Dan Donnelly loves college football. He loves the collegiate school spirit, the pageantry, the rivalries, the marching bands, and the buzz around campus leading up to a Saturday afternoon kick-off. He loves rankings and bowl match-ups, cheer squads, and mascots, but he especially loves a good tailgate.
I found his passion and enthusiasm infectious when talking with him over a cup of coffee, one morning in late July. As the founder of Tailgate Connect, Dan is setting out to connect like-minded people in parking lots across America, to share food and drink, stories and traditions, in an all-inclusive, hassle-free tailgating environment through his innovative website. You had me at football, Dan. Sign me up!
Originally from Rockville, Maryland, Dan (55) played college rugby at Frostburg State University in Maryland, but he grew up an avid college football fan. In 2004, he set out on a quest to take in a game and tailgate party at every college FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) and many of the major rivalries in the lower divisions. “In 2008, I created Dan from the Tailgate, a blog to document my journeys, allowing like-minded fans and folks I’ve met along the way to join me in celebrating the greatest game experience on earth,” Dan proudly states. “Along the way, some of my best experiences were when I was introduced to a local tailgate host, usually through a mutual friend, and I got a chance to soak up the local flavor and atmosphere with passionate college football fans. I always had a great experience and have made some life-long friends,” he proclaims. 
Dan says it was not unusual to see groups of people, usually visiting fans, wandering aimlessly on campus, carrying an open 12-pack of beer and bag of chips, with no set pre-game destination. Dan candidly admits, “I’ve even been that guy more times than I care to admit.” While attending the USC vs. Penn State Rose Bowl in 2017, he invited a group of “nomadic” Penn State fans he had never met to join his tailgate and the concept to connect fans with experienced tailgater hosts was born.
For a reasonable cost (±$40), guests can enjoy food and libations in a high-quality environment, while gaining inside knowledge of the history and tradition of the host school, student body, and alumni. Hosts, on the other hand, could defray sunk costs, meet new friends, learn a little something about the visiting team, and make some easy cash by welcoming newcomers to the pre and post-game activities.
Shortly after that Rose Bowl experience, Dan tightened up his business plan, incorporated and with the help of Joe Rogers, VP of operations, incorporated, secured domain names and submitted a trademark application. “A friend for eight years, it was Joe’s idea to monetize the concept and he began the early work on the website and social media campaign,” Dan says. Since then, the company has added Dan’s college rugby teammate, Jim Devine, as controller and Theresa Baumgartner as Chief Legal Counsel. “Once the train left the station, we started recruiting top tier hosts from across the nation who would be interested in hosting guests,” Dan says. Many of these tailgaters are well known in college football circles and have been featured on national TV or ranked in nationwide tailgate competitions.
So far they have over 40 hosts signed up around the country including 38 Division 1 and two Division 2 schools such as; the University of Texas, Nebraska, LSU, Michigan, Arkansas, Stanford, Georgia, Arizona, Colorado, Ole Miss, Minnesota, Tennessee, Arkansas, Penn State, Iowa State and Kentucky, to name just a few.
The next step was to reach out to the actual colleges that traveled large groups of fans for away games. Dan and his team have connected with travel coordinators for Gridiron Clubs across the country knowing those group’s members often like to mix with the home team crowds prior to a game.
The concept lays out something like this: A local or traveling fan planning to attend a game visits the Tailgate Connect website, plugs in the date and location and for $40.00 per guest is provided with a host contact (email and mobile phone number) along with a pinpoint locator map identifying the tailgate location. “Some of our smallest hosts (Boston College) have room for 2-4 guests and some of our largest hosts (University of Texas, Austin) have room for 100. Zero week “kicks-off” August 26th with four D1 games, however, Labor Day, is the official start to the college football season.
As a VP of Sales for a tech company, Dan travels a lot for business which affords him the ability to attend a lot of games on the road. He’s been known catch two, occasionally three games, if geography and schedules cooperate. With one daughter graduated from Boise State (Rachel) and one who just graduated from the University of Oklahoma (Erin), it also allowed Dan the chance to visit his girls while still promoting the Dan from the Tailgate brand. His youngest (Grace) is now a sophomore on the Pom team at Monte Vista High School and dad has promised to work a little closer to home this upcoming season in order to see her perform at a majority of the Friday night home games. His wife, Amy, has always been a big supporter of Dan’s passion and attends a couple of games a year with her man.
To no surprise, Dan is commonly asked where’s his favorite place to tailgate and watch a game? Without any hesitation, Donnelly proclaims, The Grove at Ole Miss. The Grove has been called “The Holy Grail of Tailgating.” Located on the Oxford, Mississippi campus, the ±10 acre site regularly attracts upwards of 100,000 of the most loyal college football fans, tailgating on any given game day. Steeped in tradition and revelry, The Grove opens on Friday night and closes three hours after an exciting SEC game played in front of 64,000 people at Vaught-Hemingway stadium. Second to Ole Miss would be LSU at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, followed by, in no particular order, University of Oklahoma, Army, Clemson, Arkansas, Auburn and University of Washington. At last count, Dan has been to over 100 different venues and experienced over 150 tailgate events.
Using football vernacular, Dan hopes Tailgate Connect scores a touchdown this upcoming season. Dan shares, “Tailgating has become a personal space sharing experience, much like Uber or Airbnb. It’s an added element to just attending a game and a win-win for the host and their guests.”
For more information on Tailgate Connect check out their website at www.tailgateconnect.com or visit Dan’s Blog at dantailgate.blogspot.com. Personally, I can’t wait to experience the tailgating phenomenon through Tailgate Connect while visiting my daughters at their respective colleges or attending a local game this fall.
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