If you’ve ever driven around a stadium searching for a parking spot at a reasonable rate, perhaps passing up one option for the potential of a better deal down the road, a Florida State graduate has found a less-stressful option.

Osher Steel earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science from Florida State in 2024 and decided to go to work with a friend, Willy Meret, on a website and app that would allow fans to book a parking spot at homes that are near stadiums and arenas around the state. After months of market research, DIBS launched in spring 2025 with spots at homeowners near Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium and LoanDepot Park to spots in Orlando, Jacksonville and Tallahassee near Doak Campbell Stadium.

The reason was simple: To create a better experience, without stress and at a reasonable rate.

“We created a data set of all the venues, the big venues in the United States,” Steel said. “We analyzed thousands of reviews using a machine learning model that we built. And we found that, in general, the majority of people have a pretty bad experience with parking, especially for events.”

Parking is likely among the most stressful aspects of going to a game, the uncertainty of exactly where there is a spot and how much cash you’ll need to have ready. And then the exit experience is a wild card as close games mean more fans will stay to the very end before rushing to cars and SUVs in hopes of getting back on the road ahead of traffic.

After scrolling through awful parking reviews on sites like Trip Advisor and Yelp, Steel and his friends launched DIBS’ site (and an app) with the goal of starting small but ensuring a pay-ahead, worry-less experience by booking through their site or app.

“It kind of clicked for us, because we're like, ‘Ok, we could do something that solves peoples’ problems and it's kind of like two birds and one stone, because we would be helping hosts and also event goers at the same time,’ ” Steel said.

DIBS has started relatively small in its first six months, but they have handled large events well at Hard Rock Stadium like the Formula 1 race and soccer matches. They also launched with a few homes near Doak for the Alabama game as well as subsequent FSU home games.

If you’re looking for parking for Saturday’s rivalry matchup with Miami visiting FSU, maybe you already purchased a pass through the Seminole Boosters when you grabbed tickets. But if not, DIBS has spots as close as a 5-minute walk for $40 per car or a 20-minute walk for $20 per car.

Osceola readers can try out spots at Doak using code Osceola20 for a discount as a first-time user, and you can also use the code if you’re going to games at Hard Rock Stadium, Everbank Field for Jacksonville Jaguars games and Camping World Stadium for concerts in Orlando.

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