Michael Emilio

tailgate: To participate in a picnic that is served from the tailgate of a vehicle, as before a sports event.

So that’s the definition of tailgating. If you’re into sports, and you’ve seen a live sporting event, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. Hot dogs, drinks, burgers, tossing around the Nerf football.

You may think tailgating has kept to its roots: a simple pregame picnic in the back of a pickup truck or sports utility vehicle (SUV) or even station wagon. But know tailgating has become a multimillion dollar business. And it’s a practice that’s even more important and profitable to some than even the sports game itself.

In other words, for some, tailgating has become THE event.

One of these guys that’s obsessed with tailgating (in a good way) is Jeff Campbell, 56, who’s the owner of Gameday Customs: The Ultimate Tailgate (located in Long Beach California). Campbell can setup a trailer for you which would be custom made to accommodate hardcore tailgating action.

While the trailer is small enough to fit in a typical garage and can fit in the recreational vehicle (RV) parking spot in the stadium parking lot it gives you great value if you’re looking for what Jeff Campbell is offering. The trailers will set you back from $13,900 to $18,500. That’s the cost of the trailer, now I’ll get into what you’ll actually GET with the trailer. The trailer can be custom-fitted to have a flat screen TV, a wet bar (a bar for mixing drinks that has a sink with running water), a satellite dish, a kegerator that keeps beers cool, toilet, and a 1000 watt generator.

Jeff started his sports and RV fascination back in the 1970’s, when his family owned the Sportland Trailer Sales and RV. This was a recreational vehicle company over on the West Coast of the United States. However there were two huge oil crises in the 1970’s and that killed the family business.

“It was tough to sell RVs when gas lines were going around the block and interest rates were at 20 percent,” says Campbell. “Timing’s everything and we had none.”

So Campbell didn’t give up on the market, though it did take him a while to launch his company. With a tiny budget, Jeff busted out with Gameday - while the country was all the rage with tailgating. Keep in mind that tailgating has about 50 million practitioners according to their estimates (American Tailgator Association). Membership in the association has hit 150,000, says Kevin Miller who’s the publisher of Tailgater magazine.

“Tailgating is so huge that some people go to the stadium just to tailgate and not even to go to the game,” says Darryl Dunn who’s the general manager of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena California.

Campbell says that he’s going to sell 22 trailers this year, which will gross him about $400,000 in sales. He hopes to bump that up to 30 or 40 trailers next year. He says he’s starting to turn a profit now - not bad for a two-year-old business.

Jeff Campbell got the idea for the Gameday sports trailers when he went to a USC (University of Southern California) vs California college football game about four years ago. He saw one of the guys in the stadium parking lot had a busted up old trailer with a grill and a satellite dish. Idea generated - and prototype unleashed.

“We took it to the USC games and the response was so positive we thought that maybe this was a viable business,” said Campbell.

He then got $50,000 of his cash and opened up a small rented industrial space in Long Beach California. He purchased some stripped-down trailers for cheap and hooked them up with his Gameday tailgating machine magic.

However, he then realized that some customers don’t need to keep a beer keg cold so he took out the refrigerator and put in a mini-fridge. Some people wanted a bigger television. Others wanted a bigger, more powerful generator.

So now Campbell changed his business model. He just puts in the basics in terms of interior and wiring and then adds the extras once he has the customer’s order in.

Marketing this unique vehicle also was a challenge. He put an advertisement in the local newspaper but that didn’t generate any responses. He couldn’t afford television spots or radio commercials. He also put down $2,500 for a website and that didn’t bring much business either. Damn Campbell, for $2500 I would’ve made you a top-notch website! Plus, I have killer internet marketing skills and I’m very humble about it. Keep the ol’ Michael Emilio in mind next time for internet marketing and website design

Campbell, after his initial marketing and advertising attempts failed, started taking his custom trailer our to games at the Coliseum and the Rose Bowl. Sounds like good marketing to me - catch some football and get your products name out there! Grassroots all the way. Word of the mouth - arguably the best marketing there is - started sending orders his way. Referrals brought even more. This led to people seeking HIM out through his website - bringing in orders from North Carolina, Seattle, Texas, among other locations.

“Unlike a lot of guys, I actually use my product. I know what works through personal experience,” says Campbell.

Standard model includes:

# 26″ LCD TV
# Satellite Dish
# CD/DVD Player
# 1000 Watt Generator
# Electrical Outlets
# 30 AMP Electrical Converter
# Battery Charger
# Toilet
# Spare Tire
# Mag Wheels
# 36″ x 36″ Concession Door
# Double Rear Doors
# 32″ Side Entry Door
# Aluminum Diamond Plate Stone Guard
# Aluminum Diamond Plate Fenders
# ¾” Plywood Floor/Checkerboard Flooring
# Interior and Exterior Lights

Options include:

# 2000 Watt Generator
# Automatic Satellite TV Dish
# 12 Volt Gell Battery
# Various Styles of Barbecues
# Complete Fresh Water System with Stainless Steel Sink
# 5 Gallon Holding Tank
# Kegerator / Refrigerator
# 1200 Watt Inverter
# AM/FM Receiver & 2 External Mounted Speakers
# Roof Vent

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