What is the reasoning for making a 1 year old need a ticket?

[StillTbonewannabe]

We have a friend bringing the entire family to the game and she called the ticket office to double check. Apparently everyone has to have a ticket. I would have thought it was like airline rules where if a kid was young enough to not need a seat then they wouldn't need a ticket. Even Disney doesn't charge for kids under 3.

Why would we want to make it harder on young families to have kids grow up at games. This feels very greedy / short sighted. We don't have kids so never thought about it. Has it always been this way?

 

[champdawg.sixpack]

It was around 2007 or so. I would carry my kids in for no charge till then Now they have to carry me

 

[johnson86-1]

Just a guess but quite possibly has to do with not trusting people to keep small children in their lap the whole game. The seats are already tight. Even a 2 year old is likely to take up a little extra space that isn’t available and drawing the line at the gate on when a kid is too big would be a nightmare.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

We have a friend bringing the entire family to the game and she called the ticket office to double check. Apparently everyone has to have a ticket. I would have thought it was like airline rules where if a kid was young enough to not need a seat then they wouldn't need a ticket. Even Disney doesn't charge for kids under 3.

Why would we want to make it harder on young families to have kids grow up at games. This feels very greedy / short sighted. We don't have kids so never thought about it. Has it always been this way?

As far as I can remember it’s been that way.

As a father who has taken my kids to games, there’s no way I would go in without having a ticketed seat for a one year old anyway. They aren’t going to sit in laps the whole game.

 

[Dawg Raid]

$$$$

 

[Xenomorph]

Even Disney doesn't charge for kids under 3.

A theme park and a football stadium are not remotely similar. Neither in personal space nor the fact that evidently fun happens at one and not the other.

 

[RocketDawg]

The reasoning is ... money.

 

[hatfieldms]

Just a guess but quite possibly has to do with not trusting people to keep small children in their lap the whole game. The seats are already tight. Even a 2 year old is likely to take up a little extra space that isn’t available and drawing the line at the gate on when a kid is too big would be a nightmare.

This.
Most sporting events require everyone to have a ticket. As they should

 

[thatsbaseball]

You ain't seen nothing yet, there'll be more and more innovative ideas down the road to get more and more money out of you These are the good old days ***

ETA: It won't stop until enough people say ENOUGH !

 

[17itdawg]

We've always gotten my kids a ticket to a sporting event unless we know that they don't need one AND there will be plenty of space for them. If we think there's a chance space and seats will be tight, we always get them one just to be safe. We tried once with our youngest at Rupp to have him sit in our laps the whole game. I spent most of that game in the tunnels by the club area letting him run up and down the hallway providing entertainment for the blue coat guy.

 

[kired]

You’re going to have at least a diaper bag that’s going to take up space. Even if the kid is in your lap, we always used a seat just for the stuff we’d need to bring and ease of handling food, drinks, etc

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

You ain't seen nothing yet, there'll be more and more innovative ideas down the road to get more and more money out of you These are the good old days ***

ETA: It won't stop until enough people say ENOUGH !

But it’s not something new and it’s certainly not exclusive to MSU.

 

[Perd Hapley]

It’s probably also state and local law related to the fire code. If 50,000 people attend a game and all 50,000 have a 1 year old in their laps, you have a complete catastrophe with 100,000 human lives at stake if any kind of disaster occurs. A lot of children at risk and adults as well, who can’t move as fast due to having to carry children.

Is that scenario somewhat preposterous? Absolutely. But its possible, and the ticket policy has to be robust enough so that even if every single person in the stadium chose a particular course of action that was allowed by the policy, everything would be OK.

That scenario doesn’t really come into play on an airplane, because if a fire or something happens, there’s nowhere you can really go anyway. A disaster happening midflight is going to universally affect all passengers, regardless of how many or few of them there are.

 

[HotMop]

Better question, Why bring a 1 year old to a football game?

 

[Felonious Junk]

Not this sht again. Lemme guess you’re a left lane driver too

 

[QuaoarsKing]

Where do you draw the line? It's a lot easier to just say everyone needs a ticket than have some arbitrary size/age cutoff when every kid is different anyway.

 

[olblue]

We have a friend bringing the entire family to the game and she called the ticket office to double check. Apparently everyone has to have a ticket. I would have thought it was like airline rules where if a kid was young enough to not need a seat then they wouldn't need a ticket. Even Disney doesn't charge for kids under 3.

Why would we want to make it harder on young families to have kids grow up at games. This feels very greedy / short sighted. We don't have kids so never thought about it. Has it always been this way?

The only thing worse than taking a kid under three to a football game is sitting near someone who brought a kid under three to a football game.

 

[Darryl Steight]

It was around 2007 or so. I would carry my kids in for no charge till then Now they have to carry me

Yeah, it definitely used to be that as long as the kid could sit in your lap, no ticket necessary. My older kids got in that way. Of course, you used to could smoke on airplanes too. This is just the way of the world these days, not MSU being especially greedy.

 

[The Peeper]

Why would we want to make it harder on young families to have kids grow up at games.

So that the vast majority of the attendees that aren't there w/ young kids can enjoy themselves without being kicked in the back, have drinks poured down their backs, won't have to put up w/ parents walking back and forth in front of them taking kids w/ micro bladders back and forth to the rest rooms, etc etc etc. In short I think its to discourage all of the above until the kids are old enough to be there w/out making it a bad experience for those around them. The distance between rows @ DWS is ridiculously small in most areas and its not conducive for moving around much which young kids are by nature going to do

 

[paindonthurt]

We have a friend bringing the entire family to the game and she called the ticket office to double check. Apparently everyone has to have a ticket. I would have thought it was like airline rules where if a kid was young enough to not need a seat then they wouldn't need a ticket. Even Disney doesn't charge for kids under 3.

Why would we want to make it harder on young families to have kids grow up at games. This feels very greedy / short sighted. We don't have kids so never thought about it. Has it always been this way?

Bc people who pay for their tickets don’t want you and your kid all up in their space

 

[paindonthurt]

You ain't seen nothing yet, there'll be more and more innovative ideas down the road to get more and more money out of you These are the good old days ***

ETA: It won't stop until enough people say ENOUGH !

The people with a little common sense would say enough to you bringing in your kid for free and then expecting me to make room for him/her

 

[paindonthurt]

Better question, Why bring a 1 year old to a football game?

And not be willing to pay for his/her ticket

 

[dgsmith15]

 

[horshack.sixpack]

Just a guess but quite possibly has to do with not trusting people to keep small children in their lap the whole game. The seats are already tight. Even a 2 year old is likely to take up a little extra space that isn’t available and drawing the line at the gate on when a kid is too big would be a nightmare.

In general admin, it would guarantee that the person in front of you got both your knees, and your kid's feet, in their back for a lot of the game. I still think it is most likely greed. If they cared about gameday experience/seat comfort, we would have seen a lot of different things improve...

 

[40 acres and a mule]

It was around 2007 or so. I would carry my kids in for no charge till then Now they have to carry me

Let's see before 2007?? Who was the coach then? 2007 was about the end of Croom, right? The stadium was basically empty before 2007. No one cared how many kids were there.

 

[Pilgrimdawg]

I am 71 but sometimes act like I am 1. Do I need a ticket?

 

[patdog]

Because you & your wife are going to take up more than 2 seats with your 1-year old. Dint be the arsehole who tries to take up 3 seats when only 2 are yours.

 

[FormerBully]

Hot Take: Kids 4 and under should be outlawed from all sporting events. If you do bring them, you will have to pay double because of the headache they cause to those around.

I got season tickets one year, and the couple next to us brought one for their two-year-old. The kid would cry every game, and the clear diaper bag to up our leg space. The kid never made it past halftime, and the mom stopped coming with the kid after three games. I liked it because we had a lot more space with two people not showing up next to us.

 

[thatsbaseball]

But it’s not something new and it’s certainly not exclusive to MSU.

No doubt and I in fact agree with making everyone have a ticket. I guess my point was there will be more and more expenses associated with attending college football (and just about all other forms of entertainment) for the foreseeable future until the public is priced out.

 

[MSUDC11-2.0]

I took my one year old to a game a couple of years ago and it was a miracle we even made it to halftime. We left at that point.

You’ve either gotta have one parent with you that doesn’t mind entertaining the child in the concourse most of the game or you’ve gotta be willing and prepared to leave the game early.

My daughter is now three and my in person attendance has gone way down since she was born. She isn’t old enough to last very long at a game and I feel guilty ditching my family to go to a bunch of games without them.

 

[Dawgbite]

I am 71 but sometimes act like I am 1. Do I need a ticket?

Yes. And I’m pretty sure I smell a dirty diaper.

 

[shep9332]

Better question, Why bring a 1 year old to a football game?

And it's a Mississippi State football game. It could be considered child abuse.

 

[Howiefeltersnstch]

Hard to even believe this is a serious question. Hope they bring ear plugs for the kid. Or should those be provided free ?

 

[FormerBully]

I took my one year old to a game a couple of years ago and it was a miracle we even made it to halftime. We left at that point.

You’ve either gotta have one parent with you that doesn’t mind entertaining the child in the concourse most of the game or you’ve gotta be willing and prepared to leave the game early.

My daughter is now three and my in person attendance has gone way down since she was born. She isn’t old enough to last very long at a game and I feel guilty ditching my family to go to a bunch of games without them.

My wife and I gave up season tickets when we had our daughter. She is now 5, and my son is 2. We will get season tickets again when he turns 6.

 

[CochiseCowbell]

This is where I inform y'all my son's age for his first Egg Bowl this week, for approval right?**

 

[StillTbonewannabe]

Bc people who pay for their tickets don’t want you and your kid all up in their space

I don't have kids so I fall more in the "keep your kid out of my space" but we have friends and I thought it wasn't a very good strategy in the shrinking attendance world of giving people excuses to not come to the game.

 

[StillTbonewannabe]

You’re going to have at least a diaper bag that’s going to take up space. Even if the kid is in your lap, we always used a seat just for the stuff we’d need to bring and ease of handling food, drinks, etc

I don't have kids so I didn't think of this angle. This makes the most sense to me.

 

[StillTbonewannabe]

Not this sht again. Lemme guess you’re a left lane driver too

Yes, except I am the guy tailgating mfers for not passing slow drivers.

 

[paindonthurt]

I don't have kids so I fall more in the "keep your kid out of my space" but we have friends and I thought it wasn't a very good strategy in the shrinking attendance world of giving people excuses to not come to the game.

Fair but it’s been that way for a while and it should be that way.

Most people have little regard for other people and their personal space.

 

[Trojanbulldog19]

1. You have a lot of crap with a 1 year old. You need to buy an extra seat for your child and all the crap you have to bring. And just operating wit a child takes up space. It's not worth paying for tickets if you can't stay more than a quarter hence why we don't go. If we do go it would just to be to hang out at the tailgate and even then that's a lot of trouble