Dynamic ticket pricing in football

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Dynamic pricing is used in many places – hotel rooms, train tickets, flights, theatres, etc. Everybody knows that you buy your ticket in the last moment it will be more expensive and this trend is set to take over football as well.

Some teams have already accepted this price model and the price of their tickets increases during match day. If you ever visit a match of Derby County, Bristol City or Cardiff, then you might sit next to a supporter who has paid less for his ticket. These three teams are the first to use the dynamic price model in Britain and if this turns out to be successful, many other clubs will follow their example.

Dynamic pricing is quite complex and the price of the tickets is based on the attractiveness of the game. A ticket to a single game is usually a bit more expensive than the season ticket, but with the most recent changes, the price of a single ticket may not have a maximum limit.

If there are only a few tickets left and the interest is high, then their price will quickly increase. Thanks to the dynamic pricing system clubs can increase their average attendance and bring more money to the club’s bank accounts.

Supporters will also be able to choose between paying less or more for a ticket. This choice can be quite important, especially now when the economy is failing. The vice-president of operations at Derby, John Vicars says: “This new price model will make tickets more affordable to the supports who buy them in advance.

You’ll just have to accept that if you show up at the stadium 30 minutes before the game, you’ll have to pay much more than the fan who bought his ticket few weeks ago.” Thanks to this system, regular supports who don’t own season tickets will pay less for a ticket and therefore the average match attendance should increase.

 

1000% increase in football ticket prices in 20 years

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Despite the fact that it’s a multi-billion pound industry, football is alienating young fans due the continuing rise in ticket prices, which have gone up by a staggering 1000% over the past 20 years. If you wanted to watch Manchester United play at home in 1989, the cheapest ticket would have cost you £3.50. Allowing for inflation, that should cost £6.20 today, but in fact will set you back £28.

It is even worse for Liverpool supporters, they used to pay £4 for a ticket at Anfield, and their cheapest is now £45, a massive hike of 1,025%. Arsenal’s prices have risen by 920%, and their tickets have risen from £5 to a wallet bashing £51, making a home match possible only for those with cash to splash around, and excluding the ordinary footie fan.

The chairman of the Football Supporters Federation, Malcolm Clarke, has said that while some teams in the Premiership still offer their fans a good deal, the top clubs, particularly those in London, charge outrageous prices. These are way beyond the means of younger fans who now feel alienated and have to go to the pub to watch their team play, which robs them of the match day atmosphere that exists in a football ground.

Traditionally, football was one of the most accessible of all sports, but the price of tickets in today’s economic climate where jobs are under threat and there is less disposable income, fans have found themselves being priced out of the game. Some clubs, according to the Guardian Online, are proposing to raise ticket prices even higher. A rise of 6.5% is on the cards at Arsenal, but Blackburn have tickets for £10 and Stoke are freezing prices.

When stadiums were made all seated after the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, prices rose as there were less supporters able to fit in the grounds, but nowadays, the price you pay at the gate is to pay the astronomical wages of the top flight players.