Best Seats at an Auburn Football Games
Jordan-Hare Stadium sits on the Auburn University campus, and gamedays here are purely distilled SEC football — 88k plus fans packed into the stands, the legendary eagle flight before kickoff, and the Tiger Walk where fans line up along the street to cheer the team into the stadium. The atmosphere is loud, passionate, and deeply rooted. People don’t just show up for Auburn football — they’ve been coming here for generations, and you feel that the moment you walk on campus.
The honest catch is that almost every seat in the building is a bleacher without a back, and a September kickoff in east Alabama is genuinely punishing on the wrong side of the stadium. Which side you pick matters more here than at almost any venue in the conference.
Seating Overview at Jordan-Hare Stadium
The field runs north–south, and that single fact should drive your decision. Auburn’s sideline is the west side (sections 1–11 down low, 47–62 in the upper deck), the visitor sideline is the east side (24–34 low, 99–114 up top), and the west side gets shade first every single time. Students fill the south end zone and wrap into the southeast corner, with an overflow block up in the east upper deck.
Two structural quirks shape the seating chart. Lower-bowl sections run about 57 rows deep and are split by a concourse walkway between rows 27 and 28 — sitting just above that break is the sweet spot, because you get elevation without the foot traffic. And everything outside the clubs is aluminum bench seating, which is why Auburn rents chairbacks (more on that below, and it’s the single best twelve dollars you’ll spend on the trip).
Best Non-Premium Seats
Sections 9–11 and 1–3, rows 28–45 are the best publicly available seats in the building. You’re on the Auburn sideline just past the 20s, elevated above the walkway so you can watch route concepts develop across the whole field, and you’re on the shaded side for early-season heat. The tradeoff is the angle — you’re looking down the field rather than straight across it — and midfield on this side is largely spoken for by donors.
Sections 24–27 and 31–34, rows 28–45 put you on the east sideline with a straight-on view of the Auburn bench, the band, and the student end. Sightlines here are excellent and prices run below the west side. The catch is total sun exposure for any kickoff before dark, which in September is not a minor inconvenience.
Best Value Seats
West upper deck, sections 47–62, rows 1–12. The upper deck sits on top of the club and suite levels, so even the front row is high enough to see the entire field at once — and you’re still on the Auburn side and still on the shaded side, for a fraction of lower-bowl money. Downside: 36 rows of bench, and section entrances are at row 3, so anything above row 20 is a real climb.
South end zone, sections 15–20, upper rows. You’re behind the play, but you’re directly under the largest video board in college football and next door to the student block, which means you get the loudest corner of the stadium and the only meaningful shade relief for a late-morning kick.
Budget / Cheapest Way In
East upper deck, sections 99–114. These are the cheapest tickets Auburn sells and they’re perfectly good for a night game — high, but the bowl is compact enough that you’re still connected to the noise. For an 11 a.m. or afternoon kick, you’re staring west into full sun for three and a half hours with zero cover. Bring the hat you think is excessive.
The other budget route is timing rather than location: Auburn puts single-game tickets on sale in mid-July at face value, and the non-conference games are cheap enough that a four-pack bundled with a parking pass costs less than two resale seats to an SEC game.
Our Pick
Sections 9–11, rows 30–40, with a rented chairback. Auburn sideline, above the walkway, shaded by the second quarter, and close enough that the eagle passes almost directly overhead on its way to midfield.
Heat & Shade at Jordan-Hare
The west side gets shade first — this is settled among Auburn fans and it is the most useful thing on this page for anyone buying a September ticket. The higher your row on the west side, the earlier the shade line reaches you. The east side, both lower bowl and upper deck, bakes until the sun drops behind the west stands, and the east upper deck is the last place in the stadium to cool off.
If you’re stuck on a morning kickoff with no west-side option, aim for the back rows of the south end zone, sections 15–20. The video board structure behind those sections throws a shadow forward over the top rows well before anything else in the building sees relief. Auburn also runs cooling stations outside the stadium at Samford and Donahue, at the War Eagle Way transit drop-off, and at the east-side transit depot, plus free refill stations inside — which is why the water bottle rule below is worth reading closely.
What to Avoid (and What’s Worth Trying Once)
Rows 1–10, anywhere in the lower bowl. The field sits only a few feet below the first row, so you’re watching through a wall of players, coaches, medical staff and sideline equipment. This applies on both sidelines and it’s the most common seat-buying mistake here.
East lower bowl, sections 28–34, for any day game before November. Straight-on sightlines, no shade, no relief. Fine at night and fine late in the year. Miserable at 2:30 p.m. in September.
Worth it once: the south end zone under the board, sections 15–16, right against the student section. You lose the sideline view and you’ll be standing most of the game, but you’re inside the loudest pocket in the stadium with 10,000 students to your left and a 10,000-square-foot screen over your head. Visiting fans should note that Auburn’s designated visitor seating sits in sections 35–37 and up in section 114 — worth knowing if you’d rather not be the only away jersey in your row.
Premium Seating Options At Jordan Hare Stadium
Premium at Jordan-Hare works differently from most stadiums, and this trips people up constantly: nearly all of it is sold as an annual Tigers Unlimited contribution attached to season tickets, not as a single-game purchase. Beckwith, the Scholarship Club and Stands, the suites and the Locker Room Club have all been sold out with waitlists in recent seasons. There is one genuine exception, and it’s the interesting one.
The Best Premium Experience
The Beckwith Club is the best seat in the building, full stop. It’s a small block of chairback seats at the 50-yard line high on the west side, fully covered above, in shade for the entire game, with an indoor climate-controlled lounge behind it, private restrooms and complimentary in-game food. Named for the man who built Auburn’s ticket priority system, it carries the highest per-seat contribution of any seat product Auburn sells and it has a waitlist. If you’re not already an Auburn donor, treat this as aspirational rather than a plan.
Best Value Premium
The field suites are the only premium product at Jordan-Hare a normal person can realistically buy, and they’re genuinely good. Five permanent tiered suites sit at field level in the end zone corners — two in the southwest corner, one in each of the others — with drink rails, high-tops, TVs, canopies and ceiling fans, and they’re sold per person rather than as a full-suite buyout, across a wide price band depending on which suite and which game. You’re eye-level with the field, close enough to hear the collisions, and you get shade and a fan in September. The tradeoff is real: you cannot see the far side of a play develop from down there, so it’s an experience purchase, not a football-watching purchase.
Other Premium Options
The Scholarship Club covers chairback seats in the North, South and Nelson Clubs, with covered seating, lounge access and complimentary in-game food and non-alcoholic drinks. The Nelson Club on the east side is the standout of the three — orange chairbacks, an elevated sideline view, a genuinely good concourse and all-inclusive concessions. Scholarship Stands are the donor seats in the prime lower-bowl sideline blocks (4–8 west, 28–30 east) without club lounge access. The Locker Room Club is the most unusual one: a converted 1949 locker room under the bowl in the southeast corner, exposed brick and concrete, with membership giving you standing-room access along drink rails on the fence line behind the visiting bench. The Tiger Walk Club is a pregame-only membership — a conditioned space with food and a cash bar overlooking Tiger Walk, with no game ticket attached.
Suites & Group Options
Executive suites sit on the east side with kitchenettes, private restrooms, closed-circuit video and catered service, sold as a per-seat annual contribution through Tigers Unlimited with standing-room seats available at a lower tier. They’ve been sold out with a waitlist. Group tickets and group experiences run through the Auburn ticket office at (855) 282-2010, option 2. The Hall of Fame Club at Plainsman Park next door is the underrated group play — a climate-controlled indoor tailgate space with food, drinks and a view of Tiger Walk before kickoff.
For more information on pricing and availability, it’s recommended to contact the stadium directly or visit their official website.
Jordan-Hare Stadium Seating Chart and Capacity
Jordan-Hare Stadium seats 88,043, which makes it the eleventh-largest on-campus stadium in the country. The stadium record is a full house of 88,043 for the Iron Bowl in November 2023.
The chart is a straightforward numeric ring with one thing that catches people out. The lower bowl runs continuously in the 1–46 range all the way around, but the upper deck exists only on the two sidelines — so the numbering jumps from the west upper deck’s 47–62 straight to the east upper deck’s 99–114, with nothing in between. If you’re staring at a ticket that says section 108 and can’t find it near section 44, that’s why. Lower sections carry roughly 57 rows with a walkway break between rows 27 and 28; upper sections carry 36 rows with the entrance tunnel at row 3, so low row numbers up top are the easy walk.
Here is an interactive Seating Chart to Jordan-Hare. Check our seating recommendations on the seating map above to get a feel of where to sit and why.
Auburn Football Tickets and How to Get Them
Auburn has sold more than 75,000 season tickets in each of the last eighteen years and the season-ticket allotment sells out, so the public inventory that reaches single-game buyers is thin and skews upper deck. Practically, that means three routes. Auburn releases single-game tickets and four-packs at face value in mid-July — this is the cheapest way in and the non-conference games stay available for weeks.
Marquee SEC opponents typically sell out at face within days, and SeatGeek is Auburn’s official resale partner, so that’s where the remaining inventory lives. And for the Iron Bowl or other big games buy the week the schedule comes out; waiting never works and prices only climb. Everything is digital — Auburn does not accept printed tickets — so download to your phone’s wallet on hotel Wi-Fi before you leave, because cell service around the stadium collapses under 100,000 people. [Affiliate Link]
Get Auburn Football Tickets Here — Our preferred way to buy. You’ll find tickets to any Auburn home game, from early-season warmups to the Iron Bowl, all in one place.
Jordan-Hare Stadium Bag Policy
Jordan-Hare is a clear-bag venue and it’s enforced at every gate. Each ticket holder may bring one clear plastic, vinyl or PVC bag no larger than 12″ x 6″ x 12″, or a one-gallon clear Ziploc-style bag, plus one small clutch no larger than 4.5″ x 6.5″ that does not need to be clear. Any logo printed on the clear bag has to stay under 4.5″ x 3.4″. Backpacks, diaper bags, camera cases, fanny packs and anything tinted are all refused, and there is no bag check on site — if it doesn’t meet the rule, it goes back to the car. Every gate also runs walk-through metal detectors, so budget a few extra minutes.
Is Jordan-Hare Stadium Cashless? And other Policies
Cashless Stadium: Like most stadiums in the SEC these days, all tickets, concessions, and merchandise purchases require a credit or debit card. No cash is accepted anywhere inside Jordan-Hare.
No re-entry, ever. Auburn issues no pass-outs for any reason, and police can’t override it. If you leave, your only way back in is buying another ticket, and if the game is sold out you’re done for the day. Emergency and medical passes are the sole exception and are handled at the first aid station at Section 46.
Water bottles are allowed, within limits. You can bring in one factory-sealed clear water bottle, or one empty clear plastic bottle to use at the free refill stations inside. For a September game this is the most useful policy on the list — carry the empty bottle in.
Alcohol is sold on the concourses. Auburn was the last SEC school to open general-seating alcohol sales, doing so ahead of the 2024 season, so any older guide telling you Jordan-Hare is dry is out of date. You can’t carry it back out of the stadium.
A few things that surprise people: umbrellas are prohibited outright, as are noisemakers, inflatables and stadium seats with arms. Cameras are fine but lenses over four inches, video cameras and tripods are not. Signs and flags cap at 3′ x 5′. For any issue inside the stadium, text your location and the problem to 334-591-HELP.
Getting To Auburn
The best move here is not the one most visitors make. Auburn runs a genuinely good free shuttle system from big lots on the edge of town, and using it means you skip both the campus parking scramble and the postgame gridlock that traps everyone else for two hours.
Tiger Transit Shuttles
Tiger Transit gameday routes are free and open to everyone, no ticket or pass required. The two best off-campus lots for visitors are TigerTown in Opelika (2199 TigerTown Parkway, off I-85 Exit 58, pick-up near the Dick’s Sporting Goods lot) and the City of Auburn Softball Complex (2560 South College Street, off I-85 Exit 51, with a large lot at the top of the complex). Duck Samford Park on Airport Road and the Auburn Mall off Mall Boulevard also run routes. Buses start four hours before kickoff for SEC games and three hours out for non-conference games, with 11 a.m. games starting at 8 a.m., and they run intermittently through the game and for two hours afterward. Everything drops on War Eagle Way just north of the Nichols Center, steps from the stadium.
Download the ETA Spot app before you go — it tracks the buses live, which turns the return trip from a guess into a plan.
Parking at Jordan-Hare Stadium
Campus parking passes are sold in advance online through Auburn’s gameday parking portal, and there’s drive-up grass parking at the CDV and Ham Wilson areas when weather allows. Downtown decks and church and business lots typically run in the $25–$50 range depending on the opponent, and residents rent driveways — confirm the walking distance and the price before you hand over cash, because “close to the stadium” is elastic on a Saturday.
The parking hack worth knowing: every university-issued gameday parking pass now carries a QR code with a prescribed outbound route from your specific lot to either I-85 or Highway 280. Auburn built those routes deliberately to feed traffic onto the big roads, and some of them will feel wrong if you know the town. Follow them anyway — the people improvising are the ones still sitting in a lot at 8 p.m.
Rideshare
Uber and Lyft use a designated drop-off and pickup point at Duncan Drive and Samford Drive, added specifically to handle the volume. Surge after a night game is severe and the wait can run long, because drivers can’t get near the stadium footprint while barricades are up. If you’re rideshare-dependent, walk fifteen minutes away from campus before you request — you’ll get picked up faster and cheaper.
Walking from Downtown Auburn
If you’re staying downtown, walk. It’s roughly fifteen to twenty minutes from Toomer’s Corner to the stadium, the route runs straight through campus, and the walk in is part of the day. If you do drive in on South Donahue Drive toward Samford Avenue, keep your windows down — the rumble strips on that stretch are engineered to play the opening notes of the “War Eagle” fight song as you roll over them. Auburn is the kind of place that puts its fight song in the pavement.
Auburn Gameday Insider Tips and Hacks
Auburn is a small town that becomes a little football city and changes itself completely around six Saturdays. The tailgates start Friday afternoon, downtown becomes a walkable party, and traditions that predate almost everything else in the sport play out on schedule. Here’s what actually matters, in the order the day happens.
What “War Eagle” Actually Means
War Eagle is a battle cry, not a mascot and not a nickname. Auburn’s mascot is Aubie the Tiger and the teams are the Tigers — the university’s own line is “We are the Tigers who say War Eagle.” Getting this right is the fastest way to not sound like a tourist.
The origin story goes back to 1892 and Auburn’s first game against Georgia. As Auburn tells it, a Civil War veteran in the stands had an eagle he’d found on a battlefield and kept as a pet for nearly thirty years. The bird broke loose and circled the field, Auburn drove down for the win, and the crowd started yelling “War Eagle” to spur the team on. The eagle died at the end of the game. The cry never did.
Say it back. War Eagle is a greeting, not just a cheer — Auburn people use it to identify each other in airports, in checkout lines, and across the world. If someone says it to you on a sidewalk in Auburn, the correct response is to say it back.
The Eagle Flight
Be in your seat at least 25 minutes before kickoff. That’s Auburn’s own guidance, and it exists because the concourses gridlock well before the flight. A golden eagle from the Southeastern Raptor Center is released to free-fly untethered around the bowl while the crowd holds a single rising “Waaaaar Eagle” that breaks the moment the bird lands at midfield. Miss it and you’ve missed the reason to come early.
Friday’s version is the one families should know about. The Southeastern Raptor Center runs “Football, Fans and Feathers” free-flight shows the day before home games — eagles, hawks and falcons at close range, and a preview of what your kids will see Saturday.
You can watch it from the field. Auburn’s VIP experience packages include field access for the eagle flight, along with tunnel and locker-room access. They go on sale the Monday of game week at 9 a.m. and sell fast.
Tiger Walk
Line up on South Donahue Drive about two hours before kickoff. The team, coaches and Aubie walk from the athletics complex down to the southwest corner of the stadium through a corridor of fans packed on both sides. It’s close, it’s loud, and you’re within high-five range of the roster. Stadium gates open right around the same time, so plan to do Tiger Walk and then walk straight in.
Eat on the walk. Reggie’s stand sets up along the Tiger Walk route grilling half-pound burgers, butterflied pork chop sandwiches and sausages, and the line regularly backs up toward the baseball stadium. That’s your signal it’s worth it.
The Iron Bowl at Jordan-Hare
Auburn hosts the Iron Bowl in odd-numbered years. The rivalry alternates campuses now, so half the time this game is in Tuscaloosa — check before you book anything. The two schools first played on February 22, 1893, in Birmingham, stopped playing entirely for forty-one years, and spent decades at neutral-site Legion Field before the game finally came to Auburn’s campus in 1989. Auburn won that first one 30–20.
It’s the loudest and least rational day of the year here. The 2013 game in this stadium ended with Chris Davis fielding a short field goal nine yards deep in the end zone and returning it 109 yards as time expired — the Kick Six, which won ESPY awards for both best game and best play and is still the first thing anyone brings up. The stadium attendance record, 88,043, was set at the 2023 Iron Bowl.
Buy the week the schedule drops, and don’t overthink the seat. Iron Bowl tickets only go up, and the resale market for this game behaves like a playoff game rather than a regular-season one. Once you’re inside, the section barely matters — being in the building on that particular Saturday is the entire point.
Book a room months out, not weeks. Auburn has a limited hotel supply for a crowd this size, and Iron Bowl weekend fills Opelika and the I-85 corridor too.
Rolling Toomer’s Corner
After a win, everyone goes to the corner of Magnolia and College and covers the oaks in toilet paper. It’s the best postgame scene in college football and you don’t need a ticket, a connection, or any idea what you’re doing to join in. Bring a roll or three; the stores downtown stock accordingly.
Roll the two big oaks, not the little ones. Auburn asks fans specifically not to roll the other trees in Samford Park, including the ten smaller oaks lining the walk toward Samford Hall. The current pair were planted in 2017 after the originals were poisoned by an Alabama fan in 2010 and their replacements were destroyed by a fire, and the university only cleared them for rolling again in 2023. The paper comes off by hand afterward — Auburn is the only city in the country with a municipal budget line for toilet paper removal.
The tradition traces to 1972. Before that, Toomer’s Drugs signaled away wins by throwing telegraph ticker tape onto the power lines. After the 17–16 “Punt Bama Punt” upset of second-ranked Alabama, fans grabbed whatever paper they had, and it stuck.
Tailgating at Auburn
Campus opens for tailgating at 4 p.m. Friday, and not one minute earlier. You can’t stake, rope, tape or chair-reserve a grass spot before then — anything set out early gets removed without notice. The hayfields on South Donahue Drive and at Samford Avenue open a bit sooner, at 2 p.m. Friday, and stay open until 4 p.m. Sunday, which makes them the play for RVs and anyone driving in the night before.
Know the two rules people actually break. Tents over 399 square feet, or with stakes twelve inches or longer, need a permit from Auburn facilities. And grills and generators must stay 50 feet from campus buildings, with nothing at all allowed inside parking decks.
You don’t need your own setup to eat well. Auburn’s hospitality reputation is earned — walk through the tailgate areas near the Student Center green space and Cater Lawn in visiting colors and you’ll get offered a plate more than once. If you’d rather have it handled, REVELxp sells turnkey tailgates a block from the gates, by the game or the season.
Jordan-Hare Food & Drink
Look for the “Fast Flight” stands and skip the regular lines. More than sixty percent of the lower-level concession stands are now grab-and-go: you walk a designed queue, pick up what you want, and clear through instant-scan checkout lanes without an order taker. On a full stadium this saves you most of a quarter.
The north end has the shortest waits. The Bodda Getta Grab-N-Go Express marketplaces at sections 36 and 46 carry a wider menu than the standard stands, and there’s a dedicated express beverage and snack window near section 37 by Gate Zero, added specifically to relieve pressure in that corner.
Fill up for free. Bring an empty clear plastic bottle and use the refill stations rather than paying for water four times in the heat.
Exit Strategy
Everything funnels to two roads — I-85 and Highway 280 — and it’s ugly. Post-game gridlock routinely runs well over an hour, and it’s worse after a night game.
Wait it out downtown instead of sitting in it. Walk to Toomer’s, get food or a drink, let the surge drain for 45 to 60 minutes, then drive out on the route your parking pass QR code gives you. You’ll get home around the same time as the people who left immediately, having spent the difference somewhere better than a brake light.
Or just take the shuttle. Tiger Transit runs for two hours after the final whistle and bypasses the campus choke points entirely, which is the single strongest argument for parking off-campus in the first place.
Best Photo Spots at Jordan-Hare
The free player photo most people walk past. Interactive photo displays at sections 1, 13 and 36 and in the Nelson Club let you take a free picture with digitally added current Auburn players. It’s a better souvenir than anything in the team store and it costs nothing.
Toomer’s Corner, twice. Shoot it clean on Friday afternoon when the oaks are bare and the light is soft, then shoot it again buried in white paper after a win. Same frame, completely different photo.
Inside the bowl, shoot south. The south end zone video board is the largest in college football at roughly 10,690 square feet, with a second board added over the north end in 2025. Framing the field with the south board behind it is the shot that reads as Jordan-Hare.
Bringing Kids to an Auburn Game
Auburn runs a dedicated special-needs and young-family station. The air-conditioned SNASY pod sits next to the ramp outside Gate 1 with a changing station, supplies and staff, and there’s a companion tent on Nichols Lawn near the ADA bus drop-off. Every in-stadium first aid station carries special-needs supplies as well.
Friday is the kid day. The raptor center’s free-flight show, the Friday night stadium tour and the downtown block party are all easier with children than a four-hour Saturday in the heat.
Rent the chairback. A nine-year-old on a bare aluminum bench for three and a half hours is a losing proposition for everyone involved.
Venue Quirks Worth Knowing
Every seat outside the clubs is a backless bleacher — rent a chairback. Auburn sells single-game chairback rentals in advance online for about twelve dollars, and the price goes up to fifteen on gameday. Reserve it the week of the game. Note that you can’t bring your own stadium seat if it has arms.
Your phone will die. Between digital tickets, photos and a congested network, batteries drain fast. JUUCE kiosks inside Gate 1 and in the Nelson Club rent high-speed portable chargers for a few dollars, which by the third quarter is a bargain.
Download tickets before you leave the hotel. Cell service on campus is unreliable with 100,000 people converging on a small footprint, and there’s no paper backup — Auburn doesn’t accept printed tickets at all.
Jordan-Hare North: What’s Being Built
The largest capital project in Auburn athletics history broke ground in summer 2026. The Jordan-Hare North project is a seven-story, roughly 300,000-square-foot addition on the north end, adding more than 3,000 premium and club seats along with a new plaza between the stadium and historic Petrie Hall. Full completion is scheduled for spring 2029, with a first phase targeted for fall 2028.
The part that matters for regular ticket holders: five new entry gates, 66 additional concession points of sale, 13 elevators and 270 new restroom fixtures, plus Shug’s Food Hall — a food hall that will operate year-round and function as a concessions hub open to all Jordan-Hare ticket holders on gamedays, not just premium members. Overall capacity stays above 88,000.
Expect north-end disruption until then. Construction has restricted pedestrian traffic between Petrie Hall and the stadium, and Auburn has been routing fans along the Thatch Concourse instead. If your gate is on the north side, give yourself an extra ten minutes and check the gameday map before you walk over.
If You Have Extra Time in Auburn
Chewacla State Park is five minutes from campus with hiking, a waterfall, a lake and mountain-bike trails — the best use of a Sunday morning before you drive home. The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art on campus is free and holds a Dale Chihuly chandelier. The Donald E. Davis Arboretum is a quiet twenty-minute walk through native Alabama plantings in the middle of campus. And the Gogue Performing Arts Center books real touring acts, which is worth a schedule check if you’re in town for a full weekend.
Auburn Gameday: Bars and Restaurants
There is nothing quite like a Saturday on the Plains. For Auburn fans, a gameday weekend is an immersive, all-consuming ritual that takes over the entire town. Starting on Friday afternoon, the streets begin to swell as tens of thousands of alumni, students, and visitors converge. This is a place where tradition governs everything — from the exact way fans line Donahue Drive for Tiger Walk to the collective roar that rattles Jordan-Hare Stadium when the golden eagle takes flight.
Auburn Gameday Vibe
The atmosphere on a massive gameday, particularly during a rivalry matchup like the Iron Bowl, is electric and thick with anticipation. The entire campus transforms into a sprawling, white-tented tailgate village, especially around the Student Center and Cater Lawn. Auburn is legendary for its Southern hospitality; visitors, even those wearing the opposing team’s colors, are routinely pulled into tailgates and handed a plate of barbecue.
The day revolves around movement — wandering from the early morning setup to Tiger Walk, squeezing into the stadium for the eagle flight, and eventually, if the Tigers pull off a victory, sprinting toward downtown. The postgame ritual of rolling the oak trees at Toomer’s Corner with toilet paper turns the intersection of Magnolia and College into a massive, snowy block party of pure euphoria. It is this deep-rooted sense of community and unbroken tradition that makes Auburn one of the greatest spectacles in college sports.
The main thing to know before diving into the local spots: arrive early. Every one of these locations gets crushed on game Saturdays, and the ones closest to Toomer’s Corner fill first. If you are planning a pregame meal, get there at least three hours before kickoff or you will be waiting. Postgame is slightly more forgiving since the crowd staggers out, but popular spots still pack quickly after the final whistle.
Best Pregame & Postgame Bars in Auburn
17-16 Bar on East Magnolia is named for the Punt Bama Punt score and it’s the best pure Auburn bar in town — cheap, unpolished, drink specials, and an outdoor bar on gamedays so you don’t have to fight inside. No food, so eat first.
The Plains Taproom & Grill on West Glenn is Auburn’s self-pour taproom, which on a gameday is the whole pitch: you pour your own beer by the ounce instead of waiting on a slammed bartender. The smash burgers and the beer cheese with pretzel bites are legitimately good.
Session Cocktails on East Magnolia is where to go when you want a proper drink rather than a plastic cup. Small, friendly, actually knows what it’s doing, and it’s the room people mention when they say Auburn has grown up.
The Bar at Wittel, on the roof of the Collegiate Hotel, is the Friday-evening move — a rooftop with real cocktails and a view, before the full gameday crush lands. Bring sunglasses; there’s not much shade up there in the afternoon.
Tavern on the Trax on North College sits right on the railroad, and when the train rolls by, the bar gives out free shots. It is exactly as fun as it sounds.
Best Restaurants in Auburn
The Hound on Tichenor is the best sit-down meal in town on a game weekend — a bacon-and-bourbon menu in a warm semi-basement room, with a bison burger people drive in for. Reserve on Friday or plan an early Saturday dinner, because it fills.
Acre on East Glenn is the other side of the same coin: refined Southern cooking with produce grown on site, and the fried green tomatoes and cornbread are the order. Best used as your Friday night arrival dinner, before the weekend turns loud.
Hey Day Market on South College is the answer for a group that can’t agree — a proper food hall with tacos, noodles, pizza, burgers and gelato under one roof, plus an outdoor screen. Easiest option with kids by a wide margin.
Momma Goldberg’s Deli on West Magnolia is the institution. Order a Momma’s Love and the nachos, and understand that half the alumni in the building are eating exactly what they ate in 1994.
Jack Brown’s on North College is the late-night stop — a short menu of very good burgers, a serious beer list, small and loud and open until 2 a.m. on weekends.
Toomer’s Drugs at the corner itself isn’t a meal, it’s the lemonade, hand-squeezed at the counter since 1896. Get the plain one your first time. The line moves.
Hotels Near Jordan-Hare Stadium
Auburn is a small college town, and that works both for and against you on gameday weekends. The upside is that nearly everything — hotels, bars, restaurants, and the stadium itself — is within a short walk or a quick ride of each other. The downside is that rooms go fast, especially for marquee SEC matchups and the Iron Bowl. Book as early as possible for big games, and if you can’t find anything in Auburn proper, Opelika is just ten minutes east and a legitimate alternative with its own solid options.
Staying Close to Campus
The Hotel at Auburn University — The most established gameday option in town, located steps from Jordan-Hare. Rooms are comfortable, the amenities are solid, and the location is hard to beat if walking to the game is a priority. Expect a premium on gameday weekends — it books out fast.
Graduate by Hilton Auburn — Opened in 2024, the Graduate has quickly become one of the most talked-about places to stay in Auburn. The interiors lean into Tiger traditions and college nostalgia in a way that actually works, the War Eagle Supper Club rooftop bar is a natural pregame stop, and it sits half a mile from Jordan-Hare. A strong first choice for fans who want something newer and more spirited.
The Laurel Hotel & Spa — Auburn’s only true luxury property and the first ultra-luxury hotel in the state of Alabama. Just 26 rooms and suites, a rooftop pool, an on-site restaurant, and a full spa. This is the pick if you’re making a weekend of it and want something well beyond a standard gameday stay. Book this one well in advance — it fills quickly.
The Collegiate Hotel — A boutique option near downtown Auburn with a rooftop lounge and a more intimate atmosphere than the larger properties. Good for fans who want to stay close to the action without the convention hotel feel.
A Short Drive Away
Auburn Marriott Opelika at Grand National — Located about ten minutes east in Opelika, this is the best nearby option when Auburn hotels are sold out. Spacious rooms, a golf course, and solid amenities make it a comfortable base for the weekend. Easy drive to the stadium and less chaotic than staying in town on game night.
TownePlace Suites by Marriott Auburn — A reliable extended-stay style hotel about a mile and a half from Jordan-Hare. Rated consistently well and a good option for families or groups who want more space without paying boutique hotel prices.
Budget Picks
Tru by Hilton Auburn — A clean, modern budget option a few miles from campus with consistently strong reviews. No frills, but well-run and a good value when you’d rather spend money at the tailgate.
Hampton Inn Auburn — A dependable choice in the South College Street corridor. Nothing surprising here, but reliable quality, reasonable pricing, and a short drive from Jordan-Hare.
Why You Should Go
Jordan-Hare is one of those stadiums where the pageantry actually lives up to the reputation — the eagle flight, the Tiger Walk, 87,000 people who have been doing this their whole lives. It’s a true college football town where the game is the entire identity of the place, not just a weekend event. If you’ve never experienced an SEC gameday in the Deep South, Auburn is as good a place as any to do it for the first time.
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Written by Brad Richards, Founder of Gameday Guides. This guide includes insights from personal visits as well as updated info from team sources, fan forums, and stadium policies. We aim to help you plan with confidence — enjoy your gameday. If you see anything incorrect, or have any suggestions shoot us an email.