[disposableheros]

Originally Posted by Curtis Cook

I take it you didn't study economics. Raising ticket prices should always affect season attendence, unless you sell out every game (as Cleveland did for several years) and have to turn away people at the gate. Even then there will be an effect if you raise them enough.

What I'm saying is that some teams will be affected more than others, and that some specific events (maybe opening day, when your arch rival comes to town, playoff games) will be less affected, or possibly not at all.

Another thing to consider is stadium size. My preference would be to add 10,000 seats rather than raise the price a dollar. If you can't fill the extra seats, you're probably at a price inflexion point where any increase in ticket price will drop attendence so much that you'll end up losing money.

Again, this pseudo-analysis doesn't take into account additional revenue from yearbooks, programs, pennants, parking stubs, concessions and who knows what else that each additional fanny in the seats equates to. Each person removed from the season's attendence figure represents a lot more revenue lost than just the price of the ticket foregone.

yes, i did study economics. i was a finance major and have worked in the finance industry for 10+ years. thanks for your concern

"Raising ticket prices should always affect season attendence, unless you sell out every game" means "sometimes raising ticket pirces should affect attendance"

Originally Posted by 1998 Yankees

Curtis, I think disposableheros was agreeing with you, and so do I. My take on his post was him trying to put it into game setting terms.

If a team has high fan interest and loyalty, they will be selling out most if not all home games. Therefore, there will be the price inflexibility that you mentioned; the team can raise ticket prices substantially without damaging attendance. If a team is suffering from low fan ratings, then raising prices would be disastrous. If we ever do get to tinker with ticket prices, linking them in this way to fan loyalty, interest, and attendance is sound thinking IMO.

give this man a cigar!