Check which Purdue page you are reading, because two are live and one of them is nine years old. The stale one still says it does not anticipate major changes for the 2017 season and quotes an RV lot at $40. Purdue's current gameday page prices the same kind of RV space at $100 in advance and $120 on the day, so the old figures are not slightly out of date, they are less than half. On the current page Purdue publishes what it charges for accessible parking, buses and RVs, and publishes the list of lots you can buy into on gameday, but does not publish a general car rate, so we could not verify any free parking or a standard car price. Ross-Ade is also fully cashless.
The short answer
Gameday lots you can buy into, once season permits and advance online sales are done: Northwestern Garage, University Garage, IM Fields, AA, BB, CC, FF, GG, Driving Range, Grass Triangle, Northwest Athletic Complex, PUSH, plus O and Armory for accessible parking and RV2 and RV4 for RVs. Accessible: $34 on gameday in O Lot or the Armory Lot, placard displayed and the owner in the vehicle. RVs: $100 in advance, $120 on the day, opening 6 p.m. the day before and out by 10 a.m. the day after. Buses: $64 pre-sale, $70 on the day. Worst plan: budgeting from Purdue's older parking page, which is from 2017.
We could not put a number on stadium parking here, because no single-game rate is published that we could verify. That has been hard to find and we are still looking, so check back. See every College Sports stadium ranked.
Compare every option
| Option | Cost | Walk | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gameday lots, sold after season permits and advance salesStadium lot | Not published on Purdue's current gameday page | Varies, from the campus garages to the IM fields | Anyone without a John Purdue Club permit, which is most visitors |
| Accessible parking, O Lot and the Armory LotStadium lot | $34 on gameday | O Lot and the Armory Lot, both on campus | Anyone with an ADA placard or plate and no season pass |
| RV parking in RV2 and RV4Stadium lot | $100 in advance, $120 on gameday | RV2 and RV4 | RVs without a John Purdue Club membership |
| Bus parking on Third StreetStadium lot | $64 pre-sale, $70 on gameday | Third Street between McCormick Road and McCutcheon Drive | Fan groups arriving by charter |
Every option, in detail
Stadium lot
Gameday lots, sold after season permits and advance sales
Not published on Purdue's current gameday pageVaries, from the campus garages to the IM fields /// Gates open 90 minutes before kickoff
Purdue publishes exactly which lots become available to buy on gameday once season permits and advance online sales are accounted for: Northwestern Garage, University Garage, IM Fields, AA, BB, CC, FF, GG, Driving Range, Grass Triangle, O for accessible, Northwest Athletic Complex, Armory for accessible, PUSH, RV2 and RV4. John Purdue Club members hold reserved lots on a season basis, which is what the rest of the map is.
Heads up: Purdue does not publish a general car price on that page, so we cannot tell you what a space costs and will not estimate. An older Purdue parking page still live quotes $20 for the IM field lots and $10 for the garages, and we have not published those either, because the same page quotes RV4 at $40 when Purdue's current page charges $100 to $120 for it. Ross-Ade is 100 percent cashless, so bring a card whatever the number turns out to be. Call the Hayes Family Athletics Ticket Office on 765-494-3194 or 800-49-SPORT before you travel.
Via purduesports.com (Purdue Athletics' current football gameday information page lists every lot available for purchase on gameday, states that they open up after season permits and advance online sales, notes that John Purdue Club members hold reserved season lots, states that Ross-Ade is 100 percent cashless, gives the 90 minute gate opening, and publishes the ticket office numbers. It publishes no general car parking rate. The $20 and $10 figures appear only on Purdue's older parking and shuttles page, which describes itself as written for the 2017 season.)
Stadium lot
Accessible parking, O Lot and the Armory Lot
$34 on gamedayO Lot and the Armory Lot, both on campus /// Gameday, first come first served
Accessible patrons without a season parking pass may use O Lot or the Armory Lot, both first come first served, at $34 on gameday. Every vehicle must display an ADA placard or licence plate, and Purdue adds a requirement most programs leave unsaid: the owner must be present in the vehicle when entering the lot.
Heads up: Day of availability in both lots depends on how many season permits have been sold, so neither is guaranteed. H Lot, which sits nearby, is a John Purdue Club permit lot rather than a public one, so do not plan on it. For accessible questions ahead of gameday Purdue asks you to call the ticket office on 800-49-SPORT rather than sort it out on arrival.
Via purduesports.com (Purdue Athletics publishes the $34 gameday accessible rate for O Lot and the Armory Lot, the first come first served basis, the dependence on season permit sales, the placard requirement, the rule that the owner must be present in the vehicle on entry, and the note that H Lot is a John Purdue Club permit lot.)
Stadium lot
RV parking in RV2 and RV4
$100 in advance, $120 on gamedayRV2 and RV4 /// 6 p.m. the day before the game
RV2 takes season passes or day of game purchase by credit card, and RV4 is day of game purchase by credit card, both at $100 in advance or $120 on the day. All RV lots open at 6 p.m. on the Friday or the day before a home game, and every RV has to be out by 10 a.m. on the Sunday or the day after. RV1 and RV3 are John Purdue Club lots.
Heads up: Two restrictions to check before you drive. Purdue does not permit staging or entering an RV lot before 6 p.m. the day before, because the lots are in campus use until then. And fifth wheels are not permitted in RV1 or RV3 at all and get redirected to RV2 or RV4, so if you are towing a fifth wheel your options are the two public lots regardless of membership. Season passes go through 765-494-3194 or 800-497-7678.
Via purduesports.com (Purdue Athletics publishes the $100 advance and $120 gameday RV rates for RV2 and RV4, the credit card requirement, the 6 p.m. day before opening and the ban on staging or entering earlier, the 10 a.m. day after departure, the John Purdue Club restriction on RV1 and RV3, the fifth wheel redirection, and the season pass phone numbers.)
Stadium lot
Bus parking on Third Street
$64 pre-sale, $70 on gamedayThird Street between McCormick Road and McCutcheon Drive /// Gameday
All fan buses park on Third Street between McCormick Road and McCutcheon Drive. A pass is $64 bought ahead or $70 on the day, by credit card. Pre-sale runs through the Hayes Family Athletics Ticket Office on 765-494-3194.
Heads up: The $6 saving for booking ahead is small, but the certainty is not, since there is no published capacity for the Third Street bus parking and no way to know from outside how much of it is left. Buy ahead if the group is committed.
Via purduesports.com (Purdue Athletics publishes the Third Street bus parking location between McCormick Road and McCutcheon Drive, the $64 pre-sale and $70 day of rates, the credit card requirement and the pre-sale phone number.)
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Skip parking entirely
Purdue runs shuttles into Ross-Ade, and it publishes departure routing lot by lot, which is the more useful half at a stadium where everyone leaves at once into a small city.
Gameday shuttles
Purdue's current page does not publish a farePurdue runs complimentary gameday shuttle buses with ADA accessible vehicles, and a courtesy cart service for fans with limited mobility. An older Purdue page put the RV lot shuttle drop off at the corner of Stadium Avenue and Russell Street, about a block from Ross-Ade, with accessible drop off at the northwest corner of the stadium, and gave the running window as 90 minutes before kickoff to an hour after the game. That page is from 2017, so treat the geography as probably still right and the timings as needing confirmation.
Reported by fans, with no official page confirming it. The existence of complimentary gameday shuttles and the courtesy cart service is described by Purdue Athletics. The drop off points and the 90 minute to one hour window come from Purdue's older parking and shuttles page, which describes itself as written for the 2017 season, so they are published here as unconfirmed rather than current.
Leaving by car, which Purdue routes lot by lot
Free advicePurdue publishes departure directions per lot rather than a general map. Lots H, K, M, R, RV1, Z and Media exit onto Cherry Lane and are directed east to Northwestern Avenue, with the option of north or south depending on whether you came out via Beering Drive or Wooden Drive. Lots D and T exit at the D Lot exit onto Cherry Lane with a choice of east or west, where west runs one way to McCormick Road. Read the routing for your lot before the game.
Reported by fans, with no official page confirming it. These departure routes come from Purdue's older parking and shuttles page, which is written for the 2017 season. Road layouts change more slowly than prices, so they are published here as a guide with that caveat rather than as current instructions.
Getting to campus
Free advicePurdue directs traffic for the IM field lots off McCormick Road or Third Street, reached from U.S. 231 to Airport Road and north, where Airport Road becomes McCormick Road above State Street. The permit lots on the north side of campus are reached from Stadium Avenue, which links Northwestern Avenue to McCormick Road. Purdue also flags ongoing campus construction and asks for extra travel time.
Reported by fans, with no official page confirming it. These access routes and the construction warning come from Purdue's older parking and shuttles page, written for the 2017 season. Published here as durable geography rather than current operational instruction, and worth checking against the current gameday map.
When to get there
Stadium gates open 90 minutes before kickoff, and kickoff is set about a week out by television, so treat that as relative. The firm clock belongs to RVs: no staging or entering an RV lot before 6 p.m. on the Friday or the day before a home game, because the lots are in campus use until then, and every RV out by 10 a.m. the day after. For everyone else, the honest advice is that Purdue's current page does not publish a lot opening time and its older page gives one written for the 2017 season, so ring the ticket office on 800-49-SPORT rather than planning a long tailgate around a number we cannot stand behind. Bring a card either way, because Ross-Ade is fully cashless.
Getting out after
Purdue does the useful thing and publishes departure routing by lot rather than leaving it to the crowd, sending H, K, M, R, RV1, Z and Media out onto Cherry Lane toward Northwestern Avenue and D and T out at the D Lot exit with an east or west choice, where west becomes one way onto McCormick Road. The routing sheets are on Purdue's parking page and worth reading before the game rather than discovering in a queue. The caveat is the same as everywhere else here: that page is written for the 2017 season, so verify it against the current gameday map.
Tailgating rules
We could not find Purdue publishing tailgating rules on any current page, and we are not going to invent them. Its gameday policies page covers what happens inside Ross-Ade, bags, prohibited items and alcohol sales, and stops at the gates. What is published for the lots is the RV arrangement and the departure routing, not the conduct rules.
The one lot rule we found is on Purdue's older page and concerns fire at the RV lot: no ground fires, elevated fire pits permissible, and parking staff making judgment calls on anything they consider controversial at the lot. That page is written for the 2017 season, so confirm it rather than packing around it. Inside the stadium the prohibited list is clear enough and worth knowing before you pack a bag for the tailgate: no weapons, alcohol, tobacco or e-cigarettes, umbrellas, strollers, noisemakers, camera lenses over six inches, or backpacks and most bags, and Ross-Ade follows a clear bag policy. Anything refused at the gate cannot be left there and has to go back to the car. For tailgating questions, call the ticket office on 765-494-3194.
Via source
Questions, answered
- How much does parking cost at Ross-Ade Stadium?
- Stadium lots start at $34. Gameday lots you can buy into, once season permits and advance online sales are done: Northwestern Garage, University Garage, IM Fields, AA, BB, CC, FF, GG, Driving Range, Grass Triangle, Northwest Athletic Complex, PUSH, plus O and Armory for accessible parking and RV2 and RV4 for RVs. Accessible: $34 on gameday in O Lot or the Armory Lot, placard displayed and the owner in the vehicle. RVs: $100 in advance, $120 on the day, opening 6 p.m. the day before and out by 10 a.m. the day after. Buses: $64 pre-sale, $70 on the day. Worst plan: budgeting from Purdue's older parking page, which is from 2017.
- Is there free parking near Ross-Ade Stadium?
- There is no reliable free parking near Ross-Ade Stadium. The cheapest options are listed above.
- What time should I get to a Purdue game?
- Stadium gates open 90 minutes before kickoff, and kickoff is set about a week out by television, so treat that as relative. The firm clock belongs to RVs: no staging or entering an RV lot before 6 p.m. on the Friday or the day before a home game, because the lots are in campus use until then, and every RV out by 10 a.m. the day after. For everyone else, the honest advice is that Purdue's current page does not publish a lot opening time and its older page gives one written for the 2017 season, so ring the ticket office on 800-49-SPORT rather than planning a long tailgate around a number we cannot stand behind. Bring a card either way, because Ross-Ade is fully cashless.
- Can you get to Ross-Ade Stadium without a car?
- Purdue runs shuttles into Ross-Ade, and it publishes departure routing lot by lot, which is the more useful half at a stadium where everyone leaves at once into a small city. Gameday shuttles: Purdue's current page does not publish a fare.
Purdue has two parking pages live and one is from 2017. The older one describes itself as written for the 2017 season and quotes RV4 at $40, where the current gameday page charges $100 in advance and $120 on the day for the same lot. Treat every figure on the older page as unusable.
Purdue does not publish a general car parking price on its current gameday page. It publishes accessible parking at $34, buses at $64 or $70, and RVs at $100 or $120, and lists which lots go on sale for gameday, but no standard car rate, so we could not verify one.
Ross-Ade Stadium is 100 percent cashless.
Accessible parking has a requirement most places leave unsaid: the owner must be present in the vehicle when entering O Lot or the Armory Lot, on top of displaying a placard or plate.
Fifth wheels cannot use RV1 or RV3 at all and are redirected to RV2 or RV4, which are the two public RV lots anyway.
No staging an RV before 6 p.m. the day before, because the RV lots are in campus use until then.
Sourced from the stadium, the city, local outlets, and fans who park here every week. Checked July 2026, and we recheck three times a year. Prices and lot rules change, so every claim above either links where it came from or says plainly that it is fan-reported and unconfirmed. Click through before you build your day around one spot.
/// Know something we do not?
Prices change and lots come and go. If something on this page is wrong, or we missed a lot, tell us.
A person reads every one. You will not get an automatic reply, and we do not change the page until we can verify it ourselves.
Citing this guide
Free to quote and reference, including in articles and AI answers. We ask for credit and a link back, which is the whole license.
Dispatch Sports, “Parking at Ross-Ade Stadium: Purdue Boilermakers Gameday Guide.” Checked 2026-07. https://dispatchsports.com/college/purdue/parking
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