UTEP Football: Construction Reminders And Tailgating Rules

UTEP students and fans are gearing up for another season of football with the Miners’ Saturday home opener against Stony Brook.

Friday, UTEP freshman Diana Maciel told ABC-7 that she already had her game day plan.

“We are going to get a whole group together and make a lot of noise,” she said.

The University’s Office of Special Events drew up some plans, too, in the form of rules and regulations for on-campus tailgating this season.

The rules are, for the most part, a repeat of last year’s:

– Only one parking space allowed per vehicle

– No tailgating allowed in empty parking spaces

– Glass containers are prohibited

– Tailgaters must be inside the Sun Bowl by the end of the 1st quarter (one person is allowed to stay behind)

Tailgating in UTEP’s “inner-campus” will only be permitted after 2 p.m., a rule put into place last year.

Interim Special Events Director Jorge Vazquez said the move helped to fix problems.

“It worked great,” he told ABC-7. “The reason why we did that was because there are a lot more classes going on at the university (on Saturday,) so we saw that we needed the extra two hours.”

Vazquez added that the campus construction near Interstate 10 shouldn’t have a big affect on fans, with one exception.

Fans leaving campus following Saturday’s game will have a new westbound freeway entrance.

The on-ramp is located near the upgraded UTEP marquee, south of the Sun Bowl, and is accessible from the roundabout at University Drive.

For fans that are weary of roundabouts or football parking in general, Sun Metro will offer shuttling from the downtown Union Plaza bus terminal & parking garage on the 400 block of W. San Antonio.

Tickets are $3 per person plus a $5 dollar fee to park inside the garage, according to a Sun Metro spokeswoman. Drivers will not carry change, so exact fares are required.

Children at and under the age of five ride for free, the spokeswoman said.

UTEP Athletic Director Bob Stull told ABC-7 that he expects Saturday’s attendance to be roughly 30,000.

Stull said approximately 20,000 tickets had been sold by Friday morning.

As for season tickets, Stull said those sales are down by 600-800 when compared to last year, with the amount sold sitting at about 12,800.

Stull said he believes the economy is still keeping fans hesitant and added that many may just be too unfamiliar with this year’s squad.

“I think this year is a little bit of a ‘wait and see,'” he said. “Some of the publications have us near the bottom just because they don’t know who the players are; they have no clue.”

Saturday’s kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.