Scott Larkins, 50, of Clarkston, grilling while at a tailgate at Michigan State University's Munn Intramural Field ahead of the first game of the 2025 season against Western Michigan University in East Lansing, Michigan on Aug. 29, 2025.
Over the last 31 years, tailgating at Munn Field has undergone numerous changes, not all of which have been well-received by fans, but before MSU and Western Michigan kicked off on August 29, it made its historic return.
On Monday, not quite three months into his role as Michigan State’s new athletic director, Jason "J" Batt unveiled The Munn Tailgate — a game-day experience featuring the 517 Beer Garden, Meijer Fan Fest and dedicated spaces for individual tailgating.
On Friday afternoon, the scent of charred hamburgers filled Munn Field as fans reached into ice-cold coolers, creating a sense of community on a normally quiet patch of grass nestled between the Breslin Center and Spartan Stadium.
Brian Russ, a member of the 1994 graduating class and long-time Munn Field tailgater, brought friends and family together from all over the Midwest and Michigan to celebrate week one of MSU football.
“When you look at Michigan State, when you look at the Big 10, there's no place that you can sit within looking distance to the stadium and be with this density of people supporting your school, supporting your team,” Russ said. And there's something just different about it. It just sets itself apart. And I truly believe Michigan State's game day experience can be unlike anything else in the Big 10.”
Before the announcement on Monday, Men’s Basketball Coach Tom Izzo gave Brian and his wife, Richelle, a call to share the news personally. What might seem like a random interaction, Russ said, was actually decades in the making.
The Russ family has been in the same spot at Munn Field since the 1990s, where they’d see Izzo going on jogs before football games. In 2018, when tailgating was banned, it was a big blow to their family’s rich history of pre-game fun. But Brian and Richelle Russ were elated when Izzo gave them a ring.
“Richelle and I used to tailgate here with many of the friends that you see here today, back in the 90s, and it was just such a great time with great memories that we all had together,” Russ said. “It was just this really awesome experience to share.”
In the 1990s, Munn Field set itself apart from most pregame scenes in the Big Ten across the country. Raucous crowds piled couches into pickup truck beds, unfolded temporary dance floors on the lawn, and kept cold drinks coming. In 1994, the university banned open-source alcohol, including kegs, on the field, a first step in a number of regulations that looked to limit tailgating.
In 1998, alcohol was banned altogether, leading to a student protest turned riot.
“I was part of the Student Alumni Foundation, and one of the people in our group had planned the protest,” said Angela Putkela, a 1998 alumna “It was not meant to be anything that it turned into, but it was like a sort of peaceful protest, and then it really got out of hand, and that's where the whole riot began. It was just kind of horrifying, to be honest with you, but the students felt very, very strongly about having the tailgating here.”
On May 1, 1998, students gathered in protest of the ban on alcohol at Munn. That night, the protest turned into a riot, resulting in 17 arrests, property damage and tear gas deployed on students.
Friday afternoon, Angela and Don Putkela set up shop next to Melanie Miller, a 1972 alumnae and former MSU Women's Basketball player. Since the 70s, Miller’s ties to MSU run deep. After graduating with undergraduate degrees in Biology and Physical Education and a master's degree in exercise physiology, she became a proponent for women's sports, especially in the Lansing area, where she worked as the Athletic Director at Sexton High School for 18 years.
Miller said she, too, was excited when she heard Munn Field was back open.
“It's nice to see it back,” Miller said. “There are some good memories here. It was crazy for a while when MSU changed it to non alcoholic.”
Current undergrad students at MSU have never experienced pre-game festivities at Munn Field, many getting their first taste of tailgating at Munn Field altogether. Sophomore applied engineering major James Friel said he was “having a blast” at Munn Field.
Friel spent his afternoon tossing a football with a friend before joining the student section at Spartan Stadium.
“I’m so hyped, I'm ready for MSU football, I’m so happy it’s back,” Friel said. “I’m excited to see Aidan Chiles. I want to see him have a great bounce-back year. I know he's got the potential. I think he's gonna be great this year. I'm just excited.”
Friday night’s contest ended in a 23-6 win over Western Michigan, where second-year quarterback Aidan Chiles completed 17 of 23 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown.
On June 2, J Batt was hired as the 21st athletic director of MSU. Since, Batt has made an immediate impact, most recently on August 27, alluding to the possibility of naming rights at Spartan Stadium.
"The changes in college athletics, like them or not, have created additional pressure on revenue," Batt said. "And so I think the 30,000-foot change that you've seen is that because of that pressure, we've got to consider more things that potentially we may not have done in the past."
“I just think it's it's great to see the money going into it and how exciting it is,” Don Putkela said.
Renovations to Spartan Stadium were seen for the first time on Friday night with the addition of fireworks, receiving loud uproar at each appearance.
“I think the university, with the leadership that we have right now, we're set to do great things together, because it's all one team,” Brian Russ said. “When Michigan State is all connected as one, we can be amazing.”
