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Bucs Tailgaters Boo HCC Parking Lot Change

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By RICH SHOPES

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 22, 2008

TAMPA - Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans who tailgate at Hillsborough Community College are upset about a move they say has tossed a wet towel on their pre-game parties.

To better control the masses who barbecue and down beers gathered around satellite TVs at the HCC parking lot, the Tampa Sports Authority decided to move the tailgaters east to a smaller parking area. The move took effect the first preseason game.

The lot there, though, is too confined for tailgating, which means tailgating is out unless the fans tote their barbecues, lawn chairs, tables, TVs, tents and coolers back to the old spot 200 yards away.

"I've never seen a situation where you couldn't tailgate where you parked," said Stephen Booth of Port Richey, a season-ticket holder since before the Bucs occupied Raymond James Stadium in 1998.

Booth said the move is a blatant attempt to stop tailgating at the college and leaves him only two options: Stop paying the authority $25 a game to park at HCC and find a private lot that will abide tailgating or give up going to the games altogether.

"Tailgating is part of the whole experience. We at HCC are being denied that," he said.

Ed Opala of Westchase, another HCC tailgater, isn't ready to give up his tickets just yet; in a worst-case scenario, he said, he'll move to a private lot.

"We don't have any option. It's not like we can go to another section," he said. "They're certainly not treating us like we're charter season-ticket holders."

Sports authority spokeswoman Barbara Casey said the move wasn't intended to quash tailgating but to better control the hundreds of fans who descend on the campus twice monthly at Dale Mabry Highway and Tampa Bay Boulevard.

Few tailgating problems exist at any of the other 18 parking areas managed by the Bucs or the sports authority, Casey said.

HCC spokeswoman Ashley Carl said campus officials asked the authority to make changes after getting reports about trash left after the games, people urinating on school grounds and security problems. Some tailgaters apparently entered campus buildings and wandered the hallways.

"We have laboratories and computers in those buildings," she said.

The college expressed concerns about order and security but did not ask the authority to move the tailgaters, Carl said.

The issue might get resolved, although it's hard to say when. The sports authority said Thursday it would meet with the Bucs administration to discuss the tailgating issue. Casey wasn't prepared to say whether a solution was near, but she noted the authority was looking for one.

Jeffrey Neil Fox, president of the Pewter Nation Fan Club and an occasional freelancer for The Tampa Tribune, said he sympathizes with the HCC tailgaters.

"It's frustrating," he said. "It's such an important part of the game. I can't imagine life without tailgating. For me, to not tailgate is not an option."

Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633 or rshopes@tampatrib.com.

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