Ole Miss Football Parking Change

quote:

---

Rebel fans attending home games this fall will have to pay up to park on campus, with where they park and how many parking passes they can get decided by how much they give to the Ole Miss Athletics Foundation.

University officials say the new game-day plan isn’t a moneymaker, but instead designed to enhance safety and accessibility, curb growing traffic congestion, and make for a better time for loyal fans.

"Having the nation's best game-day atmosphere means constantly striving to improve all aspects of the experience," Ross Bjork, Ole Miss director of athletics, said in a news release.

In all, 6,000 parking passes will be available to Athletics Foundation donors. Previously, about 10,000 fan vehicles - representing both Ole Miss and opposing-team fans - crammed onto the campus on game days, said assistant athletic director Dan O’Dowd.

“Safety was huge,” O’Dowd said of the decision to restructure game-day parking. “The second thing is that we feel like if we can better manage the number of cars that come on campus, we can better manage pre-game and post-game traffic. If we are trying to get 6,000 cars off campus instead of 10,000, it will flow a little more smoothly.”

As part of the new plan, all campus parking for home games will require a parking pass in the form of a hangtag that will be checked by security at campus entrances. Cars straddling sidewalks, parking on sides of roads or on grass will be prohibited, both to ensure pedestrian safety and to fulfill Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, foundation officials say.

Any Athletics Foundation members can request a season parking pass; in the past, that was reserved only for those giving at the Athletics Foundation’s highest levels. The minimum donation for eligibility, but not a guarantee of a pass, is $50.

---