Howell High School offers 19 sports for men and 21 sports for women. While there are many athletes in-season at any given point, there are plenty of other athletes in off-season along with other non-athlete students that want to come watch their friends play. This can be difficult, however, as admission prices to every game are five dollars; a small cost that builds up over the course of a year.

Each sports season has many games. Basketball for example has over 20 games every season. While roughly only half of the games are played at home, the cost of driving as well as admission can quickly build up when one attends multiple games over multiple sports seasons.

At the beginning of the school year an all-admission sports pass is available for purchase. The passes are available for a cost of around 60-70 dollars, and while that cost is often less than the cost of paying for admission time and time again, any cost can be tough for a student to foot.

For some students, this cost may not be a problem due to the willingness of their parents or job money to fund their tickets. For other students who may have less money, coming up with $60 for an all-admission pass from their own funds can be difficult. Having a job can help pay this price, but for underclassmen, holding a job is a rarity. Even for upperclassmen, a job might not be an option due to AP classes and extracurriculars.

If an all-admission pass is not bought by the student, admission at the entrance is $5 per person. This serves to be one of the biggest deterrents for students wanting to come to an athletic event and leads to diminishing student sections at games.

Coming from an athlete, a large student section is one of the best things that any sports team can have. The energy, enthusiasm, and support offered by a large student section is a driving force behind a team’s success. But without a large student section, the energy of a team can dwindle and negatively affect the outcome of a season. Obviously the crowd size isn’t the only factor behind a team’s success, but it definitely holds a large role.

It is necessary to draw in students at school sporting events to bring in money for the school, including the athletic department. To be able to keep the lights on and the concessions selling, money needs to be made. There is more than the single solution of free admission for students (with an I.D.) also.

Admission costs don’t necessarily need to be free and they most certainly do not need to be $5 a game. A happy medium of $1-2 would suffice. That would allow the school to still draw a good profit, while making it much more manageable for a student to attend a game. Hopefully this will lead to a bigger student section and  possibly improved results in terms of the outcome of the game. As someone who attends the school, one should be able to attend sporting events of the school for a discounted price. Doing so would likely only draw positive results.