The Tampa Bay Rowdies issued an apology to spectators and fans Monday night after hundreds of people were held up for hours trying to leave Saturday night’s home opener in downtown St. Pete.

A Clearwater woman says the delay even forced her to break down a gate at the McNulty parking garage off 2nd Street to help trapped cars escape. Kathryn Socash, 63, was eventually arrested for disorderly conduct.

Some of the fans “held hostage” for hours in the McNulty parking garage took to social media to document the delay and vent their frustrations. Some posts described spending more time trying to leave the garage than spectators spent at the game.

Saturday night was Socash’s first, and likely last, time attending a Rowdies game.

“I will not park in that parking garage again,” she said Monday night. “And I will think twice about going back to one of those games again.”

Socash and her family were among the hundreds “held hostage” trying to leave Saturday night’s game. After two hours went by and their car had only moved from level five to level four, Socash decided to do something about it.

“I got out of the car,” she recalled. “I said ‘I am going to go down and see what’s going on, this is ridiculous.'”

When Socash got to the ground floor she discovered there was only one parking attendant working, taking money and letting cars out one by one. She also noticed an unmanned exit, blocked only by a flimsy wooden gate that warned “$50 fine for breaking gate.”

“Honestly, I’ve never done anything like this in my life,” Socash said. “I decided it was worth it to break the gate.”

Breaking the gate allowed for some cars to escape. It also quickly landed Socash in handcuffs, as St. Pete police and garage management made their way to the chaos.

Socash was arrested for disorderly conduct and spent the rest of the weekend in the Pinellas County jail.

Socash says the fault should lie with the parking garage, which she claims wasn’t adequately prepared to handle the post-game crowds, but she’s the one who had to pay the price.

“I have never had anything happen to me like what happened Saturday,” she said. “The whole situation was absolutely disgusting.”

McNulty garage management did not return calls for comment as of Monday night.

The Rowdies are offering complimentary tickets to those who were stuck in the garage and can provide a parking receipt.

The Tampa Bay Rowdies are aware of parking difficulties before and after Saturday night’s 2019 home opener, particularly at the McNulty Garage on 2nd St. S. The McNulty Garage is privately managed, and the Rowdies are working diligently with the operator of that facility to ensure Saturday night’s issues are addressed properly for the benefit of our fans.

While Saturday’s issues were outside of our control, the Rowdies apologize to those who had problems at the McNulty Garage. Affected fans can bring their home opener ticket and parking receipt to the box office at Al Lang Stadium to receive two complimentary tickets to a match of their choice in March or April.

