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Enter the showtime, say which lot, and see when to leave and when to start getting ready.
Show night at Ford Field, Detroit, Michigan. 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 20-minute drive is a typical run from Detroit without show traffic (the optimistic number). In the app, set Ford 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 Ford 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 general-admission floor or pit, and that ticket is a different evening: the queue for a place at the rail forms outside long before the lots open. 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 30min
Ford Field sits just south of I-75 at 2000 Brush Street, next to the baseball park, and the freeways into downtown are the slow part rather than the last mile. The stadium publishes three ways off I-75 to spread the load: Rosa Parks to Michigan Avenue and up Woodward to Montcalm, Mack Avenue and the service drive to Winder, or Gratiot southbound with the stadium on the right.
The QLINE streetcar runs the length of Woodward and is free to ride, with the Montcalm Street stop a few blocks west of the gates; it runs until midnight Monday to Saturday and until 9pm on Sundays, so a Sunday show can outlast it. The People Mover loops the older part of downtown, and Broadway, at Broadway and John R, is its closest station.
The stadium runs its own parking: the Ford Field Parking Deck on St. Antoine, just east of the building off Madison, and Lots 4, 5 and 6 to the north on Montcalm, east of Brush. The stadium’s concert guide puts their opening at four and a half hours before a show, and they fill in the order you arrive, because spaces are directed rather than reserved.
ParkWhiz is the venue's own way to book one ahead. Beyond those, the Olympia garages next door (61 E. Elizabeth, the D Garage and the Lions/Tigers Garage) and the rest of downtown take the overflow. There is no tailgating and no re-entry in the lots next to the stadium. Accessible parking is in Lot 4 and the Parking Deck, first come, first served with a permit and placard.
The deck and Lot 4 put you at a gate in a few minutes. A garage further into downtown is a longer walk through the same crowd, and on a night when the baseball park next door is also busy it is the walk most people end up making. Rideshare drop-off and pick-up are at Montcalm and Brush by Gate B, and at Adams and John R outside Gate A.
Bags are what to sort out before you leave. A clear plastic, vinyl or PVC bag up to 12 by 6 by 12 inches, a one-gallon clear freezer bag, or a small clutch up to 4.5 by 6.5 inches carried with one of those. Diaper bags and non-clear backpacks are refused, and the stadium is not responsible for anything left at the gates, so there is nowhere to put a bag that fails.
Screening is walk-through weapons detection at every entrance. No outside food or drink, water bottles included. The stadium is cashless, with cash-to-card machines inside. There is no re-entry at concerts and other large events.
Doors, lots and bag rules change; the official site is the live source.
Save this Ford Field 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. The walk from the lot depends on which lot you got.
About 5:45 PM from Detroit with a 20-minute drive and a spot in the Ford Field Parking Deck or Lot 4. Earlier for a garage elsewhere downtown. Every row above is editable; the first travel row is your leave-by time.
The stadium's own parking is the Ford Field Parking Deck on St. Antoine and Lots 4, 5 and 6 on Montcalm, which the stadium’s concert guide says open four and a half hours before a show. Spaces are directed in arrival order and cannot be reserved, though ParkWhiz lets you book a space ahead. Accessible parking is in Lot 4 and the Parking Deck. No tailgating and no lot re-entry. The official Ford Field site has the current lots.
About five minutes from the Ford Field Parking Deck or Lot 4, which sit against the building. Nearer fifteen from a garage further into downtown, longer when a Tigers game next door has the same streets full. The plan's default for a garage elsewhere downtown is 15 minutes, and it is editable.
Yes. The QLINE streetcar on Woodward is free, and the Montcalm Street stop is a few blocks west of the stadium. It runs every fifteen minutes or so until midnight Monday to Saturday and until 9pm on Sundays. The People Mover's Broadway station, at Broadway and John R, is the closest on that loop. Rideshare picks up at Montcalm and Brush by Gate B or Adams and John R outside Gate A.
A clear plastic, vinyl or PVC bag up to 12 by 6 by 12 inches, a one-gallon clear freezer bag, or a small clutch up to 4.5 by 6.5 inches alongside one of those. Diaper bags, non-clear backpacks and purses larger than a clutch are refused, and nothing is held at the gates. No outside food or drink, water bottles included. No re-entry.
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.
“It has helped me tremendously to manage my timeblindness, and I tell people about it all the time.”Ready Time user, 2021
Ready Time
You know what you need to do. Ready Time helps you know when to start.
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