Here's an article from todays FCOR Newsletter about the Patriots Tailgate Club
Patriots Tailgate; helping fans travel
The FCOR staff recently spoke with Barry Inciong, founder of one of the newest clubs in The Registry, the Patriots Tailgate fan club. Inciong, who also manages the Orange County Patriots Fans club, formed the club to help Pats fans traveling to away games meet up. Here's how the interview went:
Q: Can you tell us what the New England Patriots Tailgate Club is about?
A: Basically our intent is to help Pats fans from across the country and even around the world easily find other fans attending road games so that they can tailgate together before the game or even help share information about tickets and travel.
Q: What gave you the idea to start up this club?
A: I've been going to at least one or two road games per year for the last five years and anytime you are in enemy territory it can be intimidating. It's a lot more fun to have other Pats fans around to tailgate with or even sit with at the game. I've always been able to find groups of Pats fans to meet up with through message boards and other clubs but seeing how many of us show up at road games, I thought this would be something that a lot of us would appreciate. It will make it much easier to organize now that we can post announcements and communicate with each other all in one place.
Q: Are there any dues or fees?
A: No, we don't have any costs so it's free for anyone to register. Typically, all we are doing is communicating with each other to set up a tailgate plan. I imagine it's possible that in some cases someone will have extra tickets or have access to purchase some for others but normally everyone would be showing up with their own food, drinks and tickets in hand.
Q: Are there any other reasons that Pats fans would want to join the club?
A: As much success as the Pats have had in recent years and with all the media scrutiny this season, Pats fans really are becoming one of the most hated teams in the NFL and that actually strengthens our fan base. When you see someone with a Brady jersey, a Pats cap or anything else showing their Patriots spirit outside the New England area, you almost have an instant bond and feel compelled to give em a "Go Pats!" On gameday Pats fans meet each other for the first time and within a few hours are best friends.
In addition to the social aspect, we find that many Pats fans are traveling from other areas to attend the game since home game tickets can be hard to come by. They usually have questions. The locals in that area can provide great information on travel and gameday logistics for things like hotel recommendations, traffic and parking suggestions, etc.
Q: Are there any games the club is currently making plans for?
A: Really, our focus is next year when the Pats travel to Seattle, Oakland, San Francisco and San Diego. We already have clubs and organizers in three of those cities that will be organizing the tailgate plan for each game but we won't even know the dates and times of those games until the 2008 schedule is released next April. There are even a few of us who are talking about going out to Arizona IF there happens to be a game in February that the Pats play in.
