Dynamic pricing in football

[exileddragon]

I'm sure quite a lot of people would have been willing to pay extra to secure a ticket for the Boreham Wood game, or for away tickets - when supply is less than demand, then either prices go up or people who would be willing to pay the ticket price don't get one.

Much as we think of ourselves as 'deserving' of a ticket due to loyalty, past support, etc, that's not really how businesses work. Although football clubs seem to pick and choose when they want you to think of them as a business and when they want you to think as a community/membership organisation (largely depending on whether they are asking fans to pay for something or not).

 

[Back of the Kop]

Joking aside there's a wider question here: should ticket prices be allowed to reach their true market value, or should they be kept artificially depressed so that the local community can continue to afford?

It's a fine balance for the powers that be at Wrexham.

Prices have to go up to reflect the higher level we are playing at and inflation etc....but as we know, income from ticket pricing alone is a fraction of overall turnover of Premier League clubs and many in the Championship

Keep ticket pricing affordable for the normal man/woman in the street to avoid the now sterile atmosphere at Old Trafford and Anfield that many describe, which is driven by sky high prices snapped up by day trippers

We're seeing the day trippers to an extent at the Racecourse but they're a tiny fraction of the attendance. I dread the day if we allow the Racecourse to become just another bucket list day out but the guy who is born and bred in the town can't get in

 

[Gwrtheyrn23]

As always, there is a trade off here when demand outstrips supply. Fixing a price below what (some) people are willing to pay is always going to lead to a secondary market (official or not) - the bigger the difference, the greater the incentive.

Dynamic pricing is just one approach to the trade-off, that generally favours the original seller (the club, or the musician in the examples above), and removes the margin from the scalper. If you can sell out a stadium for a gig at £150/ticket but you’re limiting the prices to £50/ticket to make them more affordable, there’s a £100 to be made for every one a scalper can grab (using all of the technical tools available to them to do so), while the artist still only gets £50. In the dynamic scenario, the artist would make £150 and the scalper £0 (obviously things are not quite that neat, but it’s close enough).

Ultimately, TANSTAAFL, it’s some balance of the original seller getting the full value of what they’re selling (at the expense of those who might not be able to afford the higher prices), vs. cheaper tickets and the potential for scalpers taking the difference.

The only extra (helpful) dimension to this is that reselling football tickets is technically illegal due to anti-hooliganism legislation (1994 criminal justice act). The problem is that there is an exemption for the "authorised reseller" - it's these resellers that operate as a law unto themselves and need stronger regulation.

 

[RedAdmiral]

It's a fine balance for the powers that be at Wrexham.

Prices have to go up to reflect the higher level we are playing at and inflation etc....but as we know, income from ticket pricing alone is a fraction of overall turnover of Premier League clubs and many in the Championship

Keep ticket pricing affordable for the normal man/woman in the street to avoid the now sterile atmosphere at Old Trafford and Anfield that many describe, which is driven by sky high prices snapped up by day trippers

We're seeing the day trippers to an extent at the Racecourse but they're a tiny fraction of the attendance. I dread the day if we allow the Racecourse to become just another bucket list day out but the guy who is born and bred in the town can't get in

Absolutely. Our '12th man' just can't simply be replaced by alternative, wealthier, bums on their seats!

 

[KT12 Exile]

Joking aside there's a wider question here: should ticket prices be allowed to reach their true market value, or should they be kept artificially depressed so that the local community can continue to afford?

We can go down the 'if people will pay it, it's ok to charge it' route and end up with a load of wealthy day trippers packing out the stadiums (arguably already happened to a large degree in the Premier League) but if it happens to us, then the club as we know it effectively ceases to exist.

I can see football eventually splitting in two, with a global superleague spin off where the biggest and wealthiest 25-30 clubs just play in a big superleague with games hosted all over the world, and no localised fixtures/cups etc. They'll just keep expanding the champions league, the champions league teams will eventually stop competing in the league cup, and so on, until you have two halves of football left; one being the global superleague with vast/dynamic pricing keeping those who aren't rich away. The reaction to the attempt at forming a superleague a few years ago means that it won't happen in one go, it'll just be a gradual/stealth move over the next 2-3 decades.

And then the other half will be left with the local league structures like we have now. The majority of TV/sponsorship money will go to the big league, so what we're left with won't be of the same quality, the Premier League equivalent will probably be akin to lower championship/League One now, but it'll be football in it's more raw form that anyone over 35 grew up with.

Hope I'm wrong but I think it's inevitable eventually.

 

[Back of the Kop]

Absolutely. Our '12th man' just can't simply be replaced by alternative, wealthier, bums on seats!

Humphrey is a massive Liverpool fan and won't be deaf to what thousands are saying about the atmosphere inside Anfield these days. Klopp was very vocal about this subject

I'm sure HK, as a very influential voice in the ears of our owners will be extremely keen to ensure we avoid falling into the trap that Liverpool and others at the top of the English game have

 

[Yeoman204]

The only extra (helpful) dimension to this is that reselling football tickets is technically illegal due to anti-hooliganism legislation (1994 criminal justice act). The problem is that there is an exemption for the "authorised reseller" - it's these resellers that operate as a law unto themselves and need stronger regulation.

That is a good point

However, I’d suggest that the risk of detection is pretty low, unless you’re doing it on an industrial scale - how many people have technically been on the wrong side of that law on this forum alone? Again the bigger the difference in face value and what people will pay, the bigger the incentive to those that would seek to profit.

Not sure more regulation on ticket exchanges is necessarily the answer though, unless there’s something specific you’re thinking of. It’s probably the place you’d want these transactions to occur (i.e. somewhat out in the open) if they’re going to be permitted.

 

[Back of the Kop]

We can go down the 'if people will pay it, it's ok to charge it' route and end up with a load of wealthy day trippers packing out the stadiums (arguably already happened to a large degree in the Premier League) but if it happens to us, then the club as we know it effectively ceases to exist.

I can see football eventually splitting in two, with a global superleague spin off where the biggest and wealthiest 25-30 clubs just play in a big superleague with games hosted all over the world, and no localised fixtures/cups etc. They'll just keep expanding the champions league, the champions league teams will eventually stop competing in the league cup, and so on, until you have two halves of football left; one being the global superleague with vast/dynamic pricing keeping those who aren't rich away. The reaction to the attempt at forming a superleague a few years ago means that it won't happen in one go, it'll just be a gradual/stealth move over the next 2-3 decades.

And then the other half will be left with the local league structures like we have now. The majority of TV/sponsorship money will go to the big league, so what we're left with won't be of the same quality, the Premier League equivalent will probably be akin to lower championship/League One now, but it'll be football in it's more raw form that anyone over 35 grew up with.

Hope I'm wrong but I think it's inevitable eventually.

I think you're probably right. Fan power staved off the last attempt at a European Super League but they'll be back with further attempts and at some point you can see it happening regardless of the fans backlash.

I just pray that wherever we are in the pyramid at that point, and even if we were to get a gold plated invitation, we turn it down and head up a new domestic Championship without the so called elite who will then be playing in front of 100,000 fans from the Far East in Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, London and Newcastle

 

[Gwrtheyrn23]

It's a fine balance for the powers that be at Wrexham.

Prices have to go up to reflect the higher level we are playing at and inflation etc....but as we know, income from ticket pricing alone is a fraction of overall turnover of Premier League clubs and many in the Championship

Keep ticket pricing affordable for the normal man/woman in the street to avoid the now sterile atmosphere at Old Trafford and Anfield that many describe, which is driven by sky high prices snapped up by day trippers

We're seeing the day trippers to an extent at the Racecourse but they're a tiny fraction of the attendance. I dread the day if we allow the Racecourse to become just another bucket list day out but the guy who is born and bred in the town can't get in

I love seeing international visitors coming to Wrexham matches - it's brilliant they want to come and be part of our club and makes us feel so unique.

But that balance is very important and the club need to recognise that those intl fans don't want to come and visit a sterile atmosphere of a ground full of the highest bidders. It's the opposite of Wrexham's appeal.

 

[Wrexy]

That is a good point

However, I’d suggest that the risk of detection is pretty low, unless you’re doing it on an industrial scale - how many people have technically been on the wrong side of that law on this forum alone? Again the bigger the difference in face value and what people will pay, the bigger the incentive to those that would seek to profit.

Not sure more regulation on ticket exchanges is necessarily the answer though, unless there’s something specific you’re thinking of. It’s probably the place you’d want these transactions to occur (i.e. somewhat out in the open) if they’re going to be permitted.

Our moral compass points in the right direction - it’s not the Wrexham way to fleece our own fans and our new CEO needs to know that.

I sold my Shrews ticket for face value yesterday (pleasure to do business with you Mr Burns). I wouldn’t dream of selling that for more money than I paid for it.