Sports games are often a very popular way to bring together a community and allow people an escape from the troubles of the real world. At Keene State, however, not all sports are created equal.
This is because some sports, such as men and women’s soccer, charge money for non-Keene students while other sports, like volleyball, are free for all. The Equinox finds this to be very strange for many reasons.
One reason is because it comes across as one sport being valued more than another, which could potentially lower incentive for people to play that sport as well as lower the morale of the teams whose games are not being charged. The Equinox believes that it should be either all of the games on campus being charged or none of them.
This rule was established in 1980 when the school evaluated which sports had the largest following by both Keene students and non-Keene students. Once they found out that certain sports brought in more people than others and they could make more money, they began charging for some games. The policy has been discussed many times since then, but it has remained the same.
Another reason this is strange is because there are plenty of organizations on campus that get by without needing to charge people. These organizations do so by fundraising, which the sports teams are more than capable of doing. This leads the Equinox to ask, where does this money go?
A concerning statistic is the fact that if a regular fan, who is not a Keene State student or related to one, wants to go to every home game this season for the men’s soccer team they will have to pay $40. This raises concern because some people may not want to pay that kind of money to watch a Division III team, which may cause them to just not go. If less and less fans begin to show up, then both the team’s confidence and home-field advantage will be hindered.
The school is also hindering themselves because people can just watch a livestream of the game or watch highlights. This leaves very little incentive for people to go to these games and spend money when they can watch them for free in the comfort of their own homes.
A solution that the Equinox thought of would be allowing people to enter games for free if they bring a canned food item for donation. This would not only help a good cause but also bring more people to these games.
