scholarly journals Variable Ticket Pricing in Major League Baseball

2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel A. Rascher ◽  
Chad D. McEvoy ◽  
Mark S. Nagel ◽  
Matthew T. Brown
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Sport Organizations ◽  
Ticket Pricing ◽  
Price Increases ◽  
Special Events ◽  
Variable Pricing ◽  
Major League ◽  
Sport Teams ◽  
Ticket Prices

Sport teams historically have been reluctant to change ticket prices during the season. Recently, however, numerous sport organizations have implemented variable ticket pricing in an effort to maximize revenues. In Major League Baseball variable pricing results in ticket price increases or decreases depending on factors such as quality of the opponent, day of the week, month of the year, and for special events such as opening day, Memorial Day, and Independence Day. Using censored regression and elasticity analysis, this article demonstrates that variable pricing would have yielded approximately $590,000 per year in additional ticket revenue for each major league team in 1996, ceteris paribus. Accounting for capacity constraints, this amounts to only about a 2.8% increase above what occurs when prices are not varied. For the 1996 season, the largest revenue gain would have been the Cleveland Indians, who would have generated an extra $1.4 million in revenue. The largest percentage revenue gain would have been the San Francisco Giants. The Giants would have seen an estimated 6.7% increase in revenue had they used optimal variable pricing.

The Impact of Variable Pricing, Dynamic Pricing, and Sponsored Secondary Markets in Major League Baseball

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascal Courty ◽  
Luke Davey
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Pricing ◽  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Fixed Effect ◽  
Secondary Markets ◽  
Variable Pricing ◽  
Major League ◽  
Ticket Prices ◽  
Or Team ◽  
The Impact

Toward the end of the 1990s and into the 2000s, Major League Baseball teams moved away from fixed ticket prices, to first setting prices according to expected game demand, and subsequently to dynamically changing prices in response to demand. Teams have also collaborated with secondary ticket marketplaces to sponsor resale. By exploiting a team panel covering seasons 1999-2017, we use fixed effect models to estimate the impact of these pricing innovations on team revenue and team value. Variable pricing increases revenue and team value by 4.2% and 9.5%, respectively. The introduction of dynamic pricing and sponsored secondary markets has no statistically significant effect on revenue or team value.

Using Prediction Market Prices to Differentiate Factors that Influence the Highest and Lowest Priced Tickets in Dynamic Pricing for Major League Baseball

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-63
Author(s):  
Rodney Paul ◽  
Andrew Weinbach
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Pricing ◽  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Prediction Markets ◽  
Market Prices ◽  
Betting Market ◽  
Major League ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Ticket Prices ◽  
Uncertainty Of Outcome

The use of prediction markets is extended to explain differences in preferences of fans that purchase different price levels of tickets under dynamic pricing for Major League Baseball.  Using data from eleven teams, this research investigates similarities and differences in variables that affect ticket prices for the highest-priced and lowest-priced tickets.  Key contrasts between the groups are found to stem from distinct preferences for uncertainty of outcome, measured by betting market odds, and team quality.  It is also shown that differences between the groups are attributable to sensitivity to factors such as key opponents, weekend games, opening day, and temperature.

An Empirical Examination of the Development and Impact of Star Power in Major League Baseball

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Lewis ◽  
Yeujun Yoon
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Demand ◽  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
Star Power ◽  
Team Success ◽  
Major League ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Ticket Prices ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Additional Variance

We examine the processes by which star power (SP) develops and the impact of SP on both consumer demand and team performance using data from Major League Baseball. First, we examine the dynamics of stardom using data based on player salaries, performance, and award recognition. We find that SP explains additional variance in salaries beyond performance measures. Also, we examine the impact of SP on consumer demand and team success. We find that a team’s stock of SP positively influences consumer demand, even after controlling for various factors ranging from team success to ticket prices.

A New Age of Demand-Based Pricing: An Examination of Dynamic Ticket Pricing and Secondary Market Prices in Major League Baseball

2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 532-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen L. Shapiro ◽  
Joris Drayer
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Secondary Market ◽  
Market Prices ◽  
Ticket Price ◽  
Ticket Pricing ◽  
Dynamic Ticket Pricing ◽  
Ticket Prices ◽  
Changes Over Time ◽  
Price Differences ◽  
The Relationship

In 2010, the San Francisco Giants became the first professional team to implement a comprehensive demand-based ticket pricing strategy called dynamic ticket pricing (DTP). In an effort to understand DTP as a price setting strategy, the current investigation explored Giants’ ticket prices during the 2010 season. First, the relationship between fixed ticket prices, dynamic ticket prices, and secondary market ticket prices for comparable seats were examined. In addition, seat location and price changes over time were examined to identify potential effects on ticket price in the primary and secondary market. Giants’ ticket price data were collected for various games throughout the 2010 season. A purposive selection of 12 games, which included (N= 1,316) ticket price observations, were chosen in an effort to include a multitude of game settings. Two ANOVA models were developed to examine price differences based on pricing structure, market, section, and time. Findings showed significant differences between fixed ticket prices, dynamic ticket prices, and secondary market ticket prices, with fixed ticket prices on the low end and secondary market ticket prices on the high end of the pricing spectrum. Furthermore, time was found to have a significant influence on ticket price; however, the influence of time varied by market and seat location. These findings are discussed and both theoretical and practical implications are considered.

scholarly journals Illustrations of Price Discrimination in Baseball

2012 ◽  
pp. 379-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel A. Rascher ◽  
Andrew D. Schwarz
Keyword(s):  
Price Discrimination ◽  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Pricing Strategies ◽  
Ticket Pricing ◽  
The Core ◽  
Pricing Behavior ◽  
Major League ◽  
Identical Product

This article explores the ticket pricing behavior of the clubs to illustrate the theory of price discrimination. An example presented shows how useful it is to be flexible in recognizing that while a box seat to a game is not an identical product to an upper reserved seat at the same game, the two tickets sufficiently share the core product that the price discrimination framework is useful for analyzing pricing, even if the products are clearly not identical on every dimension of quality. It is stated that every single Major League Baseball ticket is sold under some form of price discrimination. As teams grow increasingly sophisticated in their pricing strategies, price discrimination is becoming more precise, more widespread, and more profitable, while at the same time providing more opportunities for more fans to find tickets at a price they are willing to pay.

The New York Yankees Cope with the Great Depression

2008 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 816-840 ◽  
Author(s):  
David G. Surdam
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Great Depression ◽  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Team Sports ◽  
Price Setting ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Professional Team Sports ◽  
Major League ◽  
Hall Of Fame ◽  
Ticket Prices

The New York Yankees donated their financial records to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. These records provide a rare glimpse into the business of professional team sports. I use these records to examine how the Yankees' management reacted to the Great Depression. Since the team possessed both price-setting power over ticket prices andmonopsony power over player salaries, how did the team adjust ticket prices and salaries in response to the falling incomes of its customers and general deflation of the early 1930s? How did the team's response differ from other teams in Major League Baseball?

Use of an Organizational Weblog in Relationship Building: The Case of a Major League Baseball Team

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 384-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen W. Dittmore ◽  
G. Clayton Stoldt ◽  
T. Christopher Greenwell
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Commitment ◽  
Organizational Communication ◽  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Relationship Building ◽  
Consumption Patterns ◽  
Sport Organizations ◽  
Effective Form ◽  
Major League ◽  
Baseball Team

This case study explores the use a Major League Baseball team’s organizational weblog. Organizational weblogs are forums for the 2-way exchange of information and commentary between an organization and its publics. Most sport organizations, however, have yet to embrace the weblog as a form of organizational communication. Recent research suggests a greater need to understand how sport organizations might use weblogs to outreach to target audiences from a communications perspective. This study assesses whether readers perceive an organization’s official weblog to be an effective form of 2-way communication and profiles the readers of an organizational weblog based on demographics, consumption patterns, and points of attachment. Results showed that readers perceived the organizational weblog to be highly conversational and effective at communicating organizational commitment. In addition, readers were voracious media consumers of the team’s games, repeat ticket customers, and highly identified, both with the sport and with the team.

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