On October 17, 2008 I drove to Champaign, IL to see the Chicago Bulls play a pre-season game at Assembly Hall for the first time since 1989. I thought this would replace my need to attend an actual Illinois men’s basketball game. But with Illinois hosting Northwestern last night, I decided I wanted to go. However, I had an issue. Nicole was not going to be home and all three babysitters we normally use could not babysit Dylan. Plus, to make matters worse, Nicole needed the car Dylan rides in.
Thus, …

Northwestern was playing their second straight afternoon game at Welch-Ryan Arena. This time it was the men’s basketball team as they hosted Mount St. Mary’s for a 2 pm matinee.
Beg, Borrow and Deal
As I wrote yesterday there is no secondary market for women’s basketball games. So technically, even though the box office price for a men’s game is much higher, it can be cheaper to attend a men’s basketball game than a women’s basketball game at Northwestern. That was the case today as I received a free ticket outside of …

As is the case with most Saturday mornings, Nicole was teaching skating. Thus, I found a sporting event to attend with the Ultimate Sports Baby. This time it was UIC Men’s Basketball hosting Illinois at the United Center. Based on my experience from the Blackhawks game last Wednesday night I figured it would not be too painful to bring Dylan into the United Center again. Plus, college basketball only lasts for two hours so the game should be quick.
Beg, Borrow and Deal
I figured tickets would be cheap. On my walk …

With the wife out of town the Ultimate Sports Baby and I decided to take in the only game in town – Loyola Men’s Basketball vs. Alabama St. Two seasons ago, I took in a men’s and women’s game at Loyola University – my first visits to the Gentile Center at the time.
I had to pay to park since I was with the Ultimate Sports Baby, but paying for parking is better than taking the train. It only cost $7 to park in the parking structure closest to the arena. …

It was a Friday night and my parents were in town. Thus, we all decided to pack into the car and head to Northwestern’s Evanston campus. Nicole needed to prepare for her job interview on Monday and my parents, Dylan and I wanted to attend Northwestern’s first regular season game of the year.
Rather than park for free on city streets, we decided to pay for parking in the parking lot east of Ryan Field. As we approached the arena, there was a ticket scalper with a lot of extra tickets. …

I normally would never choose to attend a DePaul men’s basketball game over a Chicago Blackhawks game, but there were several reasons why it made sense tonight. First, my mom was planning to attend the game I did. Second, we were bringing the Ultimate Sports Baby. Third, I was not sure how much we would have to pay for tickets outside of the United Center. Fourth, Nicole could meet us for dinner after the event. Fifth, and the main reason, I always wanted to attend a DePaul Men’s Basketball game …

As is the case with most rounds of the NCAA tournament, two games are included in the purchase price of the ticket. Obviously, the second game of the day was between West Virginia and Duke which was relatively uneventful. Duke took an early lead and continued to extend the lead throughout the game. They defeated West Virginia convincingly 78-57.

Even though we did not take advantage of it, fans should consider buying tickets in the upper deck at the Final Four and then sneak into the fans section of the teams …

One perk of having tickets before you arrive in Indianapolis is that you do not have to deal with scalping tickets before the event. Instead you can just figure out the other joys of attending a sporting event – parking and where to eat before or after the game.
Parking
When we arrived in Indianapolis, we drove straight to the parking lot that cost $3 before the Colts divisional playoff game versus the Ravens and the Big Ten Tournament. Today it was $10, but the parking lot across the street was only …

On Friday night I wrote that I would wait to buy tickets to the Final Four semifinals until you are outside of Lucas Oil Stadium. Some people might be nervous about this strategy given 1) you are traveling to Indianapolis without the 100% guarantee of already having tickets in hand and 2) buying tickets from StubHub or a ticket broker guarantees you the tickets are legit.
This morning I almost bought tickets to the Final Four before driving down to Indianapolis. The cheapest tickets for last night’s games have hovered around …

Are you planning to buy tickets for the Final Four tomorrow in Indianapolis? Currently ticket prices are higher than I expected – especially for the semifinals tomorrow night. There are two ways to buy tickets to the Final Four through the primary market. First, you can buy tickets through the lottery the NCAA holds one year in advance. Second, you can buy tickets from a school. However, both methods require fans to buy “the strip” which includes one ticket to Saturday night’s semifinal games and …