Tailgate Party Bus in Chicago

Where Tailgating Exists in Chicago, and Where It Doesn't

Before you plan a menu, check that your venue has a tailgate at all. Chicago's stadiums split cleanly into two groups.

Lot venues. Soldier Field and Rate Field are surrounded by parking where pregame tailgating is an established tradition. College football adds more: Northwestern home games, and road trips to South Bend or Champaign, where campus lots and fields fill with alumni tents. At these venues the bus can be the center of a real tailgate, provided it holds the right parking pass.

Curb venues. Wrigley Field and the United Center have no fan tailgating lots. Wrigley is hemmed in by homes and bars, and the United Center's lots are for parking, not parties. At these two, the "tailgate" happens on the bus during the ride and at nearby bars. If that is your plan, the Cubs game day guide and the United Center venue page cover it better than this page does.

This guide is about the tailgate itself: lots, equipment, timing and what a bus can and cannot do once it is parked. For the rest of a football Sunday, including suburban pickups and the postgame exit, see the Bears game day plan.

Soldier Field Lots: What a Bus Can and Can't Do

Soldier Field's parking is a mix of underground and deck garages near the stadium and surface lots that stretch south along the lakefront toward McCormick Place. That mix matters more for a bus than for a car.

Garages are out. A party bus will not clear the height limit of a parking structure, and open flames are not something any garage allows. A bus tailgate means a surface lot.

Oversize vehicles are handled separately. Stadium parking operators typically sell a distinct bus or oversize pass, assign those vehicles to a specific lot, and sell out of them for big games. Passes are generally bought in advance by the group rather than at the gate. Look up the current Soldier Field parking information for the season, buy the correct pass early, and send us the lot name so the driver knows the entrance to use.

The far lots are a real walk. The southern lots near 31st Street are a long way from the gates; shuttles have run on game days, but plan on twenty minutes or more on foot in December wind.

If you cannot get a pass, the alternative is a rolling tailgate: food and drinks on the bus during the ride, a drop-off near the Museum Campus, and a planned pickup afterward. It is less romantic than a grill on the asphalt, but it is warm, and nobody has to pack up a tent at kickoff.

Grills, Coolers, Tents and Glass: Rules to Confirm Before You Pack

Tailgate rules come from two places, the venue and the vehicle operator, and you need a yes from both.

From the venue, find out:

• Whether charcoal, propane or both are allowed, and how hot coals must be disposed of
• Whether tents and canopies are permitted, and whether they must stay within your own space
• Whether one vehicle may occupy more than one space, and what that costs
• Rules on glass, kegs, amplified music and saving spaces
• When lots open and how long after the game you may stay

From us, find out:

• Whether the assigned vehicle has exterior luggage space. Many party buses do not, which means a grill rides in the cabin with your group or does not come at all.
• Whether propane cylinders may be carried. Many operators will not transport them in a passenger cabin, for good reason. A cold-food spread, catering trays or a friend's car carrying the grill solves this.
• The cooler and ice plan. Built-in bar areas vary by vehicle, and the written quote lists what the assigned vehicle includes.

Alcohol is for passengers 21 and over, cans and plastic rather than glass. Use the BYOB drink calculator to avoid hauling three times what the group will drink. A greasy grill goes home in a contractor bag, not on the upholstery; cleaning fees are avoidable.

Timing a Tailgate Backward from Kickoff

Stadium lots commonly open about four hours before kickoff, and the best tailgates use most of that. Work backward from the moment you want to be in your seat.

For a noon Bears game: in seats by 11:40, which means leaving the lot by 11:00 if you are parked south. Food should come off the grill by 10:15 so there is time to eat, cool the coals and pack. That puts your arrival at the lot near 8:00 and your first pickup around 7:00, earlier from the suburbs. Yes, that is an early Sunday. It is also the whole point.

Sundays show up clearly in our numbers. In the national booking network we draw on, 19% of sports inquiries are for a Sunday, compared with 6% of group trips overall, and 58% fall in autumn. For tailgaters that means fall Sundays are a recognized pattern with decent vehicle availability, but the oversize parking passes, not the buses, are often the scarcer item. Buy the pass first.

Decide early whether the bus stays in the lot through the game. If it does, your gear stays locked aboard and the postgame tailgate is possible where the venue allows it. If it leaves, everything comes with you or goes home in a car. The game day planner will lay out the clock for any kickoff time.

Choosing a Tailgate Bus: Floor Space, Doors and Headcount

Tailgate groups run larger than the typical outing. Across the dataset, 40% of requests for 21 to 30 seat vehicles are for fall dates, against 26% of inquiries overall, and football is a big part of that bulge.

For 20 to 28 people, the 30 passenger party bus gives you the floor space that matters at a tailgate: room for coolers down the middle, a standing-height cabin to warm up in, and a wide door for carrying things in and out. Smaller crews of 14 to 18 do well in the 20 passenger party bus, which is also easier to fit into a single oversize space.

Think about the vehicle as a warming hut. In November the bus is where people thaw out between rounds of bags, so comfortable seating for the whole group matters more than it would on a bar night. Count seats for everyone, plus two or three for bulky coats.

For very large groups, such as an alumni club or a company block of 45 seats, a motorcoach moves everyone efficiently and has underfloor bays that swallow grills, tables and tents. It is less of a party inside, but it solves the cargo problem completely.

Compare cabin styles side by side with the vehicle comparison tool before you decide.

Tailgate Budget and the Mistakes That Ruin One

A tailgate is one of the longest sports reservations you can make: early pickup, four hours in the lot, a three-hour game and the ride home can approach eight or nine hours if the bus stays. Two ways to keep that reasonable are to ask about a split schedule, where the bus drops you, leaves, and returns after the game, or to shorten the postgame. Estimate the per-person share with the budget calculator, and include the parking pass, food, ice and gratuity, which groups routinely forget.

Mistakes we see every season:

• No pass, or a car pass. A standard parking pass does not cover a bus. Showing up without the right one can mean being turned away at the lot entrance with a grill full of bratwurst.
• One person brings everything. Assign food, ice, tables and cleanup by name.
• Hot coals at departure. Follow the lot's disposal rules and allow cooling time. Nothing warm goes back on the bus.
• Leaving for the gate too late. Security lines at kickoff are long. Walk in earlier than feels necessary.
• No plan for people without tickets. Friends who only came for the tailgate need their own ride home or a plan to stay with the bus if that is permitted.