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When to leave for a Panthers game at Bank of America Stadium.

Enter the kickoff time, adjust the drive, the parking and the tailgate, and see when to leave and when to start getting ready.

The plan in Ready Time

  1. Set the deadline. That's the time you need to be ready.
  2. Add your steps and how long each one really takes.
  3. Ready Time works backward and gives every step a start time.
Kickoff
15 min Final pack & check 11:23 AM
20 min Drive to the stadium 11:38 AM
15 min Park & find your spot 11:58 AM
12 min Walk to the gate 12:13 PM
15 min Gate security 12:25 PM
10 min Walk to your seat 12:40 PM
10 min In your seat for the anthem 12:50 PM
Kickoff 1:00 PM

NFL game day at Bank of America Stadium, home of the Carolina Panthers. For a concert here, start from the concert night plan instead: doors and a support act, not gates and kickoff.

Every row is editable. Tap the kickoff or any duration and the plan recomputes backward. The first travel row is your leave-by time.

Travel time to Bank of America Stadium

The 20-minute drive is a typical run from Charlotte without game-day traffic (the optimistic number). In the app, set Bank of America Stadium as the destination and Apple Maps fills in the time from where you’re leaving.

Home Bank of America Stadium
🚗 20 min
🚗 Drive 🚶 Walk 🚴 Cycle
20 min Drive to the stadium

Then add for game day: thousands aiming at the same exit and lots (real drive to Bank of America Stadium). Change the row and every step before it moves.

Bank of America Stadium seen from outside, in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Photo by Carlos.dkfi, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0. Resized for this page.

Kickoff is later than you think

The time on your ticket is when the ball is kicked. The anthem and coin toss run before that. Aim for ten to fifteen minutes earlier if you want to be in your seat for any of it.

Gate screening usually decides it. Every NFL stadium runs walk-through detectors, and the queue is the gap between arriving and being inside. People who miss the start rarely misjudge the drive; they misjudge the lot walk and the line.

Here is the same day drawn to scale. A maps app can number the drive. The rest is the walk in, the gate queue, and finding your seat. A full tailgate is the version worth looking at.

Front door to your seat: 1hr 37min

  • Before you leave 15 min
  • Getting there 35 min
  • Walk in, queue and seat 47 min

Kickoff windows at Bank of America Stadium

Kickoff times are national broadcast windows, the same ones every week. Pick yours and every step before it moves.

Windows are published in Eastern Time, and Bank of America Stadium is on Eastern, so what you read is what you get.

Thanksgiving, Christmas, the Sunday late window sometimes at 4:05 instead of 4:25, and late-season Saturdays run their own times. Type those in on the kickoff row.

Getting to Bank of America Stadium

Uptown parking is decks rather than fields, and the decks empty far more slowly than they fill. The LYNX Blue Line runs through Uptown and puts you within a walk of the stadium, which sidesteps the deck exit entirely on the way out.

In Uptown, so for many people the last leg is a walk from a deck, bar, or hotel. That makes the gate queue the main variable.

Carson station on the LYNX Blue Line, looking toward uptown Charlotte.
Photo by City Dweller 2, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized for this page.

Gates, the queue, and what you can carry in

About two hours before kickoff

Gates open at most NFL stadiums

That is when you can get in, not when you have to. The official Bank of America Stadium site has the real time, which moves for a night game or playoff.

Clear-bag policy at every stadium. Getting it wrong usually means walking back to the car and re-entering the line. Check the stadium's page for current sizes rather than a size you remember.

An open-air stadium in a city centre, which means the walk in is short but exposed, and an early-season kickoff in Carolina can be genuinely hot. The concourses are on the tighter side for the capacity.

Leave time for packing up the tailgate

A tailgate feels open-ended until it isn't: grill, food, lock the car, walk to the gate with the whole lot. Add one and those steps go in, which means leaving earlier.

Gates, lots and bag rules change; the official site is the live source.

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Ready Time

You know what you need to do. Ready Time helps you know when to start.

Common questions

How early should I get to Bank of America Stadium?

Gates open about two hours before kickoff at most NFL stadiums; that is when the crowd starts arriving, not when you have to. Without a tailgate, being through a gate about an hour before kickoff covers screening, the walk to your section, and a stop on the concourse. In Uptown, so for many people the last leg is a walk from a deck, bar, or hotel. That makes the gate queue the main variable.

When should I leave for Bank of America Stadium?

Work backward from kickoff: minutes in your seat beforehand, walk to your section, gate screening, walk from the lot, parking, then the drive (20 minutes in the default plan). That puts leave-by at 11:38 AM for a 1:00 PM kickoff. Change the kickoff time and every row moves.

What time is kickoff at Bank of America Stadium?

It depends on the national broadcast window. On this stadium's clock: an early Sunday game kicks off at 1:00 PM, the late Sunday window at 4:25 PM, a night game at 8:15 PM. This example uses the early Sunday window. Thanksgiving, Christmas and some late-season Saturdays run their own times; the kickoff row is editable for those.

How long does the security line take?

The plan allows 15 minutes for a normal walk-through queue. It runs longer in the twenty minutes before kickoff. Arriving fifteen minutes off that peak is usually enough.

What time do the gates open at Bank of America Stadium?

Two hours before kickoff is the common NFL practice. It moves for a night game, playoff or special event. The official Bank of America Stadium site publishes the real time for your game.

How early should I get there to tailgate at Bank of America Stadium?

A short tailgate adds about an hour and a half; a full one closer to three. For a 1:00 PM kickoff that already means leaving well before lunch. Watch packing up and the walk to the gate. Those get squeezed when the lot is having a good time.

What can I bring in?

Assume a clear bag or no bag. Check the stadium's own page for current sizes. The timing risk is being turned around at the gate and walking back to the car: the walk twice and a second trip through the queue.

Flying in? The airport pages. Taking Amtrak? The station pages. No stadium listed? The tailgate timeline is the same plan without a particular lot.

Share one leave time with everyone on the trip

Whoever is driving sees the same 11:38 AM leave-by that you do, not just the kickoff time on the ticket.

They tap once, and every step gets its own alert on their phone.

👥 Shared by Rosa
🏈 Game at Bank of America Stadium
15 min Final pack & check 11:23 AM
20 min Drive to the stadium 11:38 AM
15 min Park & find your spot 11:58 AM
Kickoff 1:00 PM
🏈 Game at Bank of America Stadium
15 min Final pack & check 11:23 AM
20 min Drive to the stadium 11:38 AM
15 min Park & find your spot 11:58 AM

Build it once, then use it every home game

Ready Time keeps the plan and subtracts again when kickoff changes. Put in next week's game and the same steps land on new times, with an alert on each one.

Ready Time 11:23 AM
Final pack & check. Kickoff in 1h 37m
Ready Time 12:13 PM
Walk to the gate. Kickoff in 47m
Ready Time 12:50 PM
In your seat for the anthem. Kickoff in 10m

Alerts when it's time to start

Get a nudge at the right moment, while there's still time to act.

Each step gets its own alert, so you know what's next and how long you have.

“It has helped me tremendously to manage my timeblindness, and I tell people about it all the time.”
Ready Time user, 2021
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Ready Time

You know what you need to do. Ready Time helps you know when to start.

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