When to leave for a show at MetLife Stadium.

Show night at MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey. Not sure which time on the ticket matters? The concert night plan covers doors, opener and headliner at any venue; this page is about this one.

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

Travel time to MetLife Stadium

The 30-minute drive is a typical run from Manhattan without show traffic (the optimistic number). In the app, set MetLife Stadium 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 MetLife Stadium). Change the row and every step before it moves.

What the time on the ticket means

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.

The lots, and the walk in

The lots are enormous, they are the tailgate, and they open five hours before the show and close two hours after it, which is the longest run-up of any venue here. Parking is bought in advance by card rather than at the gate.

The inner lots put you at a gate in about ten minutes and the outer ones roughly double that. With general seating you are usually directed to whichever lot sits closest to your entry point rather than choosing, so treat the near lot as the good outcome rather than the plan. The difference on the way out is bigger than the difference on the way in.

A tailgate moves the whole evening earlier

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.

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

Common questions

How early should I get to MetLife Stadium?

The plan's floor is the gate 37 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. Route 3 and Route 120 are the reason to come earlier than that. The lots open five hours before the show, and the tailgate starts with them. The walk from the lot depends on which lot you got.

What time should I leave for a 7:00 PM show at MetLife Stadium?

About 5:15 PM from Manhattan with a 30-minute drive and a spot in one of the outer lots. Later for one of the inner lots, earlier for a tailgate. Every row above is editable; the first travel row is your leave-by time.

How does parking work at MetLife Stadium?

The lots open five hours before the show and close two hours after it, which is what makes the tailgate here what it is. Buy parking in advance and add it to your phone. With general seating you are typically directed to a lot near your entry point rather than picking one. The official MetLife Stadium site has the current lots.

How long is the walk from the parking lot at MetLife Stadium?

About ten minutes from an inner lot, closer to twenty from an outer one. The walk back afterwards is the slower one, because the outer lots queue for the same exits. The plan's default for one of the outer lots is 18 minutes, and it is editable.

Can I take a bus or train to MetLife Stadium?

Yes. NJ Transit's Meadowlands line runs to a station at the stadium. From New York that is Penn Station to Secaucus Junction, then the transfer. Trains out of Secaucus fill up fast before a show, and the platform is busy straight after it.

What bag can I bring into MetLife Stadium?

One clear bag up to 12 by 6 by 12 inches per person, a small non-clear clutch up to 4.5 by 6.5, or a one-gallon clear freezer bag. No backpacks, fanny packs, diaper bags or briefcases. Oversized bags can be checked at a bag facility outside each open gate for a small fee at non-football events, which is the part most venues this size do not offer. There is no re-entry once you are in.

Going to a game instead? The stadium pages. Flying in? The airport pages.

Build it once, then use it every show

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.