With the 2009 football season well underway and only three home games left to play, some fans are beginning to look forward to next year and wonder where they’ll be parking after the decades old S.C. Farmers’ Market moves to Lexington County.

The Market grounds have long been a tailgating haven for hundreds of fans for years and with the upcoming move, scheduled for April of 2010, many are looking at forking over big chunks of money to have a place to park and socialize before the home games. In the past parking passes have been given to the Market vendors and they in turn give them to friends, family, and customers.

“We’ve been parking here for the last few years and we will really miss it next season,” said Elise Ewing, Gamecock fan. “We used to park down on Key Road, but it was expensive and a longer walk to the games.”

Ewing said the beauty of Market parking was having shelter, electricity, and restrooms.

“Since we are friends with people who own one of the businesses, we can use their dock that is sheltered in bad weather and has electric outlets for music or even heaters in the winter months,” she said.

Carla Ewing, Elise’s mother and fellow fan said that the safety issue was important to her as well.

“While the whole area is well patrolled by law enforcement, it’s nice to know that you are surrounded by people you know and that while you’re at the game, your vehicle is relatively safe and off the beaten path,” she said.

Sherri Liles, a mother of two teenagers and an employee at one of the Market’s produce businesses said that it’s a relief her children know they can walk over to the Market and find a friend or family member if an emergency arises.

“A lot of my family parks over there,” she said. “It’s nice to know my kids can find someone to help them if something goes wrong or they, for some reason, can’t get a ride home. When the Market moves, they won’t have that option and I won’t have that peace of mind.”

While the nation is coming out of a recession, football tickets and all the things that go with it are on the rise. This year alone, many long–time season ticket holders let their seats go as the school tacked on extra fees just for the privilege of paying for the seats.

The school referred to these additional fees as personal seat licenses or the YES (Yearly Equitable Seating) plan, and they ranged from $50 to $395 per seat. This was tacked on to the regular price of the season tickets that varies according to where the seats are, according to Steve Fink, head of media relations for the school.

Fink said that the additional costs did impact sales this year with fans cutting back on the number of seats or not buying tickets.

“It’s a three–year program and will stay the same for that length of time,” he said.

Now with the Farmers’ Market moving, fans who are already strapped are looking at even more expense to park before the games.

“When you have four outside seats and have to pay $200 each just to be able to buy the tickets that range from $35 to $55 depending on the game, you can’t even break even by trying to sell them,” one irate fan said. “Now with the Market moving, we’ll have to pay out of the nose just to have a place to park. In this economy, that’s a hard thing to do every year.”

While the university is going to take over the Market space, and fans won’t be getting any free passes to park there, Fink said the plan is for newer and better parking spaces for the fans.

“We want to do at the Market what we did at the fair grounds,” he said. “There will be greenery added and lights, and ultimately it will be even better than the fair parking.”

Fink said there weren’t any plans yet as to the cost or when the spaces will be ready, although the school hopes to have some spaces available by the 2010 season.

George Lee, the lead developer for the new market with the 321 Lexington Associates said the new market would be state of the art and a beautiful addition to the state.

Located on U.S. Hwy. 321 and within 1.5 miles of both I–77 and I–26, he said the 174–acre site will provide residents and visitors with a unique experience when they come.

“There will be just about anything you can think of,” Lee said. “In addition to the dedicated wholesale area where the produce businesses will go, we will have a 170–seat exhibition kitchen that will showcase SC chefs and foods, a 450–seat amphitheater, restaurants, and specialty food shops that will highlight SC meats, cheeses, and produce.”

Lee said the new market would also include a RV–Park and plenty of space in the Farmers’ Shed for local farmers to exhibit and sell their fruits and vegetables.