Do you still enjoy attending games?

I've been thinking about this for awhile, and the NFL blackout thread got me thinking more. Do you still enjoy attending games as a fan?

I am in my mid-50s, and find the stadium/arena experience less and less exciting each trip.

Part for me is the drive. I'm located near eight major sports teams, but all are 90 minutes to two hours from home. So for a 7 p.m. game, I leave around 4:30 and don't come back until after midnight.

Then there's the cost. Most games are going to set me back near $100 between ticket, gas, parking and food. Much more when I bring my wife and/or son.

Even at the games themselves, I find myself talking with friends more than actually watching. I'll come home and realize I never really watched the visiting superstar I wanted to see.

I haven't been a full-time sportswriter for more than 20 years, so it's not a matter of too many games. Maybe I'm just old and cranky.

Wondering if others feel the same.

 

We absolutely LOVE minor league baseball. Spend countless weekends there each summer.

 

Was at a Wizards game against the Nets, great seats, but couldn't wait for it to be over. I was spoiled rotten during Showtime (we had season tickets for 4 years) and it just isn't the same.

That said, I can go and sit through a baseball game, any level.

 

Yes on baseball, especially minor-league games. No to everything else

 

I've tired of pro football, but will catch hockey about once every two years. Baseball is cheaper, and I despise pro basketball's regular season.

My preference overall are collegiate sports, and mostly lacrosse. But the money grubbing sham of the NC$$ makes me not really enjoy the collegiate sports as much either.

 

We have a minor league team that plays 10 minutes from the house. I like going to games, but haven't been to one in a couple of years. If I go to a game as a fan, that's usually where I go.

My alma mater (a major D-I program) is about three hours away, and I've gotten to the point where I don't care to go any more. It's the time and expense, mostly. They close off campus a few hours before a game, so if it's a 2:30 kickoff for football it's a nightmare. Work late Friday night, then get up by 6 a.m. to beat traffic and be there by 10 or 11? And then not get home until damn near midnight? No thanks.
Then when you factor in two tanks of gas (one when you leave, one when you get back: $60); tickets (minimum of $100 for two); food and incidentals ($50-$100); and it becomes a mini-vacation for one exhausting day. No thanks.
The last time I went to any game there was a baseball game about three years ago, when I happened to be in town for something else. I haven't been to a football game as a fan there in almost 10 years.

It's a lot of the same reasons I don't care to cover college games any more. I'll do it if I have to, but I'm just as happy working the desk or getting a Saturday off.

 

I live in the DC metro area, so there are a lot of options. However, I rarely go to games of any sort. I agree that overall cost and hassle are the big reasons. But I also hate crowds, and love my couch. Works out.

 

I like to go to one Pats game a year. Has to be a September or October game before it gets really cold and has to be a 1 pm game so I'm back at a reasonable hour. Otherwise I'd rather watch on TV. I do take my kid to Fenway a couple times a year but for as intimate a ballpark as it is, most of the seats there are terrible unless you're paying the big bucks. And while I used to love going to games there in the 90s when I was in my 20s, I don't find it as much fun post-2004 -- I truly detest "Red Sox Nation." Plus I'm a Tiger fan. I've been to 1 NBA game in the last 10 years and couldn't wait to leave. I still like to go to 1 or 2 NHL games a year and I love going to minor league baseball games. I guess if I still lived in Michigan, where my alma mater (UM) and my favorite pro teams are (though after 21 years living in the Boston area, I'm almost as much of a Pats fan as I am a Lions fan at this point), I'd probably be a little more into going in person.

 

Even minor league games are no longer the deal they used to be.

A decade or a little more ago I could figure on catching a minor league game for $10 total (free parking, $4 game ticket, $2 beer (x2), $2 hot dog).

Now parking is usually $5, game tickets $10-12, beers and dogs $4 a shot. You're pretty much talking $25 per person now.

 

Still about the same as going to a movie. Most teams also have some sort of deal almost every night, whether it's 2-for-1 on Tuesday or dollar dog night. At least with our local Double-A team, the most expensive "normal" ticket is $15 and it's sort of difficult to pay full price with all the promotional nights they have.

 

I have season tickets to the Cowboys but haven't been to a regular-season game in three years. That's really a function of several main things: 1) my kids are (or have been) involved in lots of church things that make getting to a game dicey; 2) it's awfully expensive (with parking, before I do anything else I'm out close to $250); 3) even a noon kickoff is absolutely a full-day whipping; and 4) I don't particularly like the atmosphere, which is mostly 20- and 30-somethings getting absolutely bombed and constantly trying to start some shit with someone in the wrong-colored jersey.

I get out to see the Rangers at least 10 times a season, though, and I'd go more if I didn't teach at night so much in summer school. My wife and I make Opening Day an annual tradition for the two of us, but other than that we go to low-demand weeknight games. We avoid any big promotional nights -- e.g., dollar hot dog, etc. -- and sit in the upper deck. On Stubhub I can usually get as many tickets as I want (for the games we attend) for $5 to $6 each. The Rangers let you bring in your own snacks and non-alcoholic drinks, so many's the time that, even when you throw in parking and a couple of beers each for the two of us, the whole family's gone for $50 to $60.

And I'm with Starman on the disappearing minor-league bargains. It's almost always more expensive to take the family to a minor-league game, for me, than it is to go see the Rangers.

 

Wow, I didn't think any MLB team (or probably any other 'major league') team allowed people to bring in food (with the exception of baby food or special-diet [diabetic, etc] foods) or drinks (with the exception of bottled water).

I know college football teams caught hell for banning ALL brought-in food and drinks after a few 95-degree September games when a stink was raised on public-health/safety grounds and bottled water was grudgingly approved by the schools in question.