USDBen Hill Griffin Stadium sits in a shallow ravine in the middle of a dense campus, which is the whole reason parking here works the way it does. There is no ring of surface lots to sell, so the University Athletic Association allocates the close lots to boosters and leaves the public two official options and a shuttle. That scarcity is also why the search results for this stadium are full of Reddit threads and Facebook posts rather than a straight answer. Here are the two prices that exist, the shuttle that beats both, and the road closures that decide whether you make kickoff.
How much does it cost to park at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium?
Two official prices exist for the general public. Everything else near the stadium is booster-allocated or resale.
| Option | Official price | How you pay | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lot 113 — visiting team fans | $30 per event | Passport app | First come, first served. The only published on-campus price for visitors. |
| Gator Aider shuttle — single game | $20 | GoRTS Fares app or cash at the lot | Round trip from four park-and-ride sites |
| Gator Aider shuttle — season | $100 | GoRTS Fares app | Cheaper than seven single tickets |
| Campus daily visitor permit (non-gameday only) | $8 + $0.25 fee | Passport app | Main Campus zone 67264. Not a gameday product. |
| Booster-allocated lots (18, 20, 25, 107 and others) | Not publicly sold | — | Allocated through Gator Boosters, or resale |
Florida states the position plainly: “Public parking lots are very limited around the Stadium. Please consider taking advantage of the available shuttles.” For paid parking questions, UF Transportation and Parking Services is on 352-392-7275.
Original research: what a full season actually costs
Method: we took the two officially published public prices and ran them across a seven-game home slate, including the card processing fee UF's transit partner discloses. No competing page we found totals the season, and several quote a Gator Aider fare that does not match the city's own published rate.
| Route in | Per game | Seven home games | Versus cheapest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gator Aider season ticket | — | $100 | — |
| Gator Aider single tickets, cash at the lot | $20 | $140 | +$40 |
| Gator Aider single tickets, GoRTS app | $21 | $147 | +$47 |
| Lot 113 on campus | $30 | $210 | +$110 |
Two things fall out of that. The season shuttle pass pays for itself after five games — $100 against $140 for seven singles. And paying cash at the park-and-ride avoids the card fee: RTS passes on a 2.45% processing charge with a $1.00 minimum, so on a $20 ticket you are charged the $1.00 floor rather than the 49 cents the percentage would imply. Across a season of singles that is $7 of pure fee.
The wider gap is the one worth acting on: $100 for a season of shuttle rides against $210 for a season in Lot 113. And the shuttle sidesteps the road closures entirely.
The Gator Aider park-and-ride, and where it picks up
RTS runs the Gator Aider between four park-and-ride sites and the stadium on game days:
- Celebration Pointe — behind Regal Cinemas, in front of the parking garage
- 34th St UF Park and Ride — Lot 2, behind 3450 Hull Road
- Parking Garage 9 — Archer Road
- UF Health Professional Park — Williston Road
Tickets can be bought in advance or on game day. The GoRTS Fares app takes card; the park-and-ride locations take cash only on the day.
Downtown Gainesville is free at weekends
Gainesville's downtown parking is free at weekends and after 8 p.m. on weekdays, with one exception: the municipal parking garage on Southwest Third Street. That comes from a city spokesperson rather than a rate card, so treat it as current practice rather than a permanent guarantee and check signage on arrival.
Combined with a Gator Aider ticket, that is the cheapest legitimate route into a Florida home game, and it is the option UF itself points visitors toward.
The two rules that decide your day
Every lot has a no re-entry policy. Once you leave, the pass is spent.
Lots open at 8:00 a.m. ET on gameday Saturday. For every lot except Lot 78, entrances are barricaded or patrolled overnight from the Friday before until that 8 a.m. opening, so there is no arriving early and sitting in the lot. Lot 78, RV City, is the exception: it opens Friday at 4 p.m., and RVs are not admitted before then.
Tent size is capped at 10 feet by 10 feet per pass, and setup of tents, tables and games is permitted from 8:00 a.m. ET. Gameday setups are not allowed in a parking space, and where no adjacent space is available the UAA reserves the right to refuse the setup entirely.
Road closures are the real constraint
University Avenue and the primary entrance to Lot NRV close three hours before kickoff. After that point the secondary entrance on Buckman Drive is the way in. Plan arrival against that deadline rather than against kickoff.
The University Athletic Association maintains a customised Waze configuration for game day covering restricted campus streets, lot availability and the correct lot entrances. Select your lot and Waze routes you to that specific entrance rather than to the stadium generally — which matters here, because the correct entrance and the nearest road are frequently not the same thing.
Parking on sidewalks is not permitted and vehicles doing so risk being towed.
The Swamp: a stadium built in a ravine over an underground stream
Florida Field opened on November 8, 1930 with a capacity of 21,769, built for $118,000 to a design by architect Rudolph Weaver. Construction began that April on a shallow ravine site, which is why roughly 30 rows of the current seating bowl sit below the level of the surrounding land.
During excavation, water from a previously unknown underground stream poured into the site from the north and mired the future playing surface in mud. Engineers solved it with underground culverts diverting the stream to Graham Pond and ultimately Lake Alice. The delay forced the Gators to play their first home games of the 1930 season at Fleming Field; a crew of 80 labourers and mules finished the stadium in time for homecoming against Alabama.
The stadium was renamed for citrus magnate Ben Hill Griffin Jr. in 1989, and Steve Spurrier gave it the nickname “The Swamp” at the end of the 1991 season. The playing surface became Steve Spurrier–Florida Field in 2016. Capacity today is 88,548, the largest stadium in Florida, with a record crowd of 90,916.
That history is not decoration. A stadium dropped into a ravine inside an already-built campus could never grow a parking apron, which is precisely why the close lots are rationed to donors and why the public gets Lot 113 and a bus.
Not driving: transit, rideshare and the alternatives
Gainesville is served by RTS, which runs the Gator Aider game-day service described above. One caveat locals should note: standard RTS fare exemptions are not honoured on the Gator Aider — a UF student ID or senior transit pass does not cover the event fare.
Uber and Lyft operate in Gainesville, but the driver pool is modest for a city this size and 88,548 people leaving at once absorbs it quickly. Against a $20 shuttle ticket, rideshare rarely wins on price for a round trip, and it is subject to the same three-hour road closures that constrain drivers.
The genuinely strong argument for the shuttle over a car is not cost, it is the no re-entry rule combined with the closure schedule. Riders are unaffected by both.
Frequently asked questions
How much is parking at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium?
UF does not publish a general public price list. The two official public prices are $30 for Lot 113, the designated visiting-fan lot, paid via the Passport app, and $20 for a single-game Gator Aider park-and-ride ticket, or $100 for a season pass. Lots closer to the stadium are allocated through Gator Boosters.
Where can I park for free at UF?
Not on campus on game day. Downtown Gainesville parking is free at weekends and after 8 p.m. on weekdays, apart from the municipal garage on Southwest Third Street. Pairing free downtown parking with a $20 Gator Aider ticket is the cheapest legitimate route in.
What time do the parking lots open?
8:00 a.m. ET on gameday Saturday. Every lot except Lot 78 is barricaded or patrolled overnight from the Friday before. Lot 78, RV City, opens Friday at 4 p.m.
Where do visiting team fans park at The Swamp?
Lot 113, at $30 per event paid through the Passport app, first come and first served.
Is Ben Hill Griffin Stadium parking cashless?
Not entirely. Lot 113 is paid through the Passport app, but Gator Aider shuttle tickets can be bought with cash at the park-and-ride locations on game day, and doing so avoids the card processing fee.
Can I leave the lot and come back?
No. Every lot at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium operates a no re-entry policy.
How much is the Gator Aider shuttle?
$20 for a single game and $100 for the season. Card purchases through the GoRTS Fares app carry a 2.45% processing fee with a $1.00 minimum; cash at the lot avoids it.
How early do the roads close?
University Avenue and the primary entrance to Lot NRV close three hours before kickoff, after which the Buckman Drive secondary entrance is the route in.
Official sources
- Florida Gators: Parking — Football — Lot 113 visiting-fan price, UFTAPS contact, Waze game-day routing, towing policy
- Florida Gators: Football Parking Lot Policies — no re-entry, 8 a.m. opening, RV City hours, tent rules, road closures
- City of Gainesville RTS: Gator Aider — shuttle fares, park-and-ride locations, processing fee
- UF Transportation and Parking Services: Visitor daily permit — non-gameday visitor pricing and Passport zones
- Florida Gators: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium — capacity and construction date
Prices verified against the sources above on August 31, 2026. UF allocates most stadium-adjacent parking through Gator Boosters and does not publish a general public rate card; confirm current arrangements with UFTAPS on 352-392-7275 before travelling.
Recommended spoke pages
- Hard Rock Stadium parking — Miami, Dolphins and Hurricanes
- Carter-Finley Stadium parking — NC State, comparable ACC campus venue
- All stadium & event parking guides