Foxboro Could Eliminate Satellite Lots Near Gillette Stadium

One of my biggest pet peeves is parking issues while attending a concert or large sporting event. It appears Foxboro and Gillette Stadium are working to try and simplify the process.

A recent concert at Xfinity Center involved sitting on the highway seemingly forever as cars slowly trickled into the lot.

Getting out after the show is always an adventure in patience and endurance. It can take hours to get home from a show unless you leave the performance early to avoid traffic, or wait for the lot to empty.

With the price of show tickets being what they are, who wants to leave a venue before it is over?

Parking for events at Gillette Stadium has always been a challenge. Waiting in long lines on Route 1 to get into a stadium lot and paying an additional fee (as high as $40 or more) to park there on top of the pricey ticket is frustrating, too.

The alternative has been to pay the same amount to park at a town-licensed satellite lot on Route 1 and then hike forever to the stadium. The walk back to the car – especially late at night – is even less fun.

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The Sun-Chronicle reported Gillette Stadium now controls "sufficient on-site parking to accommodate sold-out events" and that the price of parking has been "built into the price of tickets," avoiding the need for each vehicle to stop and pay the parking fee.

The paper reported the Town of Foxboro will spend $60,000 to "update parking and traffic control measures along its Route 1 corridor."

The Sun-Chronicle said options could include no longer licensing satellite lots, commercially developing some of the newly acquired stadium parking space, or allowing patrons to decide whether to park at a satellite or stadium parking lot.

Gillette Stadium has posted several "Parking Enhancements" for 2023 on its webpage that anyone attending a concert or sporting event should read before going.