EAST LANSING, Mich. — Party and event rental operations that traditionally counted on college football tailgate parties, homecoming events and Rush Week activities are having to pivot once again because athletic conferences have either canceled, postponed or drastically altered sports schedules and schools are putting the kibosh on many social activities.
This latest blow inflicted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) is forcing rental operators who have counted on these events to become even more innovative in finding ways to make up revenues lost as a result of the upheaval.
For years, if there was a tailgate party or other event at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, whose football team is part of the Big Ten Conference, Herriott’s Rents Tents Events in Champaign, Ill., was right in the thick of it.
“Like many others in the party and event rental business, Herriott’s has been struck with many cancellations since March, and they are continuing to happen. The most recent of blows being the cancellation of fall sports at the University of Illinois. However, it isn’t only the loss of our tailgates, but also the loss from events across the U of I as a whole. The University of Illinois is a major client for Herriott’s, making up approximately 41 percent of our annual rentals,” says Maggie Cascone, CERP, event coordinator, and an ARA of Illinois board member.
Even with that huge loss, Cascone is thankful the company hasn’t lost all of its university business.
“We have several tents installed on campus as COVID-19 testing sites and long-term outdoor spaces for students to utilize. One college within the university refused to give in to COVID-19, and will still be hosting its annual welcome event for their students. It just looks a little different this year with an expanded footprint and will take place over several days as opposed to one or two days,” she says.
The team at Herriott’s also has been able to install more tents at bars and restaurants in the campus area after the mayors of Champaign and Urbana issued emergency orders restricting those establishments in Campus Town to outdoor seating only.
“We also have seen an influx in wedding rentals as people are having to downsize and venues are closed, and we have seen a huge increase in our ‘curbside’ business. In addition, we will be reaching out to our county clerk’s office to see if we can provide tents at polling places this fall. Lastly, we are working with local schools to provide a space for students to get some fresh air and remove the mask for a brief time during the day,” Cascone says.
While far from regaining what has been lost, “we have been lucky to have a fairly steady business since the end of May,” she says.
Brian Dorn, owner, Midwest Tent and Events, Lincoln, Neb., and an ARA of Nebraska board member, also did a lot of business with the University of Nebraska, whose Big Ten Conference football team, the Cornhuskers, has had its season postponed until spring 2021. This means that he will miss out on prime revenue from events like tailgate parties but, at least for now, he still has some limited business going on with the institution.
“Right now our main involvement is in the pre-screening and social distancing tents put up by the college” Dorn says, noting that these most likely will have a very limited run. “They are figuring things out as they go as students return and start up classes, but I expect the need for tents for these purposes to die off by around mid-September. From October on, the opportunities for school-related business look to be few and far between. There just won’t be a lot of activity.”
Dorn explains that in his area there generally are not similar virus screening/social distancing tent setup opportunities with schools below the university level due to their reorganized schedules with online options and also “because they don’t have the flexibility in their budgets the way that colleges do with the funding resources that are behind them.”
In the absence of revenue derived from the big college football gameday parties, Dorn concedes that “there isn’t a lot to fill that void. Our only hope is that they’ll be able to have a spring season, but it’s hard right now to see how even that will function.”
Amber Caudill, manager, Midwest Rentals, Lafayette, Ind., and ARA of Indiana secretary, says her company handled a lot of tailgate events for Purdue University, which is a member of the Big Ten Conference.
“Homecoming also was one of our biggest events. The cancellations have impacted us tremendously. There are no longer any events going on at Purdue. Our spring was shot. Now we are renting out tents to them for spacing out students for study tents and dining,” she says.
Scott Awad, president, ETR Party Rental/Events to Rent, East Lansing, Mich., has always provided tents and party rentals for tailgate functions on campus at Michigan State University, which also is part of the Big Ten Conference.
“We have had several departments and colleges at Michigan State University (MSU) that would use us exclusively for their party rentals. This would include tailgate events that now are not happening this fall. Our tailgate business has been going down through the years, though, so the loss of the tailgates is not as great as what we lost in March with the cancellation of all spring events at the university. By now we would have booked several large sorority and fraternity events for Rush Week. That is not going to happen as the president of MSU has decided to go with online classes for now. For the past several years we have been the exclusive party rental/event vendor for one national sorority with a presence at MSU that would use us for all
of their Rush Week events. This would amount to several days of parties and several thousands of dollars. That is not happening this fall either. This is a larger loss for us than the tailgates,” he says.
“Once things started to dry up last March, we immediately pulled back on many of our expenses and started applying for grants and loans to hopefully get us through this pandemic,” he adds. “We had no idea how long this would affect our business and our livelihood. After being in business for 30 years, the last thing we want is to close our doors during this.”
Awad is used to getting a lot of university jobs because his business is located just one block from the campus. “In addition to tailgates, several of the university departments and colleges would use us for all of their events, but as of now, all events have been postponed or canceled. Until we get a vaccine so our clients and our staff are safe, the state will keep event numbers limited and our business will be down, of course,” he says.
There is a glimmer of hope, he adds. “I have heard rumblings that MSU and the Big Ten may possibly have a spring football season. We are hopeful that we may be able to recoup some of our losses once the pandemic is under control,” he says.
Brian Ritchey, president, O’Neil Tents & Party Supplies, Canal Winchester, Ohio, is the preferred vendor for another Big Ten Conference school, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
"Pretty much during football season, we don’t do a lot of tailgating for the college, but we have had four or five tailgaters who usually spend about $1,200 a game on tents, tables, chairs, heaters, lights and all sorts of things. If they are doing eight games, that is a good chunk of change,” he says.
For the university’s athletic department, Ritchey traditionally has rented 2,000 chairs and 200 tables to be placed in the stadium throughout the season.
In addition to the sports events, Ritchey’s company has handled homecoming events for some of the individual colleges. “These can range from $5,000 to $20,000 per order. Homecoming has become a very good source of revenue for us,” he says.
The only positive is that he has done more COVID-19-related jobs on campus. “We are putting up tents as places for students to study and gather. We have tents scattered around campus — anywhere from the small tents to as big as the 10-by-30-meter clearspans. Overall, we have about 15 tents up on campus through November,” he says.
Ritchey also has put up a 20-by-30-meter tent for the football team to eat under. “The football team is still practicing even though the season has been postponed until next year,” he says.
Ritchey also has been able to put up tents for COVID-19 drive-thru testing sites with Ohio Health, which has many locations throughout the state. He also has some tents up at companies that are using the tents to prescreen employees before they enter the building. “The COVID-19 jobs have really saved us,” he says, adding that his company also has manufactured clear-scrimmed vinyl dividers, which Columbus Parks and Recs has used for its day camps.
J.P. Fritz, president, Lasting Impressions Event Rentals, Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio, and The Alleen Co. of Cincinnati, who also is a member of the ARA of Ohio board, also has done a lot of work with Ohio State University and surrounding colleges and universities.
“At Ohio State, we do back-to-school events for the various social groups, alumni and individual colleges of Ohio State such as the College of Business. At this time of year, they are always doing all kinds of things to get people involved in their various groups — meet-and-greet-type events. It is significant — making August our busiest month in the summer. There are usually two to three weeks where we are at Ohio State multiple times every week, putting up everything from a 10-by-10-ft. tent to large tents. We had one event at Ohio State involved the rental of 600 to 700 tables and 1,400 chairs. Every club had a table under a tent. All of the students traditionally went through this to meet and get involved in the different clubs,” he says, adding that the loss of these jobs at Ohio State and other colleges “ranges between $300,000 and $400,000. It’s big dollars for us.”
Like Ritchey, Fritz and his team are thankful for the long-term tent rentals for COVID-19-related jobs.
“In July, 44 percent of our business was long-term tent rentals for COVID-19. We are at a higher percentage than that in August — in the 55 percent to 65 percent range. These are for drive-thru testing sites, expansion of restaurant space, schools and corporations that have expanded their cafeteria space or for testing on the way in,” Fritz says.
Fritz’s company also has been able to put up tents at Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio. “They are one of the few schools in our area that are open for in-person classrooms. We have quoted so many of these tents for classrooms. Most everyone in Ohio has postponed in-person classroom teaching for a month,” he says, adding that he is grateful for these long-term tent rentals.
“We have a group of testing sites that will keep us cash-flow positive. Not everyone is in that boat,” he says.
While Fritz’s and Ritchey’s companies have been able to offset — to a minor degree — the loss of revenue associated with college athletics with projects like virus screening tents at the schools, this has not entirely been the case for Special Occasions in Corvallis, Ore., whose client list includes Oregon State University (OSU).
“OSU is going 90 percent online this fall, so there are none of the normal fall events,” says Kyle Tegner, CERP, president, Special Occasions, and ARA of Oregon president. “Since they are so concentrated on online learning, we’re not getting the influx of need for supplies for those student health stations.”
The postponement of the PAC-12 Conference football season also meant that Special Occasions has had to put on hold ambitious plans for a new tailgate rental package that Tegner describes as “a football fan experience that would have been a game changer for the fans and our involvement with the football season.”
As it is, the company is taking more limited university-based jobs, such as with a 30-by-60 ft. tent erected as an outdoor OSU student recreation center. “We have a tent and some flooring set up by an OSU rec center that is allowed because it is for a health-related purpose,” Tegner says, adding that the makeshift gym is only up because of the way it is funded. “The rec center fees are not part of the students’ tuition — it is a tacked-on fee. Since students are paying extra for the rec center access, the university felt an obligation to provide that extra workout space.”
Beyond the university, Tegner is still finding business opportunities with the agricultural industry in the area for harvest-time processes and with restaurants for outdoor seating areas, although weather conditions are beginning to introduce an element of worry with some of the restaurant clients.
“It will get rainy here, and that will create a perception problem,” Tegner says. “We can put up a canopy without walls, and it is labeled an ‘outdoor’ seating area. But when you have to put up walls to keep in heating when the weather turns, does that mean it becomes an ‘indoor’ facility and subject to local capacity restrictions? If that is the case, then some restaurants may decide that renting the tent and accessories is not worth it.”
Festive Events & Rentals, Tempe, Ariz., hasn’t fared much better.
“We usually assist Arizona State University with on-campus events such as festivals, weddings in the University Club or the on-campus Danforth Chapel, and tents for dorm check-ins. We also specialize in graduation parties and fraternity and sorority formals. All of those events have been canceled,” says Ginia Lucas, CPCE, MWV, owner, and acting president of the ARA of Arizona. “What normally would have been a lucrative season has proven to be nonexistent. This was a huge blow to our bottom line. And with the university having everyone on basic lockdown, there are no social events being held, so it is not looking hopeful for a good fall season either.”
There’s a little more hope for Terry Turner, CERP, owner, All Occasions Party Rentals, Knoxville, Tenn.
As of late August, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) planned to forge ahead with its fall football season with a scaled back, conference-only schedule. According to Turner, the University of Tennessee (UT), an SEC member, will not be allowing any official, university-sanctioned tailgating in the traditional sense, but it is still to be determined whether smaller independent parties will fly in the vicinity of Neyland Stadium, the home of the Volunteers football team.
“UT hasn’t really confirmed what their intentions are going to be when it comes to individual tailgating,” Turner says. “What they have said is that there will be no university-sponsored tailgating, meaning that no school groups, no clubs and things of that nature will be allowed to tailgate prior to football games. We are still working with them to try to convince them that we can provide a safe tailgating experience in smaller groups to see if they’ll let us participate. But we don’t know the final answer.”
Turner is working on a different twist on the tailgate experience.
“We are trying to expand a little bit,” he says. “We’re working on a program where we can deliver a tailgate package to someone’s backyard that will include a tent, tables, chairs and a 50 in. TV. We haven’t figured out how we’re going to hook up cable to it, but we’re thinking about buying coax cable so the customer can run the cable out of their garage or wherever is the closest outlet that they have.”
Even in the current environment that has created uncertainty around university athletics-related activities, Turner is finding other business opportunities with schools.
“We set up several tents at smaller universities and colleges throughout east Tennessee that they’re using some outdoor space for, whether it be for classroom space or just gathering space, dining space, etc. We’ve also set tents up at several private high schools and elementary schools here in the region, but we haven’t done a whole lot with the largest school district here, which is the Knox County system,” he says.
Educational institutions aside, Turner is still getting some business from traditional celebrations and also is involved in planning events that are very much a sign of the times.
“We’re still seeing some weddings and things like that,” he says. “We’re also doing some outdoor concerts where people will stay in their cars but also be allowed to park their car and have the space beside them to get out and enjoy the concert. We’re helping with the production of that.”
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