Richard Clement / Reuters

A young baseball fan tries to collect autographs at a Portland (Ore.) Beavers game in 2006.

4. High school sports

In Katy, Texas, there was quite the hubbub when before this season, a local school district raised the admission price for football games — to $6 when paid in advance, $12 on game day. That latter number is about as pricey as it gets, even in the hottest of high-school hotbeds.

In Indiana, you can see all eight boys' high school basketball teams in the powerful North Central Conference — which includes the two largest high school gyms in the world, New Castle (9,314) and Anderson (8,996), and no facility that seats fewer than 5,200 — for $5 a ticket, or $40 total. For $45, you can get one ticket, for one of the worst seats in the lower level, for an Indiana Pacers game. No wonder Pacers attendance craters when the team stinks and/or shows up frequently in the police blotter.

5. Women's professional sports

I realize for a lot of sports fans the WNBA is merely a source of annoying advertising during the NBA playoffs. However, the WNBA becomes a more desirable option when you realize you might only have to pay $11 to see Candace Parker in a playoff game in the Staples Center. Hey, if John Wooden has a deep appreciation of the women's game, shouldn't you?

Especially at these prices. Or, for $10, you can watch Jennie Finch pitch for the Chicago Bandits of the National Pro Fastpitch league, which has been around since 1997. The bonus is you can bring your daughter, niece or cousin and show her a woman can be more than a cheerleader at a pro sporting event.

6. Major League Soccer

OK, it is clear that soccer is never going to break the football-basketball-baseball hegemony. When is soccer season, exactly?

And why are MLS teams playing “friendlies” and foreign teams and games against each other that don't count, all in the middle of the year?

These questions probably won't be answered immediately at an MLS game.

However, you can get an entertaining game at a relatively low price with an intense fan base that rivals hockey for its passion among general apathy. Also, if you've been scarred by too much standing around on cold days watching your small child and other small children chase a soccer ball together like a crazed centipede, you can be assured that soccer, played well, is a game of skill and grace, rather than an event that's merely a prequel to dispensing pretzels and juice boxes.

MLS is more expensive than other low-dough events on this list, but it's not out of reach. The Chicago Fire, like its city minor-league hockey league brethren, take the four-pack approach: four tickets (seats behind and to the left of the south goal) and four Cuauhtemac Blanco T-shirts for $105.

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