Debate: Are NC State fans more interested in Tailgating than Football?

It’s a talking point that has constantly been discussed for years at NC State. Most of the time the debate is over the student section.

The big time football fans are disgusted by the inability to get the student section filled by kickoff and the start of the second half. The more basic fan does not really see the issue and views football Saturday as more of a day-drinking, Bojangles catered party where a football game breaks out.

A few days ago, NC State’s student newspaper, The Technician, touched on this very issue in their commentary titled “NC State student section first to file out.” In this piece, the author touches on these issues from the perspective of a serious Wolfpack football fan and makes some good points as to why this has become a problem in her eyes.

NC State has tried to fix these problems many times during the years, threatening to limit ability to leave the stadium at half time and come back in. However,  many believed that would decrease filling in the student section even more, since people may still leave and now would not be able to re-enter.

Reading the article, the Technician makes the case that Football is more important than tailgating and if you are lucky enough to get a ticket you should be in the stadium cheering on your team. A good point, understood by those who are diehard fans.

On the other hand, the argument from some students are that they are paying the tuition fees too and they can use their ticket however they please. To some, the tailgate is the draw. The time drinking or eating Bojangles out in the cool fall breeze is the fun part, and the football game is just the catalyst for bringing everyone together. Again, a fair point likely understood by those who have pride in being a Wolfpacker, but aren’t as diehard a fan of the actual sport.

Complaining about the divide in these two mindsets is fun and makes for an interesting and ongoing debate, but it’s not going to change anything. Creating rules or regulations around getting to your seat on time or staying in the stadium might be counterproductive as well. So what’s the fix?

I honestly don’t know if there is a controllable fix. Tailgating is something that NC State does well and something they are known for. It holds a lot of memories for a lot of former State students. It’s a part of the culture and something that makes attending college in Raleigh pretty special. I think the byproduct of that is that sometimes, for some people,  the excitement of the tailgate trumps the excitement of  the actual game.

For instance, we at Pack Insider watch every single play of every single game, and we did that before we owned or worked at this website. We’d consider ourselves diehard fans. However, some fans don’t really feel like they need to see every single play to get the gist of whats going on in the game. Do those people not deserve tickets? Some will say yes, but their tuition statement says otherwise.

We’ve been around this program for quite some time, and while we don’t have the exact attendance numbers, we can tell you that there is a noticeable correlation between how good a team NC State has and how packed the student section stays. There is also a noticeable correlation between how big the stakes are of an individual game and how packed the student section stays. If NC State builds a team that is an ACC powerhouse year-in-and-year-out every game will matter, and if every game really matters (again this is subjective) then I don’t believe this conversation happens. But until then, the discussion will rage on.

Where do you stand?