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What time do gates open at Notre Dame Stadium?

Gates open about 90 minutes before kickoff here.

Ready Time can tell you when to leave for your game →

So when do you leave?

Your leave-by time is the first travel row. Ready Time can alert you when it comes up. Put in your kickoff time, tap any duration, and the plan recomputes backward.

Kickoff
15 min Final pack & check 12:28 PM
1hr 45min Drive to the stadium 12:43 PM
15 min Park & find your spot 2:28 PM
15 min Walk to the gate 2:43 PM
12 min Gate security 2:58 PM
10 min Walk to your seat 3:10 PM
10 min In your seat for the anthem 3:20 PM
Kickoff 3:30 PM

College football game day at Notre Dame Stadium, home of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. For a concert here, start from the concert night plan instead: doors and a support act, not gates and kickoff.

Get an alert on game day when it’s time to leave for Notre Dame Stadium.

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At a glance

Gates open
About 90 minutes before kickoff
Bags
Clear bag onlyCheck the official site for sizes
Drive
About 105 min from ChicagoWithout game traffic · real drive
Transit
South Shore train & shuttle from Chicago
Parking
Park & find your spot
Notre Dame Stadium seen from the campus corner.
Photo by Eccekevin, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized for this page.

Kickoff windows at Notre Dame Stadium

Kickoff times are TV windows, and which one a given Saturday lands in is usually announced only six to twelve days before the game. Pick yours once it is announced and every step before it moves.

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Windows are published in Eastern Time, and Notre Dame Stadium is on Eastern, so what you read is what you get.

Weeknight games, season openers and neutral-site games run their own times. Type those in on the kickoff row.

Getting to Notre Dame Stadium

The Toll Road drops you at exit 77 and State Road 933 carries you up to Angela Boulevard. The train is the real alternative: South Shore Line specials run from Millennium Station for afternoon and night games, about two and a half hours to the South Bend airport, where a free shuttle covers the last five miles to campus and runs back an hour after the final whistle. The airport station is the only one on the line that prints Eastern time.

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The public lots are fifty dollars, paid by card, and open at eight in the morning, except the Gold Lot, which waits until 10 for an afternoon game and 1 for a night game, so the arrive at dawn play only works elsewhere. The tailgate has to stop when the game starts, which is not how most lots you have stood in work. Driving from Chicago you lose an hour crossing into Eastern time; the kickoff on your ticket runs on South Bend's clock, not yours.

Gates, the queue, and what you can carry in

Clear-bag policy at most college stadiums, and a few ban bags outright, clear ones included. Getting it wrong usually means walking back to the car and re-entering the line.

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Check current sizes and door times on the official Notre Dame Stadium site before you go, because the door time moves for a night game or a TV switch.

Public gates open 90 minutes before kickoff and there is no re entry at all; stepping out kills the ticket. The player walk leaves the Basilica two and a half hours out, and the band plays the Bond Hall steps right as the gates open, so the traditions and an early seat compete for the same half hour. Pick one and plan it.

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.

Common questions

How early should I get to Notre Dame Stadium?

Gates open about 90 minutes before kickoff here; 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.

When should I leave for Notre Dame Stadium?

Work backward from kickoff: minutes in your seat beforehand, walk to your section, gate screening, walk from the lot, parking, then the drive (105 minutes in the default plan). That puts leave-by at 12:43 PM for a 3:30 PM kickoff. Change the kickoff time and every row moves.

What time is kickoff at Notre Dame Stadium?

It depends on the TV window, which is usually announced six to twelve days before the game. On this stadium's clock: a noon game kicks off at 12:00 PM, the mid-afternoon window at 3:30 PM, a night game at 7:30 PM. This example uses the mid-afternoon window. Weeknight and neutral-site games run their own times; the kickoff row is editable for those.

How long does the security line take?

The plan allows 12 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 Notre Dame Stadium?

About 90 minutes before kickoff here, rather than the two hours that is the common practice at big college stadiums. It moves for a night game or a rescheduled kickoff. Check the official Notre Dame Stadium site for your game.

How early should I get there to tailgate at Notre Dame Stadium?

A short tailgate adds about an hour and a half; a full one closer to three. For a 3:30 PM kickoff that already means an afternoon in the lot. 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.

The countdown to kickoff, on your Lock Screen

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.

Every step also gets its own alert, and sharing the plan gives whoever is driving the same leave time, with alerts on their phone.

Live Activities are part of Premium, a one-time unlock.

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Other stadiums

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