Headlines
Ole Miss Fans React to the New Grove Rules
It is now barely a week until the great Rebel family reunion in the Grove to tailgate for the home game against UT-Martin Skyhawks next Saturday. However, there will be new tailgating rules for the Grove, and one especially stands out: no more reserving a tent spot all Friday.
This rule of the Grove is listed first in Ole Miss Athletics’ “10 Must Knows for Tailgating.” Gone is the tradition of reserving a tent spot all Friday in the Grove. Instead, the Grove will be open to the public until 6:30 p.m., and every person must leave the place for a full hour until they can rush back in to claim their tent spot at 7:30 p.m. Nobody will be able to leave personal items in the Grove as a marker, either.
This egalitarian rule may have made tent-propping opportunities more easily available, but it came as a rude surprise to some longtime tailgaters. This rule, to them, makes it easier for other people to steal their spot – a rudeness equivalent to a fair weather Christian sitting in someone’s unofficial ‘family pew’ at church during Easter service.
Wanda Pearcy, Ridgeland resident whose two daughters have been University of Mississippi students, has learned about the decision this past July from a vendor. Pearcy remarked that Ole Miss seemingly snuck in the information to avoid controversy.
She said, “I feel like this move pushes the fans who don’t have a lot of money out of the game day experience. The tailgate companies will be able to get to spots faster than the others, and if they want your spot, they can have it. There’s a company who staged their stuff right at my spot. There’s no way I could beat them to it if they wanted it. The charge to set up one tent? $250 per game. That’s $750 per month. Regular people don’t have that kind of money. It would seem that Ross Bjork and the University don’t care about that. They care only about the wealthy donors and getting money for the program. I’m very disappointed and, depending on how it goes, may let this be my last year to buy season tickets and tailgate. This decision makes me very angry.”
Some Ole Miss fans see it as an obstruction of an Ole Miss tradition; many have fond memories of waiting in the Grove all day, playing frisbee or finishing up their homework as they lie on blankets that reserve their tent spots.
Taylor Kamnetz, Memphis resident and UM graduate of Meek School of Journalism, said, “I think that entirely shuts down tradition and half of the fun of setting up our tent. It becomes a social thing and adds to the whole Groving experience in a way.”
Evan Maxwell, UM graduate of the School of Business, has sat in the Grove “for 10 hours every home game from 2011 to 2014.” As a veteran of the reserve-a-spot gathering in the Grove, he thinks the new rule won’t alleviate the crowding.
He said, “This is just going to lead to a full-on charge onto the Grove en masse. Which means fights are going to break out about ‘who got there first.’ This already happens under the current system, it’s just easier to tell since people weren’t rushing all at once.”
Maxwell wrote a letter to the Ole Miss Athletics’ feedback page. Soon, he talked for a half hour on the phone with Michael Thompson, the Senior Associate Athletic Director for Ole Miss.
In the phone call they discussed the rule. Thompson explained that Ole Miss was concerned by students and vendors camping out earlier and earlier to mark spots which created issues for landscaping staff as they prepared the Grove for tailgating. The landscaping staff will add new lanes to criss-cross the Grove to reduce the amount of landlocked tents as well as create easier navigation. Hence the Ole Miss Athletics created new Grove rule since the previous rule of opening the Grove at 9 p.m. seemingly created a ‘pay to play’ environment as the vendors had the advantage of being there all day, especially if the vendors, and the students too, were habitually saving uneccessarily large spaces that hindered tent space availability in the Grove.
Thompson said to him, “The Grove is never at full capacity.”
So every Friday before the home games, everyone in the Grove will have to leave with their personal items. Then at 7:30 p.m. the tailgaters will have to teamwork as one runs out to mark spots while another brings tents. Pre-approved vendors who pay a fee to the university may bring their equipment on campus by the Grove or the Circle before 7:30 p.m. so they can set up quickly when the Grove opens. The rule also applies to them; the vendor employees may not be with their equipment at 6:30 p.m. and are only allowed on the Grove when it opens.
Thompson said to Maxwell, “A body in a spot trumps a vendor with a tent. It’s whoever is first.”
He added that one of benefits of the rule is that since vendors are registered with equipment holding spots, their vehicles won’t stall traffic on University Avenue. Due to registration, the vendors are also responsible for any trash its clients leave behind.
Maxwell still anticipates a “huge rush” at 7:30 p.m. with more fights breaking out. He said, “I’m not confident that the university has a good solution to prevent or deal with this. Michael Thompson assured me that this system is to ensure that the Grove never becomes ‘pay to play.’ He was very emphatic on that point, and to me, was very sincere. I really like that they are adding more lanes. Like, a lot more. This makes it so even if I don’t get ‘my spot,’ there are actually ample good spots to go around.”
This new rule will go in effect next Friday. Longtime tailgaters are welcome to share their opnions on this rule change.
Note: the conversation between Evan Maxwell and Michael Thompson is paraphrased.
Callie Daniels Bryant is a senior managing editor at HottyToddy.com. She can be reached at callie.daniels@hottytoddy.com.
| Sat, Aug 31 |  | vs Furman | W, 76-0 |
| Sat, Sep 7 |  | vs Middle Tennessee | W, 52-3 |
| Sat, Sep 14 |  | @ Wake Forest | W, 40-6 |
| Sat, Sep 21 |  | vs Georgia Southern | W, 52-13 |
| Sat, Sep 28 |  | vs Kentucky | L, 20-17 |
| Sat, Oct 5 |  | @ South Carolina | W, 27-3 |
| Sat, Oct 12 |  | vs LSU | L, 29-26 (2 OT) |
| Sat, Oct 26 |  | vs Oklahoma | W, 26-14 |
| Sat, Nov 2 |  | @ Arkansas | W, 63-35 |
| Sat, Nov 16 |  | vs Georgia | W, 28-10 |
| Sat, Nov 23 |  | @ Florida | L, 24-17 |
| Sat, Nov 30 |  | vs Mississippi State | W, 26-14 |
Lara Mansell
August 28, 2015 at 3:47 pm
I do admit that when I worked in Ventress Hall, it was annoying having to walk over blankets and bodies just to get to work on Fridays when there were home games. But now I’m afraid that there will be fights break out and someone will get hurt. Heck, there was even a fight between two women in front of Ventress one time, even when they were allowed to sit there all day! I really hope they have the campus police out in full force on Friday nights.
LK
August 28, 2015 at 3:52 pm
I saw implement a reservation system like a campground. First come, first serve through a website. And charge the companies setting them up as well.
Barb
August 28, 2015 at 4:01 pm
Geez – I’m glad I quit the tailgating thing – it’s way took competitive for me and not enjoyable anymore. I’ll eat downtown or grab a hotdog at the game.
Ryan
August 28, 2015 at 4:01 pm
I agree with a previous poster. It is extremely distracting and inconvenient to faculty, staff and students trying to go to class to have all those people out in the Circle and in the Grove holding spaces. If everyone has to go at the same time, it makes it as fair as possible. Not everyone knows or can pay someone to sit out there all day. On some of the bigger games last year, there were people there at 8 am or earlier!
Ernest
August 28, 2015 at 4:40 pm
I experienced the very last of the car-parking in the Grove and remember thinking at the time it changed to no cars: why isn’t there a better system? It seems like the University landscaping staff could just as easily paint a criss-cross pattern and number each square. Use a lottery system to ensure fairness and let the others go to the Circle or another area. Isn’t there a new tailgating area by the stadium? Anyhow, it seems like a better solution would be in place than “rush the field and see what happens.” This is an institution of higher learning for goodness’ sake.
Jennifer
August 28, 2015 at 4:43 pm
This takes away the fun walking around the grove on “trash can” Friday. To say it’s too distracting for students is nonsense – it’s a Friday. Most students are thinking about the weekend anyway. This is nothing but another opportunity for the Big Money tailgaters to take precedence over everyone else through vendors.
Ole Miss seems to care more about donations than tradition.
Judy Daniel
August 28, 2015 at 4:45 pm
Looks like there will be opportunities for members of the track team sprinters to earn a bit of cash.
Gerry Hicks
August 28, 2015 at 4:46 pm
Great rule change! Good work Ole Miss!
Tommy
August 28, 2015 at 4:47 pm
Ole Miss is known nationwide as one of the best places to Tailgate. Leave it to the school to fix that. I guess soon it will be a tailgate party like anyone else’s. WPS
Claudia
August 28, 2015 at 4:56 pm
Seems that the companies will still have the advantage!!! We have always paid a student to save our ‘spot’ & the companies STILL come and try to bully their way over our spot. Hope UPD is prepared for the mass chaos that will happen the first Friday night. And for our group, students set up two sites… Now what to do? A ‘spotter’ won’t be able to fend off an area filled with ‘company’ people until our students arrive.
Pam
August 28, 2015 at 4:57 pm
We have been tailgating since 2008. Just add this to the list of things to be taken away from fans. Saving a spot has always been an enjoyable atmosphere of socializing but I see this rule as a way for people to get hurt because EVERYONE will be Running. People will get trampled. But as it always seems “money always wins”. Whoever came up with this idea needs to be reeducated. I can’t wait to see the next new rule once you realize your mistake when you see mass chaos. This is ridiculous.
FWT
August 28, 2015 at 5:06 pm
The parking was a huge issue over the past few years, now this?? Money-driven all the way. What jack-leg is making these rules up?? This is the first time in 15 years I chose not to buy season tickets. It looks like I made a good decision.
Christine
August 28, 2015 at 5:09 pm
This is our student’s first year at Ole Miss. We have friends who have gone to the Grove for years but we have never been there ourselves. Hubby and I are thinking about visiting campus around 7:00 pm and setting up lawn chairs near Lamar or Triplett just to watch the race!
Frances
August 28, 2015 at 5:45 pm
Once more time we try to fix something that’s not broken. I predict mass chaos next Friday. And how can the tents sitters be a distraction to students and faculty? They aren’t sitting on the sidewalks –
frank ferguson
August 28, 2015 at 6:26 pm
Hey, I have been going to the Grove since 1960’s. I understand about the cars. I solved the problem by watching it on TV. Better seats, colder beer and a frig full of good food. I can nap if it gets out of hand. GO REBS!!!!!
J Tatum
August 28, 2015 at 6:35 pm
Soon there will be renting tent spaces , tried before but there was too much negative reaction/
just wait the bureaucrats will kill the Grove for the greed of $
Victor
August 28, 2015 at 6:46 pm
Once again, some people can’t well enough alone. Our group has been together for 15 years in same spot along with another group. We are like family. Just a matter of time until we have to pay for a place to tailgate in the grove.
Anonymous
August 28, 2015 at 7:34 pm
If you all stop going it will only take one game before the old rules are back in play
Andy
August 28, 2015 at 8:10 pm
The only problem I have with this is vendors will be able to leave their client’s stuff “by” the grove or circle, for a price. I can guarantee u tents will be “hidden” in spots for quick access. You cannot expect the average Joe to fork out hundreds of dollars just to get a chance at a good spot. Make the vendors wait with their tents off site just like everyone else. It is all equal and fair then. This mandate from the university obviously favors the richer alumni. Great plan. Way to cause divisikn.
Andy
August 28, 2015 at 10:07 pm
I went to Ole Miss and Baylor and the way Baylor does it now with the new stadium on the Brazos is they have a lottery for spots and groups pitch in and pay for it, each spot has their own electrical hook up and it works great, I know you can’t stick a bunch of electrical boxes in the grove but the lottery system works great, there’s no fighting over spots you just show up whenever you want, night before or day of and go to your numbered tailgate spot and that’s it, no fuss about it. Although I did like the sit and wait tradition, much of my pledgeship consisted of me and a few of my pledge brothers sitting out there all night in the spot and just hanging out getting to know each other better. Have a bunch of great memories from those nights. We will see how this goes, I think someone will get hurt eventually and it will be changed fairly quick. Hotty Toddy
Skip Wiley
August 28, 2015 at 10:44 pm
Not being able to park a car in the Grove was going to kill tailgating. Some change after that was going to stifle the family atmosphere in the Grove. Yet, still another change was going to drive people away. The mere mention of enforcing existing rules on alcohol possession in the Grove was decried as sacrelige. After all of that, I’m how did tailgating in the Grove ever survive? It such fun until the school killed it.
Mary Lu Duffy
August 28, 2015 at 11:44 pm
Either a reservation system or lottery is going to have to be set up. Numbering spots will be a must. Sparky would have already figured that out and had it done by now.
Dixie Leigh
August 29, 2015 at 6:33 am
Ole Miss fans and alums are known for excellent manners and hospitality.The “new rules” will require the exercising of same. I have faith that as always the Ole Miss family will meet the challenge with graciousness and class to ensure that EVERYONE continues to enjoy the Grove experience. Hotty Toddy!
What????
August 29, 2015 at 8:44 am
It sounds as if this all money driven. Well, one injury and all the money is gone. Sounds like an expensive lawsuit is on the horizon. There might be a better way but this is not it!
JT
August 29, 2015 at 9:12 am
The grove usually wreaks of a combination of bourbon, puke, and bbq by mid day; and by the end of the day it’s a drunken party in a pile of trash. I’ll take one of our fine dining options over that mess any day.
Pam
August 29, 2015 at 9:14 am
I’m disappointed that Ole Miss has chosen to thane this action. Over the last several years I have watched many traditions be taken away from the students and Alumni at Ole Miss and it makes me sad. There has to be a better solution. Many families have been tailgating in the same spot in the Grove for many years, watching their children and grandchildren play there, and now to change all that!! University Police better be prepared to be in full force because with the rush, so,done will most certainly get hurt. Someone has to come up with a better solution!!!!
Anonymous
August 29, 2015 at 9:38 am
I expect nothing but trouble from this change. There will be much conflict (if not actual fistfights) over who gained control over a tent site. One other headache I haven’t seen mentioned so far is the increased difficulty of finding friends on game day due to their not being able to get their regular spot. Our group has been tailgating in The Grove since 2001. For the last six or seven years, we have been in the same spot. We are known for being there and I have fraternity brothers from decades ago visit every game. People from our home town drop by because they know they can find us at our normal spot. Sometime during the day, I do a “walk-about” to visit a half dozen tent sites containing friends of mine. If everyone is scattered all over the place because they couldn’t hold their regular spot, it will be immensly more difficult for friends to find one another and and another aspect of what makes The Grove special will be diminished.
Jeff
August 29, 2015 at 10:47 am
I think this is a good idea. Any of you who are complaining have had someone to pay to sit out in the grove all day or have jobs that allow you to take more vacation days than the rest of us. Some of us live out of state and actually have jobs that don’t let us off every Friday off football season and would like the chance to set up our tailgate like the rest of you.
I have been setting up tailgates of my friends and my own since 2002. I even remember setting up for the LSU game in 2003 (which was bigger than any game we have had since). I have never had issues with being on campus when the grove opens and dragging my tents out to set up. The first time the saving spots thing became popular was Texas game three seasons ago. I remember the entire grove was “saved” by students who skipped class to reserve sports. I had never seen that type of attitude before and it was the first time i had a tent company threaten me to my face if i didn’t move. I don’t know what kind of “tradition” sitting out there all day is other than the tradition of making tailgating 100 times more difficult for the rest of us who don’t have kids in school or know someone to pay off to skip class. For anyone that claims that you have been doing for a long time it is either lying or they fought over one or two spots in the grove. Now it is literally the entire freaking grove and you cant even get in from students saving spots.
In case most of you don’t realize, it’s the tent companies that are paying the majority of students to sit out there all day because they want to be able to promise to prospective clients that they can guarantee them any spot they choose. Most people i know that gave up on setting their own tailgate up went to the tent companies ONLY because of the last few years when it got to be so hard to set up due to people savings spots from Thursday night. If you hate the tent companies like I do, then this is a much better option.
Someone mentioned it earlier but the main point is to be respectful to each other. Anytime someone has set up near our space we wiggled things around until they could fit in. If everyone gets along and stops treating the grove like a series of sovereign borders worth going to war over, the better off we will all be and the better our tailgate experience will be for everyone. They key word is EVERYONE, not just the rich, the tent companies, the students or the families that can pay someone to save spaces. If you are one of the people crying about this, you are in one of those previously mentioned categories and you are just mad that you are losing your advantage over the rest of us.
B
August 29, 2015 at 11:28 am
Watch what is next. Marked spots that go for $10 grand each, after you join a loyalty foundation for $25 grand. Big money always rules. Follow the parking sticker procedure. But don’t worry, after a losing season things will go back to normal. They will beg you just to come homecoming.
Catherine Garrett
August 29, 2015 at 11:42 am
We started tailgating in the nineties during the time when they dropped the chains in the Grove at around 5am. That’s when the mad dash for spots took place. I remember it being me and several dozen men running with coolers and chairs in our arms and them asking me where my husband was. I told them he was at home in bed and would show up later with the kids. I was told what a “good woman” I was. Heck, I was just having fun. Here we are in 2015, still tailgating and my husband and sons do all the work. Still having fun.
Kimberly
August 29, 2015 at 1:20 pm
Keep taking all of the things that make Ole Miss so great, people will eventually stop coming. See what that does for your funding.
J. Fuller
August 29, 2015 at 1:28 pm
Is there anyone older than 22 here?
Waiting in the Grove all day Friday is not a tradition. My last fall as a student was 2010, and that was not allowed then. In fact, when I started at Ole Miss in 2007, the Grove didn’t open until midnight Saturday morning. The “tradition” then was the midnight rush into the Grove carrying your chairs and/or tent to claim your spot. And all the tailgate companies hired runners for when it opened. While I was a student, they moved the opening from midnight to something like 6 or 7 p.m.
So all this reminiscing about playing frisbee in the Grove all day is clearly done by people too young to remember when Colonel Reb roamed the sideline. So acting like this is a tradition is just looking for a reason to complain.
James
August 29, 2015 at 2:01 pm
Holding a spot for my fraternity or personal tent has been something I’ve enjoyed doing since 2008. And was an established thing we did for years. Not sure where the idea that this is a recent addition comes from. Also, tent companies are the worst addition to our tailgating environment. More than a few times I’ve had to throw some State fan working for a tent company out of our spot. But, I’ll just dole out cash and pay a company until this ridiculous policy gets changed.
Fred
August 29, 2015 at 4:42 pm
The Neshoba County Fair CHAIR RACES have arrived in Oxford. Veteran Fair goers will understand this….
Clifferd
August 29, 2015 at 5:09 pm
C’mon folks! Everyone knows that the “new” Ole Miss isn’t entitled to traditions anymore! The old way of filling the Grove might somehow be viewed as “unfair” to some people, and we know the administration simply won’t stand for that possible appearance…….just think what that might do to recruiting!
katie
August 29, 2015 at 7:38 pm
People who are claiming sitting in the grove is a tradition obviously haven’t been tailgating very long. That’s only been a thing since 2011, or whenever that ridiculously crowded Texas game was – that’s NOT a tradition, but I guess people have short memories. It’s obnoxious and most people sitting out there are sitting there for annoying tent companies that think they’re entitled to whatever spot they want. I am glad the university is doing this. It’s the only way to make things fair for everyone.
Baconysoap
August 30, 2015 at 3:32 am
Yeah this is really dumb. Even with the old system where people actually had spots set up early and throughout the day, there were fights over territory. If you remove everyone and make them charge all at once, the only outcome you will find is a higher percentage of fans fighting over spots. No matter how many campus police are present, they can’t cover the entirety of the grove, which will be instantly swarmed with as many people as would normally arrive over the course of the day. If you want this to be a solution, you better be ready to deal with the bloody repercussions of it. #hottytoddy
Don Drane
August 30, 2015 at 6:11 am
Wow! Just so long as they don’t outlaw Crockpot-Possum in the Grove on game day, all should be well. I’ll be on the perimeter in a lime green 1967 Ford Pickup selling iced-down possum, armadillo and coon. I made almost twelve thousand bucks last year in my spot and hope to increase that this season. Go Bears!
Michael Shea
September 4, 2015 at 6:26 pm
THIS IS ALL OBAMA’S FAULT!!!!
Marty Cain
September 4, 2015 at 7:41 pm
Now we really are the kids of the black hole.