In the process of building its new softball stadium, Clemson is having to relocate the popular setting for its football tailgating village.
According to the Greenville News, Clemson is building its new softball stadium in a grassy area adjacent to the baseball stadium, which also happens to be the recreational vehicle lot and the epicenter of Clemson’s football tailgating community.
As a result, Clemson has reconfigured its parking map around the softball stadium construction to preserve the RV area. However, the school has done so at the expense of at least 500 conventional vehicle parking spots.
The RV lot has been popular with fans for its convenience, with many leaving their vehicles in the lot until the next day.
“The best part of it is you never fight any traffic,” Cox said. “We’ve got our own little town down there. Those people are like family, and everybody looks out for everybody. I don't know if we could ever go back to getting up on Saturday morning, driving to the game, tailgating and going home Saturday night.”
Clemson is aware of the vibrant RV community and sought to protect it from being completely abolished.
“We always say the RVs set the tone for tailgating for the weekend,” said Jason Wilson, assistant director IPTAY, the fundraising arm of Clemson athletics that coordinates assigned parking for its donor members. “We wanted to keep that tradition alive.”
The RV lot will be a bit tighter now and will have to be reconfigured. There were 186 spaces in the RV lot last year. IPTAY reconfigured the lot around the softball stadium construction wall and added 21 spaces.
RVs will now be positioned nose to nose with eight-foot walkways between them, according to the Greenville News. Five hundred conventional vehicle spaces have been transferred from Jervey Meadows to expanded lots near the rowing center, track and field complex, the outdoor wellness center and the west side of the football stadium. Clemson also added 180 spaces in two previous unused lots.
