Free parking, transportation options for NSU football games

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — The streets surrounding Norfolk State University Monday are anything but hectic as students returned to classes after a summer break. "This is my junior year, and football season gets really crazy," said junior Michaela Watts, who lives nearby. "Since I live by the campus in the neighborhood, [there's] usually a lot of cars, like lined up real crazy during the football season." Trying to make parking less crazy and helping people to avoid getting parking tickets during home football games is what the city of Norfolk, Hampton Roads Transit and NSU are hoping to do by providing free parking and transportation options. "We will be providing free parking at both the MacArthur south and north garages," said Kelly Straub with the city of Norfolk, "and there will also be a shuttle from MacArthur south over to campus. So we're making it very easy for patrons to come in to the city, find parking easily and find different ways to get to campus." The city is doing its part with free places to park. And Hampton Roads Transit is doing theirs by offering free rides on the light rail two hours before and after the game. If asked on board, those attending an NSU football game should show their game tickets. "The campus is served by two stations — you have NSU and Ballentine/Broad Creek," said Thomas Becher with Hampton Roads Transit. "NSU is a little bit farther away, but gets you into the heart of campus. Ballentine's a little closer to the stadium. There's also a new walkway from the station onto the parking lot that gets here, which avoids some of the railroad crossings." Now that you have arrived, there is one big change. You will need to know how to get into the stadium to watch the game. "Ticketing will begin at the gates, so there will no longer be ticketing at the stadium," said Ross Gordon with Norfolk State University. "It will move now to all e-tickets, so there will no longer be printing tickets. So it's going to be imperative that folks will make sure that they get their tickets before they get on campus and have their tickets ready." The city has provided a website with all the details to assist you for game day.   Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com.