Tailgating Code of Conduct

A long-standing tradition on the American sports-scene has been tailgating which goes back well… before trucks with tailgates.

And once again, long before the kickoff, a wide world of people will gather in parking lots on Saturdays and Sundays, at stadiums all across America not only in anticipation of gridiron greatness, but griddle greatness as well. They’ll be swapping stories of lineups, bowl games and past glories while hoisting a cold one and savoring the smells of what is cooking under the tent.

Unfortunately, some folks will also be looking for trouble.

A Basic American Rite

Tailgating is a tradition that goes far beyond taking its name from the back of a truck.

It is a social event, a core fabric that has sewn together classes sharing in song, food and the performance of their beloved team. The practice has extended to include concerts, NASCAR and soccer events as well.

It has become so popular that some revelers go to the game with no intention of venturing inside. One estimate is that 10,000 people who "attended" the 2010 USC-UCLA game in Pasadena never made into the Rose Bowl.

But with the number of negative incidents growing like what happened at the USC-UCLA game, the CONCACAF Gold Cup soccer final event and a 49er/Raider preseason skirmish in San Francisco, which involved many arrests, new measures have been taken to control the rowdiness, much of it alcohol-fueled.

Typical of stadium operations across the country, the Rose Bowl Operating Board is now implementing new guidelines it has cooked up after months of observations and planning with local law enforcement and industry consultants to provide a safer environment.

"The overwhelming number of people who come to the Rose Bowl for football games, they're here to have a good time and be with their friends and family. There are very few exceptions," said Rose Bowl CEO and General Manager Darryl Dunn, "But people need to understand what is and what isn't expected of them when they come and that's really the purpose of these guidelines."

While the historic Pasadena athletic facility already has a general fan code of conduct it created with home tenant UCLA several years ago, it didn’t include specific tailgating guidelines before.

In a recent Rose Bowl Operating Committee (RBOC) report, the changes are to "provide a safe, family friendly and clean environment for fans to enjoy pre-game tailgating" and includes new regulations on alcohol consumption, public intoxication, fan behavior and tailgating hours.

Typically colleges in conferences across the country are using a combination of local authorities, athletic department officials and game day management to develop code of conduct policies including tailgating activities. The Rose Bowl has added tailgating ambassadors to further supplement the law enforcement officials on patrol.

The Rose Bowl's Approach

Fans and tailgaters are handed a set of printed guidelines as they enter the parking areas at the Rose Bowl. Included is the following:

• Public intoxication and alcohol impaired behavior, as well as fights and threatening behavior, "will be addressed aggressively by law enforcement."

• Restrictions on when and where alcohol may be consumed.

• Prohibition on alcohol consumption by minors.

• Requirement that excessively boisterous fans be reported to security.

• Alcohol consumption at tailgating areas will be prohibited entirely after kick off.

• Tailgating hours have been reduced so that parking lots open six hours prior to game time, rather than eight hours as was the case previously.

In addition to law enforcement officials on hand, tailgating ambassadors -- dressed in green uniforms and riding bicycles -- will patrol the lots to provide information and assistance and ensure that tailgaters comply with the guidelines.

The Next Level

Professional football, a multibillion dollar business, is also keenly aware of the fan’s experience at the game. The policy-making that concerns tailgating, though, is more centralized.

As the NFL’s Director of Strategic Security, Ray Dinunzio is responsible for implementing the league’s fan code of conduct programs which began in 2008.

“(It’s) essentially educating fans really about common sense, reminding them to refrain from unruly behavior that disrupts an individual’s ability to enjoy the game," Dinunzio said. "This could mean drinking to excess, using foul or abusive language, physical threats. We are all about the fan having fun and our measures aim to instill a pleasant experience at the game.“

While policy is made at the league level, each of the 32 NFL teams has a security coordinator responsible for enforcing the league’s policies. The individual team is responsible and evaluated for their compliance of that code and given a complete assessment of any violations.

“We conduct surprise inspection reviews on a random basis at each stadium and after every game there is a detailed report that informs us of the type of incident, what part of the stadium it occurred in and when. We take this and use it to inform our existing policies,” Dinunzio said.

The Fans Speak Out

Another major point of the program is direct feedback from the consumer called Fan Intercept.

The league hires a professional organization to conduct extensive "scientific, psychological surveys" about fan experiences. It registers complaints, asks for areas of improvement and aims to get a better sense from the consumer on how to improve their product.

The NFL also asks fans what they consider to be offensive behavior and conducts fan exit surveys on a random basis for a given team’s home game to "measure how effective that club has been in complying with the league’s fan code of conduct."

A need for the continual updating of these policies is exemplified by the fights in the parking lot at Candlestick Park at a Raiders/49ers 2011 preseason game.

The league has recommended to the 49ers that no tailgating shall begin more than 3 1/2 hours before kickoff and that there shall be no tailgating during the game.

“We believe tailgating is actually good fun, but trouble has emerged from those who have no tickets or plans to attend the game and linger in the parking lots, so we will see if these recommendations are effective and should be applied league-wide,” Dinunzio said.

New Age Monitoring

The tremendous growth of social media has provided policy makers with an assist. New measures include the use of text messaging as a way to improve security.

“We don’t want to diminish the game day experience," Dinunzio said. "A text messaging system, where fans observing out of line behavior can text security before they get out of hand, is something we are trying as well.”

With origins that go back to the roots of the game itself, tailgating has come to be as much a part of the football experience as fumbles and touchdowns, but at times, fans take it a step beyond.

A variety of rule changes may be necessary to prevent it from being a contact sport off the field.