cleveland browns tailgating 600It continually amazes me how the owners and vendors at NFL games look for ways to screw its fans. Cleveland is the latest offender, who added a $5 “pedestrian fee” for people looking to tailgate outside of Cleveland Browns stadium before games. Here’s one fan’s account of being asked to pay money for the privilege of walking through a parking lot. Not only did he not have the $5, but he also was short on capital letters.

my friends and i have been tailgating for browns home games in “the pit”, a lot owned and managed by network parking, for years.

so as i headed to the pit to tailgate for the browns/bengals this past sunday morning i was beyond surprised to see that there was a network parking attendant collecting a “$5 pedestrian fee” from tailgaters to hangout in their parking lot.

essentially a $5 cover charge to walk through a parking lot – a slab of concrete.

when i was asked to pay the fee, i laughed, said no way, and walked away. but i didn’t get far… the attendant called a couple of cops over because there was a group of about 15 people (including my friend and i) refusing to pay.

Network Parking was the subject of several complaints filed to the city earlier this week and was even charging people who were just trying to get to the stadium. That’s a dick move, bro. The company is now being investigated by the city, who takes an 8 percent cut of all admission fees charged. Because nobody sticks it to Cleveland before Cleveland, apparently.