Rare weekday football game poses campus challenges

With the football season beginning on a weekday when the Badgers open their season against UNLV at Camp Randall Stadium the night of Thursday, Sept. 1, the campus faces some unusual challenges.

It is no small feat to host 80,000 fans on a football Saturday, but it is even more complicated to accommodate the pilgrimage of fans as university staff members are on campus working.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m., and fans are expected to begin arriving in the afternoon for the game.

Campus administration has worked with Transportation Services and the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics to help in navigating the added congestion that officials anticipate.

“I understand adjustments of this sort are difficult, especially on the day before classes begin for the fall semester,” says Darrell Bazzell, vice chancellor for administration. “I appreciate your flexibility in this matter.”

Bazzell has asked deans and directors to empower supervisors and managers to work with employees in adjusting work schedules, where possible, to allow employees to make alternate commuting plans or to leave campus by 4 p.m. on the day of the game.  

A guide to parking issues

Staffing of several campus parking lots will begin early on game day. Employees with annual parking permits should not expect any significant change until about 2 p.m., when football game attendees will be allowed into campus parking lots when and where space is available.

Beginning at 5 p.m., most campus parking lots will be reserved for event parking. If you park in lots 7, 13, 16, 17, 20, 29, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 51, 54, 55, 60, 62 or 80, we ask that you remove your car by 5 p.m. To help make room for pre-sold game parking, vehicles without game-day parking permits will be subject to impoundment. If your work requires that you remain parked in these lots after 5 p.m., please contact or have your supervisor contact Transportation Services Special Events at 262-8683 to make temporary parking arrangements.

In Lots 34, 46, 59, 64, 76, 82, 83, 85, 91 or 131, you may park for work-related reasons after 5 p.m. However, if you are attending the game, you will need to purchase a game-day event parking permit in order to park in these lots after 5 p.m.

All other parking lots not listed above are available for employees with any valid UW–Madison annual parking permit.

Seeking game-day alternatives

Transportation Services offers the following alternative options for game day:

• Park at the Alliant Energy Center and ride a shuttle to and from campus at no cost. This option is available to employees with university parking permits from 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Details on shuttle location and times are available here.

• Use your employee bus pass to ride any Metro route at no cost, explore park-and-ride options, carpool or consider biking to work.

• Contact the Transportation Services Commuter Solutions team at tdm@fpm.wisc.edu to arrange a personalized alternative to driving alone on game day.