Raise Ticket Prices

It’s about seven weeks until kickoff which means standard ticket sales are in full swing. Full season ticket packages have mostly been purchased and smaller game packs are now or will soon be on sale. After that, individual game tickets will go on sale, and then the great secondary market will open in earnest. Ticket sales (or re-sales) will continue between third parties right up to kickoff.

This secondary market is where scalpers live. It’s where you get tickets to sold out games, and it’s where we find out just how much demand there is for a game. The University sets prices for each game long before the season. Those prices are approximations of what the University thinks it can get for the tickets.

After the price is set myriad factors determine how much demand there is for the tickets. How well USC lives up to expectations will cause ticket prices (on the secondary market) to go up or down. The quality of the opponent, the kickoff time, the style of play and the weather and on and on determine demand. Some games end up being underpriced; some are overpriced.

I was struck last season by how underpriced the Georgia game was. I spent an hour driving down Rosewood from Publix to Assembly five hours before the game. Then for the next four hours I saw no tickets for sale. I saw one transaction where some one paid $150 per ticket, and that was it. The price was so low compared to demand that there was no supply for the secondary market.

Every year we see the opposite with the in state team Carolina plays at the end of the season before Clemson. Stand outside the stadium before the Citadel or Wofford game, and you’ll see hundreds of tickets that people can’t give away. Ticket prices need to change.

The goal of ticket pricing should be to fill the stadium completely with the maximum amount of revenue going to the school. The University seems to be somewhat aware of this. Gone are the days where all tickets cost roughly the same per game. This year the Clemson game will cost $80, and Coastal Carolina will cost $35. That’s a start, but USC can do more.

In July I can already tell you the Clemson ticket is underpriced. At $80 there will be way more demand than seats available. I would price that ticket around $125. The Coastal game is way overpriced. There will be large swaths of empty seats for that game. Lower that price to $15 to fill the stadium and enable those fans who want to bring their children or don’t want to spend the money for a typical game.

Now I’m not advocating the Athletic Department raise the cost of season tickets. Season ticket purchasers get $5 off each game’s ticket for buying the entire season. For every increase I recommend, there should be a corresponding decrease so the cost to a season ticket holder doesn’t change at all.

So, here’s what I would change:

• Clemson should increase from $ 80 to $125
• North Carolina should increase from $ 70 to $ 75
• Florida should increase from $ 60 to $ 70
• Mississippi State should decrease from $ 55 to $ 45
• Vanderbilt should decrease from $ 50 to $ 40
• Kentucky should decrease from $ 50 to $ 30
• Coastal Carolina should decrease from $ 35 to $ 15

Further stretching out the pricing curve will give Carolina a better change to fill their stadium for every game. Of course, it’s not a panacea. People still want to go the premium games more than the other games, but now when they choose to buy a ticket to North Carolina instead of Kentucky, USC will make more money.

Posted with Blogsy