As of Thursday, Jan. 15 at 7 p.m., The University of Miami will now offer free student transportation to the College Football Playoffs national championship at Hard Rock Stadium.
Students with a student ticket to the game are able to register for the shuttle to and from the stadium, meaning the shuttles are only available for 1,000 students. Shuttles are scheduled to run to the stadium from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., and begin taking students back to campus at the end of the game.
In order to board the shuttle, students must show their ticket to the game, Cane Card and registration for the shuttle. Registration for the shuttles closes at 5 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 18.
However, this announcement follows growing student frustration about the lack of easy, affordable transportation to the game. Some students have even already made alternative arrangements.
Ava Shah, a senior who was able to secure tickets to the game, had already organized and paid for a bus to take her and other student ticket holders to the game.
“I am a little annoyed that they just announced buses because we had a lot of trouble sorting out logistics for the game and transportation without having to Uber or drive, plus getting a parking spot,” she said. “We found a 30 person party bus and since our tickets were free we decided to splurge on the bus.”
Prior to this announcement, many students were frustrated because free student transportation has been the norm for every regular season home game.
Ashton Weissman, a junior and avid Miami football fan, is particularly unhappy with how the University has handled the national championship game.
“The school was given three million dollars to travel to the game from the CFP committee,” Weissman said. “Because this game is a home game, all of that money should be allocated to the fans. Instead the school is keeping it and won’t even provide transportation for students for their home stadium which is at least 45 minutes away and parking costs hundreds of dollars.”
However, this is neither a regular season game nor a “home” game.
Miami was ranked no. 10 going into the CFP playoffs, the lowest rank of the at-large teams making them the “away team” for every playoff game. This includes the national championship at Hard Rock stadium.
Hard Rock stadium was selected to host the CFP national championship game in 2022, long before Miami made the playoffs.