Norfolk Tides and NSU fans use free parking and transportation during gameday
· Yahoo Sports
NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) -- If you’re a Norfolk sports fan, then Saturday was your day as both the Norfolk Tides and the Norfolk State University (NSU) Spartans played at home. However, with two big events happening simultaneously, that increased the risk of parking issues for fans.
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The home team matchups come as construction for the casino next to Harbor Park limited the parking options for Tides fans. Additionally, the streets surrounding NSU were packed during the countdown to kickoff. As a result, free parking and transportation were available to fans at the MacArthur North and South garages.
Leading up to Saturday, both the Tides and NSU encouraged fans to plan ahead as much as possible. Speaking of planning ahead, D.L. Smith, NSU's transportation manager, says preparations for weekends like this begin long before the start of the season.
“This planning started last year when the last game ended," he said. "We start getting ready for the following year. And then we spent all week long getting ready just for this portion.”
With both fanbases in search of parking, Smith says it didn’t take long for spots in the MacArthur garage to start filling up.
“It's going to be packed to capacity," he said. "It's been nonstop since about 2:00. We showed up at two. There were about 75 people here waiting to get on the bus, and it's been nonstop since then.”
10 On Your Side spoke with a family of Norfolk Tides fans who said their go-to parking lot off of Ballentine Boulevard was overflowing, causing them to look elsewhere. Luckily, they were able to find their spot at MacArthur and take the light rail to Harbor Park.
“We had to leave the usual part that we park at because it was like, really packed,” said Tides fan Hannah Smithson. “So we just came and parked right over there.”
“If you leave at an early time, you should be okay,” said another Tides fan named River Smith.
With a rivalry game for the Spartans, and the last home weekend for the Tides, it looked to be a special night for both fanbases.
“It's going to be two great teams coming together and I'm sure everybody will enjoy themselves,” said Smith. “It's going to be a great day.”
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