On any given Thursday before a home football game, students can see University employees placing signs that say “No parking after 6 p.m. Friday” at various locations around campus.
This year, the University has been cracking down on where students, alumni and fans can park during home football games, and that includes no parking on campus without a special permit. For sophomore integrated marketing communications major Nick Busharr, not being able to park on campus is an inconvenience.
“Unless you pay a very large sum of money for a parking pass, you are forced to park off campus and either walk or take the bus,” Busharr said. “It’s frustrating.”
According to olemisssports.com, passes to park on campus are completely sold out for the 2015 season and were being sold for $100. There were only 600 spots available and a majority of spots went to the Ole Miss Athletic Foundation members who had enough points to purchase the passes. One of the locations permit holders can park is the new parking garage located next to Vaught-Hemingway.
While fans, alumni and students living off-campus cannot park on campus without a permit, there are other options around Oxford that will not break the wallet.
“There are three parking lots that are designated for visitors during game days,” Director of Parking for the City of Oxford, Matt Davis, said. “The locations are Oxford High School, FNC Park and Northwest Mississippi Community College.”
The city provides free security for the lots and a shuttle service that drops off fans on Gertrude Ford Boulevard near the northeast corner of the football Stadium. In order to ride the shuttle, each rider must pay $5, but Davis said the $5 is a round trip fee to and from the designated parking locations.
There is also an option to ride the famous Double Decker bus from the Square to the Grove, but the bus only runs before games and stops its service after kickoff.
With the Rebels playing their first home game against an SEC opponent, there is concern that there will be even more traffic than during previous games, and Davis said that the Oxford Police Department, in conjunction with MDOT, has put in place extra efforts to help with the expected larger crowd this weekend.
For Busharr, the extra efforts are a help, but he is not concerned with the bigger crowds.
“Even if there is more traffic, it’s all a part of the experience,” Busharr said. “Yes, it may be frustrating, but I would rather have crazy traffic, waits at restaurants, and crowded places than no fans at all.”
