UCF Limits Tailgating Before Football Games

It is a fall Saturday at the University of Central Florida -- game day. You wake up early and crawl out of bed in your black and gold pajamas. You take a shower and then put on your favorite tailgating shirt, the one with the mustard stain just beneath the collar. You fill up your cooler with ice, put the tent and grill in the car, and get ready to drive to campus with your buddies. It is a typical Saturday during football season, but this season, things are a little bit different.

This season, the university has taken steps to try to limit underage drinking before the Knights’ football games. The school has cut down tailgating hours, as well as attempted to discontinue the “Fan Cans” (Anheuser-Busch’s black-and-gold-colored Bud Light beer cans).

The Gameday Planning Committee at UCF has instituted new rules stating that fans cannot begin tailgating on campus until 12 p.m. when kickoff is after 6 p.m. and 8 a.m. when kickoff is before six. Last year tailgating started as early as 7 a.m.

With the Knights’ first two home games starting after 6 p.m., the new rule change has definitely affected the approximate 50,000 students and alumni that are on campus on Saturdays.

Gabe Pruna, a second-year student at the university, has seen the tailgating for the first two games and believes that many fans are disgruntled by the rule change.

“I’m not affected so much because I don’t get out of bed until 11:30 anyway, but a lot of people are upset about it, especially alumni,” said Pruna.

Reasons for limiting tailgating, according to chairman of the Gameday Planning Committee Al Harms, include on-campus safety and budget cuts. The financial situation is characterized by the expense to provide law enforcement and clean up on game days.

“We looked across the country and most colleges moved to five hours,” said Maj. David Zambri of the Public Safety and Police Administrative Service Bureau at UCF, “the longer the day is, behavior tends to get wilder.”

Many of the popular sports bars in the area have seen an opportunity to capitalize on the recent rule change, offering drink and food specials and opening their doors early for fans looking to get a head start on tailgating.

The university has also taken action to put a ban on the “Fan Cans.” These cans of Bud Light sport the university’s official colors, though they are not endorsed by the university.

The university does not want to give the impression that they promote underage drinking and has sent a letter to Anheuser-Busch, asking the company to stop distributing the black and gold cans to the university area. On September 24, the university received news from Anheuser-Busch that the company will be discontinuing the black and gold "Fan Can" product.

“I know some people that just want the can for the colors,” said second-year student Craig Hughes, “but I don’t think it will stop most people from drinking.”

UCF is not the first school in Florida to ban the “Fan Can.” The University of Florida and Florida State University have also banned orange-and-blue and maroon-and-gold cans for similar reasons.

Tailgating will definitely be affected by these new rules, and while fans may be bitter, one thing is for sure: at kickoff the student section will be just as loud, spectator seats just as half-filled and the experience will be just as exciting.