One of my favorite things to do in the summer is to attend baseball games. There’s just something fun about being a part of the crowd, sitting outside, and watching people cheer for the home team. While I’m not a baseball fanatic (though it would seem so with the number of baseball articles I write..) I still enjoy a good game. What I don’t enjoy are the outrageous prices. You can seriously spend close to $100 or more for two people at a game if you’re not careful. (No I’ve never spent that much…but I’ve seen people do it!)
My wife and I are pretty frugal and have found a few ways to save at baseball games. This makes our date night even better knowing that we’ve spent a fraction of what others in the stadium have paid.
Our Secrets To Saving Money At Baseball Games
1. Skip the major league
Most states have a minor league team, and the tickets are generally cheaper than the major league games. You can look for your city and state on the minor league site.
2. Sit in the grass
The minor league team in our city has grass seats for $6. The best part is that you’re right there in foul ball territory, so you have a better chance of snagging a foul ball! With the other seats ranging from $8-$27, $6 is a pretty good deal.
3. Find tickets on eBay or Craigslist
I prefer Craigslist over eBay for tickets because you can meet up and get the tickets in hand. If you have time, eBay might be a good route too. Look for those last minute postings on Craigslist and try to negotiate a better deal on the tickets.
4. Ask for Student Rates
If your city is home to a baseball team and college, you might be in luck! Ask the ticket counter if there is any student discounts – you might be able to save a dollar or two, enough to offset the cost of a soda in the park. J
5. Get Tickets From Work
If you’re at a stadium, it’s not uncommon to see full sections purchased by a local employer. This is especially true with the box seats. If your employer holds season tickets, let your HR team know that you’d love to be on the list for any games. Let them know you’re available for last minute tickets and you might score some great seats more often that you expect! I’ve even asked my bank if they have tickets and they set me up with seats directly behind home plate! You never know unless you ask.
6. Get There Early…and Park Far Away
I don’t like paying for parking. If I can save $5 – $10 by walking 10 minutes, I’ll park a few blocks away from the game. Just make sure you pay attention to signs that limit the time you can park on the street.
7. Snacks and Food
You can’t bring food into stadiums, so I’m not suggesting that you break the rules. Have I ever brought a small bag of sunflower seeds that cost me $0.89 at Walgreens because I didn’t want to spend $4 for peanuts at the game…sure I have…but again, I’m not telling you to break the rules.
What I will suggest is that you look for game night specials. On Thursday nights, our local team has $1 brats. That’s an awesome savings and well worth it to go on a Thursday.
Our average date night to a baseball game usually costs us less than $15. While we’ve certainly spent more than that in the past, it’s good to know that we can enjoy a night out at a game and spend very little doing so!
Have you been to a game this summer? What ways did you save?
Tim is a personal finance writer at Faith and Finance a Christian financial help blog that provides financial insights for individuals, businesses, and churches. Outside of finance, Tim enjoys spending time with his wife, playing the saxophone, reading economics books, and a good game of RISK or Catan. Find him on Twitter and Facebook and subscribe to the Faith and Finance RSS feed.
I love my Detroit Tigers, and I would go to every game if I could. However, I cringe when I think about the cost of gas to get there, the parking, and the amount of food my kids will ask for.
We go to one game a year though because you just gotta splurge once in awhile. We eat dinner before going though, so we just buy a couple snacks when we are there. I can’t imagine how much people spend that also buy beer at the games!