A secret about gameday at the University of Texas is that it’s…lacking. Please don’t take this the wrong way. I love gameday in Austin. But there are some geographic hurdles:
To have a great gameday, you need to have a central place for thousands of people to congregate before the game. In Austin, such a place does not exist. There are a few tailgates scattered around, mostly in the shadows of government buildings north of the Capitol, and there are bars one can visit, but Cain & Abel’s can’t hold everybody, Rainey’s too bougie to be the heart of a football Saturday, East Sixth is too hipstery to be the heart of a football Saturday, Dirty Sixth is too terrifying in the light of day to be the heart of a football Saturday, and you have to take an uber from West Sixth (which is also best at being the place for all the other schools’ game watches, a category it should be allowed to focus on with exclusivity), which crushes the vibe like a can of overpriced hard seltzer.
There’s some hope, though. There’s an area under construction very close to Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium that, when the construction is completed, will be a wide avenue of green space stretching between the Capitol and UT’s campus. You can get some renderings of it here. Allegedly, it’s going to be done in May, which means that next fall, it needs—yes, needs—to be an option for tailgating.
I’m not saying folks should be able to park on the lawn. But set up a tent? Roll a grill out there? Bring a big ol’ cooler full of Lone Star? All of that needs to be an option. All of that needs to be encouraged. As it stands, Texas’s gameday experience coasts off of how fun Austin is. It’s enough to get by, but it sells the program short. This would let it take charge of its own destiny.
Need an image in your head, for proof? Picture ESPN on a Saturday morning, September 10th of next year, Texas hosting Alabama with all the expectations in the world on their shoulders. Lee Corso’s retirement tour. The famous desk, backed by rows upon rows of tents, all in the shadow of the biggest state capitol in the country, the growing Austin skyline rising behind it. Beautiful green space in front of the guys in suits. Debaucherous green space behind them. Finally, a gameday experience befitting the strength of the brand.
Make it happen, state government. Make it happen.
