I don't know how many of you actually tailgate on the Quad, but I'm assuming some of you do...and you bring your TVs with you. I was recently looking at the new website the University has made,
www.UAGameday.com (this hyperlink goes to info about the Quad), and they mention something that makes me wonder...
Does this mean that they are not allowing electricity on the Quad anymore? Or, if you look at the last "regualtion", does this mean they will supply outlets to tailgaters, therefore keeping people from using the light posts? Just makes me wonder because most people stay on the Quad in their tents because they can watch other football games. Taking away electricity, which they tried to do before, only causes trouble and makes Bama fans angry...and we don't want that.
Just wondering if anyone has any insight...thanks.
I cI don't have any special insight about the coming season; however, I can give you a little history lesson about tailgating on the Quad and the power situation.
I was a part of the first group to erect a canopy on the quad back about14 years ago or so. Others quickly joined us.
Several years later--around 8-10 years ago or so, we were also among the first to discover outlets inside the bases of the poles. We quickly began bringing electric skillets, crockpots, coffee makers, etc. Soon others followed suit, again.
Then people started bringing satelite dishes, TVs, etc. Well...along about the time that Pres. Witt arrived, they decided to do away with the electricity on game days. He nearly had a revolt on his hands. So, what they did was close up the bases of the polls where you could no longer easily get down in there to pull out the outlets and access them; however, along with this, they put the external outlets on the posts. These outlets have breakers that make them kick off if anything more powerful than a Satelite receiver and a TV or two are hooked up to any one outlet. We found that out the hardway the first game after the new outlets were installed. We already had our TV and satelite dish hooked up. Then we plugged in a string of lights. All was still O.K. Then some other group wanted to hook into the outlet, still O.K. Then, someone plugged in an electric griddle--blew the whole thing! Well...along comes one of our friends who is an electrical engineer and...well...he gets into the base of the post and bypasses the rinky-dink little outlet on the outside and plugs into the internal outlet inside the poll. So, I'm quite sure that our group is amongst those that some of the rules are directed toward. However, we are not amongst those who do the spidering of cords; now sometimes people will come over and ask to plug their power strip into the outlet we are using. We've been known to say yes; however, that was only OK when using the internal outlets. The external ones with the built in breakers will not allow the extra usage of multiple other things being plugged in.
Bottom line: as long as there is not spidering and small kitchen appliances, the outlets work fine and the University does not seem to mind--why else would they go to the trouble of adding the external outlets after making it virtually impossible to access the internal ones?
At any rate, I agree with the poster who spoke of how great it is to see thousands of people on the Quad on game days, all gathered around televisions watching other games and cheering for/against teams playing in other games. It's really neat and I've heard many comments from fans of visiting schools about how awesome the atmosphere is out there and how they wish they had something similar at their home campuses. I believe the University has come to realize what an awesome scene it is and how special it is. I don't think they want to do anything to diminish what is there; however, I do think they want to make sure it is safe (no spidering and running of cords everywhere so that people can trip and fall) and that no group blows a circuit out there by overloading any one outlet.
Hope this helps to answer some questions and provides a little insight.
