The West Plaza at loanDepot park, fans crossing the open plaza beneath the cantilevered roof, the curved glass concourse wall and the pale green perforated facade panel framing the approach

First-Timer's Guide to loanDepot Park

The quick read

loanDepot park runs stricter gates than most parks and a friendlier building once you clear them. The strict part: clear bags only, no cash anywhere, no re-entry, and strollers stay outside. The friendly part: you can carry in your own food within limits, and the retractable roof plus air conditioning means a July thunderstorm costs you nothing but the walk from the car. Sort the gate rules before you leave the hotel and the rest of the visit takes care of itself.

The entry policies below are the team’s own published rules as of mid-2026. They can change between seasons, so give the team’s A-Z guide a quick skim before you go.

The rules that catch people

It’s a clear-bag park. One clear plastic, vinyl, or PVC bag per person, no bigger than 16 by 16 by 8 inches. Small clutches up to 6 by 8 inches clear too, along with medical and infant bags after inspection. Regular purses, backpacks, and totes stay outside. If you show up with the wrong bag, you’re not stuck: lockers rent on the north side of the park, between the North Ticket Office and the PNC Club entrance, in medium and large sizes.

You can bring food in, and it’s a real money-saver. Each person gets one single-serving food item in a clear plastic bag (fruit has to be sliced), plus one factory-sealed, unflavored water in a clear bottle, 20 ounces or smaller. That’s an allowance most clear-bag parks dropped years ago. The line stops there: no soft drinks or sports drinks, no cans, glass, or thermoses, and no hard coolers.

Every register is cashless. Cards and mobile pay everywhere in the building. If you arrive holding cash, a reverse ATM at Section 3 converts it to a prepaid card you can spend inside.

There is no re-entry. Once your ticket scans, leaving means you’re done for the day. Make the pre-game stop and the run back to the car before you hit the turnstile. The only exceptions are emergencies and trips to the New Era Team Store, and both go through a Guest Experience team member before you exit, not after.

Strollers stay outside. Strollers are not permitted inside the park, with exceptions for suite ticket holders and guests with disabilities. If you arrive with one, check it at the Home Plate or Third Base entrance.

Alcohol sales cut off at the middle of the 8th inning in the seating bowl, general concessions, and portable stands. A few spots pour later: The Bullpen Bar & Grill, the PNC Club, and the suites serve up to an hour after the game ends, and the Blue Moon Brew Hall goes 45 minutes after. The limit is two drinks per ID per purchase, or one double. None of that has anything to do with the seventh-inning stretch, which lands mid-7th, a full inning before the cutoff.

Gates and timing

Enter at whichever entrance is closest to where you land. There are four public ones: First Base (West Plaza, Gates 4-6), Home Plate (West Plaza, Gates 2-4), Third Base (East Plaza, Gate 11), and Center Field (East Plaza, Gate 9). The garages and the rideshare lot ring the building, so the nearest gate is usually obvious from wherever you get dropped.

Gates open 90 minutes before first pitch. PNC Club and suite ticket holders get in 2 hours early through their private entrances, and Marlins Members, the team’s season-ticket program, get 2.5 hours on Fridays and Saturdays through East Plaza Gate 11. Batting practice is viewable from the moment gates open on days the teams take it, which is not every day.

Finding your seat is simple once you know the levels. The Promenade is the lower bowl, with Section 1 at the right-field foul pole and the numbers running clockwise to 40. The Legends Level is the 200s, the Vista is the 300s up top, and the Home Run Porch sits out in center field around Section 134.

The roof, and what to wear

The most common question about this park has a short answer: the roof is retractable, and for most summer games it stays closed with the building air-conditioned. Miami’s near-daily summer storms almost never cost anyone a game here. If you want to know whether the roof will be open for yours, the team posts the status a couple of hours before each game on the @loanDepotpark X account and the gameday page.

Dress for both climates. It’s cool inside and punishing outside, so bring a light layer for your seat and wear whatever survives the walk from the car.

Worth finding before first pitch

The one stop worth building a few extra minutes around is the Bobblehead Museum at Section 34 on the Promenade: more than 600 bobbleheads in a display case that gently sways, so every one of them nods at once.

The art is everywhere in this building, a holdover from the park’s original design. A replica of a Joan Miró mural hangs behind home plate, and a Roy Lichtenstein reproduction is on the concourse. Both are the kind of thing you walk past unless you know to look.

Two spots double as pre-game hangouts. The Blue Moon Brew Hall is a big atrium bar with communal tables and a video wall at Sections 15 and 16. The Bullpen Bar & Grill sits in left field, down the escalators at Section 27, and keeps pouring up to an hour after the last out.

Outside, give the plazas ten minutes. The Red Grooms Home Run Sculpture, the giant animated piece that stood behind the center-field wall through 2018, now anchors an art walk on the plaza. And on the East Plaza, look down: the fallen MIAMI ORANGE BOWL letters are a tribute to the stadium that stood on this site until 2008, scattered as if the old sign dropped where it fell.

With kids

Billy’s Bites at Section 34 is the kids’ food stand, a few steps from the Bobblehead Museum, which makes that corner of the Promenade the natural family stop. On Sundays, the Diamond Dash lets kids 14 and under run the bases after the final out. The line forms at Section 4 starting at the top of the 8th inning, and since there’s no re-entry anyway, getting in it costs you nothing but the wait.

For anyone in the group who needs a break from the noise, there’s a KultureCity sensory room on the Legends Level, the fifth floor, and sensory bags are available at Guest Experience. One more number worth saving before you sit down: 305-480-4999 is the security text line if anything near your seats needs attention.