Ticket Pricing

[JG19]

I am currently writing my dissertation on 'Dynamic Pricing' and whether it is a pricing strategy which is going to be adopted by Scottish football clubs. In brief, Dynamic Pricing works where match day and season ticket prices fluctuate on demand, usually with tickets gradually becoming more expensive as kick off approaches, and less seats remain. Hearts started using dynamic pricing this season, with it recieving a mostly negative response from fans. It has however been successfully implemented in American sports, and other industries e.g. airlines.

 

Just now to pay a fixed fee suits many, as you can budget easily and know ahead of time what price a ticket can be. Also with gates slowly rising and with us doing well this season, it could cost fans slightly more to attend matches. However with the SPL facing uncertain times, and if our season was to dramatically worsen then we could see those one off/less loyal fans disappear leaving the club out of pocket.

 

I was interested to hear from 'Well fans, generally about their attitudes to ticket prices (are prices fair), and also whether they would support the club adopting Dynamic Pricing.

 

Cheers,

Jonny.

[sbcmfc]

Without being too blunt, it sounds a stupid idea, and would put off folk who can take it or leave it.

 

A reverse version of this, as I believe some lower league English clubs have tried is more suitable for football.

 

Ie if we sell 2000 season tickets, they are £350, but if we sell 3000, it drops to £300....

[Frazzie]

I suppose it may help with crowd congestion if nothing else. Assuming we have 3000 season ticket holders, the first 200 folk to pay in get in for a tenner, the next 200 get in for fifteen then the next 200 for twenty or something along those lines.

 

Slightly off topic but I think that anyone that pays in after 3:15 should get in for half price.

[Kmcalpin]

I am currently writing my dissertation on 'Dynamic Pricing' and whether it is a pricing strategy which is going to be adopted by Scottish football clubs. In brief, Dynamic Pricing works where match day and season ticket prices fluctuate on demand, usually with tickets gradually becoming more expensive as kick off approaches, and less seats remain. Hearts started using dynamic pricing this season, with it recieving a mostly negative response from fans.

 

I've very strong reservations after what happened at Tynecastle. To say that it received a mostly negative response in the Capital is being very euphemistic. As most folk on here know, it damned near resulted in a riot in Gorgie. That may be down to the way in which it was implemented but I'd be very wary.

[Andy_P]

First of I've heard that it has been or is currently used at Hearts or anywhere in Scottish football for that matter. What happened at Tynecastle?

 

Perhaps I'm viewing it negatively or missing the point completely but surely it seems fraught with hassles unless you can be pretty much assured of a sell-out, which is hardly common place.

 

If the club were reducing the first batch of xxx number of tickets then unless they overcharge at the other end then they are going to make a loss, no?

 

The only way around that I see would be if more people were to come to a game than might ordinarily have come at flat rate prices. I would think that would be optimistic. It would rely on people who weren't able to get a ticket at the reduced rate, still deciding to purchase a ticket even though they may have to pay extra. I would reckon plenty would be more likely to be miffed and say stick it altogether, rather than stump up extra.

 

In general attending games should be made as simple as possible and not over-complicating it by having to purchase tickets for games in advance that don't really merit it. It does nothing for ad-hoc decisions by fans to attend games. Take Tynecastle next weekend for example. When its live on TV, a 1245 kick-off, on a Sunday - do we really think that away stand is going to be anything other than 25% full at best? So they make it all ticket and add to the inconvenience further as folk have to make a trip/call to Fir Park or take the gamble that they may be able to pick a ticket on the day up there.

[weesacs]

In general attending games should be made as simple as possible and not over-complicating it by having to purchase tickets for games in advance that don't really merit it. It does nothing for ad-hoc decisions by fans to attend games. Take Tynecastle next weekend for example. When its live on TV, a 1245 kick-off, on a Sunday - do we really think that away stand is going to be anything other than 25% full at best? So they make it all ticket and add to the inconvenience further as folk have to make a trip/call to Fir Park or take the gamble that they may be able to pick a ticket on the day up there.

 

i'm with Andy on this one...........I dont live in Motherwell, and tbh, its a pain in the arse when we have an all ticket game and I need to ask for time away from work to get over for tickets

 

its not how they price games that needs to be reviewed.................its the pricing in general that needs to be reviewed

 

Hearts next week.......£24 for an adult, U18s £18, U8s £8

 

I have a 9yr old - do you honestly think i'm going to pay £42 to see Hearts entertain Motherwell - hahahaha no f**king chance

 

as for your dissertation........thats easy - IT DOESNT WORK, there is not enough demand for tickets, especially when a game is on TV - (even if this game was not on TV, I wouldn't be giving any team £42 for a standard SPL game - it is not worth it)

 

the only way dynamic pricing would work would be if every ground was sold out week in week out - and that doesn't happen, in the last 20yrs it never has, and in the next 20, it never will.

 

you cant compare us to the US, where typically they have one team per state. That's like saying we only have one team in Scotland - and if that were the case, it may work. You also cant compare it to airlines..........people dont "support" airlines, they have choices Ryanair, EasyJet, BA - whereas my only football choice is Motherwell FC (i dont think i have explained that very well)

 

So to conclude, Dynamic Pricing, in Scotland, when it comes to Scottish Football - will never take off. People are already turning their back on the game without this strategy trying to creep the cost up further.

[Bop]

I suppose it may help with crowd congestion if nothing else. Assuming we have 3000 season ticket holders, the first 200 folk to pay in get in for a tenner, the next 200 get in for fifteen then the next 200 for twenty or something along those lines.

 

Slightly off topic but I think that anyone that pays in after 3:15 should get in for half price.

 

How many people would just sit for an extra pint and then get in half price though?

[johnstone]

 

Slightly off topic but I think that anyone that pays in after 3:15 should get in for half price.

 

Joke surely?

[weeyin]

Apart from maybe playoff tickets, I don't see much evidence of it in American sports. At least round here, the economy is such that the New York baseball and football teams have had to reduce ticket prices across the board. They built fancy new stadiums and tried to hike their prices, but crowds dropped off.

 

When I first moved over here, there was 10 year waiting list to get New York Jets season tickets (and they were even worse then than they are now). The list was closed.They have burned through that list the past couple of years to the extent that they are advertising season tickets for sale on the telly. Not only that, but they have a whole load of tickets for sale at $50 a pop.

 

Similarly, the Yankees were in a battle for the pennant a couple of weeks ago and yet on Stub Hub you could pick up tickets for many of their games for less than $10. One game they were offering $4 tickets.

[Haggischomper]

Yeah, final week of the season you could get Cub tix for a dollar and there are ALWAYS touts at games where you can pick up tix for cheap the nearer it gets to gametime

[Special aka]

Something has to be done about the cost of getting into a football match in Scotland, but not this

[BarnsleyFCFan]

Derby County are trying something like that this season, no idea how it's going though.

[BigColin08]

Bloody daft idea.

 

 

[weesacs]

Derby County are trying something like that this season, no idea how it's going though.

 

this kind of situation i can see working, Derby are doing well just now and come later in the season, if they are still doing well and with a chance of play off / promotion - this is a team that can sell out their ground

in contrast, look at us last season, outwith the old firm, how many times was the Ark more than half full?

[Dr.Pepper]

this kind of situation i can see working, Derby are doing well just now and come later in the season, if they are still doing well and with a chance of play off / promotion - this is a team that can sell out their ground

in contrast, look at us last season, outwith the old firm, how many times was the Ark more than half full?

 

Over 6,500 last season minus OF

V hibs 4-3

V Dundee utd 0-2

V Aberdeen 1-2 in the cup

 

Common theme in all these games is they all had reduced ticket prices.

[Kmcalpin]

First of I've heard that it has been or is currently used at Hearts or anywhere in Scottish football for that matter. What happened at Tynecastle?

 

On the back of a Cup Final appearance there was a tidal wave of interest in season tickets at Tynecastle, as you'd expect. Tickets were put on sale being advertised as being very cheap and season ticket holders were given 2 weeks to obtain their "seat" - no early bird discount. Within a couple of days several thousand had been shifted. At that point buyers found the prices had been hiked by up to £40 compared to last season. Shortly afterwards they rose by £80. The fans were raging, not because of the price increase, which many felt to be entirely reasonable but because they'd been misled. As one said to me "I was happy to pay an extra £80, as quite a few of us were.... its not a lot of cash, but we should have been told". Complaints were then taken to the Ombudsman (I don't know which one) and he found in the fans favour but couldn't do anything about it. As a result eventual ST ticket sales are down by about 3,000 on last season. The Rangers saga was not an issue for most Hearts fans. They were more than happy with Vlad's stance of saying nothing and then voting to deny SEVCO entry to the SPL. The ones I spoke to were also against decreasing prices as demand rose as that was seen to be unfair and denying the club of much needed cash. Thats what I've been told.

[Andy_P]

Cheers Dave. That story completely passed me by. But it does strengthen my belief as posted earlier that many fans who if there was a cheaper ticket price on offer would be more likely to walk away than pay a higher price and feel ripped off.

[joewarkfanclub]

Dynamic Pricing wont work.

 

Cutting prices might.

 

£20 for a WC Qualifier on Friday night but we are paying more than that for an SPL game and Scotland games are now £32 for a seat that doesnt have a shite view.

 

Maybe not comparing like for like but Scottish football is overpriced for the quality of the product.

 

Increasing the quality is a long term project. Cutting prices and giving fans better value for money could be done overnight.

 

You could look at fixing costs for games on a case by case basis however. St Johnstone at Fir Park on a freezing Tuesday night in Feb clearly gonna draw less than say Hibs or Aberdeen at 3pm on a Saturday.

 

Cut the price for the former. Standard prices for the latter?

[Dee]

Really surprised to see the negative responses in here.

 

As for the poster, if you want to use an example which works very well you should try to speak to someone at Cardiff City.

[Ian-in-Oz]

Dynamic Pricing wont work.

 

Cutting prices might.

 

£20 for a WC Qualifier on Friday night but we are paying more than that for an SPL game and Scotland games are now £32 for a seat that doesnt have a shite view.

 

Maybe not comparing like for like but Scottish football is overpriced for the quality of the product.

 

Increasing the quality is a long term project. Cutting prices and giving fans better value for money could be done overnight.

 

You could look at fixing costs for games on a case by case basis however. St Johnstone at Fir Park on a freezing Tuesday night in Feb clearly gonna draw less than say Hibs or Aberdeen at 3pm on a Saturday.

 

Cut the price for the former. Standard prices for the latter?

Would you be happy if Dundee gave St Mirren & St Johnstone fans reduced entry but charged Motherwell fans full whack?

[joewarkfanclub]

Would you be happy if Dundee gave St Mirren & St Johnstone fans reduced entry but charged Motherwell fans full whack?

 

Depends when the game was played.

 

You cant ignore the fact that some games are just less attractive than others for a whole host of reasons. If you want to put more bums on seats you need to look at pricing.

 

Theatres give reduced rates and group booking offers for midweek/matinee shows.

 

Holiday companys drop their prices outwith school holidays.

 

The Friday night experiment appeared to be successful. Whether it was financially for the club, I dont know, but lets try different things. Test the market, see where it takes us.

[Ian-in-Oz]

Depends when the game was played.

 

You cant ignore the fact that some games are just less attractive than others for a whole host of reasons. If you want to put more bums on seats you need to look at pricing.

 

Theatres give reduced rates and group booking offers for midweek/matinee shows.

 

Holiday companys drop their prices outwith school holidays.

 

The Friday night experiment appeared to be successful. Whether it was financially for the club, I dont know, but lets try different things. Test the market, see where it takes us.

Not saying it's a bad idea. Makes good sense for the home team to get more in for these less attractive games & it is great for the fans of these teams but you would risk alienating the fans of the clubs you're charging full whack. Having less of them turning up would negate any profit made by the extra punters from the reduced gate games.

[Dr.Pepper]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19842397

 

BBC ticket pricing for 166 clubs in the uk. Minus hibs who didn't respond. Thoughts?

[weeyin]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19842397

 

BBC ticket pricing for 166 clubs in the uk. Minus hibs who didn't respond. Thoughts?

 

Forest Green Rovers' cheapest season ticket is more expensive than ours. Their highest ever attendance is less than 5000.

 

I have no idea what conclusions to draw from that, but it's pretty interesting. I picked them out as they used to be my local team, but other Blue Square clubs have similar pricing.

[nethertonwellfan]

I'd say our ticket is good value when compared toother SPL clubs and that is not taking in to account thhe free child season tickets. By the looks of the report we are the only club in Scotland to include a cup game in our season ticket price. I'm quite surprised by that although we could have been the only team to mention it.