Ninety bands, two days, one stadium
The Bands of America Indianapolis Super Regional Championship runs on 16 and 17 October 2026 at Lucas Oil Stadium. The venue page lists over 90 high school marching bands from 10 states. The Friday clock reads 6:45 a.m. for the ticket office, 7:00 a.m. for the North Gate and 7:00 a.m. for the preliminaries. Parking sits in the LOS South Lot through Gates 6 and 7 at $25, first come first served. Fourteen bands advance to the Saturday finals.
The rule that binds the field
Music for All publishes its housing policy in the 2026 Fall Housing Bureau process. All competing and exhibition bands and their booster groups that use hotel accommodations must book through the Bands of America Housing Bureau. A band that breaks the rule will not be permitted to perform and forfeits all enrollment fees. The document defines a booster group as a group of parents or boosters who consolidate and make collective hotel sleeping room arrangements. A parent group that pools twelve rooms sits squarely inside that definition.
What the bureau will not move on
Four terms are fixed. The Housing Preference Form was due 15 May. The bureau states a goal of completing placements by 15 July and the full group housing process by 1 September. Rooming lists are due 45 days before arrival. Music for All states that bands and booster groups with room needs are served first, and that remaining inventory reaches individuals at the discretion of the Housing Bureau Administrator.
The date that has passed
Arrival for the Friday preliminaries is 16 October. Forty-five days before that date is 1 September. The bureau document states that after 1 September the administrator begins releasing unused or unneeded contracted rooms for individual booking. The same document sets the cancellation rule. A group may cancel rooms at any time before 45 days from arrival, and a block reduction of more than 20 per cent could incur a penalty. For a 16 October arrival that threshold closed on 1 September. Cancellation of an entire booking goes through the bureau rather than the hotel.
Where a family still has room
The bureau document states that no individual attending a Bands of America event is required to use the Housing Bureau. Released rooms can carry better pricing with limited availability downtown. The practical move for a family is a request to the bureau for released inventory at a named property before booking retail. The administrator is cmcglobal, and the contact is Nolan Cummings at housing@musicforall.org or 317-635-4755. Ask for the property by name and ask what has returned to the pool since 1 September.
What the stadium hotel list shows
The venue links its own hotel list through the Hotels & Lodging item in its menu. Read on 23 September 2026, the list returns twenty priced properties for the two-night window of 16 to 18 October. Per-night averages run from $196 at the Omni Severin to $534 at The Alexander, with a median of $265.
The single nights price separately. Friday 16 October returns twenty properties from $175 at the Omni Severin to $469 at The Alexander, median $244. Saturday 17 October returns twenty properties from $206 at the Sheraton Indianapolis City Centre to $599 at The Alexander, median $319.
Fifteen properties price both single nights, and Saturday sits above Friday at all fifteen. The median difference is $60. The lever is the night mix and the room count.
The parking and access facts
The bureau document states that all downtown hotels charge for parking and that downtown hotels cannot accommodate buses. Suburban properties generally hold room for buses and trucks at little to no additional cost. The same document states that a downtown hotel carries no performance flow advantage, and that the connector tunnel is not open as a point of entry for performance flow.
Indiana carries no seller-of-travel restriction
hotelhaggle publishes coverage across 46 states and 103,857 hotels. The brand lists Florida, Hawaii, Iowa and Washington as states where it cannot currently process booking requests under state seller-of-travel law. Indiana does not appear on that list.
How to send the ask
hotelhaggle sends one request to 50 or more hotels at once, and hotels accept, counter or decline. Responses arrive within 24 to 72 hours. Submitting an offer costs nothing. The brand states that hotels pay a commission when a booking is made, and that the rate is never marked up. Group rates generally start at 10 rooms per night, and the brand notes that some properties discount from 5 rooms depending on season and availability. Take the Friday and Saturday window, the room count and the parking need, and send it out.
