92 Bands Over Two Days
Bands of America’s Indianapolis Super Regional Championship runs at Lucas Oil Stadium on Friday 16 and Saturday 17 October 2026. The organiser’s participation list, updated 24 September 2026, names 92 competing bands and gives every performance time in Eastern time. Sixty bands hold Friday slots and thirty-two hold Saturday slots. Ball State University performs in exhibition at 3:15 p.m. Saturday.
The Published Clocks
The organiser’s daily schedule carries both days in full. Friday: box office 6:00 a.m., stadium gates 6:30 a.m., preliminary competition 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., with panel-change breaks at 10:15 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 4:45 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Saturday: box office 6:00 a.m., gates 6:30 a.m., prelims 7:00 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., awards at 3:30 p.m., the stadium cleared at 4:00 p.m., gates back open 6:00 p.m., first finalist 7:00 p.m., finals close 10:30 p.m. and finale awards 10:45 p.m.
The venue’s own event page prints 6:45 a.m. for the ticket office, 7:00 a.m. for the North Gate and 7:00 a.m. for the prelims start.
Where the Rate Evidence Sits
The venue and the organiser publish no rate, no room block, no cut-off date and no housing partner for either night. Every band, family and spectator books at open market.
The rate evidence on the record is the market table. Engine puts the Indianapolis nightly average at $128 across 1.2 million public rate observations from May 2024 to April 2026. October prices at $134, five percent above that average. Engine defines these as par rates, the cheapest publicly available price at the time of each search. Indianapolis ranks 39 of 50 major markets, 14 percent below the $148 median in the same dataset.
How the Arrival Nights Split
Sixty bands hold Friday slots, and the first performs at 7:00 a.m. A band on that slot is in the city on Thursday night, so the front desk takes that wave on Thursday afternoon and evening. Saturday’s thirty-two bands carry Friday night for the same reason, their first slot being 7:00 a.m. The fourteen finalists and the crowd that stays for the evening session carry Saturday night.
Band party size is not published. The credential line is: each competing band receives 31 credentials, made up of six laminate name badges and 25 field passes, with up to 10 more purchasable 30 days before the event by credit card only. A band director may request up to two medical passes for nurses. Those are access passes, not a headcount.
The Saturday Break and the Walk Back
The organiser states that the stadium is cleared, and concessions closed, during the dinner break between prelims and finals. Families holding both Saturday tickets eat elsewhere in that window. The organiser sells Friday prelims, Saturday prelims and Saturday finals as separate ticket products. Prelims sessions cost $33, finals $33, finals reserved $45 and finals reserved plus $60. The box office is cashless, and this venue sells through Ticketmaster with fees added at checkout.
The convention centre publishes a skywalk rule of thumb at a lockdown near 11:00 p.m. and a reopening near 6:00 a.m. The 2026 finals close at 10:30 p.m. and the finale awards at 10:45 p.m. A band staying off the connected network adds walking time to that close.
What the Hotel Can Price From
Friday runs sixteen hours from the first band to the published close. Saturday’s prelims run eight and a quarter hours, and the finals session adds a second gate at 6:00 p.m. and a second close at 10:30 p.m. in the same building on a day the venue clears at 4:00 p.m.
The stadium is fully cashless. Two cash-to-card kiosks sit in Sections 105 and 129, and they may be relocated for other events. Parking is $25 in the South Lot through Gates 6 and 7, first come first served. Denison Parking handles bus, camper and oversize parking at 317.916.1760.
The organiser publishes no attendance figure for the event.