I have to admit, neither Mike nor I are sports fans. In fact, Mike wishes he could get into sports, so he could know what all "the guys" are talking about when they're endlessly discussing football, the superbowl, etc.... but he just doesn't get the hype. And me? I'd rather be playing than watching.
However, since I know we're probably the exception, not the rule, and many people really are into their sports, hopefully this guest post by Nancy Evans will help give you some tips on how to not let your sports habit get too expensive.
If you’re a parent of teenage boys, you’re probably starting to hear all the hype about the latest football games. Whether they prefer college games or the national league, it seems to be all they talk about from now until Christmas. My boys in particular like to keep up with their favorite team so they can go to school the next day and brag. It’s also necessary for them to sometimes watch games as they learn new skills to take back to their own team (they’re both football players).
As nice as it would be to be able to take my boys to each and every game (local and national home games), I know that’s unrealistic. Sure, we’ve found affordable ways to watch some of the games in the area, but we certainly can’t do that every time or I’d have to find a second job. So I did a little research and found that there are actually some really affordable ways for them to keep up with the latest games, scores, and stats.
1. Mobile Applications
Everything has gone mobile. It seems to be the most convenient way to do anything nowadays. However, the good thing about mobile apps is that most of them are free or very affordable. There are plenty of applications that you can download to your teen’s phone that allow them to keep up with the games in realtime. So whether they’re able to catch the game live, or have other obligations, they can still have bragging rights the next morning at school. If you’re going to download an application to their phone, be sure that you check to see what information the application will be viewing and how much it’s going to cost to stay on the safe side of things.
2. Watch it On the Big Screen
My boys were a bit upset with me that I cut our cable last week; however, it was just getting out of hand. Now that football season is in full gear, I had to find some feasible way for them to watch the games without me having to pay an arm and a leg. Then I stumbled across the many sports packages available through satellite television providers. Satellite television services are less expensive, which was a plus in my book. Satellitetv-deals.com actually has an array of offers allowing you to get the best TV sports provider in Louisiana and other states across the US. After a simple sign up process, your teens will be jumping for joy that they get to see every game up close and personal on the big screen.
3. Share Costs
On the few occasions that we do try to surprise the boys by taking them to a live home game we try to share the costs with another family. Some ways to share the costs include looking for package deals (if you can find a group of 10 people you can generally get some form of discounts on the ticket purchases), purchasing few tickets off of someone who has season passes, carpooling with another family and sharingthe cost of gas and parking, or getting there in enough time that we can actually walk to the stadium and skip the parking costs altogether.
So if you happen to be the parent of a football fanatic, don’t panic as you don’t have to break the bank in order for them to experience the game. Whether they watch it on the go, at home on the big screen, or live and up close, there are plenty of ways you can cut your costs. Trust me, once I used these methods my boys (and my husband) were saints for the rest of the season. Now if only I could find some way to get them on the same page the rest of the year?
