Byrd Stadium Transportation: How to Get to Maryland Football Games

Byrd Stadium, now officially known as SECU Stadium, is the home of Maryland football in College Park — same building, same location, a new name since 2022. If you grew up calling it Byrd Stadium or Capital One Field, you're looking for the same place: 90 Stadium Drive on the University of Maryland's campus. This guide skips the seating charts and ticket links you can find anywhere and focuses on what actually trips people up on game day — where it is, how to really drive there, what the color-coded parking system means, and how to get out again once 45,000 other people are leaving at the same time. For seating, capacity, and the full schedule, see our SECU Stadium guide.

Where Does Maryland Football Play?

Maryland football plays at 90 Stadium Drive, College Park, MD 20742, on the university's main campus — a little over 8 miles from downtown Washington, DC and easily reachable from Baltimore, Northern Virginia, and the rest of the DMV. The venue opened in 1950 as Byrd Stadium, went through several naming-rights eras (Chevy Chase Bank Field, then two versions of Capital One Field), and became SECU Stadium in 2022. If a source, an old ticket stub, or a friend's directions reference "Byrd Stadium," "Capital One Field," or "Maryland Capital One Field," they all mean this exact venue — nothing about the location or the building changed, just the sign out front.

Maryland Football Stadium Directions: Getting There by Car

How you approach campus depends heavily on where you're driving from, and Maryland's own athletics department publishes specific routes for the major approach directions.

From the Capital Beltway (I-495), the most common approach: Take Exit 25 onto Route 1 South. Follow Route 1 into College Park toward campus, watching for event signage directing you to the correct entrance based on your parking assignment.

From Montgomery County and Northern Virginia: Take Exit 28 off the Beltway (New Hampshire Avenue). Head south to Adelphi Road, turn left, and follow Adelphi Road to Route 193. Turn left on Route 193 and follow event signs into campus.

From points north via Kenilworth Avenue: Kenilworth Avenue (Route 201) connects to Paint Branch Parkway, which leads directly to the Route 1 corridor bordering campus — this is also the route used heavily on the way out after games, covered below.

The single biggest mistake first-time visitors make is treating "College Park" as one destination with one entrance. It isn't — which entrance you want depends entirely on which lot your parking pass is assigned to. That's the part that trips up almost everyone the first time. The official UMD football parking and directions page is the source for all of this.

Byrd Stadium Parking: The Color-Coded Entrance System

Here's the detail that separates a smooth arrival from 45 minutes of confused circling: Maryland's football parking passes are color- and shape-coded to a specific campus entrance, not a general "come park somewhere" pass. Per the university's own 2026 parking guidance, the system works like this.

Your pass's color and shape tells you which entrance to use — showing up at the wrong one on a sold-out game day means getting redirected around campus while traffic backs up behind you. The university explicitly recommends downloading your pass and planning your specific route before you leave, not figuring it out from the dashboard once you're already in College Park traffic.

Lots paired with their entrances, based on official venue guidance:

• Lot 4B and Terrapin Trail Garage → Route 193 / Paint Branch Drive entrance
• Lot 9B and Lot 11B → Route 1 Main Gate / Baltimore Avenue entrance
• Regents Drive Garage → Route 1 Main Gate or Route 193 / Stadium Drive entrance

Lots generally open about 4 hours before kickoff. For any marquee matchup — a ranked opponent, a rivalry game, a night game — arriving right at that 4-hour window, rather than "a little early," is the difference between parking near your gate and parking a genuine walk away.

Byrd Stadium Transportation: Beyond Driving Yourself

Not every trip to a Maryland game has to start with the color-coded lot system. The College Park–University of Maryland Metro station sits on campus, served by both the Green and Yellow lines — about a 15–20 minute walk from the stadium, with the university's free Quickbus (Shuttle-UM) game-day service bridging the gap from the station and outer lots. Check current fares and times on WMATA's official site before a late game. For fans coming from DC or nearby along the line, this sidesteps the entrance-matching puzzle entirely.

For groups, there's a third option that solves a different problem: coordinated group transportation. A Sprinter van or minibus booked for your group means one vehicle, one entrance, one drop-off point — nobody has to double-check which colored pass matches which gate, and nobody ends up in a different lot than the rest of the group because two cars followed slightly different directions on the way in.

Getting Out After the Game: The Part Nobody Plans For

Getting to Byrd Stadium is only half the trip. Getting 45,000-plus people back onto Route 1 at the same time is where a well-planned arrival can still turn into a frustrating exit if you don't know the flow.

For fans parked in the Main Gate lots — PP, Lot 11B, Regents Drive Garage, or the Paint Branch visitor lot — the university's own guidance lays out a specific exit path: follow Campus Drive through the Main Gate, proceed straight across Route 1 onto Paint Branch Drive, continue about 1.7 miles, then turn left onto Kenilworth Avenue (Route 201 South). From there it's roughly 2.5 miles down Kenilworth before turning right onto Paint Branch Parkway for another 1.7 miles back toward Route 1 if you're continuing that way.

That's a specific, deliberate routing — not just "follow the crowd out." Fans who don't know it tend to default to whichever direction traffic seems to be moving, which is exactly how a 15-minute drive turns into 45 minutes of brake lights on Route 1.

Byrd Stadium Directions by Group Size: What Actually Makes Sense

A Clean Arrival-to-Exit Plan

Four steps that cover the whole round trip.

1. Check your pass color before leaving. Red/Circle, Yellow/Star, Blue/Triangle, or Green/Square each maps to one entrance — know yours in advance.
2. Pick the route for your origin. Beltway Exit 25 to Route 1 South, or Exit 28 via Adelphi Road to Route 193 from Montgomery County / NoVA.
3. Arrive at the 4-hour mark for big games. The closest lots to your gate fill fast on marquee and night games.
4. Know the exit before kickoff. Main Gate lots: Campus Drive → Paint Branch Drive → Kenilworth Avenue, not "follow the crowd."

Frequently Asked Questions