Yulman Stadium: Guide for Visiting Fans

When flying into New Orleans, your airport is Louis Armstrong International Airport (MSY). From MSY, rideshare runs around 25–35 minutes to the Uptown campus on a clear day, though game day traffic on the I-10 and surface streets through the Garden District can push that to 45+ minutes. Budget accordingly.

Once you're in the city, the best transit move is the iconic St. Charles Streetcar (Line 12, green cars). Swaying along St. Charles Avenue through a tunnel of live oaks, the streetcar passes dozens of antebellum mansions, Loyola and Tulane universities, and breathtaking Audubon Park. The nearest streetcar stop to Yulman is at S. Carrollton at Hickory — about a 5-minute walk from the stadium. Catch the streetcar at Canal & St. Charles heading Uptown. A one-way ride on the St. Charles line takes about 40 minutes from downtown. Fare is $1.25 cash (exact change) or via the RTA Le Pass app.

If you're staying closer in, the nearest bus stop is S. Claiborne Ave. at Nashville Ave., just a 2-minute walk from the stadium. RTA buses 51, 53-O, and 57 all serve the stadium area. For drivers, follow Highway 90 Business/West Bank as you enter downtown, exit at St. Charles Avenue/Carondelet Street, then follow St. Charles Avenue for about four miles to reach the Uptown campus. Rideshare drop-offs cluster around Ben Weiner Drive and the Claiborne Avenue perimeter — more on post-game pickup below.

Streetcar: After the final whistle, walk the 5 minutes to S. Carrollton at Hickory and catch the St. Charles Line (12) heading downtown. Post-game service continues, but the streetcars run on their regular schedule — not a beefed-up event schedule — and they fill up fast. Expect to wait 15–25 minutes for one with room. Best move: linger 10–15 minutes after the game ends, let the initial crush thin out, then walk to the stop. The wait shrinks meaningfully once the student scrum disperses.

Driving: The parking lots on and immediately adjacent to campus will be gridlocked for 20–40 minutes after a sold-out or near-capacity game. If you parked on a side street off Audubon or on Calhoun, you'll clear faster than those in the Diboll garage. Get to S. Claiborne as your exit artery and head toward the I-10 on-ramp at Carrollton. Realistically, budget 30 minutes from final whistle to moving road.

Rideshare: Uber and Lyft surge hard right outside the stadium gates immediately post-game. Do not request a pickup on Ben Weiner Drive or directly in front of the main entrance — the surge there can hit 2x–3x and the driver will sit in traffic anyway. Instead, walk 4–6 blocks toward Magazine Street or up toward Audubon Park and request from there. The surge drops noticeably, the driver can actually reach you, and you're in a moving car 10 minutes faster. Wait about 20 minutes after the game ends before requesting if the fare surge is brutal — rates normalize quickly once the initial rush passes.

Best tip: If you're going anywhere in the French Quarter or CBD after the game, the streetcar is genuinely the winning play. Walk to the stop, let one or two packed cars pass, board the third, and enjoy a 40-minute ride back through the Garden District with a post-game drink in your hand from whatever you bought outside the stadium. It's the most New Orleans way to do it.

Parking near Yulman is a game within the game. The campus itself is tight — Tulane is a landlocked, open space-challenged campus, and the stadium sits at the narrowest point on campus — so don't expect a sprawling lot right outside the gate.

There is parking on campus in the Diboll Complex and on the main campus; handicap parking is available along Ben Weiner Drive with a proper window decal; and parking along S. Claiborne, Calhoun, and Audubon are viable options. Parking ranges from $10–$25 for lots surrounding the Tulane campus; the closer to campus, the more you'll pay. The Diboll garage on Ben Weiner Drive fills up fastest — arrive more than 90 minutes before kickoff if you want a spot there. Street parking on Audubon Street and the side streets off St. Charles is free and walkable (about 10–15 minutes), but it goes fast on big-game days. The neutral ground on Claiborne is where tailgating concentrates, and some fans park in commercial lots in the surrounding Uptown blocks for $15–$20. If you're coming from the French Quarter or the CBD, strongly consider ditching the car at your hotel and taking the streetcar — parking in Uptown can be very limited, especially for larger vehicles.

Skip the airport-adjacent chains. The right move for a Yulman game trip is to stay Uptown or in the Garden District, which puts you on the St. Charles streetcar line and within walking distance of the best pre-game neighborhoods in the city.

The Pontchartrain Hotel, alongside a picturesque streetcar route, is a 14-story architectural marvel from 1927 that blends historic charm with modern comforts and provides easy access to local attractions including the French Quarter and major venues. It's walking distance to the streetcar and about a mile from campus — genuinely convenient and not a tourist trap. The Chloe is a boutique stay with a poolside bar; the Columns Hotel offers a romantic setting and a classic bar. The Columns, on St. Charles Avenue, is one of the great old porch bars in New Orleans — worth staying at just to drink on that veranda after the game. For budget travelers, look at short-term rentals on the Freret Street corridor — you'll be a 10-minute walk from the stadium, surrounded by the local restaurants and bars the students actually use, and you'll save $50–$100 a night over the hotel options.

The Uptown New Orleans food scene around Tulane is genuinely excellent — this isn't a stadium-district wasteland. You are in one of the great eating cities in America. Use it.

Dat Dog (Freret Street): A Tulane-adjacent institution serving gourmet hot dogs loaded with toppings like crawfish étouffée and alligator sausage. It's exactly as ridiculous as it sounds and exactly as good. Fast, cheap, and perfect pre-game fuel.

Superior Grill (St. Charles Ave.): A Tex-Mex staple that also has a presence inside the stadium itself. Uptown Tex-Mex mainstay Superior Grill brings its margaritas to Yulman's concessions on game days , but the sit-down restaurant on St. Charles is a better experience — legendary frozen margaritas and a lively pregame crowd a couple miles from the stadium.

Cure (Freret St.): Cure is not far from campus and makes well-crafted, serious cocktails. If you want to escape the college-bar scene and have a genuinely good drink before kickoff, this is your place. It's one of the bars that put New Orleans cocktail culture on the national map.

La Petite Grocery (Magazine St.): A beautifully restored Uptown restaurant on Magazine Street featuring James Beard Award-winning contemporary Louisiana cuisine. This is your pre-game splurge dinner if you're visiting New Orleans for the first time and want to eat somewhere memorable. Make a reservation well in advance.

While the surrounding neighborhood offers plenty of options, Yulman Stadium itself has much to satisfy hungry fans inside.

Edgar "Dook" Chase IV has two concession stands at Yulman — Dook's Burgers and Dook's Tackle Box — serving fried seafood platters in football bowls. Other local names include Williams Plum Street Sno-Balls (a New Orleans institution since the 1940s) and Superior Grill margaritas, plus Fat Tuesday daiquiri booths with a blended "Frozen Wave" special. Beer and a burger will run you roughly $15–$22 combined. All concessions are cashless , so tap your card or have your phone ready at every stand.

The clear bag policy is in effect every season. All concessions and merchandise are cashless, and there is no cash-to-card machine at Yulman Stadium. This is not a drill — if you show up with a canvas tote full of snacks and a $20 bill, you are going to have a bad time at the gate. The maximum bag size is 12" x 6" x 12", and all bags must be clear. Small non-clear clutches up to 4.5" x 6.5" are permitted. Leave the backpack in the car or at the hotel.

Gates typically open 90 minutes to 2 hours before kickoff. Get there early if you want to explore the Athletes Plaza, which is the outdoor pre-game hub. The outside of Yulman Stadium features the Athletes Plaza, which hosts pre- and post-game celebrations with live music. Metal detection is in place at all stadium entrances. Mobile tickets via the Tulane Athletics app are the primary ticketing method — print-at-home is a distant backup; have it loaded before you leave the hotel.

Handicap parking is available along Ben Weiner Drive with a proper window decal. The ADA drop-off point is located on the shoulder of Claiborne Avenue near Ben Weiner Drive. The stadium was built in 2014 to modern ADA compliance standards, and accessible seating is distributed throughout the bowl with sightlines comparable to surrounding sections. The Westfeldt Terrace is a roof-protected open-air section with 3,000 seatbacks that provides a panoramic view of the field and downtown New Orleans.

For specific accessible seating locations, elevator access, and assistive listening device availability, contact Tulane Athletics directly via tulanegreenwave.com or call the ticket office at 504-861-WAVE (9283) ahead of game day. Policies and available accommodations can be confirmed through the official Gameday Central page.

Tickets between the 40-yard lines on the visitor's side go for around $35; the home side is predominantly season ticket holders. The visitor's section occupies the west sideline — you'll be seated across from the big Glazer Family Club deck. Sightlines in this single-tier bowl are excellent from almost everywhere; there's no upper deck on the visitor's side to block sight angles or create dead acoustic zones.

Yulman Stadium provides fans with a much more intimate atmosphere than was possible at the Superdome , and that intimacy cuts both ways — you're close to the field, but you're also close to the home fans. If you want to sit with other away fans, look for whoever's wearing your team's colors and cluster. There's no formal designated away section in the way a European football ground would have one, so away fans are generally dispersed. The end zone sections are the cheapest and loudest, but you'll be largely surrounded by students. The mid-level sideline between the 30s and 40s on the visitor's side offers the best combination of sightlines, price, and a reasonable mix of fan bases.

Away fans venturing to Yulman Stadium should come prepared for a lively, passionate home crowd surrounding them.

The return to campus has resulted in a rebirth of the Tulane football fan , and you'll feel it in the stadium. The crowd is genuinely invested in ways they simply weren't during the Superdome exile years. That said, this is still a mid-major program playing in a 30,000-seat campus bowl, not a 100,000-seat SEC thunderdome — the hostility toward away fans is more spirited than aggressive. Students dominate the south end zone and can get loud, especially in night games when the party on Claiborne has been going for six hours. The unique thing about Yulman that you won't read in a press release: the stadium's design kept its profile intentionally low to avoid overshadowing the surrounding neighborhood, which means sound stays in the bowl better than you'd expect for a venue this size. It gets loud in a way that surprises people. Come prepared for a real atmosphere, not a half-full indifferent crowd.

What's the easiest way to get to Yulman Stadium without a car? Take the St. Charles Streetcar (Line 12) Uptown and get off at S. Carrollton at Hickory — it's about a 5-minute walk to the stadium. From downtown, the ride takes roughly 40 minutes and costs $1.25.

What is the Yulman Stadium bag policy? Clear bags only, maximum 12"×6"×12". Small non-clear clutches up to 4.5"×6.5" are allowed. No bag check is available on game day, and backpacks of any kind will not be allowed in.

Does Yulman Stadium accept cash? No. All concessions and merchandise are fully cashless, and there is no cash-to-card kiosk on site. Bring a card or mobile payment.

How much does parking cost near Yulman Stadium? Expect $10–$25 depending on how close to campus you park. The on-campus Diboll garage fills quickly; street parking on surrounding Uptown blocks is cheaper but competitive.

Where do away fans sit at Yulman Stadium? There's no formally designated away section. Visiting fans generally sit on the west (visitor) sideline. Tickets between the 40-yard lines on that side run around $35; end zone seats are as low as $5.

When do gates open at Yulman Stadium? Typically 90 minutes to 2 hours before kickoff. Arrive early to enjoy the Athletes Plaza pregame atmosphere, which features live music.

What food is worth getting inside Yulman Stadium? Dook's Burgers and Dook's Tackle Box are local-brand stands serving fried seafood platters and burgers. Superior Grill runs a margarita stand, and Fat Tuesday has the "Frozen Wave" daiquiri. It's a genuine step above standard stadium concessions.

How far is Yulman Stadium from the French Quarter? About 4 miles. The St. Charles Streetcar gets you between the two in roughly 40 minutes — which, given French Quarter parking realities, is faster than driving.