Tailgating has created a new and growing industry in down times.

Think of all the items that have sneaked onto the scene and become great successes financially and socially.

Wish you’d have noted early on how many hula hoops and Frisbees would be sold, and invested accordingly? How about sport shoes by such companies as Nike, Reebok and New Balance? Looked lately at how many zillions of people, young and old, are wearing them?

Seems there is always some “investment opportunity” out there that will some day be a dandy, especially if you get your foot in the door soon enough.

Maybe you haven’t noticed (although it would be hard not to), but tailgating for athletic events, especially football, has been growing by leaps and bounds. So have the gear and accouterments that go along with these social occasions in parking lots.

As Peter Jensen of the Baltimore Sun says, “In the latest sign of a recovering economy, the tailgating business is booming.”

Check the parking lots before, during and after games at Kansas and Kansas State universities and Kansas City, where the Chiefs are rolling along undefeated. KU’s 50,000-plus sellout for the upset win over Missouri sparked massive tailgating turnouts. A Kansas State stadium scene on another sellout Saturday is quite an occasion, too.

Time was when we might get a hot dog, hamburger or drink at a concession stand for an athletic event and call it a day. “Now that seems as quaint as leather helmets and wool uniforms,” Jensen writes.

Such feeding and frivolity, of course, does not come cheap for many aficionados. There are stainless-steel grills with built-in refrigerators, custom-made tables that fit various modes and even a blender powered by a gasoline engine.

A lot of people spend four hours or so with friends before a game, have half-time events and then wind up with post-game functions. Some even buy vans of great size and outfit them with platforms, speaker systems and television outlets. There are shelter awnings and tents for bad weather and all sorts of ways to heat and cool various items.

You think of some novel and unique way to enjoy a pre-game and post-game tailgate session and somebody makes it, has it or can find it.

Perhaps one of the attractions of tailgating is that its success doesn’t depend on the performance of one’s team. As Patrick O’Neil, vice president of a Chicago-based tailgating supply company, puts it, “You never have a bad time at a tailgate, regardless of whether your teams wins or loses.”