parking tips for saints vs lions at ford field in detroit on september 13

the absolute biggest headache you are going to face for the saints game at ford field is the bottleneck around the stadium district right before the 1:00 pm kickoff. since the tigers are also playing at comerica park right next door at the same time, the entire north end of downtown is going to be a total gridlock. your best move to deal with this is to completely avoid driving into the immediate stadium blast zone and instead park further south or east and walk or ride the people mover. if you try to pull into a lot right next to the gates after 11:30 am, you will be sitting in traffic for an hour just to move two blocks.

for the cheapest reliable option, i found that the msu detroit center lot at 3408 cass avenue or the various surface lots in the cass corridor usually run around twenty to thirty dollars, which is half of what you will pay at the ford field garage. it is about a fifteen to twenty minute walk, but you avoid the post-game exit chaos that happens on brush street. if you want something even cheaper and dont mind a short ride, look at the mgm grand garage. it is often free for casino guests or significantly cheaper than event lots, and you can just hop on the people mover at the times square station for seventy-five cents and take it to the broadway station right by the stadium.

if you are dead set on being as close as possible, you can actually reserve spots ahead of time through the parkwhiz or seatgeek apps for the ford field parking deck or the lot 4 and lot 5 surface areas. right now those are listing for about fifty to sixty dollars for september 13, which is steep but guarantees you a spot. for a more local approach, many folks living in the nearby neighborhoods and brush park area open up their own driveways and private lots for fans to book through prked when the official garages hit capacity or start charging outrageous premium rates. just make sure if you go that route you arrive early because those residential streets get one-way closures by the detroit police department starting around three hours before kickoff.

another solid play is to park way over by the rencen or the detroit riverfront for about fifteen dollars and take the qline up woodward avenue. it drops you off at the grand circus park station which is just a five minute walk to the gates. this is especially smart for this saints game because it puts you near the bars like hudsons or the skip for a post-game drink while you wait for the traffic to clear out. just remember that the qline is free to ride right now, so it is the most budget-friendly way to bridge the distance from a cheap perimeter lot to the stadium entrance.