The Ohio State overnight RV parking is located in the Gray lots south of Jesse Owens Stadium and the Buckeye lots just west of the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium at the intersection of Fred Taylor Dr. and Hess Rd.
Permits are not sold on the day of the game so we were able to purchase ours on StubHub. Each permit is priced by the original ticket holder and can vary in price depending on the game but for this game(Penn State) we purchased ours for $300.
The lot officially opens for parking at 5am the day of the game and allows for overnight parking until 10am the following day. We arrived at 5:30am for a 7:30pm game and found that most of the lot was empty with two parking attendants at the entrance that checked us in and showed us to our reserved space. I did notice three RV’s that were already parked in the Buckeye 2 lot and later found out that they had arrived late Friday and parked overnight without issue.
The spaces are separated by red diagonal painted lines that cross the normal parking lines and are a little tough to see at first but the attendant assisted us in finding our space and getting parked. Ours space was in Buckeye 2 lot #189 and all the spaces were numbered sequentially across the rows but the numbers were faded and hard to see. There are no directional parking requirements so we were free to park any direction as long as we fit in our designated space. The space measures approximately 20ft.x 40ft. and provides plenty of room for pop up tents, chairs, tables, etc.
There’s plenty of room to park a tow vehicle or additional car and there is an additional parking in the Ackerman Rd./Buckeye #4,#5 lot adjacent to the Buckeye lot#2 for guests to park for a fee.
I noticed that most people didn’t start arriving until around 7:30am and got really busy around noon although for noon games I’m sure the lot fills up sooner.
There is a local company that rents private porta potties that can be delivered to your space for $100 and can be pre ordered or purchased on the day of the game if you flag down the driver while driving around the lot.
I noticed some people driving around in golf carts that they brought themselves and there were electric rental scooters parked around the lot that people were using to cruise around the lot and campus. The stadium is 1 mile from the lot so it’s definitely nice to be able to ride instead of walk.
The lot doesn’t have any generator restrictions or requirements for exhaust stacks and some people ran their generators all night and despite that the lot was pretty quiet after the game was over.
Since the campus is located in the middle of a city the cell signal was great throughout the day, We were able to use a WIFI hotspot to watch ESPN and the local channel signals were strong so we were able to watch multiple games throughout the day as well.
Overall the tailgating experience was great and many people stayed in the lot during the game which gave it a lively atmosphere. I was expecting the lot to be a bit more restrictive with generator use and tailgating space but it ended up being perfect for our setup and even left us room to spare. All the people in the lot were super friendly as most tailgating people are.