Maryland Terrapins Football Tickets

The SECU Stadium seat call: sun at your back or a view from above

For a Maryland Terrapins day game, sit on the south sideline, below Tyser Tower, between the 30-yard lines. The field runs east to west, so south-side fans have the sun behind them while north-side fans look into it. For a night game, either sideline works, and the choice comes down to row and price.

SECU Stadium is on the UMD campus, just inside the Beltway from Washington, D.C. The Terps have played in the Big Ten since 2014, and the home slate spans roughly Labor Day weekend to Thanksgiving week.

• Best afternoon seat: south sideline, lower or middle rows, between the 30s.
• Best overhead view: the north upper deck near midfield, if the sun is not a concern.
• Smallest outlay: the east and west end zones.
• Hardest ticket: a visit from Ohio State, Michigan or Penn State.

Tyser Tower, the north deck and both ends

The stadium is a bowl with one tall side and one double-decked side, and the ends are lower.

South sideline

Tyser Tower rises five stories here, holding the press box, 63 suites and mezzanine seating, all rebuilt between 2007 and 2009. That project also lowered the playing field, which improved the angle from the lower rows on both sidelines. South-side seats are the shaded, sun-behind choice on a bright September afternoon in Washington-area humidity.

North sideline

Since 1995, an upper deck of 12,000 seats has stacked over the north lower bowl. Middle rows near midfield give a clean, tactical view of the whole field. The top rows are a long climb and a long way from the players, and in a day game this whole side faces the sun.

East end

The Gossett Football Team House sits at this end, along with the older video board. Seats behind this goal line usually sit at the bottom of the price range.

West end

A larger video board went up in 2021, and the main west gate opens onto Stadium Drive. Fans who want to see the team arrive tend to enter on this side.

Maryland does not publish which sections hold students or visitors, so check the map on your listing before you buy. Chairback seat rentals are offered on the concourse behind Sections 8 and 19, and outside stadium seats wider than 18 inches or with armrests are not allowed.

Big Ten visitors who fill College Park

Demand at SECU Stadium swings with the opponent more than at most Big Ten venues. A few dates stand out.

• Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State: These fan bases buy up visiting tickets in bulk, so these games bring the biggest crowds and the highest resale prices. The biggest crowd ever, 58,973 with extra temporary seats, watched Penn State visit on November 1, 1975.
• Rutgers: The Big Ten protects this pairing of its two East Coast additions as an annual game through at least 2028.
• Navy: The Crab Bowl, Maryland against the Midshipmen, came back in 2005 after four decades off and has carried a trophy since 2010, but it appears only in years the two schools book it.
• Virginia and West Virginia: Old regional rivals from the ACC years and earlier, now occasional nonconference opponents.

Most other games, especially early nonconference dates, are easy to get into, and you can often wait for prices to ease close to kickoff.

Metro, Route 1 and the bag rules

The stadium address is 90 Stadium Drive, College Park, MD 20742. By car, most people exit the Capital Beltway (I-495/I-95) at 25B, follow U.S. Route 1 south and then take Route 193 west to Stadium Drive. Route 1 and the Beltway back up on game days, so build in extra time.

Transit is a good option from the city or the suburbs. Ride the Green Line to College Park–University of Maryland; the station lies roughly a mile from the middle of campus, to the southeast, and Shuttle-UM buses run between the two.

As of the 2026 season, only clear bags of 12 by 6 by 12 inches or smaller get through the gates. Leave umbrellas, outside snacks and drinks, noisemakers and video cameras behind, and know that once you exit, you cannot come back in. Check the Maryland football gameday information page for the latest list before you go.

Lots, tents and Terp Alley: Maryland pregame

Campus lots open six hours before kickoff, and tailgating can start then. Tents are capped at 10 by 10 feet and may not be staked, garages forbid open flames, and kegs or other shared containers are not allowed anywhere on campus. A permit is good for one entry, so driving out means losing your spot.

• Terp Alley: Roughly 120 minutes before kickoff, the buses stop at the traffic circle on Stadium Drive by the west gate, and players walk in between rows of fans, cheerleaders and the Mighty Sound of Maryland. Kids' activities run on Legacy Plaza next door.
• Testudo: Maryland adopted the diamondback terrapin in 1933, and a bronze Testudo greets fans at the stadium; and players under Ralph Friedgen touched it on the way to the locker room.
• The flag uniforms: The Maryland Pride look, introduced in 2011, borrows the red, white, gold and black of the state flag.

How Terps tickets are sold and resold

You can buy a full season or individual games from the athletics ticket office, with better locations going first to program donors. Students use a separate system governed by a policy published each year, and all tickets are delivered to your phone.

Because many games do not sell out, you often have a good choice of sections from the school or the resale market. The three big Big Ten visits are different: visiting fans compete for the same seats, and prices rise well before game week, so buy those early. For lighter opponents, resale prices tend to drift lower as kickoff approaches. Every Reserved Seat order is backed by a 100% guarantee.

Maryland's record book, ACC to Big Ten

Football at Maryland goes back to 1892, when the school was Maryland Agricultural College. The title it claims belongs to Jim Tatum's 1953 squad, which finished the regular season as the lone team without a loss or a tie and went 10–1 overall. That same year Maryland helped found the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), where it won nine championships: three in a row from 1974 to 1976, three more under Bobby Ross from 1983 to 1985, and Ralph Friedgen's outright 2001 crown, which earned a trip to the Orange Bowl.

The signature win came in Miami in 1984. Down 31–0 at halftime, Maryland rallied behind backup quarterback Frank Reich, who threw four touchdown passes, to win 42–40, at the time the biggest comeback in major college football. Two Terps, Pro Football Hall of Famer Randy White and passer Boomer Esiason, placed in the top ten of Heisman balloting.

Byrd Stadium opened on September 30, 1950. The school dropped that name for Maryland Stadium in 2015 and adopted the SECU Stadium name under a 10-year deal announced in 2022. Capacity figures differ: the stadium's own history puts it near 54,000 following the 2007–2009 work, and the program's reference page says 51,802.

Sources

• Wikipedia – Maryland Terrapins football
• Wikipedia – SECU Stadium
• Maryland Athletics – Football Gameday Information
• Maryland Athletics – Tailgating Guide
• Maryland Athletics – Football Ticket Information
• Wikipedia – College Park–University of Maryland station