondering where they got this figure from.
Each year between 20 and 50 million Americans tailgate in a stadium parking lot.
That’s a whole lot of tailgaters! The American Tailgater Association estimates that at least 20 million headed out for tailgating in 2006, with other studies suggesting that the real figures may actually be much higher.
I am not questioning that there are a lot of people tailgating out there. Believe me, I know. I am just questioning where did they get the number of 20 to 50 million? Did they just add up all the parking spaces in and around stadium parking lots, add up the number of events held in a year and assume that every space was filled? Don’t you think by using that method season ticket holding tailgaters who show up to every game would be counted six or seven times depending on how many home games they attended? With estimates of the population of the United States being above 300 million, are you saying that 1/6 of the population attended a tailgate party? That seems a bit high to me.
Despite my snooty eyebrow raising as to where they got some of their “facts” it is an interesting list. I know there is some debate as to the exact date and to whom we should credit for being the first tailgater in history but this list does a great job at giving a brief run down on all the scenarios. If you get a chance, check out the list and form your own opinion.
OnlineColleges.Net: 25 Facts You Never Knew About Tailgating