Parking at Byrd Stadium (Maryland)

Submitted by ChalmersE on

I've lived in DC for 40 years, but I've never ventured to College Park for a football game. I now have tickets for the Michigan-Maryland game in October and went on line to check out the parking options . Maryland offers about two dozen options (at $17 a spot).  Looking at a map, I can see which lots seem to be best, but I'm wondering if anyone's gone to games there and has some insight on where best to park.

jblaze

July 14th, 2015 at 3:30 PM ^

but I'm going to the game with a Maryland alum friend and tailgating with them. I have been to one game maybe 4 years ago. It was a pretty fun time (the tailgating is nice and people don't care too much about the outcome of the game).

MGoCombs

July 14th, 2015 at 3:33 PM ^

Any reason not to take public transit (the Red Line to the Yellow/Green line to College Park)? I know "living in DC" can include being quite far from the transit lines, but if I remember correctly, traffic can be pretty horrid as well, though I don't remember parking being too challenging or expensive. I've only been to one game years ago and came down from Baltimore, so I had to drive. If public transit is a decently convenient option, you might want to beat the traffic and try that or even drive to a park and ride if there is one in southern MD.

Edit: quigley.blue informs that it might be a horrible idea. Also, I didn't really think about the tailgating part.

quigley.blue

July 14th, 2015 at 3:53 PM ^

Ha sorry, I was merely trying to be funny by referencing a benign consequence of parking on the White House Lawn.  In all reality, the wait for the metro on weekends is typically 20 or so minutes (max), but lately the metro has been having a lot of weekend track work which slows it down.  WRT the specific action of transportation to college park, it is a 1.5 mile walk from the metro to the stadium, and i believe there is a bus route that picks up at the nearby MARC train station and drops you off much closer if you are limited in the distance you can/want to walk. EDIT: and obviously directly after the game, all forms of transport near the stadium including the metro are going to be extremely busy.

translator82

July 15th, 2015 at 3:12 AM ^

My buddies (MSU grads) and I first thought about taking Metro from Northern Virginia, but we knew between construction and just the system's complete unreliability that it could take us almost 2 hours to get back late at night. That said, if you want to take Metro, UMD has shuttle busses that will take you to campus and drop you off near the stadium (or wherever you may are tailgating). 

What my friends did was drive to the College Park Metro stop, parked there (it's free on the weekends), and took the shuttle bus to campus. We ended up walking back to the Metro station from campus after the game, which ended up being a 30-minute walk (but doable).

SpikeFan2016

July 14th, 2015 at 4:06 PM ^

This isn't directly related, but a few other students and I are planning on going down for the Maryland game. On their website, they have a ticket package with Michigan plus all non-conference games on sale tomorrow and single game tickets go on sale in two weeks. Given that the ticket pack is cheaper than current Michigan game StubHub prices, does anyone familiar with Maryland think it would be smart to buy the pack? I'd rather wait for single games, but I fear the Michigan game will sell out via the packs. Anyone think that's likely?

branpon

July 14th, 2015 at 4:09 PM ^

So, I know a bunch of UM fans are going to be tailigating in C1, which has relatively easy access to the external roadways (so you don't get stuck deep in campus on way out). Am told that C1 also is about 10 minute walk from the stadium. See you in C1 - lets make it the Michigan lot! Go blue!

branpon

July 14th, 2015 at 4:09 PM ^

So, I know a bunch of UM fans are going to be tailigating in C1, which has relatively easy access to the external roadways (so you don't get stuck deep in campus on way out). Am told that C1 also is about 10 minute walk from the stadium. See you in C1 - lets make it the Michigan lot! Go blue!