Pandemics suck. How’s that for stating the obvious?
I’m not going to gripe and complain about how COVID-19 has negatively affected us – everyone has their own struggles caused by this virus and no one wants to hear ours. What I will say is that it has been very challenging, though, to figure out the best path to try and move forward for this season when it’s very obvious that the ones in charge of making the decisions are still trying to figure it out for themselves.
One thing that we are very sure of is – if there is an NFL season and our favorite team is on the field we will be tailgating – whatever version of that may be and whatever is allowable and safe.
There will be many of you, however, who will not want to come out in public for events or for games if there are 20,000 fans in the stadium. Whether you’re high risk, around those who are, or just don’t feel comfortable being in a group setting, that is totally understandable – you’re far from being alone.
So while we were going through our offseason process of planning for the possible hypothetical season scenarios, we knew we needed to find a way to engage with our members and fans who are planning on sitting the 2020 events out.
Enter Homegatin’.
Look, we tailgate everything – no matter what. Y’all know that.
And just because this pandemic has altered our worlds and created an environment unfit for 75K fans to attend sporting events, that doesn’t mean we’re not going to tailgate for those games. That doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy all the faces that we’ve grown so accustomed to seeing on Sundays. That doesn’t mean we aren’t going to yell Keep Pounding together after our young D-line studs put Drew Brees on the turf in the Super Dome.
And it doesn’t mean we aren’t going to do our part to raise some funds for the Roaring Riot Foundation to continue to help Panthers fans in need enjoy the type of experiences that we are lucky to have.
Our goal in launching Homegatin’ is to give all Roaring Riot members and Panthers fans the opportunity to be included and experience a version of our Away Game Experiences from the comfort of their own homes. We customized each box based on the away game cities and added all of the necessary elements for a perfect tailgate: food and drink recipes, playlists, dope merch, and virtual conferencing so you can meet up with the rest of the fam.
We partnered with some of the best chefs and mixologists in the city like Chef Alyssa’s Kitchen, the Nappy Chef, Bob Peters and others to provide you with the best food and drink at your house – we’ll even have virtual, step-by-step cooking classes so great cooks like me couldn’t even mess it up!
Each box is designed for two people and they are available as single games, half or full seasons – four and eight games respectively. We’re even going to integrate our Tailgate with a Purpose mantra into Homegatin’ and a portion of the proceeds from each box will go to the Roaring Riot Foundation in effort to provide Homegatin’ opportunities to some of our Panthers family in need!
We’re really excited to launch Homegatin’ – we think it’s a fun way to keep everyone together and engaged while watching these young Panthers – not just during a pandemic, but every season after. And I personally look forward to screaming with all of you – virtually – no matter where we end up on Sundays this Fall.
Zack Luttrell, Ringleader of the Roaring Riot
