How to save money attending sports events

Submitted By Thicken My Wallet

The NFL regular season starts tonight with the Washington Redskins playing the defending Super Bowl Champs the New York Giants which is an apropos time to blog about the costs of attending a sporting event live. As a life-long sports fan, it is tough to accept the fact that large companies who own sports franchises see us as walking wallets rather than fans. For example, the Washington Redskins were one of the first teams I know about that charged fans a seat license to buy season’s tickets- in other words, you had to pay for the privilege of being able to pay for your tickets (yes, you pay for the right to pay so they get you twice for the same seat!).

I watch a lot of basketball games every year. Hockey I tend to avoid (the product on the ice- both the Maple Leafs and hockey in general- is too unwatchable; I pine for the 80’s era Oilers) and I will watch the odd baseball game every year. So I do spend my dollars on sports. But, as a sports fans, its a constant struggle to make sure “they” don’t get you- for ticket prices most middle-class families can’t afford, the $8 beer, the $5 hot dog, constant advertising in the arena, using our tax dollars to build sports arenas for private businesses (a topic for another time).

I fight back in my own way but doing a couple of things to make sure the teams only make a moderate amount of money off of me:

Eat before the game outside the stadium: This sounds stupidly straight forward but a $2.50 hot dog outside the baseball stadium is $4.50 or $5.00 inside the stadium. Stadiums are like airports- buy as little as possible in them because they are captive markets and once they got you, they will take you for all you are worth. This is the beauty of the tail-gate party. You eat, drink and be merry on your own dime.
Sit in the higher seats- its cheaper and the view is better. The corporate fat-cats love to sit as close to the action as possible. No one can deny that the experience of sitting in front-row seats is worth it (not that anyone has taken me!); but once you get a few rows back, you may be better off sitting much higher up in the upper bowl. Its a personal preference to me but I have sat in the 12th row in the Air Canada Centre (aka the ACC, where the Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors play) and the view is not that good. You are not elevated enough to get a good view of the action. Instead, I like sitting in the upper bowl to watch the Raptors: its cheaper and its a better experience (you can see the shot coming off the hand of the player better and you sit with real fans and not suits trying to impress clients). The difference in price? The 12th row seats cost $197 (thankfully, someone took me) and the upper bowl seats cost $60.
Go to a game no one wants to see: you can get cheap tickets or someone will give it away. Who wants to see the Buffalo Bills play the Houston Texans, the Raptors play the Utah Jazz or the Maple Leafs play Nashville? There’s always a couple of dud home games where you can get tickets at the ticket window, buy them cheap off of someone (scalpers- cough, cough) or someone may give them away. If you are not necessarily the biggest sports fan but you want to see the game for something to do on a Friday night, this may be a good way to see a game cheaper.
Forget about parking. I use to live across the street from a parking lot close to the ACC and watched the attendant change the price of parking every Saturday at 5:00 p.m. from $7.00 to $20.00 for everyone attending the Leaf game. Take public transit to save money (and you save the environment).
Get lil’ Johnny swagged up before you go to the stadium. Maybe I am being a little too practical but I watch parents buy their kids a t-shirt at the stadium store for $20.00 when it retails for $15.00 in the mall. Perhaps the experience of buying something at the game is priceless but it strikes me as another cash-grab.