Sailgating guide: 9 football stadiums where fans can arrive by boat instead of fighting for parking

So in 1962, a Knoxville sportscaster named George Mooney actually did something about it — he got in a ski boat, rode the Tennessee River to Neyland Stadium, tied off to a tree and walked into the game.Sixty-plus years later, "sailgating" is its own gameday subculture, with dedicated marinas, waitlists longer than season-ticket lines, and fans who'd rather anchor in a lake than fight for a parking spot.CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE FROM OUTKICK OUTDOORSYou don't need a stadium sitting directly on the water to pull this off — plenty of these spots involve a walk from the dock — but these are the ones where the boat crowd is as much a part of Saturday (or Sunday) as the game itself.A Tennessee tube man and an inflatable power T on a yacht at the Vol Navy at Volunteer Landing ahead of the South Carolina vs.

Tennessee football game on the Tennessee River on Sept.30, 2023.

(USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)This is where it all started, so it gets top billing.And as a Tennessee alumna myself, I’d admittedly a little biased.The Vol Navy Boat Docks are a 12-15-minute walk from Neyland, and more than 200 boats show up there on a normal home Saturday.

Tennessee even built a walkway just to handle the foot traffic coming off the water.The Vol Navy has its own logo and its own merch — flags, boat bags, blankets, floatable keychains, the works.

It’s something every Tennessee fan should experience at least once.Washington Huskies fans tailgate on boats in a marina before their game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Husky Stadium on Sept.27, 2025, in Seattle, Wash.

(Tom Hauck/Getty Images)If Neyland invented sailgating, Washington turned it into an art form.Up to 3,400 fans out of a 70,000-person crowd arrive by boat on Union Bay, everything from little skiffs to 94-foot yachts, all anchored up for a view of downtown Seattle, Mount Rainier and the Olympics.Good luck actually getting a dock slip, though.

There's a waitlist more than 100 boats deep, some fans ...