Has anyone attended a football game at Maryland?

Submitted by Erik_in_Dayton on

I was just looking at tickets for the Michigan game at Maryland, and tickets for many of the lower sections come with the label "obstructed view."  Does anyone have a sense of what exactly that means in Byrd Stadium and how bad the view(s) is/are?  Pictures of the stadium (see below) don't make that obvious. 

Are there giant turtles that roam the stadium blocking people's views?  I assume so, but I thought I'd ask.

 EDIT: Thanks to those who have provided answers.

Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium

Never

April 14th, 2015 at 11:32 AM ^

They're typically referencing the seats behind the benches/lower rows that are near the sidelines. Field is fairly high relative the lower row seats.

1464

April 14th, 2015 at 11:33 AM ^

I don't know, but RE: your signature - I don't think I want to meet Bear Claw. Probably don't want to meet Long John either.

lilpenny1316

April 14th, 2015 at 12:01 PM ^

My seats were in the end zone, about half way up.  Good view.  I did walk around the stadium in the second half to get some different vantage points.  Don't sit too close to the field.  The lower you get, the more the view is blocked.  Also, try to avoid the corners of the end zone where the press box/suite area juts out a bit.  I was there for a game in the early 2000s, so maybe renovations have updated things.

Hopefully this more recent forum posting will help: http://maryland.247sports.com/Board/53/Contents/Seating-Byrd-Stadium-14942230

Naked Bootlegger

April 14th, 2015 at 11:45 AM ^

I was looking into Maryland tix as well.   This could be a fun road trip, but I don't want to be obstructed.   Thanks for posing this question, EID.   And thanks for haunting me with visions of large turtles roaming the stadium.  

lilpenny1316

April 14th, 2015 at 12:03 PM ^

It was an FSU-MD game on Thursday night.  The tailgating was packed but as we walked towards the stadium, the crowd thinned out.  I thought we missed the kickoff and everyone was inside.  They must have been inside their dorms because the stadium was half empty.

Kewaga.

April 14th, 2015 at 12:01 PM ^

And thanks for the answers.  I'll be going and it's good to know.  Made it out to Rutgers and New York City last year.  This year Maryland and D.C.

wahooverine

April 14th, 2015 at 2:11 PM ^

Maryland mouthbreathers are not a welcoming or classy crowd. Maybe the obstruction is a drunken College Park townie in a Reebok "Fear the Turtle" hoodie and Ravens-purple camo pants yelling in your face while smoking in the stands.  (this is based on prior experience).

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

April 14th, 2015 at 5:07 PM ^

They do indeed, but Maryland asshattery isn't limited to rivals.  My brother's a Purdue grad, so some years ago we went to a Purdue-Maryland bowl game, and even in Purdue gear we got the full Maryland-fan experience.  Best part was probably the 50-something alums sitting near us who spoke in purposely loud passive-aggressive tones to each other - and kept looking our way to see if we noticed - about what a worthless place Purdue must be.

I'm curious to see what the Michigan-fan experience will be this fall.  Not good, I predict.  Maryland had the same burn-all-the-couches reputation in the ACC that Sparty has in the B1G.  My cousin is a Duke alum and once I saw some of the cheer guidelines they pass out at Cameron.  Inside info on opposing players to taunt them with, that kind of thing.  At the bottom there's a reminder - "NO PROFANITY - WE ARE NOT MARYLAND."

douggoblue

April 14th, 2015 at 12:34 PM ^

What website are you looking for tickets on? Stubhub? The University hasn't started selling single game tickets yet as far as I can tell. I'm actually debating buying season tickets ($180 for the upper bowl!) as I'm a short metro ride away from College Park.

I've seen maybe one football game at Byrd (Maryland vs. Duke? In 2001?), I was in the lower bowl and it was fine. I've watched a lot of lacrosse there, usually from the lower bowl for Maryland games which is always fun, and from the upper bowl when the National Championships were still there. Like other people have mentioned the upper bowl is really steep, and quite a ways up there.

Muttley

April 14th, 2015 at 9:51 PM ^

do those prices seem too high?

Byrd Stadium holds 51,802 (maybe they have seats reserved for two former coaches?) and they only sold out against OSU & MSU last year, falling short against WVU 48.2K and Iowa 48.4K as well as for lesser opponents.

    2014 Maryland Football Results w/ Attendance

If you bought season tickets from Maryland

    umterps.com ticket site

and were able to sell them at the StubHub prices

    Stubhub.com Maryland Football

I think you'd make a profit.

 

Would it be better to just show up on game day and buy from scalpers?  We're their first B1G game, so Maryland fans will still likely have hope for the season on Oct 3.

Muttley

April 14th, 2015 at 9:25 PM ^

occurred to me also.

But not really being familiar w/ attendance, I'd be afraid that the Richmond, Bowling Green, South Florida, and Indiana games would be almost worthless.

So I'm figuring on buying single season game tickets for Michigan, somehow.

If you don't mind sharing, what are folks paying for tickets?

 

Sat, Sep 05  Richmond College Park, Md.   TBA    
  Sat, Sep 12  Bowling Green College Park, Md.   TBA    
  Sat, Sep 19  South Florida College Park, Md.   TBA    
  Sat, Sep 26  West Virginia at Morgantown, W. Va.   TBA    
  Sat, Oct 03  Michigan * College Park, Md.   TBA    
  Sat, Oct 10  Ohio State * at Columbus, Ohio   TBA    
  Sat, Oct 24  Penn State * Baltimore, Md. (M&T Bank Stadium)   TBA    
  Sat, Oct 31  Iowa * at Iowa City, Iowa   TBA    
  Sat, Nov 07  Wisconsin * College Park, Md.   TBA    
  Sat, Nov 14  Michigan State * at East Lansing, Mich.   TBA    
  Sat, Nov 21  Indiana * College Park, Md.   TBA    
  Sat, Nov 28  Rutgers * at Piscataway, N.J.   TBA    

 

Mr. Yost

April 14th, 2015 at 2:24 PM ^

I worked in the athletics department at Maryland for 2 years.

Anyway...before field turf you never wanted the first 10 rows or so because you couldn't see over the players. This made everyone stand all game making the people behind them stand as well.

They've since lowered the field and installed the turf which helps...but the slope of the first 10 or rows is such that is still hard to see down the left and right sides --- especially if someone is standing.

Why didn't they better fix the problem? Well because they have the field house building off the open endzone and they couldn't lower it too much without making the guys go down steps to enter/exit the field. The run out would have been non existent and they would've had a bunch of guys shuffling down the stairs to get to field level. It's too close for any kind of ramp.

If you're at Byrd...don't sit low. Sit towards the top of the lower bowl. If you're up top...the stairs are steep. On a clear day you can see DC if you're up top.

Also stay away from the student section if you can...Maryland fans are cool but the students like to party. They'll all be hammered for a night game. Like everyone else...but Terps students are up there on the list of drunken craziness.

I also recommend figuring out where you are going to park ahead of time. The stadium is a horseshoe and it's hard to circle the stadium without going out of your way.

I'll be there for sure.

Comcast (now Xfinity) Center is a much better facility. Very impressive.

Walter Sobchak

April 14th, 2015 at 6:41 PM ^

Maryland's stadium looks like a smaller, crappier version of Ross-Ade. With less fans.

My wife and I are between Maryland and Penn State for our annual road trip to an away game.

M-Dog

April 14th, 2015 at 10:23 PM ^

If you are going for the football/college atmosphere, Penn State is much better.  However, there is only the football/college experience at Penn State.  If you are going to make a long weekend out of it, then Maryland is in the DC area, with tons to see and do.

SpikeFan2016

July 23rd, 2015 at 6:01 AM ^

There are still a fairly significant amount of tickets available from Maryland itself (ie not Stubhub). 

 

They have a ticket pack that gets you the Michigan game plus one non-conference game of your choice (not that most would use it. you may be able to sell it for $5, if you're lucky, on Stubhub). These tickets are CURRENTLY on sale to the general public at a price of $110 for the lower bowl and $80 for the 300-level upper deck. At this point, a lot of remaining availability.

 

Single game tickets go on sale to donors this Monday and to the general public this Wednesday (July 29th). It looks like Michigan tickets will definitely still be on sale come Monday; my hope is that they won't sell out before Wednesday because single game ticket prices are $75 for anywhere in the lower bowl and $55 for anywhere in the upper bowl. WAYYY cheaper than the secondary market. 

 

I'm planning on attending with two other friends (one of whom is a 2015 alum moving to DC); we are watching the tickets very closely, hoping to make it to next Wednesday. But, if it looks like they're selling out on Monday we will buy the ticket pack because the Stubhub prices are way overpriced right now ($85 for the worst seats in the stadium, most near $100 for the 300 deck, lower bowl much higher).

 

I'm hoping to see a LOT of Maize and Blue in College Park!!! Great time of year for a night game and Harbaugh's first Big Ten game! 

GO BLUE, BEAT MARYLAND!

LINKS: 

(Ticket Info): http://www.umterps.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=208139522&DB_OEM_ID=29700&DB_OEM_ID=29700

(To Buy Tickets): http://ev9.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventList?groupCode=FBSG&linkID=umd&shopperContext=&caller=&appCode=