So why can't we change ticket price during the season now?

[Tyler87898]

Just wondering. I'm sure there's a good reason.

[Gai1997]

Are ticket prices not changed during the season in real MLB baseball? That might be why. Don't know if that's true or not. I mean tickets sold by the team initially, not StubHub or other sources.

[Matt Arnold]

Yeah, essentially it forces you to make a decision sooner, closer to what happens in real life. The season tickets are intended to make sure attendance doesn't fall off a cliff if things go wrong for you.

[Tyler87898]

Originally Posted by Gai1997

Are ticket prices not changed during the season in real MLB baseball? That might be why. Don't know if that's true or not. I mean tickets sold by the team initially, not StubHub or other sources.

That's probably it. I guess I have to set the prices based on if I think my team will compete in the upcoming season.

[Steve509]

Is having the ability to change the ticket prices during the playoffs a viable option? I always raised my ticket prices when my team made the playoffs to help with realism. If not, no a big deal.

[Matt Arnold]

Originally Posted by Steve509

Is having the ability to change the ticket prices during the playoffs a viable option? I always raised my ticket prices when my team made the playoffs to help with realism. If not, no a big deal.

No, that is also disabled. But to make up for it, internally the prices are doubled for the playoffs when playoff revenues are added.

[r0nster]

thanks Matt didn't know that internally the prices get doubled ... Met my quota for the day in learning something new.

[Steve509]

Originally Posted by Matt Arnold

No, that is also disabled. But to make up for it, internally the prices are doubled for the playoffs when playoff revenues are added.

Very cool, and definitely a fair alternative to changing prices.

[Steve509]

Originally Posted by r0nster

thanks Matt didn't know that internally the prices get doubled ... Met my quota for the day in learning something new.

Same here. I probably wouldn't have even noticed in the financials if Matt hadn't mentioned it. Definitely a nice alternative, and fair across the board for all the teams in the playoffs.

[jmknpk2]

I cannot understand this decision to prevent changes. Real life MLB teams are changing over from fixed priced schemes to dynamic pricing schemes. OOTP Baseball previously allowed dynamic pricing, but now prevents it? This divergence from real life does not please me.

[RonCo]

Major league teams have often changed prices in mid-season. Teams should be able to set season ticket prices (and hold those steady all off-season), then be able to dynamically change the prices as the season progresses.

If you want to make this more problematic, you could have dramatic reductions in mid-season prices possibly affect season ticket sales next off season, I suppose. Though I'm not sure that would really make much of a difference.

[RonCo]

Seriously...five minutes of Google research would be all it takes to show that teams change ticket prices dramatically throughout the season for a myriad of reasons. Here's just one of many, many links that I could point to:

Everything you ever wanted to know about baseball ticket prices - Quartz

[TribeFanInNC]

I haven't noticed that MLB teams change pricing during the season. That said, I don't live in a ML city anymore so I can't say I'm on top of this situation. Maybe they do. My understanding is that the way it is implemented in v16 is a little more realistic.

I have noticed that RL teams to do use "per day" or "per series" pricing pretty commonly now. For instance, series again NY teams or Boston tend to have higher pricing. Also, in looking for tickets I've seen weekend tix be higher than weekday tix.

But back to the topic, really this is an average tix price anyway. There isn't really a need to fiddle with it all the time. I don't think minor changes really affect the revenue that much. The only reason I could see changing it midseason would be to try to maintain an attendance for an owner goal.

[TribeFanInNC]

Originally Posted by RonCo

Seriously...five minutes of Google research would be all it takes to show that teams change ticket prices dramatically throughout the season for a myriad of reasons. Here's just one of many, many links that I could point to:

Everything you ever wanted to know about baseball ticket prices - Quartz

That looks like data from StubHub, which is a market that I don't think we are trying to mimic. That isn't the revenue stream going into the team.

[Cinnamon J. Scudworth]

Originally Posted by TribeFanInNC

But back to the topic, really this is an average tix price anyway. There isn't really a need to fiddle with it all the time. I don't think minor changes really affect the revenue that much. The only reason I could see changing it midseason would be to try to maintain an attendance for an owner goal.

Exactly. If OOTP wanted to simulate modern dynamic pricing schemes that would be a whole different thing, and would probably warrant the ability to set different tiers of pricing for each game, create game-day promotions, etc. All of which are things that I really want nothing to do with as a GM.

[RchW]

Originally Posted by TribeFanInNC

That looks like data from StubHub, which is a market that I don't think we are trying to mimic. That isn't the revenue stream going into the team.

Yeah I think that is a secondary market. The face value of tickets AFAIK doesn't change. Now teams do have "Premium" games ie in Toronto, Yankee games are priced higher than say Cleveland but the face value on each ticket category is not different in August than it is in April. Jays tickets are scarce right now but my son just bought a ticket to see the Yankees Sept 21 for $54 the same as the series in May.

The link also makes a ridiculous claim that buying tickets in advance is a bad idea. I buy seat packages in the offseason because they are discounted. If I decide not to go I have never taken less than face value. Often I get more. I'm not looking to make a profit but have no idea why they would make that claim unless it is about scalping.

[Matt Arnold]

It depends on the market. I'll be at a Jays-Rangers game next week in Arlington, and checking on stubhub there were upper deck seats going for 3$. So if you bought tickets in advance for that, you're certainly not getting face value for them.

But I'm sure most people selling bought season tickets, so if they go to half the games, sell half of the remaining for their face value, and don't even sell the last quarter and don't use them, they're still probably making a decent amount of money.

But yes, overall, the game is mimicking the data that teams get, not the resale market. There might be some teams that change prices mid-season - I wouldn't be shocked to see some teams offer more "5$ kids days" or 2-for-1 sales, or do other gimmicks, but the actual face value ticket prices as far as I can tell, do not vary during the season.

We do double your ticket price for the playoffs to simulate the extra that teams will usually charge for those games, but having you change prices mid-season now becomes much harder to figure out an attendance for - you need to pick the right number before the season, and hope it works out. Or if you really want to change it, go into commissioner mode and go nuts.

[RonCo]

Per the Chicago Trib article below: "The league said 26 of the 30 Major League Baseball teams use some kind of flexible pricing system."

The use of dynamic pricing was put in place in such a wholesale practie because (as I understand it) teams were tired of losing business to the stub hubs and whatnot.

Bottom line: almost all teams adjust their prices, and they have done so in various ways throughout history.


Baseball teams get dynamic with ticket pricing - tribunedigital-chicagotribune

A's Ticket Pricing | Oakland Athletics

Astros Ticket Pricing | Houston Astros

Giants Ticket Pricing | San Francisco Giants

[RonCo]

Of equal interest is why OOTP hides a team's ticket prices from from online league opponents. It seems like everyone knows these in real life.

[RchW]

Originally Posted by RonCo

Per the Chicago Trib article below: "The league said 26 of the 30 Major League Baseball teams use some kind of flexible pricing system."

The use of dynamic pricing was put in place in such a wholesale practie because (as I understand it) teams were tired of losing business to the stub hubs and whatnot.

Bottom line: almost all teams adjust their prices, and they have done so in various ways throughout history.


Baseball teams get dynamic with ticket pricing - tribunedigital-chicagotribune

A's Ticket Pricing | Oakland Athletics

Astros Ticket Pricing | Houston Astros

Giants Ticket Pricing | San Francisco Giants

I remember having a chat with a Giants executive in the Phoenix airport late in ST either 2011 or 12. They were using dynamic pricing to get $25 for a ticket to sit on the grass berm. I told her the Giants would never see a penny from my wallet with that practice. She admitted that the feedback was overwhelmingly negative but that it was coming from people like me who wont buy. Apparently there are enough fools (my word) out there who make the practice profitable so they had no intention of changing it. She suggested that the Giants considered restricting ticket availability in order to drive demand and prices up during ST.

I like live baseball but will not get sucked into paying more than what I perceive as fair value. Interestingly the Los Angeles Angels took a completely different approach during the regular season of 2013. We took a chance by not ordering online and walked up to the box office a few hours before a series with the Jays. Not only did they knock $50 off the package we bought for the series but they threw in food and drink coupons because it was our first visit to the stadium. I suppose one could expect that since the Blue Jays are a poor draw on the road. All things considered the Anaheim experience was great inside and outside the stadium.