Yet, one of the most impressive tailgating experiences I've ever had was watching you guys come into Ames, rig after rig after rig, for tailgating. In my tailgating notebook (which I usually put on a table for guests to view), I still lead with a photo of the NDSU bus with the painting of a guy hanging out of the window to get a beer from a cooler stored below. That is the gold standard!
Now, enough about tailgating quality, let's get to tailgating quantity. Iowa State has 6545 parking spots on concrete! That
doesn't include the grass lot where most of your cars parked (grrrr), the massive grass lots east and southeast of the stadium, or the city streets. Added together, we must have 15,000 parking spots controlled by the university.
Here is a link to a map:
http://www.parking.iastate.edu/tailgating.
Most of the lots are organized by donor level. Only the S lots near the stadium are assigned by parking spot. The A, B, C, D (RV), G-6, and G-7 lots require a $500 donation minimum plus $100 for the season pass to get in, but are first-come/first-served once in the lots. And now they are closing aisles once they are full so you don't have to worry about traffic coming through. The B-1, B-2, C-1, C-2, G-2, G-3, G-4, and G-5 (and the grass around Hilton where you guys were, grrrrr) are public ($20 to get in, first-come/first-served for spots, $40 for RVs).
Last year, they started an online picking system in which all but the S-lot donors picked lots in order of donation level. Other than using a Flash interface for the picking system, it seems to work pretty well.
Reserve lots open at 7:30am (the day before for RVs) or 6 hours before kickoff whichever is earlier. Public lots open 6 hours before kickoff.
And just to pour fuel on your fire, there is almost no policing of the lots. Occasionally, a cop on a bike rides through, but I have only rarely seen them do any act of enforcement, despite people walking everywhere with alcohol. It is only when someone gets totally wasted and antagonistic that they do anything other than help control traffic for pedestrians to cross the street.
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