MBA Huddle Club and the Greatest Setting in College Football

Looking to socialize and connect with other Foster School of Business MBA students? What better way to network than during UW’s greatest party: the tailgates!

Written by: Anne Duessel, student contributor, Foster School of Business MBA Class of 2026

Tailgating and Sailgating: What’s the Deal?

With school in session and the thermometer dropping, it’s clear that we now have both feet firmly in the fall season. But no worries on the chill: with fall comes the return of Husky Football. In their second year in the Big Ten Conference, the University of Washington (UW) is faring well, having just lost one game so far (to last year’s National Champion, Ohio State University— in analysts’ terms, a “quality loss”).

The future is bright if you’re a member of the Dawg Pack, and if you’re a Foster MBA student looking to celebrate that future, look no further than the UW Huddle Club.

The Huddle Club is a student-run club dedicated to bringing MBA students together for social gatherings outside of the academic setting. Led by Foster School of Business Full-Time MBA students Ben Vester, Michael Streuling, and Travis Johnson, the primary events of the Huddle Club are the tailgates: pre-football parking lot parties for every home game of the season. Notable tailgates this year include the Alumni tailgate during the Apple Cup (the annual rivalry game between the University of Washington and Washington State University) and Sailgate.

Sailgate allows students to briefly join the canvas of boats that decorate the Seattle skyline view from the stadium throughout the game — a high-energy party sailing on Seattle’s Lake Union and its canals, where students disembark at the stadium when it’s game time. Especially when the weather is nice, it’s a celebration not just of the UW Huskies, but of the beautiful city in which the university is located.

Networking, purple tents, camaraderie, oh my!

One of the benefits of attending Huddle Club meetings is the opportunity to network with fellow MBA students. First-year Full-time MBA students may find Huddle to be the most accessible opportunity to connect with students in the Executive MBA program, who can offer their unique perspectives. Especially in the fall, when recruiting is at its peak and students might spend their time on campus studying for various assignments and exams, the opportunity to connect at Huddle is one of the iconic examples of community that the university offers.

Typically, Huddle events begin three hours before the start of a football game; simply look for the distinctive club flag and classic purple tent in the parking lot adjacent to the stadium. Any student is welcome, regardless of whether they are a football fan. Afterward, many students continue the camaraderie at beloved pubs and restaurants, leaving football in the rearview mirror.

Finding your home (and partying while doing it)

Another highlight of the Huddle Club tailgates is their inclusion of “Blue Dots,” the significant others or friends of students who are currently in an MBA program. In the midst of so much change, one underrated stressor can be for students who have upended their — and their partner’s — lives to move to Seattle for study. My partner and I drove cross-country for 40 hours so I could have the opportunity to attend Foster, and it was of essential importance to me during our period of transition that he build just as much of a community as I found during classes. The Huddle tailgates were a highlight of the events put on by the school, as we learned how to fit in and find our home here. (The tailgates also taught me that I wasn’t as good at cornhole as I thought I was…)

The feeling of community is why the home advantage is real, and it lives vicariously through events like these. Now, I can’t promise that the Huskies will keep up their stellar record for the remainder of the season, but I know one thing for certain: when they’re playing at home, the Dawg Pack will be ready to start the party. After all, what’s the “Greatest Setting in College Football” without the Greatest Tailgate?