About

SportsonaDime.com Beginning

In third grade I decided I wanted to be an accountant like my dad since I loved math. My other passion was sports. I became a CPA and my day job is working as a Financial Controller. I get paid to find ways to reduce costs. My indulgence in life is attending sporting events. I have five children and as you can imagine, my personal budget allowance for attending sporting events is limited. Over time I have learned ways to pay “Dimes” for the same seats others have paid “Dollars” for.

Going to Cameron to see Duke

Catching a Duke Blue Devils game at Cameron Indoor Stadium should be on every sports enthusiasts’ bucket list. That was probably the hardest thing to write in my entire life since I’m a faithful North Carolina Tarheel fan (our dog of 15 years was named Tarheel). Although tickets on reseller sites were going for north of $200 for the Indiana Hoosiers vs Duke Blue Devils in the ACC Big 10 challenge in 2006, we got in for $30!  My two friends on each side of me in the picture have provided much unplanned inspiration for this blog. The one in the lighter shirt is a former Mr. Basketball for our state and not only shares the same basketball passion as I do, but gave me the idea to start this blog. The one in the blue shirt is the faith behind our Cameron experience and can shoot 3′s like JJ Redick. He loves to work the scalpers right before game time for incredible bargains. Much to our surprise that night, we ran into several kind Duke alumni willing to sell us their extra tickets for face value.

SportsonaDime.com Mission

My mission is to save you money when you buy tickets to a sporting event. How often do neighbors list very comparable homes for sale and the one that is slightly smaller sells for twice what the other home sells for? If you paid double and later found out, wouldn’t your stomach turn in knots every time you thought about it? While this doesn’t happen in the housing market, this happens all the time at sporting events. I don’t want you to find out the person sitting in the row below you paid substantially less than you.

Who to buy from

I’m sure the first question on your mind is who do I recommend you buy from to get the best possible price for a given seat location. There are lots of options such as the official team ticket box office, scalpers, season ticket holders, and secondary ticket markets like Stubhub and Ticketsnow. The answer to the golden question is “It Depends”. The purpose of SportsonaDime.com is to help you understand when its advantagous for you to purchase your tickets from the various options. In addition, when the low cost option is a secondary ticket market, I want to help you get the best possible seats for the absolute lowest price. When we hear the word “scalper” we immediately think of someone trying to turn a hefty profit on us. When you learn to think outside the “ticket box”, you will learn that sometimes the official team football ticket box office will charge you 10 times what someone selling tickets on Stubhub or Ticketsnow.com is asking.

Not just the Ticket Price

Besides saving your hard earned dollars, I also want to improve your overall experience at your sporting events. Some of those ideas are geared toward adults, while others will make your kids experience memorable without costing you extra money.