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Houston Texans Turn Tailgaters Into Dollars

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One of the sacred institutions in Kansas City besides the Chiefs is tailgating. The type of tailgating where you're in the parking lot at 9 AM with a hot grill going and maybe a beer or six.

I'm sure some of you have gone to Arrowhead Stadium just to tailgate and watch the game on a TV, without tickets. Well if you're a Texans fan and want to do that, you have to pay.

After some incidents of theft and general Cowboy rowdiness following the Dallas game, the Houston Texans issued a new policy that essentially states that in order to enter the Reliant Stadium grounds (i.e. tailgating areas), you have to have a ticket for the game or a special $10 "tailgating pass."

Basically, the Texans don't want people hanging around the parking lot during games. Which makes no sense to me for a few reasons:

  • Many people, at least in Kansas City, volunteer to watch the tailgate of people who have tickets. In Houston, those people have to pay $10 a piece just to do that.
  • How are checks logistically being done? That has to be a nightmare and I'm guessing the end result is not many people getting their passes or tickets checked.
  • I guess you can't meet up at a tailgate with a friend who has your ticket.
I'd be curious to hear more about this from Chiefs fans who have been to Texans games this year or Texans fans themselves. Does it hurt the tailgating atmosphere? Or is Houston really that terrible that a bajillion people show up at Reliant Stadium on game day without tickets and cause trouble?

And for a bit more conversation: How would this policy go over in Kansas City? Would Clark Hunt even think about letting a policy like that go into effect?

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