As I understand economics, the cost of tickets would reflect supply and demand. Your friend just pays it, and if he didn't, there'd presumably be another sucker that would - maybe a couple of dollars less and slightly less revenue for the team and its owner(s) if demand were slack. And people do this to be part of the sport, where winning or losing doesn't matter. The same goes for the cost of parking, and I understand that Cincinnati is probably a city of over 1 million inhabitants with a public transit system, which your friend might take for only a few dollars.