100% agree with the bolded, and while I think Whitman's athletic department has made exceptional strides here ... there is a lot of work to be done. I lived in Iowa City for a while ... has anyone here ever been to a game at Kinnick? Or to one in Madison? Football in the Big Ten frankly needs to be an old-fashioned, Midwestern party. And ours is so, for the lack of better term, "white collar." The business-like feel of Memorial Stadium sucks any potential atmosphere out of there. You want the surroundings of your stadium to be hectic with buzz and excitement. Grange Grove has looked really great at times, but then it dwindles toward the end of the season when the team has faltered and the weather is bad.
I have heard it was very different in the '80s, so it's obvious that this isn't some "structural" problem with Champaign or Illinois specifically, but we need our tailgating scene to keep improving. I think a lot of people underestimate how many more students and younger fans would go to games if they associated an experience at Memorial Stadium as being a bit more of a party scene, and I think there are EASILY ways to cultivate that vibe while keeping (most of) the environment as family- and donor-friendly. Programs all over the country do it...