Stadium vs Home vs Bar | The Real Cost of Live Sports

In this episode, we tackle the rising cost of attending live events, questioning whether the increased expense truly leads to more enjoyment. Matt and Andrew share their best budget tips, showing you how to save money without sacrificing all the fun. This segment focuses on balancing life's luxuries with smart personal finance choices and offers frugal living tips to help you stay within your budget.

Ticket prices are climbing 📈
Concessions are outrageous 🍔💸
Parking? Don’t even get us started 🚗😩

So… are live sporting events still worth the price? 🏟️🤔

In this video, we break down the real cost of going to a game — tickets, food, drinks, parking, merch, and the hidden expenses nobody talks about. We compare the full experience of watching from the stadium vs the bar vs at home to see when it actually makes financial (and fun) sense — and when it doesn’t.

Is the atmosphere unbeatable? 🔥
Or is your couch the real MVP? 🛋️📺

Let’s find out.

#LiveSports #SportsDebate #StadiumVsHome #SportsBar #GameDay #SportsCulture #MoneyMindset #PersonalFinance #GameDayExperience #WorthIt #TreatYoSelf

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

So when did going to a game become a $400 decision?

SPEAKER_01 0:05

And are are we actually having more fun or just paying more? Let's go ahead and talk about it. Hey, welcome back to the podcast series by your kids a house. Again, I'm Matt. This is Andrew. And uh in these segments, we do the treat yourself segment where we kind of look at you know what we can do to still enjoy the luxuries of our life with the money that we earn, but with uh keep within our budget, not overextending ourselves. And in today's episode, we're gonna tie try to break down the aspect of what it costs to go to sporting events, whether it's at the game, at a local bar, or staying at home, and looking at it without saying we're not anti-sports, we want to do these fun things.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Yeah, and it's more anti-overpaying without thinking. And like he said, whether you are the person that needs to be in that environment and at the actual sports arena, and if that cost is worth that and being in that environment in that community, or if being at the bar and looking, just watching the TV, having a drink or two, and being with that community, what best fits within your budget and what you want.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Yeah, so we're gonna go ahead and break that all down and see what you actually are getting for uh each of these levels of the costs and uh see what works out best for you and also for ourselves as well. Yeah, let's look at it. Yeah. So first we're gonna kind of look at the aspect of what it is like going to a game. Uh now, time of recording this and everything, we're actually just after Super Bowl, so what better time than to talk about this and uh you know when the biggest game of the year just happened? And uh while we're talking about all sports in general, it might seem a little more football focused, but also we're gonna bring up you know the idea of going to a baseball game, a soccer game, basketball game, because each one has their different tier levels too, and everything, but we're kind of trying to look at the idea of what are you getting for what you're paying for that. Uh, because a lot of times you first just look at even the ticket prices. Uh, you know, for an NFL game, that's anywhere usually between $150 up to four or five hundred dollars a ticket for regular tickets. If you want to go club level and everything, that can be anywhere from $400 to $1,500 per per ticket. Uh, but you're not that's just not the whole cost of going to it. You also still have the cost of parking, uh, food and drinks and everything there, any souvenirs you have in the process of getting there, it really can add up to a several thousand dollar experience just to go to one game. And that to me just is an astronomical amount of money for just a one-day event.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Yeah, no, that's just it's crazy expensive, and the prices seem to just keep going up. And then it's really easy to be like, okay, you know, I'll get that ticket or I'll get the club for the food, the box, or whatever you're wanting to do. But then once you get that credit card bill, you're like, uh oh. You get those to start getting those alerts of like, oh, this is how much you've spent. And then the realization of maybe not going out to the actual game and going to a bar would have been better. But it really just depends on that experience and like what you get for the value as well. But it does, it creeps up really quick. And like you were saying, the tickets, even for nosebleeds these days, couldn't run you like at least $100, even for way up in the sands.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Yeah, and then and then, you know, again, bring up that aspect of even the nosebleeds. I mean, you also have to look at what you're getting for what you're paying. So you know, if you're paying $150 for the very, very top of a stadium and you're gonna bring binoculars just to watch the little ants run around in the field, like, how is that really a good experience? Like, you know, like you know, a lot of times in ever to have like the beginnings of a good experience, you have to be in the lower bowl, possibly even further up in the first couple rows. I mean, that's where tickets are four or five hundred dollars, you know, beginning, yeah, not even with club level. Now, club level does run the perks, so a lot of times include the food and drinks, and uh, you know, if you eat a lot or drink a lot, you know, maybe that offsets a little bit. But if you're a family of four just at decent tickets of four hundred dollars, that's sixteen hundred dollars just for tickets. Right now, granted, you know, obviously this falls under the 50, 30, 20, this falls under the 30 part of your budget. Now, you may not look at it as a one-month sum. If you go to one game a year, you can spread that over the 12 months and you know, pre-plan for that in your budget. But man, that's still, you know, if you're at $2,000, you know, over the course of you know 12 months and everything, you're still looking at $150, $200 a month of your budget going towards this one-day event. Yeah. Like, and that that to me is a floor-level price, even of it, because again, like you know, what used to be $20 park has become $40 and $60 a park. Yeah. Uh, you know, a popcorn there is, you know, eight, ten dollars, you know, beers twenty plus dollars. Like, you know, these things just keep adding up and adding up and adding up. And, you know, especially a lot of times also you start drinking and you start forgetting how much it's paying.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Exactly. That's where the alerts come into play. Yeah, yeah, you get a little business. Like transaction, transaction, transaction. You're like, uh abort, abort.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

You're like, I need another beer to cop cope with this. Yeah, so again, you know, if you were at you know, already $2,000 just getting in there and all of a sudden becomes $2,500, $3,000. I mean, you're at $300 a month of your budget just for a one-day event, let alone if you're a die hard fan trying to be a seasoned ticket holder to go to these games. Or, you know, like I mean, the NFL at least only has you know eight-ish home games, depending on if your team plays uh, you know, has a Europe a game or not or whatever, but eight-ish home games a year, maybe a little more manageable in that sense. But like if you're you know basketball or baseball, you know, basketball's 40 plus game games a year, you know, uh baseball's 126 games or whatever a year, like like half of those are home games and everything. So like that's that's a lot of games you're gonna have to go for. And then if they also make the playoffs, like those add up as well.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

I was gonna say, then tag on that extra amount, then too.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

Yeah, because you know, you usually if you're a seasoned pass holder that doesn't include playoffs, it gives you the first right to buy them, but you're still buying them.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Right, you still have to purchase it separately. Yeah, but that does actually bring up a good point that I was going to talk about as well. Is if you are the type of person that just loves to be in that environment with everyone cheering and especially home games for your team, you know, like there's nothing quite like being in the environment of 20,000 fans cheering for the same thing and having like all of that energy. But a season pass might be worth it if that's what you you know want to look into and you want to consistently go to the games. If you're spending the money, that might be the smarter route than just the individual. And then maybe limit yourself to then going to the bar for playoffs or something like that, to where like those extra costs add up. It could definitely help for sure, like the overall cost instead of just purchasing individual.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

No, and then like and like there are definitely, you know, as you mentioned, the uh the atmosphere of the of the fans there, uh, you know, trash talking booting the opponents and everything, uh, you know, can yeah, add add to that element. Uh, if you've never been to the stadium, it doesn't have to be your home team. Like a lot of times people like to travel around this different stadiums around the world, uh around the nation and everything, and right, you know, at least experience those things. If you got kids and they've never been to a game, you want to take them for the first time, you know, absolutely you get the get those uh perks and benefits from it. But man, oh man, you gotta make sure that if it's because you know again, it just it's it's jumped so much in the past 10, 20 years of the cost of going to this that I I begin to really, really struggle with you know, is it truly actually worth it? And again, in comparison to going to your sports bar, which we'll dive into in a moment, or just setting up your home theater system like we talked about back in the movie theater section, having those experiences I might be just further better along, especially if you aren't able to afford being closer to the game. Because you know, even to be in that nosebleed seat, that $150, if you're a family of four, that's $600 right there for a ticket, plus parking and everything else, you're still at probably $800 to $1,000 for the worst experience of being all the way up in the nosebleeds, you know, like having to shoe away the birds and uh you know push the airplanes up as they come behind and everything.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

I was gonna say with the binoculars, it could be a twofer. You're watching a game and bird watching at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

It's like, oh, that's a new one. Or you're watching the storms roll in if you're in Florida.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

You're like, get ready for lightning strike call. You're like, I see the rain coming.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Yeah, so like you know, and also a lot of times, I fully admit, and the in the upper level of the bowls, a lot of times the seats also get a little more vertical. And uh I've been up there and I am not a fan of heights.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Uh it is more of a you stand up and you feel it's more straight down than it should be. Yeah, and you get a little bit of the sway of the stadium and everything.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

I know they're built to handle that, like, especially I'm I'm a UCF fan. The bounce house is called a bounce house for a reason. Yeah, but man, when you get in these upper level bowls and uh you know you're you're several hundred feet in the air and it's swaying back and forth a little bit. Like, I I don't like it. No, no one told me how to take dramamine with the game, too. Seriously, yeah. I was like, you know, or you've or worse, you end up drinking more to try to offset it. And then that adds to your bill and everything as well. So uh but yeah, like you know, again, like that kind of you know breaks down. I think you know that most of these sports now have just gotten too high of a cost for what you're getting. Right. Um, and you know, the experience, and I know they've tried to enhance some in-stadium experiences. You know, the jumbotrons have gotten bigger, they've uh you know enhanced, but like I've actually caught myself a lot of times on these games, especially if I'm an upper level, I'm watching the jumbotron more than I am the actual field.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

But if I'm watching the jumbotron, why would you be there watching it on a screen when you could be somewhere else for cheaper watching the job? Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Yeah, because you know again, like I find myself like that's where I can at least still see the players and you know the jerseys and what they are. And I'm like, well, I'm paying to be here, I should be watching the actual field, right? You know, not the jumbotron to the side and everything. And so again, with that, like that kind of to me is one of the big factors of showing that maybe going to the game isn't the values in there. Right.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

No, I completely agree, especially like you said in the past 10 years it's gone up so much. And those bleeds used to be like $20 tickets, and now, like you said, you could spend up to like $150 depending on what kind of game it is and who they're playing, you know, the demand in it, and it's getting out of hand.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Yeah, definitely, definitely uh way out of hand on that. And and again, like to me, the the the package that they're offering just hasn't kept on par with the raise of that price. Um, maybe things will change in the coming years. I hope that a lot of these uh sporting teams, uh not just NFL, I'm not just trying to pick on them, but like you know, all the sporting uh events and games and everything will realize that we have to really elevate the package of what we're offering because TV sure as heck is, and I think we're gonna kind of cover a little bit of that with the sports bar and everything, uh, and also the home theater system. But like they they really gotta, if they want to keep earning our money from that, like they have to elevate uh the experience and everything. Otherwise, uh technology of TV is gonna lead them into dust.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Yeah, no, it really will. Yeah, but I think that segues us into the next section.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

Yeah, I think about it. We're gonna dive into showing what the difference of a sports bar and also with uh the home theater system. And we'll and again, at the end of this, we'll kind of bring it all back together, which we feel is our winner. Um let's go from there.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

All right. All right, so now we're gonna talk about watching it at a sports bar because that is where most people do go. It's a lot cheaper than buying the tickets, it's a lot more convenient. Let's say you had to work half the day, but you made it in time for the game, but you obviously can't get to the game. So where we go? Sports bar is very popular in that setting as well. So, like when you get there, if you're thriving off that energy that a stadium typically gives you, a sports bar will give you very similar. The only difference typically is there's going to be a lot of different people rooting for a lot of different teams depending on what games they're playing. So there'll be little pockets to find as well for your team. And then you also have the you know back and forth of my team scored, yours didn't, the booing, the cheering, the back and forth, probably some trash talk too. I've a couple times, you know, seen some people get a little heated over a game as well. That happens a lot. And so those are things that you do expect when you go to a bar, but at the same time, you're getting that energy from all the environment around you and all of the people excited or not. And you know, if your team wins, you get some bragging rights, you know, maybe a free drink.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

Yeah. Yeah, like and and and with that also, like, and yes, a lot of sports bars could have like the little mini-segments. If you just go like locally here, Miller's Ale House is probably you know the one of the main sports bars you go to on a on a football Sunday, one o'clock, and they'll have up on each TV what game is there, so you can kind of go in, like, hey, I want to sit on TV close to this game, so you can kind of pre-watch that. But you can also take it a step further if you want to be more around more like-minded fans, although a lot of these you can have fan pages that'll have watch parties announced on there, like, hey, we're gonna be at this specific alehouse on maybe International Drive for the the Buccaneers game and everything, and like all the Buccaneers fans could show up there and and be able to watch it from there, so then you have a lot more like-minded fans, everything. But typically, I enjoy kind of as you mentioned, having a little bit of that trash talk back and forth. Yeah, uh, but with it at a sports bar, the affordability definitely is much, much better than going to a game.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

Way better.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

For the most part, you're not paying for parking. Yep. Uh, you're you know, traffic getting there to and from, which we didn't even cover really the stadium game, is a lot of times the traffic gets so jammed up, you know, you're not having an issue usually parking at a sports bar. Yes, the parking lot may fill up, and maybe you have to get there a little early for that, but nowhere near quite the level of getting a.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

You're not waiting an hour to get in and then four hours to get out, you know.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

Usually there's not a cost to enter. Now, I know a lot of sports bars on maybe the Super Bowl might have like a cost of entry fee, or maybe you have to rent a table. So that one game is like the outlier caveat. A lot of times, also if there's like a big boxing match, sometimes I'll charge like a cover to come in and everything. Right. But for the most part, most sporting events, most days, that's what sports bars are built for. So they want you to come in. So like they they the the barrier of entry is minimal. Like you know, they don't usually require you to have to buy a certain amount of food or drinks and everything. You can you know stay pretty much as long as you want to watch the game and everything. Uh now, you know, for me, you know, me and the service industry, we want to keep ordering and drinking because we want to make sure the server, you know, it's worthwhile as being there, especially when you're there holding up a table for that long.

SPEAKER_00 13:11

Make it worth it for them.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Yeah, so that's uh that's our in the back of our head because of the industry that we're used to on that. But also, usually at sports bars, I mean, you know, beers are compared to $20 at a at a football game, probably more in the four to five dollar range for the main domestics. Now, yeah, sure you can get some microbrews imports and everything that are more expensive, but the main bulk of what is offered at a football stadium would be a quarter the price of what it would be.

SPEAKER_00 13:35

Oh, yeah. I mean, a Bud Light at a stadium, like you said, is gonna run you 20 bucks. A Bud Light at like Miller's or a sports bar is gonna run you four.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

Yeah. And then if you also add in the the bulk of like pitchers or buckets, usually they do a lot of promos and specials to make it more affordable. Uh the cost of food is a fraction of the cost. Like, you know, you can get you know appetizers and and and you know, burgers and whatever, you know, for you know, usually that that eight to fifteen dollar range uh compared to being eight dollars for a box of candy at a exactly you know at a major sporting event and everything. So you know now the only one downfall would be is lack of merchandise options because usually a sports bar, you're not able to buy merchandise from your favorite team and have those things that it can add on and everything. But with the power of the internet, you can also order most of those things and have a little bit of home. But like but also it also might help your budget too, because I know my kids, when we go to a sporting event, they'll see the foam fingers and uh you know the trinkets and whatever, and they want to buy those things, even though you know dang well they're gonna end up in the trash or torn or tossed before they even get home. I was gonna say probably before the game's even over, you know. Yeah, it's the impulse bar. You know, they see a shiny thing, like, ooh, I want to get that. Uh at least in a sports bar, you don't have that. Um plus one great thing with a sports bar, and this is a compare and contrast more with the at-home experience, is most sports bars pay already for every uh service possible to make sure the games are being shown.

SPEAKER_00 14:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Uh now we're gonna go over that with the home aspect of where there is a little bit of a challenge uh with that, but sports bars, because it's their business, like they're they make sure they have you know uh direct TV that have like Sunday football ticket, they'll have you know MLB package that have all the baseball games, you know, they'll have the boxing matches on there, they'll have uh MLS on Apple TV to get to soccer games, like they'll have all the sports packages imaginable because their goal is to show those, uh to bring those in. Um, and then with that, the the technology of also the experience of watching on TV has grown. You know, the TV's gotten bigger, uh, the you know, the cameras are more showing at the game, so you're getting right up in there seeing the play. A lot of the stream service now are even doing like play overlays where you can see what the play is going to be to develop. And there's even a new level, which we haven't don't have here, but I've seen another parts of the nation of these newer sports bars that are creating these uh like dome experiences. Um, they're almost like the sphere in Las Vegas, you know, that big sphere build. Yeah, but they're creating where it's a dome on the side and the projections on there and it's life size. So you go there and they actually have stadium style seating, and you can go in there and it's as if you're actually at the game on the sideline.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

So it's more of kind of like an IMAX mini IMAX kind of thing where it kind of wraps around you and just immerses you into it.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Yeah, now granted with that you have to go to one that's maybe show the exact game you want to watch. Uh and unfortunately, we don't have one of those in Orlando's. I've only seen on video and online the opportunities of these. Usually I've seen more like in Vegas and LA and uh New York and things, but I'm sure it's a growing brand coming out there. Now, this unfortunately I don't know as much about the cost and everything with it because again, it's newer and not here. Right. But again, I'm sure it's still a fraction of the cost of going to the game. Yeah. And with the technology, these projection mappings on the curved wall of like the sphere, like you can feel like you're pretty much right there, life size, right on the sideline. What would cost you probably, you know, $500 plus dollars a ticket, you're just getting for maybe a fraction of that with the food and drinks and still experiencing the live event right there, projection on there. So that might be a really fun alternative, even a subcategory from a normal sports bar if they're showing the specific game that you want.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

Right. No, absolutely. And uh another thing I wanted to bring up is if you your family wants to do this together, you know, like your whole family's into sports, or you're whatever game you're into, or whatever team that everyone wants to watch, you may not always want to take them into that environment of the bar. You know, like it is definitely going to be crowded and you have everyone drinking and things like that. And that's where possibly doing something at home, if you have a decent setup that you like, that could be definitely a better option.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

Well, and even in the sports bar element, um, you brought up a great point, which I you know didn't even think about there. Is I mentioned about the ease of barrier of entry, there's also ease of barrier of exit. Yeah, you know, if you have a kid that throws a fit or doesn't want to be there or feels sick or whatever, yeah, pay your tab and leave. Like you know, you can go home. If you're at a sporting event and you've paid that much money, hey, look at me. Suck it up. Like suck it up, you know, throw up in the bucket, whatever the case is, but we're not leaving this because we spent a lot of money. It's like you see we see this all the time at uh the theme parks as well. Like, yeah, mom and dad spent you know so much money for us to be here, you're gonna enjoy this dang it. Like you're gonna get through this. Uh and the same thing if you go to a sporting event, like you have this image in your head, especially if this is like a once-a year, once-a-lifetime experience, that you want to be there for the whole thing, and you know, it doesn't always go that way. You know, kids get bored, kids don't like it, kids get fidgety, you know, uh, you know, someone doesn't feel good, so you know, ate a bad shrimp, whatever they're saying on the top, had a bad taco, and then now you know their stomach's upset. But you don't want to leave because you're like, you know, I spent thousands of dollars on this. Like, you know, at a sports bar, like I just pay the tab and I'll go home and finish watching the game or listen to the radio on the way home, whatever the case is. Like, yes, it's not ideal to leave, but like the the barrier of exit is a fraction of what it would be. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

So it eliminates that whole feeling of torture for everyone at a certain point because then you're unhappy that they're unhappy because they're making you unhappy and they're fussy, you know, just the all the things just adding up that could happen at the stadium. Like you said, there's no easy get out from that, and you're not even that you want to either, like you were saying, you spend all that money, and so that's it. That is a great point to where you can just pay and go.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

Yeah. So then, as we were mentioning, there's also option to not go in the first place, which kind of brings us to the the third option, which is staying at home and watching it on on TV at home. Yeah. Um, now, again, fantastic option, especially with the way technology has come along. If you are a movie fan, you already built out your home theater sound system, you've already a step ahead of the game because you've already got your big screen, you probably got your surround sound, you got that whole setup already already going. So that barrier of entry cost is already gone because you've already bought the TV and everything. Now, the biggest issue is currently the battle of the streaming services. Yeah. So, while yes, you can watch whatever you want on there, you've also got to pay for whatever it is on there. Uh, whether that's through a direct TV or Amazon, Apple TV, MLB, you know, ESPN, what whatever each one's on, because especially for NFL, you know, the difference between Monday night football, Thursday night football, regular football, whether it's Fox or CBS, MBC, right? You have to have all these different things to be able to watch your season.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

And you know, Apple TV, if you're a soccer fan, you have to have the MLS add-on on top of the cost of Apple TV. So that's an additional cost right there. Uh, you know, baseball has MLB TV, that is again an additional cost uh to go with it. Uh college football and everything, whether you know your SEC, if you're a Texas Longhorn, have their own uh channel, Notre Dame has their own channel, like there's uh own things you have to pay for, these add-ons and everything, those can add up a lot. But the experience now, as we mentioned from the sports bar aspect, is the TV experience is far surpassing what used to be, and everything. So again, the nose bleed the stadium. Nope. These cameras are zoomed right in, right there. Yeah, you can see every drop of sweat on these guys. I uh, you know, the the the the camera's zooming in on the play. You know, uh Amazon uh came out uh recently where they overlay what they think the play is gonna be before you so you can already like if you're just uh you know wanting to enjoy without analyzing it too much, you can actually see if it's gonna be pass or run, where the route's going, right, you know, who's gonna mess up on that, who's gonna catch and and you know get the reception, whatever the case is, and the breakdown of that. So the technology of that experience is growing astronomically. So you know, having that at home again on a you know 50 plus inch or you know, 75 inch plus TV and everything, like way, way better to me than the nose bleeds at a stadium.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

Oh yeah, you can be right there. Also, another thing that they've started doing, at least for major games, that is really cool, is they for kids, you know, like they've done a SpongeBob one where it's like those characters are playing the football game and it is still the same game, but it's more animated with fun overlays and different things like that, and for kids to keep them more entertained, too. Because let's say you have a low attention span kid and you're all trying to watch the game. If you have another TV off to the side, or you can do a split screen kind of thing, like that's a good option for them too.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

No, again, you know, like you know, I know you know Disney's done it, Spongebob's done it, Nickelodeon uh slime and everything. Like you have all these different versions, and yeah, it definitely keeps it fun and interesting. Intriguing for a younger audience that you're trying to you know slowly edge into enjoying the sport. But also, as you mentioned, with the attention span, also if you're at home, kids can just leave. So, you know, like, hey, you know, leave that alone. I'm gonna go to your room and go play and everything so I can watch this thing. Uh, so again, you know, the cost of that is much lower. Plus, you know, going from a food and beverage standpoint, you buy it yourself. It's a lot cheaper buying from the grocery store and everything, setting things up, plus you know exactly how what it is you like and everything. Uh, and you don't have to also feel as elaborate to also have to eat and drink as much because, especially for us in the back of our head, we maybe buy a little more food and beverage at a sports bar because we feel like we have to make sure the server is worthwhile while we're being there, and also tipping the server and everything. Uh, because obviously, especially in our industry, like that's something that's big in our head, so we go way above the point of you know, well exceeding the what the normal you know 20% ish of a tip, because I look at it like, well, I was here for three or four hours. Also, like I need to make up for the other tables you didn't get because of us being here and everything. So to me, like I go way above and beyond in that element of it. Whereas at home, you don't have to. Exactly. You know, if you want to tip uh your spouse for making you a sandwich, sure then go at it. Uh, but for the most part, like you know, you can just yeah, have a beer uh and a bag of uh chips and then just enjoy the game. Yeah, and that cost is much, much lower uh than even go to a sports bar.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

So yeah, no, and if you want to lesser the cost lessen the cost even more, like for big games like the Super Bowl, like we mentioned, has just happened, have a watch party at your place. Like you have a good setup, everyone you know can come over, watch, they can bring food, they can or chip in for the wings and pizza or whatever you decide to get. Or let's say you had to pay for that streaming service, be like, hey, could everyone chip in $2? There's you know, there's the fun for the game. Yeah, so at home, definitely for the overall experience and the cost, I think is kind of where it's at for me. Every once in a while, I you know, treat yourself to a game, depending on you know what your finances are without blowing that budget. But I'm you know, the more I think about it, the more I do enjoy just having my own environment around me to be able to enjoy that.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

Yeah, and like and again, as you mentioned also with the idea of a watch party having friends over, you can still then have like-minded friends all rooting for the same thing, or even with just with super old, like you know, everyone just wants to watch the Super Bowl or the halftime show or whatever it is that they want to do in that entertainment. But even on a lot of times, a lot of people also do it for boxing matches, yeah, that are like the pay-per-view experience. So, like you're paying for that one-off, and it may be you know $100, $200 for that fight for the night. But you can have everyone that comes over, like, hey, everyone throw in 10 or 20 bucks. Now we've yeah, spread the cross cost out, or like you said, throw them for the pizza and wings and everything because then you have the spread, or people bring dishes. So then I maybe made a $20 dish, everyone else brings over a $20 dish. We have a ton of food for us to all eat now, but I've only spent $20 on that. So exactly a great way to also spread that out. Also, just enjoy your friends and uh family and company and everything in doing that because especially if you are rooting for the same team or experience or whatever, that still brings that that camaraderie of maybe you would gain a sports bar with the like-minded fans, but it's a home experience with having some some friends there and everything. Plus, if they have other kids and everything, it also helps keep the kids entertained. I know that's what we did for the watch party. We went over to a friend's house, I had uh a couple kids there around my kids' age, so they just got to go play and do their own thing and uh and you know, come back in whenever they wanted to, but they can come and go and not feel like that they had to sit there with mom and dad and be bored and everything for for four hours and everything. So definitely has that element, but now you know kind of look at like kind of the the breakdown of what we feel of the winners. I know you kind of already hinted your yours and everything, but I think we'll give a kind of little final battle of it and then uh we'll pick our different winner on that. So let's go ahead and get into that. All right. So I think Rana that we're gonna kind of dive into again a little bit of what each one has to offer, uh, and then from that the uh the element when we think that it's worth it, and uh, you know, which one we think is our overall winner. Uh so first off, obviously, is the live in-person experience at the stadiums. Uh, I do think it is something that you should do at once in your life, at least some at some sort of game. Yeah. Especially if you have kids, you know, you want to bring them so they can experience what it's like to be in a game, maybe get you know players' autographs, uh, things, have that once-in-a-lifetime memory. I don't necessarily know if it's a repeatable thing if you want to be with the season ticket aspect, uh, but definitely at least a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Maybe if you're one that's really a fan of one particular sport, traveling around and do checking out each of the stadiums uh for that sport, you know, checking that off of a bucket list while traveling around might be an element of something that's really important to you, of going to the different you know, baseball uh parks, the different football stadiums, things that so you have those experiences that have as your long-term travel memory. Um, but as a normal regular basis, I I definitely struggle with that being uh the winner in this proud pesto.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

So yeah, I'm with you on that because the overall cost of it, you know, just combining everything between like we talked about the parking, the food, and everything like that. I agree with you. And then the bar is a great option, you know. Like if you want to get out and be social, uh you are getting out, you know, you're enjoying that environment still of everyone there, the rivalries between people. And like you said, if there's something that did happen, you have that ability to just pay your check and get out of here. Um, however, you are still spending more money because you know, you're there for three or four hours, that will add up. It won't be as much as a stadium, but you are still going to be spending probably two, three hundred dollars throughout that time. I know we do it by the time the food and the beer is all said and done. Um, so it's one of those that it's good uh middle ground option. You're not breaking the budget, but you're still enjoying it. But for me, moving to a lesser cost is a little bit better.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

Yeah, like and also you were bringing up a great point of also a con for both the the sports bar and also stadium is also just to be able to enjoy the friends and family that you're with because a lot of times you might feel conflicted in the aspect of having conversations with uh like that are outside of like the importance of the sport because it might be distracting to other people around, you're also not taking in what's uh what's happening live, but like you know, you might upset the people around you that are paying them really good money as well to watch this while you're just talking about the weather or whatever else. Exactly. Uh so having that element of like, hey, yes, the game's on, but I don't have to be quite as focused on it, uh, is definitely uh you know an element where the home theater kind of comes in again as well compared to both sports bars and a live stadium. Uh, but definitely if you're looking at trying to save money from the thousands of dollars uh for going to a game, now we're at the hundreds of dollars uh for a sports bar. But if you also go there on a regular basis, that adds up as well and everything. So you definitely want to make sure that that still fits in your budget because if you're spending $200 a week, you know, every week for a month, I mean that's you know $800,000. That adds up really fast as well. So now if you want to just go there maybe for like the uh big games like playoffs or the super bowl or championships things, you know, maybe that makes a little more sense in that area, but definitely adds up much faster than I would like. Which then brings us to, I think, uh our overall winner of the third option, uh, much like we did with the movie theater. Yeah. We're back to the home theater now. You know, you may call us uh you know old funny duddies that always want us to be a home buddy or whatever, but but at the end of the day, like you know, it just makes the most sense. Like, you know, you can customize what you want. Uh you don't have to buy all the different sports packages things. If you only like a certain sport or certain team, you can you can narrow down to what it is you want to watch. Um, you're also not bound to have to watch it if something else happens. You know, if you uh go to a different, you know, want to leave the house for whatever reason, kids have an activity to take you to, whatever it is, you you can you can leave. Um, you can also add in the element of camaraderie, bring your friends and family over to watch it together, which also still gives that social element of gaining from that. Uh, but also just the comfort of also just being home and being who you are and what you want to do at a fraction of the cost of even a sports bar. Because again, while stadium might be thousands, uh you know, going to sports bars hundreds, you're looking at probably tens or twenties for uh on the average cost to watch at home. Like, yes, you might have to buy the monthly streaming service or have your cable package, but odds are you already have the cable package or whatever built in because you have other entertainment. Maybe you have the add-on plugins. Like if you were a big soccer fan, you might have been at like the MLS uh streaming add-on. Uh, but again, that you know, that's you know, usually you know $10-ish dollars a month and everything. So again, over the course of a month, that's far less of what you're paying for the go to sports bar, the beer and the food and everything, you're gonna eat in that anyway. So, again, that's already built into your food budget. Maybe you splurge a little bit on a football game for whatever you're watching, but again, it's still far less than uh what it would be even at sports bar. You're not having to tip as well. Yeah, you're not having to feel guilty for being there for the amount of time and everything, of having to tip extra and everything for for that. And as you mentioned before, about if your friends are having coming over, you can spread that cost out even more and make it much more cost effective on top of the fact you can get as big of a television as you want to watch it.

SPEAKER_00 30:42

Yeah, no, exactly. And uh for the streaming services too, there's no contracts to those anymore at all from the ones I see. So you can just do it for that month and then just let it go, or for just the season, you know, you can pay for that. It's you're not something you're locked in year round. So that definitely helps the cost of that too.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

Yeah, like again, like you know, certain things like direct either the uh Sunday NFL ticket, you had to buy for the whole ticket or half season they do, I think, as well. Uh, but like you said, like you can also bake that into your annual budget and everything. Uh and then all these other regular streaming services, whether it's just your normal, you know, your Fox, your Hulu, uh, CBS, things like that. Yeah, you could add on and drop as you want, uh, you know, pay for only that season, dropping it right afterwards. Um, you know, so there's definitely ways around to make it even more affordable. Uh, but again, like you can pick and choose based on what you want to watch and and fit it into that, your lifestyle and your your what works for you and everything. Yeah. Because especially like, you know, a lot of the uh football, generally speaking, you know, is gonna be you know, Monday night football, Sunday all day and everything. Uh college football is all day Saturday, but like there are other sports, like you know, basketball, baseball, and things that are almost every other day, and it's hard to fit that all in and everything. So you might not want to get a ticket and everything uh for that for the the whole season because maybe it doesn't fit into what days you can actually watch the things. That also goes into the aspect of if you buy a season ticket, you're like, I know my buddy has season tickets uh for the magic years ago, and he found himself really pressed to go to a Thursday night game uh after work and everything. So you sometimes those tickets just end getting lost, uh, you know, and that's a wasted cost. Same thing goes if you buy the whole season of a certain package and you can't watch them. So maybe also fine-tuning exactly where it is that fits you uh for those games actually works out as well. But I think at the end of the day, definitely the home theater experience I think is our big winner. Uh and then with that, like you know, if you agree or disagree, please, you know, let us know. You know, put it in the comments. Tell us what you spent at a sporting game, uh sporting event, because like we threw out some numbers, but I'm sure some of you spent even way more. I mean, oh yeah. I'm sure we've all seen the TikTok videos of the amazing spreads you can get, especially I know like the the Raiders uh stadium in Vegas can do some really amazing spreads in uh their VIP private uh rooms and things of like it's like a version of nightclub with the you know bottle service and crazy spreads are thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars. Um but like you know, tell us did you think it was worth it? Do you think he got over overpriced for that? Did you get the value for that? Um, if you agree with the home theater uh aspect, you know, tell us how your system's set up and everything, what what it is you pay for the watch at home, because again, we're all trying to figure this out. Like, this is our opinion that the home theater system wins. But if you agree or disagree, we're willing to discuss that and everything. Yeah, we're not saying it's our way or the highway, like we just based off what we're looking at, the dollars and cents of what probably most budgets are at. I don't feel the live experience or even sometimes the bar experience fits most people's budgets. Uh, you know, if you're in a tax bracket much higher, uh, you know, the one percenters, even the 10%ers, like sure thing, maybe maybe that fits in more. But for the average middle class family and everything, this is you know, the home theater experience is really the only way to go.

SPEAKER_00 33:43

Yeah, especially if you're already building out that home theater system and you're already setting it up and you've already got that because that's a goal and it's already worked into your budget, it's definitely the best cost effective as well. Yeah, for sure. And for us, the overall experience versus cost, and we're not saying we don't also want to go to a game every once in a while. Like you said, everyone should do it at least once because there's nothing quite like going to a sporting event like that. Yeah, it is just energetic, it's a lot of fun to do and experience, but it doesn't have to be every single time. But like you said, put in the comments how much have you spent on games or season passes and things like that, excluding the Super Bowl, maybe, because we all know that starts at like five grand a ticket, and that's the amount of money they make off of that. Yeah. Uh that one game a year. Yeah, it's beyond me.

SPEAKER_01 34:34

Yeah, no, no, it's insane, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_00 34:36

But tell us your value versus cost and what you think is worth it. Make sure to like, comment, subscribe because that also helps us too. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 34:44

And until next time, uh, you know, keep building with us and everything. We're gonna get to our our financial goals together. And next we're gonna kind of dive in again of what we're looking at with our investment tracking at this point. You know, we did last month with our six different uh theories. Yeah. Next uh week we're gonna talk about uh how they're doing, and I'm gonna tell you right now, there's some uh pretty shocking results already from even just three months in.

SPEAKER_00 35:04

I was gonna say when you when you showed me where we were at, I was like, oh that's gonna upset a few things.

SPEAKER_01 35:10

Big changes. So uh stay tuned to see what it looks like, and uh we'll go from there.

SPEAKER_00 35:13

All right, until next time.