Ohio State football wants you to pay $50 to watch practice. (I'd pay $0.) | Toppmeyer – Knoxville News Sentinel

I’m going to let you in on a secret. OK, maybe it’s not a secret, but I don’t usually publicize this.
I don’t enjoy attending football practices.
In fact, I find them pretty boring.
Among the activities I enjoy more than watching football practice:
∎ Watching the sun set over the ocean.
∎ Watching the sun set over the desert.
∎ Watching the sun set anywhere.
∎ Watching a bird feed on a feeder.
∎ Watching a bartender make a cocktail.
∎ Watching a “Seinfeld” rerun.
∎ Watching a women’s tennis match.
∎ Watching a basketball practice.
I could go on, but I’ll spare you further elaboration.
Attending practices was part of the job during my years as a beat writer covering Missouri and then Tennessee. One of the top perks of my promotion to columnist in 2021 — in addition to the modest pay raise and seeing my column headshot printed in the fish wrap — was that my job duties no longer required me to attend practices.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting being a sportswriter is an arduous job. In fact, it’s a mostly enjoyable job and a relatively easy one. But, hey, every job has its undesirable tasks. And attending practice fell into that bucket during my years as a beat writer.
I enjoy football. Very much so. I just don’t get much out of watching a big fella slam into a blocking sled or a quarterback completing a pass while the nearest defender is 200 yards away on a different practice field.
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Why am I telling you this?
Because now, Ohio State wants fans to pay $50 to attend a preseason football practice.
Let me reiterate: They’re not going to pay you to watch practice. (I’d consider this, depending on the hourly rate.) They want you, the fan, to pay them.
The $50 entry fee also comes with a pair of Ohio State sunglasses. In other words, you’re coughing up 50 bucks for a pair of sunglasses.  
What’s next? A tavern charging you to simply walk through the door? (Wait a second, I’ve heard of this . . . ) An airline charging you to bring aboard a carry-on bag? (Hold on now . . . )
I can’t say I’m surprised by the Buckeyes’ panhandling. Athletic departments, braced for the reality that they’ll soon have to share revenue with athletes, are searching under rocks for new revenue streams. And athletic departments’ favorite revenue stream remains squeezing more money out of fans.
I also don’t doubt that hundreds of fans will pay $50 to watch practice. Diehard fans have engaged in crazier behavior than this.
But I’m thinking there might be a better use of that money.
Select tickets for each of Ohio State’s three nonconference games are going for less than $50 apiece.
The way I see it, paying $50 for real football is better than forking over that cash to watch drills in preseason practice.
Of course, the regular-season tickets don’t come with sunglasses, or a side dish of boredom.  
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s SEC Columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer. Also, check out his podcast, SEC Football Unfiltered.

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