Beale Street ends right at FedExForum's front door, and on a Grizzlies night that's exactly the problem. Union Avenue backs up, the Gossett Motors Garage fills before tip-off, and everyone who drove themselves is stuck walking the same crowded block as the taxis, the pedicabs, and the bachelorette parties spilling out of the clubs. The question that actually decides how your night goes isn't which lot to aim for — it's where a bus can put your group down without getting stuck in that mess.
Here's the short version: charter buses and party buses use the same curb the arena reserves for guest, limo, and shuttle traffic — the east side of the building on Fourth Street, between Beale and Dr. M.L. King Jr. Avenue — and it drops your group about as close to the Grand Lobby doors as a vehicle is allowed to get. Below, we break down exactly how that curb works, what the Gossett Motors Garage costs to skip, which vehicle actually fits your group, and everything else worth knowing before you bring a crowd downtown for a Grizzlies game, a Memphis Tigers game, or a concert at 191 Beale Street.
Why Rent a Bus to FedExForum?
A downtown Memphis arena trip has a lot of moving parts for a group: parking that's priced differently for every single event, a garage that only holds 1,500 cars for a building that draws thousands, and a Beale Street sidewalk that turns into a slow shuffle the moment the game lets out. Coordinate that across five or six separate cars and someone always gets left circling the block.
One bus erases most of that. Your group loads at a hotel, an office, or a home base outside downtown, rides in together, and gets dropped at the same curb the arena hands its own shuttle traffic. Nobody has to find a spot in a five-level garage, nobody has to remember which entrance their car is closest to, and nobody has to cut the night short to beat the exit crowd.
A FedExForum charter bus or party bus rental through Memphisminibuscompany.com handles the part of the night that usually causes the most stress, and it works whether you're a dozen people headed to a Grizzlies sporting event or fifty people headed to a touring concert.
Charter Bus & Party Bus Drop-Off at FedExForum
According to FedExForum's official parking and directions page, “guest, limo, taxi, and express shuttle bus drop off is located at the east end of the arena on Fourth Street between Beale and Dr. M.L. King Jr. Avenue.” That's the curb a charter bus or party bus pulls up to — the same zone the arena already routes its own shuttle traffic through, which puts your group a short walk from the Grand Lobby entrance instead of a hike from a parking garage.
One detail matters for anyone planning the pickup: it's a drop-and-go curb, not a place to wait. The same page states that vehicles “are not allowed to sit or park” there, and unattended vehicles are subject to ticketing and towing. That means a bus drops your group, then moves on and stages nearby rather than idling at the curb through the whole game or show — so agree on a pickup window before doors open, and plan to meet back at that same Fourth Street curb once the final buzzer or last song hits.
Guests using ADA accommodations have a separate drop point. FedExForum's accessibility page notes that accessible drop-off runs along South B.B. King Boulevard, feeding into a ramped entrance near the Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum, so a group with mobility needs should route that portion of the party to the Boulevard side rather than Fourth Street.
The curb your bus uses is a drop-off, not a parking spot. Fourth Street between Beale and Dr. M.L. King Jr. Avenue gets your group closest to the doors, but the vehicle has to keep moving — set your pickup time before you go in, not after.
Parking at FedExForum: The Gossett Motors Garage
If part of your group is still driving separately, the arena's own parking is the FedExForum Gossett Motors Parking Garage, a five-level structure with 1,500 spaces and two entrances on Dr. M.L. King Jr. Avenue between B.B. King Boulevard and Fourth Street, per the official parking page linked above. Rates aren't fixed — the page states plainly that “parking rates are set based on the type of event being held at FedExForum,” with season passes sold for Grizzlies and Memphis Tigers games and first-come, first-served pricing for concerts and other one-off events. Pre-purchasing through the arena's linked parking partner is the only way to lock in a spot before you arrive; showing up hoping for an open space in a 1,500-car garage on a sellout night is a real gamble.
A bus skips that walk entirely. Instead of parking in the garage and threading through the crowd on foot, your group is dropped at Fourth Street and walks straight into the Grand Lobby, while the vehicle handles the part everyone else is stuck doing on foot.
Getting to FedExForum by Highway
FedExForum's parking page also publishes turn-by-turn approach routes from every direction, which matters because downtown Memphis streets don't forgive a wrong turn with a full-size vehicle onboard.
| Coming from… | Official approach |
|---|---|
| I-55 North | Exit east on E.H. Crump Boulevard, then head north on Third Street |
| I-40 South | Exit south on Danny Thomas Boulevard, then turn west on Linden Avenue |
| I-240 (Midtown) | Exit toward Lamar Avenue, then follow through to Linden Avenue via Somerville |
| I-40 East | Exit right on Riverside Drive or Front Street, then proceed to Union or Beale Street |
| I-55 East | Exit to Riverside Drive north, then access via Beale or Union Avenue |
Every one of those routes funnels into a downtown grid of one-way streets, brick crosswalks, and streetcar tracks that a full-size coach has to navigate carefully at the last few blocks. That's the part of the trip a bus rental through Memphisminibuscompany.com takes off your plate — your group rides in, and getting through that last stretch of downtown isn't something anyone in your party has to think about.
FedExForum Transportation Options Compared
A private bus isn't the only way downtown, and it isn't always the right call for a couple of people. Here's an honest look at how the main options stack up for a FedExForum trip.
| Option | Cost shape | Arrive together? | Drop point | Best group size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charter bus / party bus | One flat rate, split across the group | Yes — one vehicle, one arrival | Fourth Street, steps from the Grand Lobby | 15–56 |
| MATA Main Street Trolley | $1 per rider, one-way | Only if you catch the same car | Stops along Main Street, a short walk to the arena | Any, but no group control |
| Rideshare (Uber / Lyft) | Per car each way, plus post-event surge | No — multiple cars, multiple ETAs | Shares the Fourth Street curb with buses and taxis | 1–4 per car |
| Drive & park in the Gossett Garage | Event-based rate per car | No — caravans split up | One-block walk from Dr. M.L. King Jr. Avenue | 1–2 cars |
For a pair of Grizzlies fans grabbing lower-bowl seats, the trolley or a rideshare is the simpler, cheaper move — there's no reason to charter a bus for two people. But the moment your party grows past what fits comfortably in two or three cars, the coordination cost of separate vehicles — scattered parking, staggered arrivals, and everyone paying their own rideshare fare on the way home — tips the math toward one vehicle for the whole group.
MATA Trolley and Rideshare to FedExForum
The Memphis Area Transit Authority runs its Main Street Trolley line within a short walk of Beale Street and FedExForum, and per MATA's trolley fares page, the standard base fare runs $1.00 per one-way ride. It's an easy, low-cost way for a small group to reach downtown from a hotel along the line, though it runs on a fixed schedule and doesn't hold seats for a group traveling together.
Rideshare pickup for FedExForum funnels into the same drop-off zone buses use on Fourth Street, which means that curb gets crowded fast once a game lets out — everyone's Uber, everyone's Lyft, and every bus in the building converging on one short block at once. A private bus sidesteps that scrum: your pickup is prearranged, your group already knows where to meet, and you're not standing on a packed sidewalk refreshing a rideshare app while large numbers of other people do the same thing.
What Size Party Bus or Charter Bus Fits Your FedExForum Group?
Group size and how downtown you're starting from both shape the right vehicle for a FedExForum trip. Here's how the vehicle lineup breaks down.
| Vehicle | Typical seats | Best for | Key amenities |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sprinter van | Up to ~14 | Suite groups, small parties, VIP nights | Premium leather seating, USB charging, tinted privacy windows |
| Party bus | ~15–50 | Groups wanting the pregame energy to start on the ride in | Built-in bar area, color-changing LED lighting, premium sound, flat-panel TVs |
| 20–35 passenger minibus | ~20–35 | Mid-size groups, quick hotel-to-arena hops | Reclining seats, strong A/C, overhead storage |
| Full-size charter bus | Up to 56 | Large fan groups, out-of-town trips, office outings | Reclining seats, climate control, onboard restroom, undercarriage storage |
For a group of friends turning the game into the whole night, a party bus keeps the energy going on the ride down Union Avenue and back. For an office group booking a suite or a fan club making the drive in from Jackson, Tupelo, or Little Rock, a full-size charter bus with an onboard restroom and undercarriage storage makes more sense for the longer haul. If your group is small enough to fit in one row, a Sprinter van covers it without paying for seats you don't need.
FedExForum Charter Bus Rental Prices
There's no single number for a FedExForum trip, because the quote is shaped by a few clear factors: the size of the vehicle, how many hours you need it reserved for, how far outside downtown your group is starting from, and whether your date lines up with a high-demand event like a marquee concert or a Grizzlies playoff run. Memphisminibuscompany.com shows quotes online in under 30 seconds, so you see the price before you commit to anything.
Splitting the cost of one bus across a group routinely beats what separate cars end up costing once you add pre-purchased garage parking, gas, and a handful of individual rideshare fares home. One flat rate and one pickup point beats coordinating five or six vehicles trying to find each other on a packed Beale Street sidewalk after the show.
A FedExForum Game Night Example
To give you an idea: a 30-person group books a 35-passenger minibus for a Friday night Grizzlies game. Pickup at 6:00 PM from a hotel near Sam Cooper Boulevard, at the Fourth Street curb by 6:30 PM — a full hour before an 8:00 PM Grizzlies tip-off door time. The group heads in together, and the bus returns to the same curb for a 10:30 PM pickup once the arena clears.
A five-hour rental at that size might run somewhere around $1,000 to $1,400, which works out to roughly $35 to $47 a person — with the parking search, the highway approach, and the post-game sidewalk crowd all handled in one number. Actual pricing varies by date, hours, and demand, so call 901-686-7040 or use the online quote tool for pricing on your exact trip.
Memphis Airport to FedExForum: Bus Rental for Out-of-Town Groups
A lot of out-of-town fan groups, touring groups, and convention attendees land at Memphis International Airport (MEM), 2491 Winchester Road, before ever seeing downtown. Per the airport's pickup and drop-off page, arriving drop-off traffic follows the upper-level Ticketing signage while pickups happen on the lower-level drive — a layout that works fine for a single car, but gets complicated fast once a group is trying to find each other at curbside with luggage in hand.
One bus solves that the same way it solves the downtown drop-off: your group gathers at baggage claim, everyone loads once, and the vehicle runs straight downtown instead of splitting the party across a handful of separate rideshares navigating an unfamiliar terminal loop. That's especially worth arranging for a Grizzlies road trip crowd or a touring group with equipment, where nobody wants to sort out five separate pickups before they've even left the airport. See the Memphis airport transportation page for more on coordinating that leg of the trip.
FedExForum Bag Policy & Entry Rules Every Bus Group Should Know
FedExForum runs a tighter bag policy than most arenas, and it's worth knowing before your group ever reaches the Grand Lobby doors. Per FedExForum's arena policies page, only “clear bags made of plastic, vinyl or PVC no larger than 6x8x2 inches” are permitted inside, along with a small clutch-style wallet up to 5x3.5 inches and one quart-sized clear plastic storage bag. That's noticeably smaller than the 12x6x12 clear-bag standard a lot of stadiums use, so a bag that would pass at a football game will likely get turned away here.
Metal or chain bag straps aren't allowed, though fabric straps are fine, and every compliant bag goes through X-ray screening at entry.
Outside food and drinks, alcohol, weapons, fireworks, large cameras and camcorders, poles, selfie sticks, tripods, and laser pens are all barred from entry as well. FedExForum also runs a cashless building, so concessions and merchandise stands only take cards and mobile payment. A group loading onto the bus can leave the coolers and the cash at home — there's nowhere to use either once you're through the doors.
Per FedExForum's Know Before You Go guide, doors typically open an hour and a half before tip-off for Grizzlies games, with other events generally opening about an hour before showtime, though exact times vary by event. Building that arrival window into your pickup time keeps your group from arriving to a still-closed door or missing pregame warmups.
Leaving FedExForum After the Show: Bus Pickup Timing
Getting out is usually the part of a downtown arena trip that catches first-timers off guard. When a Grizzlies game or a sold-out concert lets out, the Fourth Street curb fills with buses, taxis, and rideshares all at once, the Gossett Garage empties through two entrances built for a fraction of the crowd trying to leave at the same time, and Beale Street itself is at its most crowded exactly when everyone's trying to get somewhere.
A bus handles that the same way it handled the arrival: your group agrees on a meet-back point at the Fourth Street curb before you ever go inside, the vehicle stages nearby rather than fighting for a spot at that curb the whole event, and it pulls back in once the crowd starts moving. Everyone climbs aboard together instead of scattering into separate rideshares that are quoting surge pricing the second the doors open.
What's Happening at FedExForum in 2026
FedExForum stays busy well beyond basketball season, and per the arena's event calendar, the fall 2026 concert lineup includes several dates worth planning around:
- Bryson Tiller Presents: The Neo Trapsoul Tour — October 6, 2026, with Majid Jordan, Ty Dolla $ign, and Austin Millz
- Elevation Nights Tour 2026 — October 10, 2026, led by Elevation Worship and Pastor Steven Furtick
- Cash Money & No Limit Tour — October 24, 2026, featuring Master P, Birdman, Juvenile, and Boosie
- Gabriel Iglesias: The 1976 Tour — November 28, 2026
Layered on top of the concert calendar, the Memphis Grizzlies' NBA home slate typically fills the arena from October through April, and Memphis Tigers men's basketball adds its own home dates each winter. Whichever event brings your group downtown, the same drop-off, garage, and Beale Street crowding logic applies — and the earlier you lock in a vehicle for a big concert date, the better your options, since the same buses in demand for a Bryson Tiller or Cash Money & No Limit crowd are also being booked for concert transportation across the rest of Memphis that same week.
Who Rents a Bus to FedExForum
The same door-to-door setup works for a wide range of FedExForum trips. These are the groups that book it most often:
- Fan groups. Grizzlies season-ticket groups and out-of-town supporters who want the pregame energy to start the moment the bus pulls away from the curb.
- Suite and corporate groups. Companies moving clients or staff from an office or hotel to a suite without anyone worrying about the garage or the exit crowd — see Memphis corporate transportation.
- Birthday and celebration groups. A Grizzlies game or a concert that doubles as a milestone night out — see Memphis birthday party transportation.
- Out-of-town concertgoers. Groups flying into MEM or driving in from Jackson, Tupelo, or Little Rock for a single show who need one coordinated ride downtown and back.
Also planning a trip to Graceland or a Memphis Tigers football weekend at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium? Those guides cover their own drop-offs and parking.
Booking Your FedExForum Bus: Party Bus Rental & Charter Bus Rental Steps
- Request a quote with your group size, pickup location, event, and date, plus how many hours you want the vehicle reserved.
- Confirm the vehicle and the drop point. Compare options and lock in the right size vehicle for your group through Memphisminibuscompany.com.
- Set your pickup window. Agree on a meet-back time at the Fourth Street curb before doors open, so there's no scrambling for a ride once the show or game ends.
A question we hear often: how early should the bus arrive? Aim for the Fourth Street curb about an hour before doors for a Grizzlies game, and a little earlier for a high-demand concert where the sidewalk fills up fast. Call 901-686-7040 or use the online quote tool to check vehicle availability for your date.
Frequently Asked Questions About FedExForum Bus Rentals
Where exactly does a charter bus or party bus drop off at FedExForum?
Buses use the same zone FedExForum reserves for guest, limo, taxi, and express shuttle traffic: the east side of the arena on Fourth Street, between Beale Street and Dr. M.L. King Jr. Avenue. It's a drop-and-go curb, not a place to park, so the vehicle stages nearby and returns for a prearranged pickup.
Where do buses park while the group is inside?
FedExForum doesn't publish a dedicated motorcoach lot, and vehicles aren't allowed to sit at the Fourth Street drop-off curb during the event. A bus typically stages nearby and returns to that same curb at an agreed pickup time rather than waiting at the door the whole game or show.
How much does it cost to rent a bus to FedExForum?
Pricing depends on vehicle size, total hours, your pickup location, and whether your date lines up with a high-demand event. You can compare quotes online in under 30 seconds through Memphisminibuscompany.com, or call 901-686-7040 for a price quote.
Is there parking for cars at FedExForum?
Yes — the FedExForum Gossett Motors Parking Garage holds 1,500 spaces across five levels, with two entrances on Dr. M.L. King Jr. Avenue. Rates are set by event type, with season passes for Grizzlies and Tigers games and first-come, first-served pricing for concerts and other events.
What's the bag policy at FedExForum?
Only clear plastic, vinyl, or PVC bags no larger than 6x8x2 inches are allowed, along with a small clutch wallet up to 5x3.5 inches and one quart-sized clear plastic storage bag. Metal or chain straps are prohibited, and every bag goes through X-ray screening.
Does FedExForum take cash?
No. FedExForum operates as a cashless building, so concessions and merchandise only accept cards and mobile payment like Apple Pay or Google Pay.
Is there an accessible drop-off at FedExForum?
Yes. Accessible drop-off runs along South B.B. King Boulevard, feeding into a ramped entrance near the Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum, separate from the Fourth Street guest drop-off.
How early should we arrive for a Grizzlies game or concert?
Doors typically open about an hour and a half before tip-off for Grizzlies games, and roughly an hour before showtime for most other events, though exact times vary by event. Building that window into your pickup plan keeps your group from arriving before doors open or missing warmups.
Is there public transportation to FedExForum?
MATA's Main Street Trolley stops within walking distance of Beale Street and FedExForum for a $1.00 one-way fare. It's a fine option for a couple of riders on a fixed schedule, but it doesn't hold seats for a group traveling together the way a private bus does.
What's the closest airport to FedExForum?
Memphis International Airport (MEM) is the closest, a little more than ten miles south of downtown. One bus can gather a traveling group at baggage claim and run them straight to the arena or a hotel instead of splitting everyone across separate rideshares.
How far in advance should we book a bus to FedExForum?
As early as your date is confirmed, especially for a marquee concert or a Grizzlies playoff date, when vehicle supply in Memphis tightens fastest. For most regular-season games, a couple of weeks of lead time is workable — but the earlier you call, the better your options.
Book Your FedExForum Party Bus Rental Today
Whether it's a Grizzlies game, a Memphis Tigers matchup, or a touring concert at 191 Beale Street, Memphisminibuscompany.com makes it easy to compare charter buses, party buses, minibuses, and Sprinter vans for your FedExForum trip. Your group rides in together, gets dropped at the same curb the arena reserves for its own shuttle traffic, and has a ride waiting when the night's over — no garage search, no scattered rideshares, no standing on a packed Beale Street sidewalk. Call 901-686-7040 any time for a price quote, or use the online quote tool for availability on your date.
