Visting IN and OH area

"Tailgating and alcohol is prohibited on the central part of campus"

ND stadium and the surrounding lots are definitely not part of the "central part" of that massive campus. they are more in the southeast quadrant. I've been to many ND games, grew up in South Bend....just saying.....there is all kinds of tailgating that happens at Notre Dame on gamedays.....

 

Don't listen to fredmugs. Tailgating is definitely allowed. I also grew up in the Bend and have friends that go out every home game just to tailgate.

 

i believe you and i shared beers at a bottle share at Upland last summer. wish I would have known you were from the Bend as well, we certainly could have chatted it up more!

 

Yeah. we need to do another again soon.

 

I had to come check this out because I was tipped off that it was said tailgating isn't allowed at Notre Dame. I'll try to be constructive in my response but come on man, no tailgating at ND? In what world would that be the case? I'll try to set the record straight.

Yes, tailgating is allowed, 100%, both on campus in permit lots and game day paid lots ($20 if I remember correctly). There are also off campus tailgates in private yards surrounding the stadium (ranging from $10-$100 depending on size of vehicle and proximity to stadium). In fact, tailgating is so popular that ND fills all lots on campus, the 9 hole golf course, and surrounding empty fields owned by the university with cars for tailgating. Free shuttle services are provided for the empty fields, which are on the northern end of campus. It would literally take you 30-40 minutes to walk from one end of the University owned tailgating areas to the other. That's not an exaggeration. According to Google maps, it's 2 miles from the north western tailgating fields to the south eastern tailgating lots. When hosting a tailgate, I usually show up at around 6-6:30am to setup for a 3:30 start time and there are hundreds of cars already in the stadium lot. People in RV's on the private lots south east of the stadium show up the night before. Needless to say, people take tailgating seriously at Notre Dame and it's a FANTASTIC time.

The thing you got right is that there are no alcohol sales in the stadium. In addition to that, you are not permitted to leave the stadium and regain entry, which is different than most stadiums. They also regulate tailgating DURING the game, which is not allowed on University property. This started around 2000 if I remember correctly. In the past you could leave the stadium at half time and grab a few beers at a tailgate but no longer. This is part of the reason the off campus private yards closest to the stadium fill up extremely early, if not the night before. You can always pocket a flask as they don't pat you down at ND, but if you're caught with it, and season tickets (which nearly 100% are season tickets owned by someone), their tickets can be forfeited forever. Needless to say, that's a big risk if you know the owner of the tickets you're holding.

The tailgating scene at ND is awesome. My wife and I usually host 1-2 tailgates a year. I grew up in South Bend and my family has season tickets so I've got about 15 years of tailgating shenanigans under my belt (11 of them legal). In my experience, as long as you're not clearly serving minors and aren't picking fights, setting things on fire, or are getting naked, pretty much anything goes.

OP, go to Bare Hands in Granger. You won't regret it. Go Irish!

 

I was at the game as well. Glad to hear you enjoyed it.