A Career in Tailgating

Lots of people would like to travel in an RV full-time, but they haven’t reached retirement age and can’t afford to go on a permanent vacation. So they have to find a way to support themselves on the road or give up the dream.

Joe Cahn solved that problem by inventing a title for himself—Commissioner of Tailgating—and enlisting sponsors to underwrite his travels across the country to football stadiums and NASCAR tracks.

Cahn is about to begin his tenth season of promoting tailgating in an RV, traveling this year under sponsorship of Campbell’s Chunky Soup. During the past nine years, he has been to every National Football League stadium, 73 college football fields and nine NASCAR tracks, encouraging people to make tailgating an integral part of their attendance at sports events.

How do you become Commissioner of Tailgating?

Cahn said he got on that path by watching the broadcasts of the late CBS newsman Charles Kuralt, who traveled the country in a motorhome looking for offbeat stories. That looked like fun, so when Cahn sold his cooking school in New Orleans in 1996, he bought an RV and hit the road.

His interest in cooking led him to tailgate parties, and before long, he was going to a different city every weekend, taking in both college and professional football games. In the beginning he made large pots of Jambalaya to share with other tailgaters; now Cahn said he puts out a few snacks to share, but mainly he wanders around parking lots sampling the food of others.

Come Early, Stay Late
Cahn said it is important to dedicated tailgaters to get to the games early, three or four hours before kickoff, and to stay an hour or two afterward to party while the traffic clears. Seldom does Cahn actually attend a game. Cahn watches on television in the company of others who have come to the parking lot for the tailgating, but don’t have tickets.

One rule Cahn always follows is to root for the home team. As a full-time RVer, Cahn said he easily shifts his fan loyalty to whatever city he happens to be in. So when he arrives in the parking lot, he always decorates his table with symbols of the home team. He is enthusiastic by nature, and said that if he actually went inside the stadium to the game, “I’d get too emotionally involved—I’d yell and scream and lose my voice.”

So it’s best, he said, if he just stays outside, watches the game on television, and waits for the spectators to return.

More than Hot Dogs
Since he started tailgating, Cahn has seen the number of participants grow enormously, and the food become more varied. Hamburgers and hot dogs are standard everywhere, but you find lots of regional influences, too, he said, naming Cuban pig in Miami, salmon in Seattle, authentic Mexican food in San Diego and lobster in New England.

Cahn’s advice, however, is to keep the menu fairly simple—“You don’t need an eight course meal.”

His Web site, www.tailgating.com, contains lots of recipes for tailgate food, everything from Green Bay Kielbasa to Uncle John’s Spinach Balls. You’ll also find Cahn’s tips for tailgating, stories by other tailgaters, and information about where to park your RV at football and baseball stadiums and NASCAR tracks.

As Cahn describes it on his Web site, tailgating is “the last great American neighborhood—where no one locks their door, everyone is happy to see you and all are together sharing fun, food and football.”

A stadium parking lot before a game is the one place where you can always count on people to be friendly and in a festive mood. Cahn said some stadiums are more accommodating to tailgaters than others, but he always finds a happy crowd, and good food to enjoy. His favorite place, he said, is just wherever he happens to be.

Home on Wheels
Cahn has formed lasting friendships that he renews every year as he makes return visits to NFL cities. He said friends he has met in parking lots often invite him to stay at their homes, but he declines, saying, “I’ve got my house with me.” He travels with his pet cat in a 40-foot diesel pusher, a Monaco Safari, that he purchased after putting 225,000 miles on a Holiday Rambler that he said is still in good condition.

Cahn will begin his nationwide tour Sept. 8 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, at the season opening game between the New England Patriots and the Oakland Raiders. He expects to log 32,000 miles before season’s end. Along the way, Campbell’s Chunky Soup will donate a can of soup to local food banks for every mile Cahn travels.

So once again this fall, Cahn will drive his motorhome from city to city, seeing the country, sharing the passion of tailgating, and contributing to charity along the way. For a full-time RVer, what could be better than that?

Write to Mike Ward, editor at RV Life Magazine, 18717 76th Avenue West, Suite B, Lynnwood, WA 98037 or e-mail editor@rvlife.com. Find First Glance on-line at rvlife.com