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Entertainment Last Updated Apr 27 2026, 11:46 AM

How Much Driving To A Sporting Event Costs? (And Where To Get Cheap Gas)

Kathy Morris
Kathy Morris Sports Betting Expert
3 minute read
How Much Driving To A Sporting Event Costs? (And Where To Get Cheap Gas)

Let's be real, going to the big game is expensive.

While some teams and leagues might be pricier than others, none are exactly cheap. Throw in rising gas prices and diehfard fans are getting hit hard.

To help you budget (and maybe buy an extra hotdog or two), Vegas Insider set out to find the cheapest gas in each city using data from Gas Buddy. From there, we made a handy calculator to estimate how much the drive will add to your game day cost.

Play around to see how much you'll spend, or keep scrolling to see the cheapest gas in every state and major city.

Game Day Gas Cost Calculator

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Cheapest Gas by State

The following table highlights the lowest identified price point in every state, from cheapest to most expensive.

Rank State Cheapest City Best Station Found Price/Gal
1 Kansas Larned Casey's $2.53
2 South Dakota Vermillion Freedom $2.59
3 North Carolina Winston-Salem Sheetz $2.89
4 Texas Spicewood CITGO $2.89
5 Oklahoma Ardmore Valero $2.94
6 Nebraska North Platte Flying J $2.97
7 Georgia Dalton Victory Fuels $2.99
8 Iowa Knoxville Casey's $2.99
9 Missouri Springfield Casey's $3.07
10 Kentucky Pendleton Pilot $3.09
11 Tennessee Lebanon Sam's Club $3.12
12 North Dakota West Fargo Costco $3.13
13 Ohio Lima Sam's Club $3.13
14 Louisiana Meraux Walmart $3.15
15 Mississippi Durant Scott Petroleum $3.16
16 Arkansas Springdale Sam's Club $3.17
17 Indiana Indianapolis GetGo $3.18
18 New Mexico Española Phillips 66 $3.19
19 South Carolina Simpsonville Walmart $3.21
20 Michigan Albion BP $3.23
21 Minnesota Plymouth Coborn's $3.24
22 Alabama Lake Purdy RaceWay $3.27
23 Colorado Denver Costco $3.29
24 Wisconsin Kenosha Bono's $3.29
25 West Virginia Weston Sheetz $3.35
26 New York Limestone M & M Junction $3.36
27 Florida Panama City Circle K $3.39
28 Virginia Fredericksburg Costco $3.39
29 Arizona Tempe Sam's Club $3.44
30 Illinois Rock Island Gas Land $3.44
31 Wyoming Cheyenne Moody's Rock Stop $3.44
32 Connecticut Stamford Gulf $3.47
33 Massachusetts West Springfield Costco $3.49
34 New Hampshire Franklin CITGO $3.51
35 Montana Sidney Conoco & Town Pump $3.54
36 Rhode Island Warwick BJ's $3.57
37 Delaware Newark Costco $3.59
38 Maine Maine Lakeside Fuels $3.59
39 New Jersey Wayne Costco $3.59
40 Maryland Westminster BJ's $3.61
41 Pennsylvania Lewisburg i-Fuel $3.62
42 Vermont Middlebury Mobil $3.75
43 Utah Riverton Costco $3.85
44 Washington DC Washington Costco $3.85
45 Idaho Post Falls Local Market Post Falls-Chevro $3.89
46 Nevada Yerington Chevron $3.99
47 Washington Clarkston Costco $3.99
48 Alaska Fairbanks Costco $4.29
49 Oregon Ontario Love's Travel Stop $4.39
50 California Valley Center Rincon Travel Plaza $4.53
51 Hawaii Kahului Maui Oil $4.79
  • The cheapest gas price per state ranged from $2.53-$4.79.
  • A standard 20-gallon fill-up in Larned, KS ($50.60) costs nearly $45 less than in Valley Center, CA ($90.60). For a California fan, that $45 gap is the equivalent of roughly four hot dogs and two domestic beers at the stadium, essentially a "free" game day meal just for living in the Midwest.
  • Only 8 states currently offer game day fuel for under $3.00 per gallon. Filling up in these states on a road trip can save you up to $20 per tank.
  • Costco was identified as the cheapest station in 10 different states, undercutting local competitors by as much as $0.40–$0.70 per gallon. For a fan on a 400-mile road trip, a single stop at the warehouse pump can effectively pay for two full months of an annual Gold Star membership in one go.
  • Regional powerhouses like Casey’s (Midwest) and Sheetz (Mid-Atlantic) are frequently outperforming national "Big Oil" brands by nearly $0.20 per gallon. Choosing a Casey’s in the Heartland doesn't just save cents; it saves enough to pay for an entire order of stadium nachos (including the extra cheese).
  • Fans in Kansas ($2.53/gal) and South Dakota ($2.59/gal) are the only fans in the country where a standard 20-gallon fill-up stays under the $55 mark.

How To Save On Commuting Costs For Game Day

Traveling to an away game is a gamble, but your travel costs don't have to be. Here is how to save money on the road:

  • Pick Affordable Gas Stations: Consider taking advantage of the cheaper gas stations in your state and city.
  • Carpool With Other Fans: Splitting gas costs between friends can save you not only fuel but on parking costs for multiple cars.
  • Turn Your Engine Off During Tailgating: Idling for an hour uses about 0.3 gallons of gas. If you're running the AC while tailgating for 4 hours, that’s about $5.00 gone from your bankroll.

Methodology

To create the Big Game Gas Calculator, our team scraped the latest real-time fuel data from GasBuddy for over 200 cities across all 50 US states. Our algorithm identifies the lowest possible price available in each city to give fans a "best-case scenario" for their budget.

For fans living within the same city as the stadium, the calculator automatically applies a standard 20-mile round trip "Game Day Commute" to account for urban congestion and parking navigation.

The calculator uses the Haversine Formula to determine the direct distance between the user's home city and the stadium. We then apply a 15% Road-Adjustment Factor to account for real-world highway routes.

You can see the full data (and where to get the cheapest gas in your city) here.

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Kathy Morris

Kathy Morris

Kathy is Digital PR Specialist at VegasInsider where she creates fun, data based content. Her research has been featured by the WSJ, FastCompany, Cornell, the LATimes, and more. She lives in St. Louis, MO, home of the worst pizza and the best baseball team. She spends her free time building data visualizations, reading, and hoping this year the Cards make it far enough she gets to wear her Cardinals’ sweatshirt More from Kathy Morris
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