I’ll get the obvious out of the way: I work at Samford, I can go to Samford events for free*, and it is in my personal interest to get as many excellent students on campus as possible because they might at some point become excellent Samford undergraduates.

But if you’re looking for a good afternoon or evening out with the family, Samford sporting events are a pretty good pick. The kids can be noisy, the teams are generally pretty good, there are fun prizes and giveaways, and the tickets are cheap. Women’s basketball, soccer, softball, and volleyball games are free.

Even the “revenue” sports are cheap. Men’s basketball general admission tickets are $10, for example, with online discounts in some cases, and kids under 12 don’t have to pay. Buy two adult tickets and give everyone six bucks for snacks and you’re looking at a $50 night out for the whole family. And you’ll be able to sit in what would be called GREAT SEATS anywhere.

Of course, Samford football tickets are a bit more expensive, but at $20-$25 each you’re still looking at a pretty good price for an afternoon of family entertainment. Get season tickets and you’re looking at something like $200 for five or six Saturdays watching a pretty good team—they’ve made the playoffs two years in a row now.

Finally, Samford athletics has put together a pretty cool app that allows you to check in and earn points toward Samford swag. In a move that’s very near and dear to my heart, you get more points for going to women’s basketball games than men’s basketball games. Why is this? All else equal, demand for tickets to women’s basketball games is lower than demand for tickets to men’s basketball games, so this is a cool way to give students stronger incentives to go to women’s sports (students don’t have to pay for any tickets—those are included in their student fees).

*There is no such thing as a free lunch or a free sporting event, but work with me.