I'm mentoring a group of great kids from a local high school (in the
San Francisco area).  In addition to doing the 'serious' stuff like
taking them to work, helping them prepare for interviews, encouraging
them to actually do their homework, etc., I want to take them out to
do fun stuff.  One of our common interests is sports, so I'm looking
to find sporting events that I can take them to that will be
interesting and not break my wallet.  Then I discovered that 49ers
tickets are *expensive*, good seats at the Sharks games are only
marginally less expensive, and then I ran out of ideas.  (The problem
is that I grew up so far away from any professional sporting stadium
that I got used to watching my favorite teams on TV and haven't ever
really wanted to buy tickets to a live event.)

I'm open for pretty much any type of sport; the kids are definitely
interested in baseball, football, and hockey, but I think they'd
probably go in for anything. (It's too bad soccer season is over -
even the cheapie seats to see the Earthquakes were good.)

I'd like suggestions for affordable events to take them to as well as
links to somewhere I can buy tickets.  It's also possible I've just
been looking in the wrong places for 49ers tickets - the only prices I
was seeing were $100+ per ticket, which is more than I had in mind.

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Request for Question Clarification by missy-ga on 09 Nov 2002 07:32 PST

Hi Lexi,

Must it be professional level sports?  You might be surprised at how
much fun college and high school sports can be, especially with the
right group of people.  Some cities also offer community sports
leagues (here in Toledo, we have hockey and soccer programs).

How many kids?  Group rates are sometimes available, depending on the
event.  Those do vary by group size, though.

--Missy

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Clarification of Question by lexi-ga on 09 Nov 2002 12:49 PST

The group is pretty small - three kids plus maybe some of their
friends - so I don't think we'd be eligible for any 'group' rates
because those seem to require dozens of people.

College games would probably be ok. (They already go to watch their
own high school teams play - while this is certainly fun, I'm looking
for something a little more 'special'.)

Hello,

You're unlikely to get affordable 49ers tickets. However, there are
plenty of affordable sporting events in the SF area. Arena Football is
always fun, and college basketball is great, too. There's also the
NBA's Golden State Warriors, who play in Oakland and sell tickets for
as little as $10 each. I've compiled some information for you below.

Golden State Warriors
The Arena in Oakland
Tickets: $10 and up
Next game: Nov. 13
Use TicketMaster to purchase tickets
Web site: https://ticketing.ticketmaster.com/cgi/purchasePage_css.asp?event_id=1C003530EA6792CD&artistid=805946&majorcatid=10004&minorcatid=7&style=nbawarriors

San Jose SaberCats Arena Football
San Jose Arena
First game: Feb. 2
Tickets $15-$49, minus group discounts
Tickets available on TicketMaster
http://www.arenafootball.com/team/index.cfm?team_id=3364&cont_type_id=1995

Cal-Berkeley men's basketball
First exhibition game: Nov. 15
First regular-season game: Dec. 3
Tickets: $24.50-$52.50

Cal-Berkeley women's basketball
First exhibition game: Nov. 16
First regular-season game: Nov. 24
Youth tickets: $3.75

Cal-Berkeley ticket office: (510) 64-BEARS
caltickets.berkeley.edu

Stanford men's basketball
First exhibition game: Nov. 12
First regilar-season game: Nov. 18
Tickets: $25 -- may be difficult to get lots of tickets

Stanford women's basketball
Tickets: $8-$15

Stanford ticket sales: (800) STANFORD
Web site: http://gostanford.ocsn.com/marketplace/tickets/tickets-body.html

San Jose State men's and women's basketball
Season currently ongoing
No price info on Web site yet.
SJSU ticket office: (877) SJSU-TIX
Web site: www.sjsuspartans.com

University of San Francisco men's basketball
Prices: $3-$15 for youths
Next game: Nov. 15

USF women's basketball
Prices: $1-$8 for youths
Next exhibition game: Nov. 11
First regular-season game: Nov. 15

USF ticket office: (415) 422-4USF
Web site: http://usfdons.ocsn.com/tickets/sanf-tickets.html

I hope this answer meets your needs. If not, please request
clarification.

Search strategy:

arena football
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=arena+football

Stanford women's basketball tickets
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=Stanford+women%27s+basketball+tickets

Golden State Warriors tickets
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=Golden+State+Warriors+tickets

Lexi:
You might look into Berkeley Farms' "Junior 49ers" program which
provides free 49ers tickets to youth groups.
http://www.berkeleyfarms.com/your2.htm

Try calling the 49ers directly.  They have a bunch of programs for
kids.  Ask for the Community Relations department @ 408-562-4949. 
This would be more for next season though.