Will Tailgating Be Allowed In 2020?

With the 2020 football season en flux many fans are eager to make plans for the upcoming season. Should the powers at be decide to have the season as planned will there be fans in the stands? If there is or isn't fans in the stands, will the universities allow fans to tailgate? Is it up to the universities or will the SEC make a ruling for the entire conference?

On July 1, Mississippi State's athletic department announced that alumni tailgating would be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“After careful considerations regarding the growing concerns around COVID-19, we’ve made the difficult decision to cancel the Official Alumni Association Tailgate for this fall. This is not a decision we have taken lightly, as this is an incredibly important and exciting event that brings MSU alumni and friends together from near and far. However, our primary concern is always the responsibility we feel toward the health and safety of our Bulldog family. We will continue to explore other ways to engage our loyal alumni community and look forward to resuming our annual in-person event programming once it is safe to do so. Until then, stay safe and Hail State!” Mississippi State announced.

SEC Commissioner, Greg Sankey spoke today on The Dan Patrick Show on the subject saying the topic has come up in conference meetings but the conference has not banned tailgating on campus.

“That’s a – you like, get to the great questions right, that’s why I keep coming back. Believe it or not, I’ve had university presidents and chancellors ask me that very question,” Sankey said. “We have not banned tailgating.

“I think our effort now has been to actually look at our campus policies, so that’s where I spent time this weekend and ask our campus personnel, what are your policies allow? I think our state and local policies will be in play there, and to the extent we have to regulate, whether it’s in-stadium numbers or masking, which has become prevalent, or even outside the stadium, we will if that’s necessary. I’m not sure that’s going to be necessary based on what’s happening at the state and local level.”

Tailgating on the quad prior to games, or in The Grove at Ole Miss and other venues throughout the conference are  iconic and just as much a part of the gameday weekend as the game.

Tailgating on the quad is significant percentage of university revue for gameday weekends, renting tents on the quad offers opportunity for the university to make money and allows fans to catch up with old friends and prepare for the upcoming game.

Ideally the football season starts on time and tailgating is as much a part of the season as it is every other year.