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Enter the showtime, say which lot, and see when to leave and when to start getting ready.
Show night at Empower Field at Mile High, Denver, Colorado. Not sure which time on the ticket matters? The concert night plan covers doors, opener and headliner at any venue.
Want this on your phone? Ready Time sends an alert when it’s time to start each step.
Ready Time
You know what you need to do. Ready Time helps you know when to start.
The 15-minute drive is a typical run from Denver without show traffic (the optimistic number). In the app, set Empower Field as the destination and Apple Maps fills in the time from where you’re leaving.
Then add for show night: every car aiming at the same entrance (real drive to Empower Field). Change the row and every step before it moves.
The time on the ticket is when the first act is due on. Seating here is reserved, so nobody is racing for a spot; the deadline really is the show. Aim to be in your seat ten minutes before the first act, and budget the walk to your row: it is the part people misjudge, not the drive.
Most stadium tours also sell a field or pit ticket, and that is a different evening: pit tickets here are standing room only, and every field and pit ticket enters through the North Tunnel below Gate 5, so the queue for the rail forms there long before the gates. The plan here is for a numbered seat.
Here is the evening drawn to scale. A maps app can number the drive. The rest is the walk in from the lot, the bag check, and the walk to your row.
Front door to your seat: 1hr 38min
RTD rail runs to a station at the stadium, which is the cleanest way in and the reason a lot of locals do not drive at all. The E and W lines stop at Empower Field at Mile High station, and the W also stops at Decatur-Federal; either is a short walk to the gates. If you do drive, I-25 and the surface streets along the river carry the whole crowd, and the lots west of the building empty into a small number of exits.
Empower Field was previously called Invesco Field at Mile High and later Sports Authority Field at Mile High, so older directions, tickets and map pins may still use that name.
Just west of downtown by the South Platte, so walking or riding in from the city centre is normal. There are about 6,500 spaces at the stadium itself and 15,000 more in independent lots around it, and for a concert the stadium permits are sold through Ticketmaster and are expected to sell out before the show. Off-site parking is at Auraria Campus, Ball Arena, the Denver Aquarium and Riverside Church, with permits sold ahead for those too.
Each show publishes its own lot and gate times on its event page; at the recent ones the lots opened four hours before the show. The stadium is cashless. Rideshare drop-off is at the northeast corner near Gate 5 on Mile High Stadium Circle, and pick-up is somewhere else, at 5th and Walnut by the Ball Arena rideshare lot, about a fifteen-minute walk east. Altitude shows up on the walk to an upper-level seat.
The decision is whether you bought a stadium permit in advance. A permit puts you in a lot at the building with a walk of under ten minutes to a gate. Without one you are in an independent lot or at one of the off-site locations, and the walk is nearer twenty, longer from Ball Arena or the Auraria campus. The lots west of the building empty into a small number of exits, so the far lot is also the slower one on the way out.
Bags are what to sort out before you leave. One clear bag no larger than 12 by 6 by 12 inches, or a one-gallon clear freezer bag, or any bag no larger than 4.5 by 6.5 inches with or without a strap. A bag that fails goes back to the car, into a locker for a fee outside Gate 8 by the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame wall on the east side, or in the bin at the gate.
Everyone goes through a metal detector and a bag inspection. No outside alcohol, which gets you ejected without a refund. There is no re-entry. The stadium calls this its standard policy and says the list can differ for a concert, so the event page for your show is the one to check.
Tailgating is allowed in the lots and plenty of people make an afternoon of it. Add one and the plan puts in setting up, eating and packing the car before the walk in, which means leaving the house that much earlier.
Tailgating in the lots is permitted before any publicly ticketed stadium event, concerts included, and the stadium asks you to read its tailgating rules first. The ones that matter: stay inside the spaces you paid for, keep drive lanes and walkways clear, and no kegs, glass bottles or open fires. The carpool section is the one area where tailgating is not allowed.
Doors, lots and bag rules change; the official site is the live source.
Save this Empower Field at Mile High plan in Ready Time and it tells you when to leave and when to be in your seat.
Ready Time
You know what you need to do. Ready Time helps you know when to start.
The plan's floor is the gate thirty-five minutes before the show: screening, the walk to your section, and a few minutes in the seat. Your seat is reserved, so nothing is lost by not being there the moment the gates open.
Parking is the reason to come earlier than that anyway. Stadium permits sell out before the show, the lots have been opening four hours ahead, and a tailgate in the lot is allowed if you have the time. The walk from the lot depends on which lot you got.
About 5:37 PM from Denver with a 15-minute drive and a spot in one of the independent lots around the stadium. Later for a permit lot at the stadium, earlier for a tailgate. Every row above is editable; the first travel row is your leave-by time.
Stadium permits for concerts are sold through Ticketmaster and are expected to sell out before the show. There are about 6,500 spaces at the stadium and 15,000 more in independent lots around it, plus off-site parking at Auraria Campus, Ball Arena, the Denver Aquarium and Riverside Church.
Lot and gate times are published per show on its event page; at the recent concerts the lots opened four hours before the show. Tailgating is permitted in the lots before a concert under the stadium’s tailgating rules. The official Empower Field at Mile High site has the current lots.
Under ten minutes from a permit lot at the stadium. Nearer twenty from the independent lots, and longer from the off-site locations at Ball Arena or the Auraria campus. The plan's default for one of the independent lots around the stadium is 18 minutes, and it is editable.
Yes. The E and W light rail lines stop at Empower Field at Mile High station, and the W line also stops at Decatur-Federal, both a short walk from the gates. RTD adds cars on the busiest nights. Bus routes 30 and 31 on Federal Boulevard and routes 1, 15L and 16 run near the stadium.
One clear bag no larger than 12 by 6 by 12 inches, or a one-gallon clear freezer bag, or any bag no larger than 4.5 by 6.5 inches with or without a strap. Anything else goes back to the car, into a paid locker outside Gate 8 on the east side, or in the bin at the gate. No outside alcohol. The stadium says the list can differ for a concert, so check the event page for your show.
Going to a game instead? The stadium pages. Flying in? The airport pages.
Ready Time keeps the plan and subtracts again when the show time changes. Put in the next ticket and the same steps land on new times, with an alert on each one.
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.
Start the plan in the app, and the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island show the time left, with a bar that fills as each step passes.
Glance at it on the walk in without opening the app.
Live Activities are part of Premium, a one-time unlock.
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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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