Two seasons back I stood in a line outside a gate with my keys in one hand, my phone in the other, and my wallet clamped under my arm, because the tote I brought had torn its handle on the walk in. Renee had already gone ahead with the tickets. I would like to tell you that was the day I got smart. It was not. It was the day I got mad enough to pull up the stadium's bag rules on my phone in the truck. What I found was a size. That size is the reason we carry the BAGAIL clear tote now.
The BAGAIL clear bag is 12 by 6 by 12 inches, 13.5 liters, 7.84 ounces, PVC with a zipper and an adjustable strap. It does nothing clever. It is a clear bag in a size many pro stadiums publish, and that turns out to be most of what a gate asks for. Here are ten plain reasons it made our game days easier.
The bag that keeps the gate line moving
12 by 6 by 12 inches, 13.5 liters, 7.84 ounces, PVC with a zipper and an adjustable strap. Check your stadium's bag page first, then check the listing.
Amazon Check today's price on Amazon →It matches a bag size many pro stadiums publish
Twelve by six by twelve inches is the size a lot of pro stadiums put on their bag page, and it is the size on this BAGAIL bag. I am not going to tell you it gets through every gate, because the rules differ from stadium to stadium and they change from season to season. I pull up the home team's site on my phone the week of the game, every time, and that is the only way to know. If the page says 12 by 6 by 12, this bag is already the right size for the line you are about to stand in.
The line moves faster when the guard can see inside
A clear bag does the explaining for you. The person at the table looks in, moves a thing or two with a gloved hand, and waves you along. Before this, I was the fellow unzipping a tote and holding up a poncho so somebody could see under it, and that takes a minute. A minute in a moving line feels like ten when the line is long. The tradeoff is that everybody can see your wallet and your phone. That is the deal, and I took it. Faster line, no privacy. At a gate, that is a fair trade.
One bag holds what the two of you need past security
Ours carries the power bank, two phones, a wallet, keys, a small pack of tissues and a rain poncho, and there is still room to drop a phone in without shoving. That is the 13.5 liters working. It is not a duffel and it is not meant to be. When Renee carries it across the lot, she is carrying what we cannot leave in the truck, not a day's worth of gear. The cooler and the seats stay in the Tahoe. The bag and the power bank go to the gate. That split has not changed in 18 games.
The zipper keeps a phone off the pavement
The bag closes with a zipper. That sounds small until you have watched a phone slide out of an open tote in a crowded lot. Ours has been to about 18 games since we bought it 26 months ago and nothing has come out of it that we did not take out. On a windy day in an open lot, a zipper is the difference between a wallet in the bag and a wallet under somebody's bumper. I check that it is closed before we cross the road. It is a habit now, like checking for the tickets.
The adjustable strap leaves both hands free
The strap adjusts, and it works over the shoulder or across the body. Renee wears it crossbody in a crowd and shortens it when she wants it tucked up under her arm. Both hands free matters more than it sounds. You are holding a phone with the tickets on it, or a drink, or a poncho you just pulled out, and the bag is not one more thing to keep track of. The strap is nylon and it has held up. I check the adjuster every few trips, because that is where these things usually let go.
At 7.84 ounces, it never adds to the walk
7.84 ounces. I put it on the kitchen scale the first week because I did not believe the listing. That is lighter than most paperbacks, so the bag is never the reason your shoulder is tired at the end of the walk in. We park where we park, and sometimes that is a long walk across a lot. An empty bag that weighs almost nothing is one less thing adding up. By the time you walk back to the truck after a game, you notice every ounce you are carrying, including the ones you forgot about.
13.5 liters is enough without being a duffel
13.5 liters holds a poncho, a power bank, two phones, a wallet, keys and tissues, and not so much that you fill it with things you will carry around all day. A bigger clear bag tempts you to bring a jacket you will shed in the first quarter and then hold for three hours. Ours stays light because there is only so much it will take. That sounds like a limitation. In practice it is the reason the bag is not heavy by the time we reach our seats.
A damp cloth handles every mess
The material wipes clean with a damp cloth, and that is the whole care routine. Ours has been rained on, set down on a parking lot, and had a soft drink spilled near it in the truck, and a cloth at the kitchen sink has handled all of it. I do not put it in the washing machine, and the care instructions say to wipe it, so that is what I do. Ten seconds with a cloth, then it hangs on the closet door until the next trip. The plastic does go cloudy after a couple of seasons. Mine has. I do not mind.
It folds flat and rides in the carry-on
On the two plane trips a season, the bag folds flat and goes in the carry-on. It takes up about as much room as a folder, and when we land it comes out and does the same job it does at home. The power bank stays in the carry-on and never in a checked bag, and I check the airline's rules and the stadium's rules on power banks before every flight. The bag itself has not been an issue at a checkpoint or a gate. It is one less thing to think about on a travel day.
It outlasted the free tote that started all this
The bag before this one was a giveaway tote from a hardware store. The handle seam tore on the walk from the parking lot 27 months ago and we carried everything in our hands the rest of the day. That is the whole reason we bought the BAGAIL the next week, 26 months ago. Eighteen games later the strap is intact, the zipper works, and the bag still goes to the gate with us. I am not gentle with it. It has done a better job than the bag it replaced, and that is about the most I can say for anything.
What I'd Skip
Skip the giveaway tote, even as a backup. The one we had tore at the seam before we were out of the lot, and a bag that fails once is not a backup, it is a liability. Skip the oversized clear bag. If it is bigger than the size on the stadium page, you will be walking back to the truck with it or leaving it at the gate, and neither is a good way to start a game day. Skip the second bag. One bag shared between the two of you is easier to keep track of at a table and easier to zip. And skip any clear bag if you are not willing to check the stadium's own site first. The rules differ, and they change.
Eighteen games, one bag, and the only seam that ever tore was on the free tote we used before it.
Eighteen games in, the zipper still works
One bag for the two of us, wiped clean with a damp cloth, folded flat for the plane trips. If your stadium publishes 12 by 6 by 12, this is the size to carry.
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