Stadium Parking

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i want to tailgate at the stadium! its a HUGE part of the game-day experience
 

I want to tailgate with Darcy. She's a madwoman.
 

Amazing what is considered "news" nowadays

I hope that Darcy thanked her intern for putting this bit of journalism together. WCCO always throws Darcy a bone with meaningless stories regarding the University and this was one of them. Parking a problem at the U? No $hit! It was before the first shovel went into the ground for TCF Bank Stadium.

Stories like this will just scare the suburbanan ninnies and outstate rubes who need another reason not travel into the core cities for entertainment.

Here is the newsworthyinfo about parking for TCF Bank stadium: Next year will be as good as it gets for available parking. There is only going to be more construction / development around Dinkytown and Stadium Village.

In the next year there will be ground broken for retail / apartment complex at the Dinkydome site stretching from University Avenue to 4thAvenue SE along 15th street, Fairview will be building a clinic on what is now a razed surface lot in the area by Erie and Ontario just east of the hospital parking ramps. Not to mentioned what the U has in their master plan surrounding the stadium: http://www.cppm.umn.edu/masterplan/PTS%20Master%20Plan%203-07.ppt#275,20,Current Projects - Stadium

Basic message will be if you want to tailgate in the traditional sense in the future you will need to pay up. After walking along 5th Avenue heading towards Dinkytown after the basketball game last night I truely think the U will not be able to sell their allotment of parking passes that requires a miminum of $1000 donation thru seat licenses or what have you. But the number of surface lots available will be squeezed tighter and tighter each year.
 

Reply sent to Darcy

I disagree with the assessment of parking in that article. The statement of 3200 parking spots on the East Bank is inaccurate. I beleive that the correct statement would be around the stadium. I sent the following message to Darcy Pohland regarding the coverage:

Darcy:

I enjoyed your article and video on TCF Bank Stadium parking. However, I believe that the stated number of parking spots on the East Bank is not correct. It is my understanding that the 3200 figure is related to spots right around TCF Bank Stadium. The number of parking spots in that area actually increased from around 2900 to 3200 with the addition of parking to the north side of the both the stadium and Mariucci Arena.

Also, the current number of parking spots on the East Bank is far greater then the number that was there during the Memorial Stadium days. I do know that more people drive to games then did back in the Memorial Stadium days, but I believe that parking will be less of a problem then people think.

Paul Hoeft
[email protected]
 


I sure hope the U is smart and allows parking/tailgating down on the East Bank flood plain area where the rowing teams boathouse is located. Since it is a flood basin area the grass is not kept up to any standards and would be perfect for cars to park on. The walk would only be a few blocks longer than what i walked parking in the Goal Line Club parking last year. Provide a few buses that could shuttle the non walkers to the stadium.
Tailgate on campus with a great view of the river....this is a no brainer.
 

Welcome back to Big Ten football Minnesota!! I look forward to walking a mile or so. That's part of the college football scene. Lots of tailgaiting, parties, activity along the way to look at. Why the average fan, unless handicapped, would pay a premium for parking is beyond me.

Another option for the "don't want to walk to mile" fan is to consider parking at a mall, have a pre-game meal at a sports bar, bus to TCF, ditto and get back and watch some CFB B4 heading home.

I'm looking forward to it all. No more of parking three blocks from the damn dome and nothing happening between there and the lot. Boring.

Bring it!
 

I'm hopeful that the fairgrounds becomes a pretty active tailgate area--I know its not all that close to the stadium, but there isn't much difference between tailgating there and some of the remote lots at a place like Penn St--with the added bonus of a nice short bus ride.
 

GoGophers2005 said:
I sure hope the U is smart and allows parking/tailgating down on the East Bank flood plain area where the rowing teams boathouse is located. Since it is a flood basin area the grass is not kept up to any standards and would be perfect for cars to park on. The walk would only be a few blocks longer than what i walked parking in the Goal Line Club parking last year. Provide a few buses that could shuttle the non walkers to the stadium.
Tailgate on campus with a great view of the river....this is a no brainer.
Click to expand...

IIRC correctly this idea has been brought up multiple times. Every time it seems like a great idea, until someone brings up the fact that the land is not owned by the U but the Minneapolis Parks Department. I could wrong on this or we could be different areas but that is just what I remember.
 



Bayfield is right, a little walk will kill no one. Anything less than 5 miles will be fine.
 

mnboiler has the right idea on the "flood plains" area. That stuff is all Mpls parks, so I wouldn't count on it being a tailgating area.
 

It is sad to see so many who can not enjoy a Gopher football game without drinking. Really sad.
 

Congrats to Goldy74s!

The Academy wishes to label your last post as the new "All - Time Dumbest Statement."


Somewhere Loon is crying after having been the reigning champion for so long.
 



Hey sister

Our parking is fine. Go to Cal sometime. They get 60k plus and they have two maybe three spots. We are such amateurs here! if you want to tailgate, find a spot, get creative.
 

Goldy74s said:
It is sad to see so many who can not enjoy a Gopher football game without drinking. Really sad.
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We are talking about the University of MN Gopher football team, right? I would say drinking is mandatory for every game just to make it through. But that's just me, and everyone else that has gone to games with us for the last ten years.
 

who cares if its park land...sit down and and get an agreement with them. 7 Saturday's a year is all we are asking. Who uses that park anyways?

The U doesn't own the State Fair either. Who says they will allow any sort of tailgating?
 

What about areas the U does own?
The Mall?
The Knoll?
The Scholars walk and intramural fields by the Rec Center?

Drop off your tailgate gear and then park your car. That's what they do at The Grove in Mississippi.
 

They sell "canopy" spots at Vanderbilt right up close to the stadium. You have to park a little further away, but there is a whole walkway of canopies.
 

GopherTwin said:
I disagree with the assessment of parking in that article. The statement of 3200 parking spots on the East Bank is inaccurate. I beleive that the correct statement would be around the stadium. I sent the following message to Darcy Pohland regarding the coverage:

Darcy:

I enjoyed your article and video on TCF Bank Stadium parking. However, I believe that the stated number of parking spots on the East Bank is not correct. It is my understanding that the 3200 figure is related to spots right around TCF Bank Stadium. The number of parking spots in that area actually increased from around 2900 to 3200 with the addition of parking to the north side of the both the stadium and Mariucci Arena.

Also, the current number of parking spots on the East Bank is far greater then the number that was there during the Memorial Stadium days. I do know that more people drive to games then did back in the Memorial Stadium days, but I believe that parking will be less of a problem then people think.

Paul Hoeft
[email protected]
Click to expand...

To be specific, the U's own info (in the PowerPoint provided by norman dale) says that the East Bank has 13,541 parking spots (WB has 2,461 and STP has 4,121). I'm glad to see that the crack fact checkers at CCO were only off by 10K spots. :p

As I've said before, I think our tailgating scene will be closer to Wisky. However, since the U is still very unique as a densely urban campus I figured a little comparison is in order. Wisky has approx 13K spots for their WHOLE campus. However, more of those spaces are surface lots. The U on the other hand has about 2/3's of its East Bank lots tied up in garage's or ramps. There will be plenty of parking, but not all of it will be conducive to tailgating.

And for those who think that OSU is a good "urban" campus comparison...OSU has approx 25K parking spots, the majority of which are surface lots. We're not even in the same ballpark.
 

GoGophers2005 said:
who cares if its park land...sit down and and get an agreement with them. 7 Saturday's a year is all we are asking. Who uses that park anyways?

The U doesn't own the State Fair either. Who says they will allow any sort of tailgating?
Click to expand...

The U can't get the City to close Oak St IN FRONT of the stadium during gameday. From what Minneapolis residents say the Parks Dept is even harder to deal with.

I think they should try, but I'm not holding my breath. What I'm hoping is that some of the bureaucratic institutions of Minneapolis can be convinced over time to be better partners with the U. I.e. in 3+ years our options are even better because the City stops being silly.

As for the State Fair, the impression I got talking with the U folks during my TCF tour was that the State Fair was more of a done deal for tailgating.
 

GoGophers2005 said:
What about areas the U does own?
The Mall?
The Knoll?
The Scholars walk and intramural fields by the Rec Center?

Drop off your tailgate gear and then park your car. That's what they do at The Grove in Mississippi.
Click to expand...

rugger14 said:
They sell "canopy" spots at Vanderbilt right up close to the stadium. You have to park a little further away, but there is a whole walkway of canopies.
Click to expand...

I think the U would be wise to consider both of these ideas. The central parts of campus would make great tailgating spots and would really bring a sense of community to games (especially for alums). This wouldn't be a great spot to get hammered (and I think the U would carefully police the sites if they ever agreed to it) but it would make for a fun atmosphere. Plus if they follow the Vanderbilt idea they'll make some nice change.
 

First post!

Hi -

First post!

And it will be a stupid one. My wife works at the U and has contract parking in the Oak St. ramp. Will they "disable" her card on game days? Just wondering if it would possibly work to use it. I understand it is a long shot. It works for other Gopher events (hockey, etc.), but with the huge demand for parking during football games my guess is that it will not.

Thanks
 

First off, welcome to the board. Plenty of people post stupid stuff here all the time, so I wouldn't worry about coming across as such.

Goldentimeofday said:
My wife works at the U and has contract parking in the Oak St. ramp. Will they "disable" her card on game days? Just wondering if it would possibly work to use it. I understand it is a long shot. It works for other Gopher events (hockey, etc.), but with the huge demand for parking during football games my guess is that it will not.
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I don't believe you're wife's card will hold any sway on football game days. For a brief period of time, and maybe even now, the U entertained the idea of allowing some form of tailgating in the parking ramps that they own. This would come with the stipulation that people couldn't have grills inside the ramps, and I'm sure there'd be other regulations as well. Regardless if this idea is alive or dead, the fact that it was entertained at all shows that the U will be counting on the ramps filling up with plenty of cars (and revenue) for the school on game days.

Unless she parks in some special VIP area of the lot, in which case maybe it won't change.

I'm not an expert, I'm just portraying one in this thread.
 

Yeah, I know it is a long shot, obviously the ramps and lots all around there are for people with contract parking, so it doesn't make much sense. Thanks for your response, I didn't know they were even considering allowing tailgating in the ramps. But I guess if you didn't use a grill. We could be creative.

Maybe she will have to "work" like 7 extra Saturdays this fall! It does make me wonder about all the Fairview employees who work weekends, nurses, staff, etc.. The hospital doesn't close on Saturdays. I wonder what all those people will do for parking on game days if their ramp is full football fans.

Actually, once the Northstar train starts sometime later this calendar year, I was thinking I could have her drive to work on Friday, leave the car in the ramp, and take the train home. Then we all could go down on the train on Sat, and the car would be there packed with the cooler and food and beer, and we could drive home on Saturday. She could park on the top open air level where maybe we could have a grill.

We would probably get towed, just have to wait and see. But how would they know that she wasn't some hospital employee working nights?

193 days....
 

Goldentimeofday said:
Yeah, I know it is a long shot, obviously the ramps and lots all around there are for people with contract parking, so it doesn't make much sense. Thanks for your response, I didn't know they were even considering allowing tailgating in the ramps. But I guess if you didn't use a grill. We could be creative.

Maybe she will have to "work" like 7 extra Saturdays this fall! It does make me wonder about all the Fairview employees who work weekends, nurses, staff, etc.. The hospital doesn't close on Saturdays. I wonder what all those people will do for parking on game days if their ramp is full football fans.

Actually, once the Northstar train starts sometime later this calendar year, I was thinking I could have her drive to work on Friday, leave the car in the ramp, and take the train home. Then we all could go down on the train on Sat, and the car would be there packed with the cooler and food and beer, and we could drive home on Saturday. She could park on the top open air level where maybe we could have a grill.

We would probably get towed, just have to wait and see. But how would they know that she wasn't some hospital employee working nights?

193 days....
Click to expand...

You bring up some interesting points regarding Fairview. I would expect the majority of the ramp spots will be sold off to football fans, but honestly I don’t think anyone on here knows what will happen. I don’t think that they are going to allow any tailgating in ramps or garages (that’s the word I got on my tour) but again, who knows? I heard that info last October and a lot can change in 5 months. We’re all waiting until later this month when the next round of Gopher Points info comes out for season ticket holders (which is supposed to include more details on parking).
 

Thanks for the response, I think your right, we'll just have to wait and see later this month. It'll all work out either way. I am just so anxious to pick my seats I can hardly stand it. I am also curious as to the 4 zones and the what the actual cost of parking will be, not the $2500 and $1000, just the basic cost of parking.
 

I sure hope they U knows what they are doing in regards to parking...I am a member of the Goal Line Club and had parking in the maroon lots by the Spaghetti Factory the past couple of years through them. This past year the Goal Line run lots were basically the only lots in downtown that allowed tailgating for Gopher games. The Vikings owned Star Trib lots did not allow gopher tailgating.
So in saying that, I was amazed at the lack of tailgating in the Goal Line Club lot. I would say at least 30% of the lot wouldn't arrive until 30-45 minutes prior to game time or wouldn't should up at all, especially the non-conference games. So given the limited amount of tailgating the past couple of years what is the demand for paying $1000 per parking spot to tailgate when there wasn't the demand when parking was only $350 (Goaline membership + parking spot cost)? To me it doesn't add up. I'm sure the Gold Membership behind the Metrodome has some big donors who will fork it over, but that's about it.

I don't see the demand at these rediculous prices for parking. I know my group is not even close to forking out that kind of money and that is coming from a guy that was always the first guy in the tailgating lot on Saturday mornings. If I'm not thinking of paying, who is?
 

GoGophers2005 said:
I sure hope they U knows what they are doing in regards to parking...I am a member of the Goal Line Club and had parking in the maroon lots by the Spaghetti Factory the past couple of years through them. This past year the Goal Line run lots were basically the only lots in downtown that allowed tailgating for Gopher games. The Vikings owned Star Trib lots did not allow gopher tailgating.
So in saying that, I was amazed at the lack of tailgating in the Goal Line Club lot. I would say at least 30% of the lot wouldn't arrive until 30-45 minutes prior to game time or wouldn't should up at all, especially the non-conference games. So given the limited amount of tailgating the past couple of years what is the demand for paying $1000 per parking spot to tailgate when there wasn't the demand when parking was only $350 (Goaline membership + parking spot cost)? To me it doesn't add up. I'm sure the Gold Membership behind the Metrodome has some big donors who will fork it over, but that's about it.

I don't see the demand at these rediculous prices for parking. I know my group is not even close to forking out that kind of money and that is coming from a guy that was always the first guy in the tailgating lot on Saturday mornings. If I'm not thinking of paying, who is?
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that the premium seat holders (suites/etc) get these spots automatically without further donation (see circled sections in attached image). So would anyone who has enough "priority seats" (e.g. someone with a pair of seats that have a $500 per seat donation would be able to buy a spot in Zone 2 for no extra donation).

Is there tailgating demand for Zone 1 and Zone 2? Prob not. But the parking in those areas isn't directed at normal tailgaters. Its directed at the folks who are already forking over the money as a perk and those who have the extra $$$ to spend.
 

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Staff/Faculty

As an employee, I received this email today regarding parking on game days:

"March 3. 2009
To Our Contract Holders,
Later this year, Gopher football will return to campus for the first time in almost three decades. With more than 50,000 people expected at each game, the Twin Cities campus will be transformed into a busy, spirited environment on seven Saturdays this fall. The opening of TCF Bank Stadium will also present some challenges on game days, namely access to campus and parking near campus.
Parking and Transportation Services and other University departments have joined with local and state transportation officials to create a comprehensive parking and traffic plan for Gopher football games. The goal is to design traffic and parking strategies that will ease congestion for the best campus travel experience possible.
In the coming months, football season ticket holders will begin selecting their seat and parking locations for the upcoming season. To ensure coordinated and convenient game day parking, most campus parking lots and ramps will be filled by season ticket holders, Faculty and staff who hold standard 24-hour University parking contracts will be able to use their contract on game days, but not in their regular contract locations. On game days, contract holders will be required to park in the following locations:
- East Bank contract holders will park in the East River Road Garage
- West Bank contract holders will park in the 21st Avenue Ramp
- St. Paul contract holders will park in the Gortner Avenue Ramp
Requests for exceptions to this plan must be submitted to and approved by appropriate collegiate dean or departmental vice president. All approved exceptions must be sent to Parking and Transportation Services at least five business days prior to the requested date. Parking and Transportation Services will respond to the request based on facility space availability.
On home game days, Gopher Football Shuttles will operate to bring patrons from outlying points on campus to the stadium. A western route will transport people from the East and West Banks with stops at Coffman Union/Northrop Mall and the Carlson School of Management. An eastern route will carry riders from the St. Paul campus with stops at the Gortner Avenue Ramp, the State Fairground Lot, and the South Como Lot. In addition, the Campus Connector will be operating on its regular weekend schedule.
For those who would rather completely avoid driving to campus on game days, there are a number of transportation alternatives. Metro Transit offers fast, frequent service to the University on several bus routes, and the Hiawatha light rail line stops at the Downtown East-Metrodome Station where you can catch a bus for a short ride to campus. In addition, bicycle parking is located throughout campus.
For additional information on game day related activities such as tailgating, please visit the TCF Bank Stadium website at www.tcfbankstadium.com.
The opening of a new stadium and the return of Gopher football to campus is an exciting prospect. Much time and effort has been put into creating a plan that will ensure the event runs smoothly while still accommodating the educational and research necessities of the institution. We ask for your flexibility and patience with this major change. Please feel free to contact us with your parking questions at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Bob Baker, CAPP
Executive Director
Parking and Transportation Services"

Hope that helps clarify some of what you have been discussing!
 

You won't be able to use your $500 donation for your 35 yardline seats and also use that towards a parking spot. You need to fork over another $1000 grand to get the parking spot. So 2 seats on the 35 will cost $500 per ticket + ticket price, then a $1000 bucks + the price of parking.
 

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