'If you don't have a ticket, don't come to the stadium district': No Tay-gating in Vancouver

A clear message is being sent to Taylor Swift fans without tickets looking to gather at BC Place before or during her shows: Don't come to BC Place if you don't have a ticket for the show that night. Often, at stops on the Eras Tour, fans will hang out outside the concert venue to try to hear the concert inside or grab last-minute deals on tickets being resold after the show starts. It's become known as Tay-gating.

And in Vancouver, where Swift will wrap up her tour on December 6, 7, and 8, Tay-gating is being strongly discouraged. "If you don't have a ticket, don't come to the stadium district on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday," said Chris May, the general manager of BC Place. There will be no outdoor gathering area near the stadium for fans.



To help manage the crowds, the Vancouver Police Department plans to have 700 officers, including mounted officers , in the area. Tens of thousands of fans are headed to Vancouver for the weekend (it's estimated 70 percent of the ticket holders for the three Eras Tour shows are coming from outside Metro Vancouver), creating a busy zone around BC Place. At the same time, Canucks games at Rogers Arena on Friday night and Sunday afternoon, the Cirque du Soleil Echo shows by the seawall, and a concert at the Plaza of Nations mean thousands of other people will be in the stadium district.

With the massive crowds of ticket holders already in the area, May said people who don't have tickets must avoid the area. For fans hoping to get close to BC Place to hear the concert from the outside or to wait for ticket prices to drop as the show begins, there will be a very real barrier in place. A fence will be erected a few days before the shows on the edge of BC Place's property, said May.

Only ticket holders or those working at the Swift shows will be allowed in the fenced area. "You'll be talked to at a fence line to make sure you're a ticket holder. Then you'll go through a bag screening," he described of the process to enter the venue grounds.

BC Place's property includes wide pedestrian areas area outside the stadium, which will be inside the fenced area. To go into the actual stadium, ticket holders will have to go through a second security check at the entrance to the building. Because of the strict procedures, anyone headed to any event in the "stadium district" that weekend should plan to build in extra time to get to their ticketed seats.

While fans are being discouraged from getting close to BC Place, May isn't telling people to stay home. "Go to other parts of the city. Go celebrate at a party at a friend's house," he suggested.

There are dozens of Swift-themed activities around Metro Vancouver during the Eras Tour weekend fans can experience..