This article is featured in the 2024 Homecoming Special Issue.
On Oct. 5, Davern Cigarran ’28 and several friends gathered on the front lawn of Wheeler Hall to grill hotdogs, toss a football and enjoy each other’s company. The students then walked to the Buddy Teevens Stadium at Memorial Field to attend Dartmouth football’s game against the University of Pennsylvania.
Elsewhere on campus, however, one could hardly tell the football team was playing its Ivy League opening game. While it is commonplace at other schools to celebrate game day with barbecues and drinks, Cigarran observed that tailgating is practically nonexistent for Dartmouth students.
“We definitely have the potential for more students to get involved, and it’s very different from the tailgates we’ve been to in the South,” she said.
But why do Dartmouth students forgo this traditional display of school spirit?
One possible explanation is low attendance at athletic events. Even in high-stakes games — such as the Ivy League opener against Penn — the number of students who show up to spectate is relatively few compared to other schools.
“It was striking and disappointing to me and other alums from the late 1970s how few people attended the Penn game,” David Dowd ’79, an alumnus at the game, said.
According to Dartmouth Football records, the Oct. 5 game against Penn saw 4,746 fans enter the gates, filling less than 50% of the stadium’s 11,000 seats. The team’s season kickoff game against Fordham University on Sept. 21, again at home, drew 3,573 fans. The University of Michigan, meanwhile, had an average attendance of 109,971 for each of their seven home games during the 2023 season, a figure which surpasses its official stadium capacity of 107,601 seats, according to Sports Illustrated.
Even Dartmouth used to see larger crowds. In 1979, Dowd’s senior year as a football player for the Big Green, the Ivy League opener versus Princeton University had an impressive 14,500 people in the stands, according to Dartmouth Athletics records.
In recent years, Dartmouth students have been less interested in supporting the football team, according to former Dartmouth safety Lloyd Lee ’98. Travis Short ’25 also noted a lack of interest.
“I just feel like unless you’re an athlete, or you’re really into sports, you just don’t know about these games,” Short said.
Cigarran agreed that there is a general lack of interest in football among many Dartmouth students.
“I think there’s definitely room for improvement in the energy of the student section,” Cigarran said. “Our biggest barrier right now is the mentality that we’re not a football school.”
Short added that a lack of parking may also prevent tailgating. He explained that the stadium has “limited parking space,” which poses a significant challenge — since tailgates are traditionally organized in stadium parking lots. Hanover’s cold weather may also be a deterrent, Short added.
“It’s kind of hard to sit still when you’re freezing cold at a football game,” he explained.
Despite Dartmouth’s historical dearth of tailgating, some students are pushing to bring football culture from their hometowns to campus. While tailgating in Hanover differs from in Cigarran’s hometown of Nashville, Tenn. — where parking lots, streets and other gathering spaces near the stadiums are plentiful — she said there are still many opportunities to demonstrate spirit before home games.
“[Tailgating] is a great way to get excited for football games and get to know other people,” she said.
After the Big Green’s 24-21 win against Columbia University on Oct. 26, the team remains the only undefeated squad in the Ivy League. On Nov. 2, Dartmouth students celebrate Homecoming as the Big Green face Harvard University, which is currently 2-1 in Ivy League play.
