I guess I just don't understand what "sold out" means to her. 5-10 years ago, I could drive an hour to Athens to watch UGA and pay 10$ at the door with a kid on my lap, and then move down to empty seats almost instantly. Now, in Orlando, I have to pay $30+ online to get a ticket in advance, or risk showing up 2 hours away and hearing they're "sold out". There's always empty seats. Never seen a meet without tons of empty seats. Even when they say it's sold out, tons of people don't show up..
My experience, but, it's changed significantly in the last decade, and I've never been to a meet where I don't spot empty seats. Ive never been to a meet where I haven't moved to empty seats, with children