Lots of Cardinal football and soccer fans expected on Friday, Aug. 31

By Kathleen J. Sullivan

The northeast corner of campus, home of Stanford Stadium and Cagan Stadium, will be a very busy place on Friday, Aug. 31, with thousands of Cardinal football and women's soccer fans expected to converge on the Farm for home games.

That means there may be more traffic than usual on campus that day – the Friday before Labor Day weekend.

Brodie Hamilton, director of Parking & Transportation Services (P&TS), said several groups are working on logistics for the day.

"P&TS, Public Safety and Athletics have developed a general parking/access plan for the day that will address the needs of commuter and event attendee parking and circulation," Hamilton said. "As with other major events, Public Safety will be handling the actual traffic direction."

Commuter parking in several parking lots will be affected by the Aug. 31 games:

• The Track House lot and Varsity (Sunken Diamond) lot will be open until 2 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 31, for commuters and visitors. Parking in these lots after 2 p.m.  will be restricted to football permit holders only. Some visitor parking will remain available after 2 p.m. in the Track House lot adjacent to the Visitor Center.

• Commuters and visitors who may be displaced from Varsity and Track House lots after 2 p.m. may use Lasuen Grove (accessible from Lasuen Street, north of Campus Drive) starting at 6 a.m. Lasuen Grove will also be used for free soccer parking until 4 p.m. Athletic event parking fees ($15) will be charged starting at 1 p.m. in all other grove parking areas.

• Commuters should expect late afternoon traffic delays on the north side of campus and should plan accordingly (e.g., take an earlier Marguerite to the train station). As always, commuters are encouraged to use alternative transportation rather than driving alone.

Those who live in the East Bay and elect to stay for the football game should keep in mind that the Dumbarton Bridge will close for the weekend beginning at 10 p.m. for seismic work.

Football fans will begin arriving early in the morning to set up for tailgate parties celebrating the first game of the 2012 Cardinal Football season against San Jose State University. Fans are expected to continue arriving throughout the day for the game, which begins at 7 p.m.

The football game was moved to Friday night to accommodate television coverage on the new Pac-12 Networks, which televised its inaugural broadcast, the Stanford Women’s Soccer team’s 6-1 victory over Santa Clara University, from the Stanford campus last Friday.

 “Scheduling of opponents involves the Pac-12 Conference, the athletic directors of the 12 member universities and their television network partners," said Patrick Dunkley, deputy athletics director. “Stanford does not, however, determine whether a game will be played on a day of the week other than Saturday."  

The Aug. 31 game is the only Friday night football game of this season. Faculty and staff who would like to join the cheering Cardinal crowds can purchase general admission tickets for $10 by contacting the Athletics ticket office at (650) 723-1021. Students can claim their tickets online.

Also on Aug. 31, Stanford Women's Soccer, the defending NCAA champions, will play their fourth official game of the season at 4 p.m. against Boston College in Cagan Stadium.

Faculty and staff can purchase general admission tickets to regular season women’s soccer matches at a discounted price of  $5. Student admission to the games is free.

-30-