Home of the Gators! (what else do you need?)
Written: May 01 '05
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Pros: The Gators play here
Cons: The Seminoles play here every other year
The Bottom Line: Excellent viewing facility, not so easy to access.
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| tgregoryt's Full Review: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium |
One presumes that you already have tickets to the game - almost all Florida games are sold out well ahead of time.
In the event that you don't have tickets, put on a Gator shirt (whether you are a fan or not) and walk around with your fingers in the air indicating how many tickets you need. In general there are always students willing to part with their tickets for a little extra beer money. If you are a single person and arrive early enough you can probably get in for the face value of the ticket (usually 20$). Once inside you can try to find your friends' seats as the seats on the lower level are all the bench variety, although I'm not sure how easy this is.
The seats in the upper levels (that's club level and the North Endzone) have backrests and are comfortable enough. For the bench seats you can rent plastic seats inside although I never realized the point since you will be standing a large portion of the game, particularly on the student side.
If you get a student ticket (it will say "student" on it) you can be assured that you will have to stand the entire game. And I don't mean during exciting times through the entire game, I mean from the opening kickoff until you finally decide to go home. This is because the bottom rows of seats (like the first 45 rows) does not slope very steeply, so people sitting can't see very well. This means they stand, which is fine if you are tall but if you are short it doesn't work quite so well.
There are two sides to the stadium, the "student" side and the "alumni" side. The alumni side is the side with the press box, and is sometimes in the shade during portions of the game. In September games you can count on melting in the student side. Bring your 450 SPF sunscreen unless you enjoy blisters on your scalp.
Parking at games is not really possible. If you pay high alumni fees for expensive seats, you will get a parking pass that lets you park in various garages (Bull Gators that donate $10,000/year get to park right next to the stadium). If you don't - good luck. There are several parking garages scattered around campus where you can park, the best one is off of 13th street and doesn't really fill up until about 2 hours before the game.
Another parking option is to use various private yards located on the north side of University Avenue. Typically this will cost you depending upon how many kegs these students plan on purchasing after the game. In some cases the students will sell you their seats, too, in which case you may have kegs available when you get out of the game. This is particularly true if you have a lot of money you are willing to part with, or if the team that is coming is lousy.
Access to the stadium from the highway is not good, so if the game is at night you can expect to wait several hours in traffic. There are 3 exits to get onto I-75. I recommend trying to head south somehow to use the southern exits as these are further east then the northern ones.
Don't expect to find hotel rooms in Gainesville on a Friday night before a game. Some rooms are booked years (note the plural) in advance. The nearest hotel rooms will be in Ocala (30 miles south), and if you book too late maybe not even that close.
Gators have a reputation as being some of the more rabid fans in the SEC. This is mostly true when they are drunk. Simply avoid the drunk ones and the rest are very civil.
This is, of course, the home of the Gators and for that reason alone rates this facility with 5 stars.
Recommended:
Yes
Parking Availability: What A Nightmare
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tgregoryt
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Member: Thomas Gregory
Location: Winter Garden, FL
Reviews written: 249
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