Public officials in Ohio use campaign funds to buy hundreds of season tickets each year to Ohio State University football games, according to the Associated Press. Since 1996, elected officials have spent more than $400,000 to see the Buckeyes.

An analysis of state records found that while state, county, and local officials buy the tickets, the bulk have gone to state lawmakers. Ohio State tickets go for $62 a game, or $434 for all seven home games. Elected officials are allowed to buy four season tickets, and staff or cabinet members may buy two.

J. Curtis Mayhew, Ohio’s campaign-finance administrator, says the purchases are legal. “There’s no doubt that the statute is pretty lenient with regard to how they can spend their money,” he says. “Really, the big prohibition is on converting it to personal use.”

Catherine Turcer, of the government watchdog group Ohio Citizen Action, questions the ethics of the arrangement.

“They have access to something that other people do not have access to,” she says. “Very few alumni have access to this number of tickets. And then that they could buy these with their campaign funds? It may be legal, but that doesn’t mean it actually passes the smell test.” —Don Troop