Thanks to strategic planning months in the making, Ole Miss always wins in the Grove.
Written by Eugene Stockstill | Illustrated by Martha Whitaker
Fans from all corners of Mississippi spend months making their tailgate plans. On game day, it all comes together. Students, vendors, alums, families with children of all ages, curious visitors, and more all spend the day celebrating in style under the trees before cheering on the Rebels in the Vaught. That is the allure of the Grove.
It may feel effortless once you arrive, but the work to manage the university-sized football crowds begins months before football season kicks off.
“We started planning after baseball season,” Jamaal Rhodes, assistant director of event management operations for the university, said.
Rhodes, along with Neal Mead, associate athletics director for event management, and Sam Patterson, director of parking and transportation, are the three principals in an ongoing process of planning and performance that involves all sorts of university, city and federal officials.
Together, they are responsible for planning, organizing and executing home athletic events, including security, parking, transportation, vendors, operations in the Grove and other places outside the stadium.
By Aug. 1, the plans are set. “We have to make sure we’re in lockstep with our partners,” Mead said, especially since weekly game day traffic exceeds the 64,038 seating capacity of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. With extra-large expectations for this year’s team, expect that to be truer than ever.
Here’s what the days leading up to a home game look like:
MONDAY-THURSDAY:
Meetings, meetings and more meetings to review and coordinate plans for parking, the Grove, the stadium, post-game traffic and more. Discussions are with everyone from FBI agents to coaches and staff from visiting schools to emergency management technicians, local police and the city of Oxford. Signs start to go up around campus on Thursday, a process that takes two days to complete.
FRIDAY:
Final adjustments are made, including verifying all equipment and signs, handling parking pass requests, welcoming dignitaries, securing TV trucks, sending emergency action plans to security and police.
2-4 p.m. Friday: Initial game day setup by registered student organizations and vendors takes place.
6:30 p.m. Friday: The Grove and The Circle close.
7 p.m. Friday: The Grove and The Circle reopen for vendors and fans to set up tents and decorations.
SATURDAY:
Game day. Final preparations are made, and parking lots open as early as 7 a.m. to the public. “If we’ve done our job, we’re sitting and waiting for people to arrive,” Mead said.
Lucky for us fans, the meticulous preplanning by these game day superintendents makes every football weekend in Oxford a nearly seamless experience. Our No. 1 job as fans? Plan ahead.
“Know where you’re going to park,” Mead said. “Traffic starts to get congested three to four hours prior to game time. If you’re planning on tailgating, don’t think you’re going to come on game day and get a spot. You’ve got to plan.”
For the most up-to-date info on parking, tailgating and all other game day matters, visit olemissgameday.com.
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