It’s Friday Night, and you are getting ready for a home football game and you are dressed for the theme and ready to go support your classmates by cheering them on from the student section. You walk up to the new Mount Vernon football stadium’s front gate, and get your activity pass out, and they do not accept it. Instead, it costs $ 8 because it is a sub-state game.

This raises the question of why students are charged the full price to attend the game. For many years now the cost of all sports playoff games has been hurting the pockets of high school students. Especially at Mount Vernon where athletic teams are so successful, we’ve had sub-state and playoff games in every sport this year alone. 

For example, this year the girls’ basketball sub-state game had small student section attendance because students don’t want to pay $8 for a game that’s at home, where you can usually go for free with your activity pass. When the boys’ game had huge crowds due to an anonymous donor who paid for students to get into the game, sports teams, like the girl’s basketball team this season, should not have small crowds of students due to the cost of tickets. 

With that being said, the Iowa High School Athletic Association needs to lower the cost of tickets for students. This will benefit students in many ways, from saving money to having bigger and better crowds. High school students usually have little money where they can afford to pay $8-10 to go to sub-state and state games. High schoolers are busy and don’t all have jobs so they can’t afford them. In some cases, parents may be able to help pay, but that is not always the case. 

Another benefit to lowering costs is that more students will come to the games and support their classmates on the playing field. Large crowds can help the team by cheering the players on. And give their team momentum which is very important when these games decide whether your team’s season is over or you keep moving on in the postseason. 

The current cost of tickets from all sub-state games is $6 – 8 dollars, depending on the sport. For state games, the current cost for the events is $10, but can be up to $15, depending on the sport. All these costs are for everyone in attendance there is no change in price for any demographic. 

In conclusion, the Iowa High School Athletic Association needs to lower the price for students, to create the best environment possible for teams to play in with lots of support from their classmates.