The Tailgate Connect® Podcast — College Football, NFL & The Game Day Life
The go-to podcast for college football tailgates, NFL game day culture, and the people who make it legendary. If you live for the parking lot as much as the game, you're in the right place.
Every week host Luke Lorick brings you conversations with the tailgaters, hosts, operators, athletes, and personalities who define game day culture across America. Whether it's a 25-year tradition at the University of Texas, a sold-out pregame at SoFi Stadium, or a first-time host figuring out how to run a paid tailgate — we tell the stories that don't make the highlight reel but make the experience unforgettable.
We also cover the business side — how to host your own tailgate, how to sell tickets, how to build a community around your setup, and what it really takes to turn a passion into an operation.
Powered by Tailgate Connect — the easiest way to find and host tailgate events across the country.
New episodes every Thursday at tailgateconnect.com.
Episodes
24 episodes
He Grills at First Base — Inside Banana Ball's Wildest Coach | Coach Bart, Texas Tailgaters
He coaches first base in a floppy hat, short shorts, white Nikes, and a six-pack beer belt — while running a lit grill. Meet Coach Bart, the utility man of the Texas Tailgators, and the most authentically tailgate human being in professional sp...
Cornhole Is Going to the Olympics — and Paying Six-Figure Salaries | Athena Delgado, ACL
Cornhole started as a backyard game people played at tailgates. Today it's on ESPN, it's paying six-figure salaries, and it's pushing for the Olympics. Athena Delgado, National Director of Player Engagement for the American Cornhole League, joi...
Inside the Wildest Tailgate in College Football | Official Ken, LSU
If you've ever wondered what it looks like when someone takes their love for a team to a completely different level — this is that episode. Kendrick, known as Official Ken, is the LSU superfan whose reaction videos have hit 1.2 million views in...
He Built a Tailgate Business from Cornhole Boards to 10,000 Fans | John Mikulec
He started making cornhole boards in his garage at 16. Today his company runs more tailgate events than anyone else on Earth — 350 planned for the next year across 15+ NFL cities, 9 college markets, and every major soccer venue hosting World Cu...
The Woman Running Louisville's Most Legendary Tailgate | Rensha, Tailgaters U
She's the first female tailgating host to appear on the Tailgate Connect Podcast, and she's been running one of Louisville's most beloved tailgates for nearly 20 years. Rensha, co-host of Tailgaters U, joins Luke to talk about what it looks lik...
45 Years of KC Chiefs Tailgates — Recipes, Stories & Secrets | Tailgating With Rod
He's been tailgating for over 45 years, drives three hours from St. Louis to every Kansas City Chiefs home game, and holds what he calls "the Rod Rate" at the same hotel for 15 years straight. Some people call him the grandpa of tailgating. Rod...
Spurrier's QB Tells All — College Football, NIL & the Perfect Tailgate | Stephen Garcia
He had Bullet bourbon in his cup before the recording started, and it only got better from there. Stephen Garcia, former South Carolina Gamecocks quarterback and one of the most memorable players in the Steve Spurrier era, joins Luke for an unf...
Texas Tech's Most Legendary Tailgate Group — How Matador Mafia Was Built | Chris Evans
He played defensive back at Texas Tech in the 1980s — including a game against Michael Irvin's Miami, where Irvin told him he was one of the toughest white kids he'd ever played against. Now Chris Evans is back in Lubbock running the Matador Ma...
Lobster Tacos at an NFL Tailgate? Inside the Best Pregame at SoFi Stadium | Rick w/ SoFire Tailgating
Lobster tacos. A DJ. 50/50 raffles. Multiple TVs. And more passion for game day food than most chefs put into a restaurant service. Rick with SoFire Tailgating is not a casual tailgater — he's the guy who shows up at SoFi Stadium and turns the ...
From Zero to 85,000 People — How to Build a Tailgate Entertainment Empire | Wayne Verschuere
He launched his tailgating company in January 2020, picked up his first trailer on March 15th, and COVID shut everything down two days later. Most people would have quit. Wayne Verschuere spent those months setting up his tailgate rig on beache...
There Is an Actual Professor of Tailgating — and His Research Will Surprise You | Dr. Andy Gillentine
There is literally a professor of tailgating. Dr. Andy Gillentine has spent 30 years at the University of South Carolina investigating the phenomenon of tailgating — what drives people to sit in a 105-degree parking lot in August, what the lega...
How Baylor's Tailgaters Unanimous Built a Community Where Everyone Belongs | Matt & Ryan
In this episode of the Tailgate Connect podcast, host Luke Lorick welcomes Baylor tailgating hosts Ryan and Matt to discuss their passion for tailgating, the evolution of their tailgating experience, and the community they have built around it....
The Most Inclusive Tailgate in the Big Ten — Michigan's Spot 9 | Joey Mortiere
The Big House holds 107,000 people. Ann Arbor becomes one of the largest cities in Michigan on game day. And Spot 9 Tailgate has been hosting in the shadow of it all since 2007 — named after a parking spot they refused to give up even when the ...
He Took a Tailgate Game on Shark Tank — Here's What Really Happened | Mike Silva, QB54
He pitched QB54 on Shark Tank. He's in over 200 Dick's Sporting Goods stores. Michael Strahan has played it. And it took him eight years to become an overnight success — all while running the business out of his house in New Jersey with his fam...
25 Years Tailgating at Texas — How to Build a Game Day Community That Lasts | Ryan Lepper
It started in 1998 with Ricky Williams's Heisman run, a guy selling bootleg t-shirts in a parking lot, and two college kids who thought: we should make a tailgate to sell our own shirts. Twenty-five years later, Hornball Tailgaters is one of th...
Penn State's 409 Club Has Crab Cakes, Pulled Pork Nachos & Its Own Bloody Mary | Andrew Goldberg
The number 409 means one thing at Penn State: it was Joe Paterno's win total, and it stands for success with honor. Andrew Goldberg built his tailgate around that idea in 2016 — and 409 Tailgate Club has been a Happy Valley institution ever sin...
The Utah Pig Bus: How One Man Became the Face of Utes Tailgating | Ryan Lufkin
Most people don't think of Utah when they think of tailgating. That's exactly the problem Ryan Lufkin is fixing — one spectacular tailgate at the base of the Wasatch Mountains at a time. The Utah Pig Bus has been one of the most distinctive tai...
A Celebrity Tailgate Chef's Secrets for the Perfect Game Day Menu | Shanisty Ireland
She's a former television news anchor, the mother of five kids who prefer Taco Bell over her cooking (her words), and one of the most practical voices in tailgate food strategy. Shanisty Ireland joins Luke to give both home gaters and stadium t...
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The Savannah Bananas Built a Baseball Tailgate — And It's Changing Live Events | Brett Loftis
Three million people are on the waitlist. The K-Club is the only way to guarantee your spot. And Brett Loftis is the 24-year-old broadcast entertainer who gets to be in the middle of it all — as the voice and energy of the Texas Tailgaters in B...
Ohio State's Best Tailgate Has a Live DJ, Games & a Full Menu — Here's How | Maurice Colbert
He started hosting tailgates because he wanted to throw a party in a parking lot. Three years later, The Experience with Buckeye Mobile Entertainment is one of the most distinctive tailgating setups near the Schottenstein Center — with a live D...
He Created the Only Magazine Dedicated to Tailgating — Here's What He's Learned | Craig Renfro
19 years ago, Craig Renfro and his wife sat down and brainstormed what they liked to do. The answers: drink beer, cook on a grill, watch sports. They searched for any media covering it and found nothing. So they started Tailgater Magazine — the...
He Went to 77 College Football Games in One Season — Here's What He Found | Ben Chase
In 2022, Ben Chase loaded up a Dodge Grand Caravan named Betty White, quit his job, and set out to attend as many college football games as possible in a single season. He hit 77 games in 135 days, drove through all 48 continental US states, an...
He's Visiting Every FBS Stadium on Game Day — The Story Behind Tailgate Connect | Dan Donnelly
It started at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Penn State was playing USC. Dan Donnelly had a tent set up, music going, grills running, and games happening — while a group of Penn State fans wandered past in what he calls "a nomadic state," 24-packs ...
