The ugly side of attending the NFC Championship:

[Marcus Garvey]

Parking (http://www.azcardinals.com/gameday/parking07.php)

I've spoken with/emailed several people who've attended Cardinals games. They all told me roughly the same thing: Parking at the stadium sucks balls.
If you don't have a parking tag, you must park in the brown lot. The Brown Lot is 1.5 miles from the stadium. The run shuttles, but not likely before 2 hours prior to kickoff.
There are only about 14,000 spots near the stadium, so the tags go to season ticket holders. I'm looking to buy a "Blue" tag, which covers the areas around the Westgate developement (where the bars are) and arena. Right now, on ebay and other sites, the going price seems to be around $65, give or take. My limit is $30. Hopefully it will come down later in the week as tags go unsold. If not, We'll get there at 9AMish to grab a spot. We'll walk down to the bars, and get our drink-on starting at 10AM (Earliest one can serve on Sundays in AZ).

[appfan2008]

that is a bummer about parking... that is the problem with building a stadium that is not in a downtown area

[Marcus Garvey]

that is a bummer about parking... that is the problem with building a stadium that is not in a downtown area

The light rail is now running in Phoenix. If the stadium were downtown, We'd just take that, as there's a station just 2 miles from my house.

However, putting the Cardinals stadium in downtown Phoenix would have been stupid. That opportunity to do that was missed 20 years ago. Phoenix Union High School's Montgomery Stadium was located downtown along 7th St., just north of Chase Field. Before Sun Devil Stadium was opened in 1959, that was the largest sporting venue in Arizona. They closed the high school in the early 80's (I think). The city missed an opportunity to use the high school campus site for a modern football stadium.

Currently, with a convention center, Chase Field, and US Airways Center, the last thing downtown Phoenix needs is a venue that holds 70,000+ People. They already have excess meeting/convention space downtown.

[JMU DJ]

That's ridiculous... and to think they spent all that money on building a state of the art facility.... then again, do 14,000 usually show up to the regular season games?

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Isn't that how a lot of the newer stadiums are though? The Linc, Qualcom, Meadowlands are few and far between anymore. Most places require tags for the better parking near the stadium. When i went to the Buffalo-Pats game a few weeks ago most of the lots were permit only and the Ralph has a lot of surface parking. We decided to park in someones yard which a lot of people do. Fed Ex Field i hear is also bad.

[Marcus Garvey]

Isn't that how a lot of the newer stadiums are though? The Lic, Qualcom, Meadowlands are few and far between anymore. Most places require tags for the better parking near the stadium. When i went to the Buffalo-Pats game a few weeks ago most of the lots were permit only and the Ralph has a lot of surface parking. We decided to park in someones yard which a lot of people do. Fed Ex Field i hear is also bad.

Of the dozens of Eagles games I attended at the Vet, I only drove once. That was because I had a parking pass. All the other times, we parked at Fern Rock and took the Broad St. Line to the stadium.

[813Jag]

Isn't that how a lot of the newer stadiums are though? The Lic, Qualcom, Meadowlands are few and far between anymore. Most places require tags for the better parking near the stadium. When i went to the Buffalo-Pats game a few weeks ago most of the lots were permit only and the Ralph has a lot of surface parking. We decided to park in someones yard which a lot of people do. Fed Ex Field i hear is also bad.
Pretty much all the parking at Raymond James is reserved. So you have a choice pay to park in someone's yard or take a chance parking at a shopping center where you don't know if you'll be towed or not.

[Gil Dobie]

Green Bay's stadium parking is for Season Ticket holders too, but there is a ton of residential parking near Lambeau. Can't believe they don't have parking closer than 1.5 miles in AZ

[Marcus Garvey]

Green Bay's stadium parking is for Season Ticket holders too, but there is a ton of residential parking near Lambeau. Can't believe they don't have parking closer than 1.5 miles in AZ

EVERYTHING is spread out far in AZ. I'm not kidding. You'll drive 2-3 miles before you know it. Much of the Valley is relatively flat too, so you can see quite a ways off in the distance. It's rather deceiving.

[bluehenbillk]

Don't know what you guys are talking about with the Linc reference, it's hard to have a better parking situation than exists in Philly.

[th0m]

Of course you could just walk. A novel idea, I know ;)

[TexasTerror]

Houston has parking passes for season ticket holders.

If you do not have a parking pass, you just take the Metro Rail which has a stop on the Reliant Park property. Round trip is $2.

And there's over 123,000 parking spots along the light rail including 85000 in downtown, 37000 in the Texas Med Center and a 1600 car lot a few blocks from Reliant. The 1600 car lot, you can park for $5 on special event days.

[Marcus Garvey]

Houston has parking passes for season ticket holders.

If you do not have a parking pass, you just take the Metro Rail which has a stop on the Reliant Park property. Round trip is $2.

And there's over 123,000 parking spots along the light rail including 85000 in downtown, 37000 in the Texas Med Center and a 1600 car lot a few blocks from Reliant. The 1600 car lot, you can park for $5 on special event days.

See, I wish there were mass transit options to the Glendale venues. The light rail doesn't go out there. Even if it did, it wouldn't be feasible to take it to the complex. The light rail runs on primarily on its own right-of-way within the street (Think the MBTA "B" Green Line along Commonwealth Ave. in Boston). It has to stop at red lights at cross streets.
It takes almost an hour to travel from the end of the line in Mesa (near the Tempe line) to the west end at 19th Ave. To get to the Stadium it would need to be built out to 91st Ave. and would have to traverse further north. It would easily be a 2.5 hour ride. Driving, parking, and walking 1.5 miles would still be faster.

[93henfan]

Don't know what you guys are talking about with the Linc reference, it's hard to have a better parking situation than exists in Philly.

I think you misunderstood Lehigh TU. He was saying the Linc is the exception, in that the parking is easy. The Philly sports complex is certainly one of the best setups in the country. About the only time it ever got irritating was the period between CBP construction and clearing of the rubble of the Vet, which blocked several thousand spaces for the better part of three years. A testament to how good the parking is is that when the Spectrum is demolished this summer, they plan to turn it into retail space instead of more parking.

[bandl]

Is 1.5 miles really too far to walk? I don't know if that's all interstate or what, but if it's not then just walk. Grab a few beers for your walk. It'll take you about 30-35 minutes, which is enough time to drink 3-4 beers :)

[andy7171]

Is 1.5 miles really too far to walk? I don't know if that's all interstate or what, but if it's not then just walk. Grab a few beers for your walk. It'll take you about 30-35 minutes, which is enough time to drink 3-4 beers :)

xlolx
3-4 beers in 30 minutes of brisk walking! Does foam get you buzzed quicker? Like drinking beer with a straw? xlolx

[89Hen]

There are only about 14,000 spots near the stadium, so the tags go to season ticket holders.
During the WC game the blimp showed what I assume was a live shot (because there were no fans in the parking lots) and there were TONS of empty spots in the lots adjacent to the stadium. That always seems to be the case at many stadiums/arenas. The best seats and best parking spots often go unused. xnonono2x

[89Hen]

Fed Ex Field i hear is also bad.
Yes and no. There is a lot of parking passes to be had, but if you don't have one, it sucks. Last game I went to it took me 3 hours to get home from the time I left my seat... 20 minutes to walk to the bus stop, 30 minutes to wait to get on a bus, 30 minutes standing still on the bus in the parking lot... that's half the time right there. It was so bad that a kid had to pee so badly as we simply weren't moving that his dad had him pee in a cup which he threw out the window of the bus.

Keep in mind that I live 20 miles from FedEx. By comparison, I live 100 miles from the Tub and I almost always make it home from my seats in 2 hours on the dot, which includes a stop at Wawa on Elkton Road. xeyebrowx

[bandl]

xlolx
3-4 beers in 30 minutes of brisk walking! Does foam get you buzzed quicker? Like drinking beer with a straw? xlolx

50 steps briskly, stop, chug, breathe. Repeat. Duh.

[bandl]

Yes and no. There is a lot of parking passes to be had, but if you don't have one, it sucks. Last game I went to it took me 3 hours to get home from the time I left my seat... 20 minutes to walk to the bus stop, 30 minutes to wait to get on a bus, 30 minutes standing still on the bus in the parking lot... that's half the time right there. It was so bad that a kid had to pee so badly as we simply weren't moving that his dad had him pee in a cup which he threw out the window of the bus.

Keep in mind that I live 20 miles from FedEx. By comparison, I live 100 miles from the Tub and I almost always make it home from my seats in 2 hours on the dot, which includes a stop at Wawa on Elkton Road. xeyebrowx

At Fedex you just have to plan to tailgate after the game for a good 1-2 hours before even thinking about leaving if you're parked near the stadium. At least for the 1PM and 4PM games. For the night games though, I've learned to always park in one of the far lots and walk back after the game. I've never had any trouble getting out of there then.

[andy7171]

At Fedex you just have to plan to tailgate after the game for a good 1-2 hours before even thinking about leaving if you're parked near the stadium. At least for the 1PM and 4PM games. For the night games though, I've learned to always park in one of the far lots and walk back after the game. I've never had any trouble getting out of there then.

My wife's family lives in Cheverly and told me a short cut a few years ago. Anyone who takes the beltway to FedEx is a fool!


...make sure your car is functioning properly because you cut through Seat Pleasant and Fairmont Heights.

[JMU DJ]

At Fedex you just have to plan to tailgate after the game for a good 1-2 hours before even thinking about leaving if you're parked near the stadium. At least for the 1PM and 4PM games. For the night games though, I've learned to always park in one of the far lots and walk back after the game. I've never had any trouble getting out of there then.

That's what we used to do at RFK when the Nats were still there... getting out of there sucked after games... we would just sit in the lot and tailgate some more until the security came around and told us to get out.


Again, it's odd that they didn't plan things better at Arizona's stadium (University of Phoenix right?). Is there a subway, train, bus line that runs there? I know even at RFK you could catch the Metro up there.

[Marcus Garvey]

Is 1.5 miles really too far to walk? I don't know if that's all interstate or what, but if it's not then just walk. Grab a few beers for your walk. It'll take you about 30-35 minutes, which is enough time to drink 3-4 beers :)


It's not that 1.5 miles is too far. There's a Target, a restaurant and a sports bar, all within .75 miles walk of my house. So, walking to the stadium would be the same as that round trip for me. But I'm annoyed because it's the principle. Why should I have to? But, you raise a point with the "interstate." The walk is primarily along a major North-South thoroughfare (91st Ave.). While it does have traffic lights. I'm unsure if it has sidewalks. The road was widened a couple of years ago, and there's little in the way of business or residential areas fronting it, so I suspect there are no sidewalks. Now we're talking about walking along a major street where traffic is whizzing by at 50+ MPH (a lot of speeders out here) and you're essentially in the shoulder.

[aust42]

Don't know what you guys are talking about with the Linc reference, it's hard to have a better parking situation than exists in Philly.

Philly has the best stadium parking situation in the country hands down. They can have two major sporting events going on and still have plenty of parking available. All the stadiums (football, baseball, hockey/b-ball arena) are in one location and right off 95.

[813Jag]

Philly has the best stadium parking situation in the country hands down. They can have two major sporting events going on and still have plenty of parking available. All the stadiums (football, baseball, hockey/b-ball arena) are in one location and right off 95.
I was surprised when I saw that. Everything is so spread out in Tampa, parking at the Forum is worse than at Raymond James (although the traffic kills the surrounding area)

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Philly has the best stadium parking situation in the country hands down. They can have two major sporting events going on and still have plenty of parking available. All the stadiums (football, baseball, hockey/b-ball arena) are in one location and right off 95.

The biggest problem with Philly is the highway infastructure. I spent 4.5 years in Philly while at Temple and while driving in the city is easy getting to it isn't. The Schuykill just can't handle the volume of cars entering from the north and west and there's not many exits off of 95.

I've been to Buffalo, Philly, Baltimore and the Meadowlands for football/baseball games. Philly is easily the best layed out. Buffalo isn't bad but like i said earlier 90% of the surface lots are permit only. The Ralp is located in a residential area outside of Buffalo so the only real traffic is game related. The roads are sufficient enough coming from east of Orchard Park. The Meadowlands have a ton of parking but if you don't know where you're going u might have a few headaches. Baltimore i didn't think was that great. We parked in a lot right near 95, if not under it and walked a few blocks to Camden Yards. Getting out was a little time consuming. It was '01 against the Mariners and a wild storm blew in around the 7th inning.

The best are Nascar races. I've been to Pocono, Dover, Daytona, Michigan and Martinsville and nothing compares to the sheer chaos of those. Local knowledge is huge when it comes to attending races. I live 40 minutes from Pocono so that place is easy despite being the in the middle of nowhere. We started going to Dover before construction of Route 1 so the back roads are what we took from the start, bypassing 13. Daytona was the worst. I went to the Pepsi 400 in '02 and it took 4 hours to get out of the lot. By the time we got out it was 5 am and the Sunday paper was already out.