My sports-obsessed son’s concepts of geography seem tightly tied to professional teams these days.  “Home of the Ravens,” he announced cheerfully last month as we passed the Baltimore city limits.  “Only if we can go during hockey season and see the Bruins,” he declared when I suggested a weekend trip to Boston.

In theory, this thread that connects his personal interests to our family’s travel destinations is one that I would love to nourish.  But in practice, tickets to professional sporting events are so. damn. expensive. that it’s really hard to justify shelling out the cash to take in games when we’re traveling, especially when the teams that are playing aren’t even the ones my family roots for at home.

This is why I (clearly not a sports fan myself or I doubtless would have figured this out long ago) was so delighted to discover the joys of minor league sports this summer.  A fraction of the price and every bit as fun, minor league games seem to be designed specifically with families in mind.

In smaller stadiums throughout the US, great themes (Star Wars night, anyone?), entertaining activities (nothing says fun like watching Mom try her hand at Dizzy Bat) and a good sporting event to boot are all great reasons to take the whole family to take in a game.  (Plus there’s cotton candy.  I’m a sucker for cotton candy.)

In addition, many minor league teams seem to go out of their way for kids, and young fans are often allowed to skate on the ice or shoot baskets on the court after the game.  At a minor league baseball game we recently attended, ticket holders were invited to show up several hours early to participate in a kids’ skills clinic with the players.  Not only did my children bask in the glow of “real” baseball players’ attention, we all rooted harder and more enthusiastically for “our guys” when the actual game began.

I walked out of that stadium already pretty sold on the minors, but I knew for sure that I was onto a sure thing when I checked into Twitter on our way out of the parking lot.  There I found a tweet from Travel Savvy Mom founder Jamie Pearson, who was sitting clear across the country from me… in a minor league baseball stadium.  A coincidence or the beginning of a savvy family travel trend?  Both, I’d say.

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