College football fans rolled into Stanford University early Thursday morning for a big Thursday night game that promises to bring gridlock to the Palo Alto area.
Traffic signs were lit up and down University Avenue reminding drivers to expect delays. The Stanford Cardinal are taking on the Oregon Ducks in a Pac 12 Game.
A capacity crowd of 50,000 fans are expected to fill Stanford Stadium. Some fans showed up as early as Wednesday to tailgate and get a good spot.
But most fans are expected to show up closer to kick-off, which happens to coincide with the evening rush hour, a recipe for gridlock.
"Not to mention Palo Alto High School, which is right near Embarcadero and El Camino, is gonna be letting out of school around 2 or 2:30," said the Palo Alto Police Department’s Marianna Villaescusa. "So we're letting people know, if you can at all avoid the El Camino-Embarcadero corridor, please do so." Some Stanford employees are being allowed to leave early to beat the crowds.
CSN BAY AREA: Oregon, Stanford Set for Pac-12's Game of the Year
According to Forbes, these are among the most expensive college ball tickets at $240. Stanford is putting out a notice to potential last minute ticket hopefuls to watch out for counterfeit tickets.
Levi Finch is from San Jose but graduated from Oregon.
“Yeah, there is a conflict of interest there but I’m just happy to see the game," Finch said. "It’s a great place for it.”
RELATED: Social Media Buzz: Stanford vs. Oregon
Sports
At halftime, the Cardinal will retire jersey No. 7, the one worn by John Elway when he played for the team from 1979 to 1982.
Only two other Stanford players have had their jerseys retired: No.1 Ernie Nevers and No. 16 Jim Plunkett.
Gates open at 4 p.m. Kick-off is at 6 p.m.
var nbcLP={};nbcLP.aRandomNumber=Math.floor(Math.random()*10000);nbcLP.currentPageLoc=encodeURIComponent(window.location.href);nbcLP.currentSiteLoc=encodeURIComponent(window.location.host);nbcLP.defaultWidth=652;nbcLP.defaultHeight=367;nbcLP.cmsID="152317355";nbcLP.vidPid="6c07CyrVEP76&t=0--764347197";nbcLP.lvshell="231046101";nbcLP.vidSec="TK";nbcLP.vidSubSec="TK";nbcLP.vidFrame=document.getElementById("nbcLP152317355");nbcLP.vidFrame.style.border="none";nbcLP.vidFrame.width=nbcLP.defaultWidth;nbcLP.vidFrame.height=nbcLP.defaultHeight;nbcLP.vidFrame.scrolling="no";nbcLP.vidFrame.src="http://www.nbcbayarea.com/templates/nbc_partner_player?cmsID="+nbcLP.cmsID+"&videoID="+nbcLP.vidPid+"&lvshell="+nbcLP.lvshell+"&width="+nbcLP.defaultWidth+"&height="+nbcLP.defaultHeight+"&sec="+nbcLP.vidSec+"&subsec="+nbcLP.vidSubSec+"&turl="+nbcLP.currentSiteLoc+"&ourl="+nbcLP.currentPageLoc+"&rand="+nbcLP.aRandomNumber;
