2025 Tailgate Planning, Budgeting and Fundraising

[immamac 43,176]

After this year it's safe to say that the Surly Horns tailgate is the best tailgating experience available to the public on the 40 acres, and the largest most attended tailgate for all away games. Demand has been incredibly high for Arkansas and Nashville, but due to family, time constraints, budget concerns and honestly burnout I just tapped out on those. 

This year assuming there is no home playoff or bowl game I will have spent 145,000+ dollars on in person community related events excluding the sugar bowl (320k+ including sugar bowl) 

We will have around a 7-12k loss (depending on if you count reusable equipment or not) on the 145k this year and if you include the sugar bowl it's the same because I gave ALL the profit to Texas One Fund ($100k+ from a single day event raised) 

Next season is going to be very heavy away demand and still a great snowball building of home game demand. It's important to distinguish this from off campus tailgates - we are literally 30 seconds from LCL and less than 300 seconds from the stadium gates. 

I'm going to need ~225k raised in order to really do it right and justify the time investment and pay someone to actually run the events side and just host/provide vision.

Out of that 225k we will have a gate - all home games based on feedback from this year will be $25 per person per game for members of Treefiddy, Burnt Ends, OnTexasFootball, or Texas One Fund. For non members normal home games will be $40 and high demand home games (like  Georgia this year) will be $65. I can also offer a premium experience with guaranteed seating and climate control for $250/game for the home games or 1350 for the season per person. 

Away games will be all inclusive only, with optional alcohol or not. Food and NA will be $85 per adult, $45 per minor and $20 per child. Full on will be $165 per adult. Premium will start at $300 per person including children and will have special perks when available. 

I want to do this outside of the Surly corporate entity and investors will receive shares equivalent to the amount contributed and all revenue will be distributed monthly during the season so that its all done before 12/31 for tax purposes. All profits will be distributed or rolled over into the next years "investment pool".

I'm doing this because I'm tired of carrying this risk solo and I need to open this up to continue even without my involvement. 

Right now we average 175-225 people per tailgate at home and have sold out every single ticketed event we have ever done (Georgia 400+, Michigan 750+), including over 2500 sold for the sugar bowl. We have a loyal returning population of over 500 for home games and an email distribution for all of those persons that we only promote these events and nothing else to. 

We have a live production at every tailgate as well and each one both home and away also includes a watch party for those who don't have tickets. There are additional broadcast and licensing opportunities here that are under-leveraged as well. 

There are significant merchandising opportunities that have gone pretty much untouched because I couldn't juggle that many balls. The sugar bowl where we had an official merch booth they netted over 45k in sales in a single day. I'm confident at Georgia with an average purchase of $25 we would have been able to sell upwards of 10k+ in merch. 

This isn't gonna be a big money maker for anyone involved, but that's not the point and hasn't been the motivation up to this point. We have built something special. A low cost fan and community experience that is football centric and NIL friendly with an approachable every fan is welcome vibe in an environment filled with bullshit and grift where it's more about being seen than it is about getting juiced for the game and celebrating with horns of all sizes shapes colors and ages. 

I can't promise breakeven, but I can promise minimal losses post distribution. Surly (me personally) will obviously be a significant contributor and shareholder.

Let's start the conversation and set the expectation here and I'm happy to take the discussion private for those interested in doing this. 

If we don't do this I'm quite frankly just done with Tailgate. I'm completely tapped out on the stress it brings financially and operationally if we don't figure out a different way forward that isn't 100% dependent on me. 

[DalTxHornFan 3,118]

In.  Surly tailgates are the best tailgates. Thanks.

[Pimphand 5,926]

I'm down for $2,000 for next year

[SydneyCarton 48,203]

I’m interested in supporting the community. I can shoot you a text or you can include me in the private conversation that takes place. 

Edited November 17 by SydneyCarton

[StassneyHorn 6,643]

I haven’t been to one so if this is obvious forgive me. Do you have a turnkey provider when it comes to the setup, food, alcohol, and tear down?or are you chasing down things and glued to the phone? I know there’s a few companies that do that.

Revel, Tailgreetr, Tailgate Texas etc…

 

[Roofle 294]

49 minutes ago, StassneyHorn said:

I haven’t been to one so if this is obvious forgive me. Do you have a turnkey provider when it comes to the setup, food, alcohol, and tear down?or are you chasing down things and glued to the phone? I know there’s a few companies that do that.

Revel, Tailgreetr, Tailgate Texas etc…

 

The tent setup, some seating, some tables, trash/recycling, and a couple coolers are all that RevelXP is providing with the turnkey tailgate package.

Everything else you see is handled/sourced/organized by imma, hence the crazy amount of stress and money involved. I've cooked the BBQ for one of these and assisted with cooking for another, so I've seen firsthand how much is going into this. The fact that the tailgates this season have been as high quality and successful as they have, all while being manned by a single individual is frankly insane and is a testament to how hard imma works on these things.

However, if we want this man to live to see next season, we for sure need to get him some help. The guy knows how to throw one hell of a party, but we definitely have to get some of the weight off of his shoulders, both operationally and financially.

[CycleTex87 2,981]

Immalaidout.jpg

[immamac 43,176]

1 hour ago, StassneyHorn said:

I haven’t been to one so if this is obvious forgive me. Do you have a turnkey provider when it comes to the setup, food, alcohol, and tear down?or are you chasing down things and glued to the phone? I know there’s a few companies that do that.

Revel, Tailgreetr, Tailgate Texas etc…

 

I have a national relationship with RevelXP not just a local one at Texas. I work at the corporate level with them and have a somewhat bespoke package because of it. 

Tuscaloosa is the only away site we don't use them for and I have a relationship with their local outfit from last time. 

Food and catering is the single highest cost outside of the space/tent which I don't want to slack on because while revel is expensive it truly is prime location and the on site facilities and bell-hopping etc is key because we load in a lot more than just a tent and some coolers. 

If I had a food partner or sponsor this would take an enormous load off my plate. The issue is the margins and service fees on catering that are fucking wild when you scale up like this. 

[StassneyHorn 6,643]

Could having a tailgate thread for each home game help more than a mega-thread? You can decide in the thread something like below

An X amount of “setup” coordinators for things like TV’s, fans, cables, lighting for night games that revel doesn’t fulfill.

An X amount of “sponsorship” coordinators to make sure the orders/amount are accurate and on schedule during the week. Edit: just saw you didnt have one rn.

An X amount of “logistics” coordinators (truck guys) to pickup/drop off or handle deliveries day of/night before.

 

 

Edited November 17 by StassneyHorn

[StassneyHorn 6,643]

I just ran an exhaustive search on LinkedIn and have narrowed down a contact at Ben E Keith.

http://linkedin.com/in/nwwtaylor

Sales Manager from Iowa living in Austin. Party school alum + Sales background and is local to town currently. Has tons of food experience.

 

 

[horn4life 3,783]

If I were running the tailgates, here is where my mind would drift- 

1) get a food sponsor- If It were me I would call my BIL at Smithfield Foods and see what sort of sponsorship opportunities might be available.  As they are the largest pork processor in the nation.  If you could get Smithfield and HEB that would be the holy grail. 

2) I would probably do what I used to do when I ran large soccer tournaments.  Create T-shirts as a perpetual sponsorship opportunity for both large and small sponsors to get their names printed on the back of a T-Shirt.  And some banner.  Think of the shirts with all the sponsors you see on 5K run shirts for example.  I combined the T-shirt sponsorships with a goodie bag of coupons and promotions from the sponsors.  Not sure the best way to integrate this, but maybe just as a giveaway included in the cover charge?  It's more about the sponsors than the T-shirt. 

3) Merch - This as you said is an untapped potential profit center.  This is also likely where somebody like me might find a lot of opportunities for cash flow generation.  There is a reason why Merch is such a big part of the income stream for bands, and concerts.  

4) Find a way to compensate whomever you choose to run this.  As if they can't make money on it, they won't want to do it over time  I think the deal I worked about years ago when I was running large soccer tournaments was 10% of the profit.  It wasn't a lot as I had a passion for Soccer, but that little bit of cash made me do it longer than I would have otherwise.  And the 10% I got was meaningless, as the profits increased far more than my meager compensation for the Association.

5) What is the dollar amount of the RevelXP contracting? Might that be an area where the person running the show might be able to do more work, but get more comp here?  I never knew about Revel XP, but interesting business concept.  As commercial tailgating I assume, is a lot like the party rental businesses, in that the profit is made once the basic equipment is paid for.  Like the $2500 tent rental my buddy needed as a just in case for his daughter's wedding.  That tent was paid for many, many times at $2500 a pop.  This is the cost if I were running the event I would look at trying to shift from an expense to a future profit center. (but only if a multi-year operation)

6) Worker bees for setup and breakdown.  This is a little out of the box, but I might try to develop a relationship with some of the local non-profit groups, to help with this.  Sort of like UT would have group volunteers come in and run the concession stands for the non-alcohol stuff.  I assume a lot of what you pay RevelXP for is simply having the warm bodies there to set up and take down the event.  It might be the most fun volunteer event of the year in some places (if they don't hate us)

 

Anyhow that's my slow moving morning take.  It's honestly sort of an interesting opportunity.  Seems like the areas of potential additional cash flow are Merch, additional sponsorship, and replacing the RevelXP expenses with lower fixed setup costs (may not be possible?). Probably other places for small slices of revenue, but those are the larger ones I assume.  

 

 

[immamac 43,176]

1 minute ago, horn4life said:

If I were running the tailgates, here is where my mind would drift- 

1) get a food sponsor- If It were me I would call my BIL at Smithfield Foods and see what sort of sponsorship opportunities might be available.  As they are the largest pork processor in the nation.  If you could get Smithfield and HEB that would be the holy grail. 

2) I would probably do what I used to do when I ran large soccer tournaments.  Create T-shirts as a perpetual sponsorship opportunity for both large and small sponsors to get their names printed on the back of a T-Shirt.  And some banner.  Think of the shirts with all the sponsors you see on 5K run shirts for example.  I combined the T-shirt sponsorships with a goodie bag of coupons and promotions from the sponsors.  Not sure the best way to integrate this, but maybe just as a giveaway included in the cover charge?  It's more about the sponsors than the T-shirt. 

3) Merch - This as you said is an untapped potential profit center.  This is also likely where somebody like me might find a lot of opportunities for cash flow generation.  There is a reason why Merch is such a big part of the income stream for bands, and concerts.  

4) Find a way to compensate whomever you choose to run this.  As if they can't make money on it, they won't want to do it over time  I think the deal I worked about years ago when I was running large soccer tournaments was 10% of the profit.  It wasn't a lot as I had a passion for Soccer, but that little bit of cash made me do it longer than I would have otherwise.  And the 10% I got was meaningless, as the profits increased far more than my meager compensation for the Association.

5) What is the dollar amount of the RevelXP contracting? Might that be an area where the person running the show might be able to do more work, but get more comp here?  I never knew about Revel XP, but interesting business concept.  As commercial tailgating I assume, is a lot like the party rental businesses, in that the profit is made once the basic equipment is paid for.  Like the $2500 tent rental my buddy needed as a just in case for his daughter's wedding.  That tent was paid for many, many times at $2500 a pop.  This is the cost if I were running the event I would look at trying to shift from an expense to a future profit center. (but only if a multi-year operation)

6) Worker bees for setup and breakdown.  This is a little out of the box, but I might try to develop a relationship with some of the local non-profit groups, to help with this.  Sort of like UT would have group volunteers come in and run the concession stands for the non-alcohol stuff.  I assume a lot of what you pay RevelXP for is simply having the warm bodies there to set up and take down the event.  It might be the most fun volunteer event of the year in some places (if they don't hate us)

 

Anyhow that's my slow moving morning take.  It's honestly sort of an interesting opportunity.  Seems like the areas of potential additional cash flow are Merch, additional sponsorship, and replacing the RevelXP expenses with lower fixed setup costs (may not be possible?). Probably other places for small slices of revenue, but those are the larger ones I assume.  

 

 

#1 is the biggest thing. We are big, but not Texas AD big. This is the issue with huge corporate sponsorship, they want enormous reach we just want cost control and have pretty good reach. 

#2 we did this year and it helped for the home games and really picked up when we got to the conference play.

#3 yeah merch needs to not be obnoxious and available and not the center, I think this is actually the core to solving this. Inventory, shipping etc is a pain in the ass, but I think with help is addressable. 

#4 this is an economic loser, because it is supposed to be, otherwise it turns into the rest of the tailgates that aren't about football and fandom, they are about making money and being Texas adjacent. The lead is intended to be a pay for position during the season. There is no profit intentionally, because as soon as there is profit motive you lose the spirit of what we are doing. 

#5 is not really optional, they have a monopoly on premium on campus locations nationwide, I've got costs down where appropriate though (bring our own TVs, generator, coolers, plates napkins etc) and they do right by us everywhere. Its just expensive because they need to make some money and they do pass-through rental with Monarch. Their margins are totally appropriate for what we are getting, it's just expensive to tailgate ON CAMPUS steps away from LCL, Bevo Blvd etc. You can't replicate the band practicing in front of your tailgate, the player busses rolling in right in front etc. Likewise how else are we gonna get into the grove etc? At Michigan we were literally attached to Gameday and had the premier spot in all of Ann Arbor. It was magical. 

#6 we have a ton of help now that I've asked. This seems solved now. 

[hookemATL 11,916]

I used to do this for a living, and would love to quit my current events job and just lead the newly formed Surly High Intelligence Tailgate Presidential Office Of Preparedness (SHITPOOP). 

[immamac 43,176]

Hahahahahahaha

[MFEU93MK9S8IW6K6FV0X 95]

In for tailgate $ fund.

[StassneyHorn 6,643]

Spitting out thoughts

-Literally any pizza sponsor is A+. Job becomes much easier after that is secured. 

-Do 11 am tailgates have the possibility of being contained with a Costco membership? By that I mean 5 items- eggs, tortillas, sausage (breakfast tacos and sausage wraps), Andre and orange juice. I'd expect crowd numbers to be smaller.

- For 230 or later games, is a rev share with a food truck possible? Nobody would stand in line at the truck, they'd just present it out on a table and people would walk by and grab

[markstanco 12,627]

I can supply some FR clothing for any dumbassery involving fire pit hurdling or whatnot.

[Zepol87 9,195]

Down to help with whatever is needed. Ann Arbor was a fucking blast

[MrBig 5,444]

Is there any way you can collaborate with the university to have a fall internship that could possibly give course credits to students to help in some ways with the tailgate so you get free labor while giving them real world operational experience? Like a social media intern, business logistics intern, communications and outreach intern, merch logistics intern, etc.? Maybe one of them will have a business connection or well connected family member that can help cut costs and enhance the experience even further.

[immamac 43,176]

To everyone whos DMd and posted about helping financially thank you very much, you get what im asking for.

I'm not sure if the clarity wasn't there in the OP or not and with my responses. I really do appreciate all the brainstorming and help, but just to make it very clear on what the ask is I'm gonna put it more bluntly. 

I'm tired of paying for everything up front out of my own pocket and hoping that money comes back/everyone works for me for free so I don't lose my ass. 

This is a money thing, there's a component of time in there, but I could justify time if I wasn't spending 6 figures on top of it. This is a one man operation with no financial backing except my own. That's the problem. 

Food is an issue because I am not paying even more money out of my own pockets to cater stuff at 400% margins. Food isn't an issue because I'm a potato who can't figure out how to logistically get food to the tailgate (see Georgia). While I appreciate the sentiment of "people don't care its just tailgate food" it's completely wrong. It's about themes, and creating experiences centered around culture and pageantry. 

For instance, this year for Florida I wanted to do a whole gator as a show piece but also use the hide from that gator to make a pair of custom boots, wallets, belts and some other trinkets. Super special merch that becomes part of the entire experience of hosting Florida at DKR for the first time ever etc. Gator isn't awesome food, but it's fucking awesome and makes it the best tailgate by far. 

With a 225k budget I can plan everything far in advance and allocate $$ specifically and then open up sales for tickets well in advance etc. Its easy to line up sponsors when you have your layout, headcount, plan, etc. Its hard to line up sponsors when you are like meh idk we sell out all the time but I'm paying for everything and if you give me stuff more people can come. 

Sponsors become a path to profitability, not a mandatory part of tailgate happening or not. 

Next season we are going to Columbus, OH - Lexington, KY - Athens, GA - Starkville, MS - Gainsville, FL and Dallas. Plus the CCG of Playoffs if those happen. On top of that we have 7 home games including TAMU and Arkansas which will be like Georgia/Alabama or bigger. 

What I started this thread for was saying "Hey we can have the best tailgates all those places, but I'm not paying for all of them for 1k+ people at every stop out of pocket" 

FYI I was gonna do a Surly City Limits in Nashville where we brought in local food Vendors, Alcohol, and a ton of live music in an outdoor ampitheater less than a 5 minute walk from the stadium and have a 2k+ person bash there. I just wasn't going to risk 100k+ of my own money to force it into existence like I have done everything else (fayettnam 2021, Tuscaloosa 2023, Sugar Bowl 2024, Michigan 2024 etc) I paid for ALL OF THAT except Tuscaloosa where @BobbyB clutched up and showed up with 30+ cases of beer to save the party the first time while I hopped on a party bus and bought the grocery store down the street out of the beer they had left. 

So another longcat post, but this time instead of helping me with logistics and planning, help me find rich people who love the Longhorns and want to be a part of an approachable fan experience home and away for FOOTBALL fans, not for profit. 

The goal isn't to lose money, and it's not to maximize profit, it's to maximize community experience and create incredible memories no matter what the result of the game. 

[HenryJames 66,188]

58 minutes ago, immamac said:

The goal isn't to lose money, and it's not to maximize profit, it's to maximize community experience and create incredible memories no matter what the result of the game. 

Maybe the real tailgate is the friends we make along the way.

[Dbeasy 15,095]

I might be able to get a drink sponsor. If I approach them, what am I asking for?

[immamac 43,176]

We have Faust Distributing who has provided all the beer and seltzers this year which was a tremendous help. 

We also had Devil's River Whiskey join in and provide Whiskey product the entire season also awesome. 

Tell them we want donation and swag/info about their product and we will place it and assort it in the coolers. If they even want to give us branded coolers or serving containers we'll use those. 

[Fred Garvin 22]

8 hours ago, HenryJames said:

Maybe the real tailgate is the friends we make along the way.

And strippers. Don't forget the strippers.

[Pimphand 5,926]

9 hours ago, immamac said:

I'm tired of paying for everything up front out of my own pocket and hoping that money comes back/everyone works for me for free so I don't lose my ass. 

Can we establish a per tailgate cost and make sure that prior we have consistent contributorship that covers the vast majority if not all of the aforementioned cost to minimize your personal risk?

[StassneyHorn 6,643]

You will get an away game concert and like it

[Pimphand 5,926]

And then honestly if we can cover the costs socially lets leave the profits for the people who dedicated time and effort like @MissingInAction & @BornAndRaised as along with you are the real heroes.

[MissingInAction 25,204]

23 minutes ago, Pimphand said:

And then honestly if we can cover the costs socially lets leave the profits for the people who dedicated time and effort like @MissingInAction & @BornAndRaised as along with you are the real heroes.

I appreciate the sentiment, but really enjoy helping the party happen anyway I can.

Booze and food is payment enough, but I still like chipping in whatever I can afford at the time.

[Sgt Hulk 13,845]

As someone with more opportunities next year to attend games I assume us common folks purchase tickets to the tailgate right?  So we have a prepay option?

[immamac 43,176]

11 hours ago, Sgt Hulk said:

As someone with more opportunities next year to attend games I assume us common folks purchase tickets to the tailgate right?  So we have a prepay option?

Tailgate Donation + Payments - Surly Horns

[Longhorn94 2,458]

On 11/17/2024 at 2:07 PM, StassneyHorn said:

I just ran an exhaustive search on LinkedIn and have narrowed down a contact at Ben E Keith.

http://linkedin.com/in/nwwtaylor

Sales Manager from Iowa living in Austin. Party school alum + Sales background and is local to town currently. Has tons of food experience.

 

 

I know the GC at BEK. Let me know if I should reach out. 

We need bigger TVs.

[StassneyHorn 6,643]

As site admin, yes please do. I can swing it to my tailgate if @immamacdoesnt want it @Longhorn94

Edited Sunday at 05:04 AM by StassneyHorn

[DalTxHornFan 3,118]

I did the sponsor thing this year and was not shy about inviting my friends to stop by.  Pretty sure that my sponsorship was a Surly Horns profit.  I always asked them to to put some $ in the jar for the tight ends!

Edited Sunday at 09:47 AM by DalTxHornFan

[Slacks 6,870]

If you're going to cut K1s, I'll accept a non-managing member position in exchange for my current JMMC position.