Guides 9 years ago

The upside to not buying student tickets

Seasons tickets are screaming your name, but your bed and wallet are screaming louder

Let’s take a trip down memory lane. It’s the summer before freshman year. You’ve been stocking up on supplies and bragging to your friends about going to Penn State. Then, all of a sudden, it’s the night before you have to fight for season football tickets.

You’ve discussed it with your roommate, you’ve begged your parents for money, and now the time is here. Will you succeed? Or will you be on the student ticket line outside the BJC every week duking it out to get a “fairly” priced ticket?

You log in, pray that the website doesn’t crash and that you get to that glorious page asking for your credit card information. The struggle is real. But it worked! You won, you’re a winner! But are you really?

For two years, I bought season tickets to a sport that I had never even seen being played professionally. But, it’s the ultimate Penn State tradition and I don’t regret it one bit.

Yes, it is pricey. No, my parents didn’t help me out. But, the experiences seem to outweigh those negatives. So when junior year came rolling around and I had only gone to 3 games the previous season, I made the risky decision to not buy season tickets and man am I happy about that.

Some of you may not believe me. Who doesn’t go to the games? What kind of Penn Stater are you? Well, I am going to explain.

We’ll start with the most important part of football season: tailgating. I’ll let you in on a little secret, you don’t have to buy a ticket for that. Tailgating is the epitome of why everyone heads over to the otherwise desolate northeast corner of campus for a few weekends a year. Games. Food. Music. Friends. Family. Drinking. FREE. On a gorgeous day in the Valley, there is nothing sweeter than being out in one of the lots with tens of thousands of other people enjoying the good vibes.

Larissa Sweitzer, a senior, says of tailgating, “My parents come for most of the games and I get to invite all of my friends to come eat and drink for free, which is awesome. For a college student, you don’t need much more persuasion than that. The games are fun and all, but after standing through the first half, I’m ready to leave.”

Aside from the epicness that is tailgating, you get to return home after enjoying a few, or a lot, of hours being social and having a grand ole’ time. So that means that you can return back to the warmth of your bed. Pick your poison: Netflix, HBO, Hulu. Or maybe even just watch the game from the warmth and comfort of your own apartment. The world of endless streaming is yours for the taking.

Maybe you never even left bed, you have a head start on the bedridden day that I like to call sweet, sweet heaven.

For those of us who like to be productive, you also have a completely uninhabited campus. The quiet isn’t one of those eerie quiets that has you looking over your shoulder every time you hear a slight sound. It’s quite beautiful actually. Whether you like to do your work somewhere on campus, in your room, or downtown, you get your pick of the crop. It’s really a luxury.

And of course, let’s discuss the absurdity that is the 12:00 kick-off time. Unless you live in East Halls, this is nearly impossible. Who decides the kick-off times? Why would they do that? After freshmen year, I didn’t make it to a single 12:00 game just to tailgate. I, personally, have a very hard time eating hamburgers and drinking that early in the morning. Without a doubt, there’s a huge population here that has no problem doing that, I am not apart of it. So while everyone else is stumbling towards Beaver Stadium at that ungodly hour, hungover, basically sleepwalking, you’re all cozied up in that twin sized bed of yours.

“You will never know how lucky you are to live in East Halls until you’re not living there anymore.” A sentence I heard more than a dozen times during my freshman year that has held true ever since. The quick walk to Beaver Stadium is taken for granted by the thousands of newbies that occupy the not-so-luxurious dorms.

Who likes economics? Not me. But even I know what $218.00 can do a for a student. Microwavable dinners. New clothes (that was supposed to be for groceries). Going out. That money will last longer and get you farther than those tickets. It’s not like you still can’t go to any of the games. Go and buy a ticket or 2 if you feel the urge to feel the ferocity of the student section. I get that. But $218.00? Really? I am an out-of-state student, I think that it might be time to drop that price or you know, just make them free? Sorry, I forgot, this isn’t a fantasy piece, let’s get back to reality.

WEATHER. One of the most important factors of basically anything that any Penn State student does ever. I have been sunburnt. I have worn every piece of rain gear that I owned and still walked out of the stadium drenched. I have had frozen fingers. Weather alone can make or break an experience like going to a football game.

Katie Kirkman, a junior who has consistently bought season tickets says “If it’s raining or snowing, it’s guaranteed that you will find me in my apartment instead of the stadium. I check the weather app a thousand times before I decide to go to a game.”

Persuasion is not the name of the game here. If you love the electricity in the stadium, then go buy those tickets. There is no doubt that being a part of the greatest student section in the world has its perks. But if you’re on the edge of the cliff like I once was, here’s your proof that you will survive a ticketless football season.

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