We ran the numbers, and it turns out that the $35 ($39.42 after fees) value for Penn State men’s basketball student season tickets pays for itself very quickly.

Each individual home basketball game costs $5 for students, so the tickets pay for themselves after just seven of the 18 home games. The Nittany Lions will surely play some great games at home, especially with top-25 teams like Ohio State and No. 1 Michigan State on their schedule.

The season tickets also include free food with admission to every game. If we assume the food holds a $7 value, then the season tickets will pay for themselves after just three games. Even if you can’t stay for the whole time, the Bryce Jordan Center can act as a bonus dining hall on home game days. You can grab a bite and catch a few minutes of Penn State hoops thanks to your season ticket.

If you go to every game and take advantage of the free food, you’ll actually come out $84 ahead if you keep track of the money you’d otherwise spend on food. That’s more than enough to buy your season tickets for the next two seasons, but more realistically, it’d do wonders while helping you pay for a ticket to the NCAA Tournament (which they promise Penn State is going to this year).

Head coach Pat Chambers also ran a promotion where he would donate $10 to THON with every purchase of a student season ticket during the week leading up to the season. So, if you subtract that from the cost of the ticket and incorporate food costs, you would get your money’s worth in just two games.

To be fair, three of the games are technically over winter break, so 17 home games realistically turn into 14, but you can still miss half the games, buy food with your own money, and not have purchased during the THON promotion to STILL get your money’s worth.

Plus, at each game, you run the chance of winning a free TV — that the team somehow has hundreds of — which would actually put you in the profit margins.

About the Author

Ryan Parsons

Ryan is a redshirt senior majoring in business and journalism from "Philadelphia" and mostly writes about football nowadays. You can follow him on Twitter @rjparsons9 or say hi via email at ryanparsons@onwardstate.com.

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