Cashing in savings. Reworking budgets. Phillies fans say NLCS tickets are worth it.

Some Phillies fans shelled out hundreds of dollars on National League Championship Series tickets this week, dipping into their saving accounts, charging their credit cards, and vowing to cut back on other discretionary spending.

The Phillies haven’t been in the playoffs in more than a decade, and attending one of this weekend’s three home games at Citizens Bank Park was an opportunity these fans said was worth the financial hit.

“I don’t want to say it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” said Danica Jordan, 33, of Old City, who was recently laid off from her job with a mortgage company and used savings to buy a $309 standing room ticket to Sunday’s game through StubHub. “It’s a rare-enough thing that I’m willing to go all in on this.”

Other fans said they simply could not afford the unexpected expense, especially given the rising price of gas, groceries, and other essentials.

“It’s a bit out of my price range right now, but I’ll definitely be watching and supporting,” said Tim Delaney, 25, of South Philadelphia, a medical student who keeps to a tight monthly budget. “I love to make it to games and sacrifice in other ways,” but playoff prices would have made for too large of sacrifices — such as needing to spend less on groceries or take the subway to work instead of driving.

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While a limited number of tickets were sold through the Phillies (which buyers said started around $110 for standing room), many fans had to rely on secondary-market sites, such as StubHub, SeatGeek, and Gametime, where ticket prices were higher and more volatile. Social media sites like Facebook were also flooded this week with posts from people looking to turn a profit on their tickets, with some selling them for $400 or more apiece.

The price of tickets to the average sporting event has increased incrementally over the past 15 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index, with a $100 ticket in 1997 estimated to cost about $216 today. That’s “not dramatic,” said Matthew Robinson, a sport management professor at the Lerner College of Business and Economics at the University of Delaware, with much of the steady increase over time due to increased costs, including player salaries.

This year, regular-season and playoff ticket prices haven’t been directly impacted by sky-high inflation, he said.

But with rising costs elsewhere, some may be changing their game plans. In July, about 53% of MLB fans said the increased cost of living had changed the number of sporting events they planned to attend this year, according to a Sports Business Journal survey of nearly 1,300 U.S. adults.

Yet the sports industry has proven over time to be somewhat “recession proof,” Robinson said.

And he said that is never more true than during the playoffs, when the demand for tickets is extremely high, driven by the scarcity of opportunities and the high stakes of every game.

Being at the National League Division Series games last weekend, when the Phillies eliminated the Atlanta Braves, “was a lifetime memory for anyone who was at the stadium,” Robinson said. “I don’t think many people were walking out of Citizens Bank Park complaining abut prices last Friday and Saturday.”

Chris Richman knows he won’t be complaining when he walks out of the ballpark Friday night alongside his mother, a lifelong sports lover.

He snagged two $150 tickets through the Phillies after Game 1 of the NLDS, and knew immediately whom he was taking.

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He later checked the resale market, out of curiosity, and said he saw tickets in the same section going for nearly $500 each.

“I started having some dollar signs dancing in my head,” Richman said. “If could make $1,000 on these two tickets, I could take my mom out to the nicest restaurant in Philadelphia and get the nicest bottle of champagne or wine and watch the game with her.”

He called his mother, Angela, in Springfield, Delaware County, and asked her one question: How much are you looking forward to Friday’s game? Without hesitation, she said her excitement level was a 10 out of 10.

Hearing that, Richman said he asked himself how he ever could have considering selling.

He and his mother attended Game 4 of the 2008 World Series and Roy Halladay’s perfect game in Florida in 2010, and he said he was hopeful Friday might be just as memorable.

“In the playoffs, something magical can happen at any game,” said Richman, 40, of South Philadelphia, the director of marketing and communications for University City District. “You can’t recreate those experiences.”

He wouldn’t have spent $500 on a ticket without advance planning or budgeting, he said, but paying $150 apiece was an “easy” decision.

The chance to be among the playoff energy, “that’s worth more than a lot of money to me,” he said. “And the chance to experience that with my mom, who is very important to me and has inspired my passion for sports … In 10 years, I’m telling that story. I’m not talking about selling the ticket for $1,000 on StubHub.”