Before the season started, the softball program announced that for the first time, general admission tickets would be $5. For alumni of the program, current players and staff, the news was great. It meant the program would finally have a monetary value. However, for others, the news was not taken very well.
I had a conversation with someone recently who remarked, “Why would I want to pay to watch softball?” Here’s a better question- why wouldn’t you? You have the opportunity to watch a Division I softball program for $5. You don’t want to work for free. Why should this team work for free?
In Louisiana, there are nine other Division I softball programs. Out of those nine, five schools charge for games. Those ticket prices range from $5.75 to $12 for a game. ULM is the cheapest out of those.
Let’s take the home series against Texas State. The total attendance for all three games was 952. Now, let’s say that 200 were students. That leaves 752 tickets that were bought. That’s $3,760 that the team was able to bring in compared to $0 before this season.
That money is going to be well spent for stadium renovations and various other costs that need to be offset during the season. Softballs don’t magically fall from the sky. They’re expensive.
You can’t say that you’re a donor and supporter of ULM athletics if you refuse to go to softball games because of a $5 ticket. But I’m sure the money you pay for other athletics is completely justifiable, right?
These ladies work extremely hard to put on an entertaining game each and every time they step onto the field. Crowd support goes a long way.
At the end of the day, the choice is your own. If you don’t want to pay $5 to watch the softball team, that’s your choice. But shame on you. Myself and the rest of the real supporters will be there every chance we get.