White Sox releasing $5 upper deck ticket for TOR series

[ewokpelts]

I guess they "stole" this idea from the Cubs, because they used to be among the MOST affordable.

 

But I remember them raising the bleacher seats to much more exorbidant levels 10 or even 15 years ago.

 

Probably with all the improvements out there, the backdrop, patio deck....what is the price now? It seems to be it was in the 20's or low 30's around 10-12 years ago already.

My Season ticket package in the bleachers was $18 a game in 2003, the last year of non-tier pricing. The box office price was $22.

[ewokpelts]

^ Agree. They need to release $7 LD Corner seats just to fill those sections out. They could also have employees roam the UD concourse and ask people "Would you mind giving us 2 minutes of your time to answer a few questions for passes to the Lower Deck"? That could fill out the bleachers. A packed lower deck sure looks better on tv.

you WONT see lower deck tickets for $7 when upper box are $24. best you can hope for is $25 for lower corners.

 

[cabiness42]

The Sox should hire somebody with a math degree and knowledge of baseball to study all of this stuff and determine the optimal pricing structure.

[Balta1701]

The Sox should hire somebody with a math degree and knowledge of baseball to study all of this stuff and determine the optimal pricing structure.

Something tells me that most teams already have exactly that.

[ewokpelts]

the current system is clearly not working. it's so out of whack that people are forgetting that the sox LOWERED prices across the board in the offseason.

 

dynamic pricing of upper reserve tix has made that $14 ticket in February $16-$18 in june. when there are THOUSANDS of unsold tickets and a clear lack of demand. The non-dynamic price of a upper reserve ticket was $17 in 2011.

 

 

 

it's a goddamn shame that the box office has a paper print out of each day's ticket prices. and speaking as the guy pushing the 1/2 off codes, there's way too many hoops to get through to find deals.

Edited June 12, 2012 by ewokpelts

[caulfield12]

CHICAGO -- The Chicago White Sox are the latest sports team to experiment with "dynamic pricing" for single-game tickets.

 

 

The Sox are planning to offer variable-based pricing on a select number of tickets next year, joining the San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros, and several NBA and NHL teams.

 

 

ESPNChicago.com White Sox blog

The latest news and notes on the White Sox. Blog

The team is experimenting with the idea over its last seven home games this season, with 750 seats spread around several sections being dedicated as dynamic-priced seats.

 

 

Only two of the remaining home games had pre-sales over 20,000, as of Friday, according to White Sox Vice President/Chief Marketing Officer Brooks Boyer, so the team decided to try out the idea this season rather than wait until 2011.

 

 

The White Sox have been working with Austin, Texas-based software consulting firm Qcue to implement this pricing strategy. Qcue pioneered this idea for sports teams, inventing a software engine that takes in a variety of factors including team performance, giveaways, weather, starting pitchers, and possible milestones to create market-based ticket prices.

 

 

"This is like secondary ticketing," Boyer said. "At first, four or five teams do it, and then everyone follows. It's not something that's revolutionary. Airlines have been pricing tickets this way for years."

 

 

The team can check Qcue's recommendations every morning, or before every homestand, and decide how to price tickets based on certain factors. Prices don't have huge fluctuations, but can go up or down several dollars. Teams don't have to take the recommendations.

 

San Francisco made waves in the industry when they first started utilizing this technology. The Giants started with 500 variable-priced tickets in 2008, and then expanded to 2,000 seats in 2009 to every area of their park where single-game tickets are sold in 2010.

 

 

Qcue is expanding to the NBA this season, with the Atlanta Hawks, Houston Rockets and Utah Jazz offering dynamic-priced tickets. They started talking to Qcue last season.

 

 

The White Sox are averaging 27,342 per game, which puts them at 17th in the majors. Last season they averaged 28,199.

 

 

"We were thrown on the pay-no-mind list in April and May and that affects our big months of June, July and August," Boyer said. "You need your team to carry you in September and unfortunately, we're out of it.

 

 

"Typically one of our highest-drawing tickets is the Red Sox, and this series will feel more like we're playing the Royals."

 

The team already uses four different pricing tiers to differentiate games: premier, prime, regular, and Monday. The Red Sox games fall into the premier category, with the idea that the team would still be in playoff contention. None of the dynamically priced seats for the series, that runs Monday through Thursday, are in sections that include season-ticket holders. The Sox are experimenting in the upper deck, the corner of the club level and lower levels by the foul poles. Tickets will be priced as low as $15 for the final series against Cleveland beginning Friday.

 

 

"We don't want a situation where someone with a $40 season ticket is sitting next to someone who paid $25," Boyer said.

 

While White Sox fans get a deal right now, tickets can go up for major pitching matchups, important games or milestones.

 

 

"We're not talking about a huge or significant amount of tickets on a per-game basis," Boyer said. "This does favor the fans when a game is not in the highest of demand, as you pay less than what you would pay if you walked up to the box office."

 

While fans will have the chance to get lower-priced tickets through this plan, Boyer said overall ticket prices likely will have another small increase next season.

 

 

"We've had a ticket price philosophy where [we] have made small, incremental jumps year after year," Boyer said, "whether it was after we won the World Series or after 2007. I anticipate us sticking to the same philosophy moving forward."

 

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=5618359

 

[ewokpelts]

I can see why the sox would want to use dynamic pricing, but it is not working.

 

Let's look at this simple math.

 

For a weekday, "regular" game, Let's say there's a row of 10 tickets in a section in Lower Box. The SEASON TICKET price per ticket is $40.

So if the sox sold all 10 tickets in the row at $40 their income is $400.

 

Now let's say the box office price in February(when tix went on sale) is $50 per ticket.

If all 10 tickets sell at the box office(when dynamic prices are inactive), then the sox made $500, a profit of $100 over what the season ticket cost was.

And that means to simply break even off the season ticket revenue, the sox would only need to sell 8 tickets.

 

Now, with dynamic pricing, even if NONE of the tickets sold yet, the price is $60. The sox would make $600 off the 10 tickets that MAY sell.

Because as we know, they are not selling. at all.

The break even point for the sox is literally 6.66 tickets (at $60) to make the $400. And IF they sold all 10 tickets, you look at $600 in revenue.

 

But let's be honest, those 10 tickets will be available at the box office day of game.

 

In fact, if you go to the "special events" page at http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/cws/ticket...cial_events.jsp, you 'll probably find a discount offer for those same 10 seats at $25 each. The sox have a better chance of the tickets selling for $35 LESS than the dynamic price that they did even at the season ticket level.

 

But we're the jerks for not buying tickets, right kenny?

Edited June 13, 2012 by ewokpelts

[caulfield12]

I can see why the sox would want to use dynamic pricing, but it is not working.

 

Let's look at this simple math.

 

For a weekday, "regular" game, Let's say there's a row of 10 tickets in a section in Lower Box. The SEASON TICKET price per ticket is $40.

So if the sox sold all 10 tickets in the row at $40 their income is $400.

 

Now let's say the box office price in February(when tix went on sale) is $50 per ticket.

If all 10 tickets sell at the box office(when dynamic prices are inactive), then the sox made $500, a profit of $100 over what the season ticket cost was.

And that means to simply break even off the season ticket revenue, the sox would only need to sell 8 tickets.

 

Now, with dynamic pricing, even if NONE of the tickets sold yet, the price is $60. The sox would make $600 off the 10 tickets that MAY sell.

Because as we know, they are not selling. at all.

The break even point for the sox is literally 6.66 tickets (at $60) to make the $400. And IF they sold all 10 tickets, you look at $600 in revenue.

 

But let's be honest, those 10 tickets will be available at the box office day of game.

 

In fact, if you go to the "special events" page at http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/cws/ticket...cial_events.jsp, you 'll probably find a discount offer for those same 10 seats at $25 each. The sox have a better chance of the tickets selling for $35 LESS than the dynamic price that they did even at the season ticket level.

 

But we're the jerks for not buying tickets, right kenny?

 

 

It's definitely working a lot better for the airlines, that's for sure.

 

More people travelling than ever before, fewer airlines and seats, the explosion of "new wealth" in countries like China, India, the Middle East...it used to cost "only" $600-900 to fly from the US to Asia in 2007/2008, and now that price has roughly doubled in the last five years.

 

 

[ewokpelts]

It's definitely working a lot better for the airlines, that's for sure.

 

More people travelling than ever before, fewer airlines and seats, the explosion of "new wealth" in countries like China, India, the Middle East...it used to cost "only" $600-900 to fly from the US to Asia in 2007/2008, and now that price has roughly doubled in the last five years.

dont give brooks any ideas.

 

 

and to punch a hole in your airline theory, sites like priceline and travelocity kill the airline's profits, as all but southwest allowed these middle men to sell their tickets for them.

 

[southsider2k5]

dont give brooks any ideas.

 

 

and to punch a hole in your airline theory, sites like priceline and travelocity kill the airline's profits, as all but southwest allowed these middle men to sell their tickets for them.

 

That and $100 oil.

[caulfield12]

dont give brooks any ideas.

 

 

and to punch a hole in your airline theory, sites like priceline and travelocity kill the airline's profits, as all but southwest allowed these middle men to sell their tickets for them.

 

 

But now, when you go to priceline, travelocity, orbitz, expedia, etc., all the fares quoted are exactly the same as the others.

 

There are very few "deals" anymore like it was possible to find. Price fixing and collusion rule the day....that's their choice, obviously. Even if you go directly to the airline's website itself, the prices are almost always the same as the other "search engine" sites list or charge.

 

 

There's a lot more competition for the teams now with StubHub involved to undercut their own ticket markets significantly.

[ewokpelts]

But now, when you go to priceline, travelocity, orbitz, expedia, etc., all the fares quoted are exactly the same as the others.

 

There are very few "deals" anymore like it was possible to find. Price fixing and collusion rule the day....that's their choice, obviously. Even if you go directly to the airline's website itself, the prices are almost always the same as the other "search engine" sites list or charge.

 

 

There's a lot more competition for the teams now with StubHub involved to undercut their own ticket markets significantly.

 

stubhub/ebay/ticketsnow/ect are SECONDARY market. the prime market is still mlb.com/box office/ticketmaster/tickets.com

 

it's the job of the primary market (like the sox) to let buyers know that they are not only he safest method to buy, but also the leader in value.

 

dynamic pricing, where the price rises even when not a single ticket has sold in a given section, does not accomplish that.

 

i doubt the sox are reading this, but i wish they were. maybe they can see the insanity of thier actions.

 

 

 

[ptatc]

It's definitely working a lot better for the airlines, that's for sure.

 

More people travelling than ever before, fewer airlines and seats, the explosion of "new wealth" in countries like China, India, the Middle East...it used to cost "only" $600-900 to fly from the US to Asia in 2007/2008, and now that price has roughly doubled in the last five years.

This is not true. There are many fewer travelers, especially for business. There are many web based meetings instead.This kills the airline industry. There are fewer seats because the number of flights has decreased. The price is increasing in part due to the struggles of the airline industry and fuel costs.

[caulfield12]

This is not true. There are many fewer travelers, especially for business. There are many web based meetings instead.This kills the airline industry. There are fewer seats because the number of flights has decreased. The price is increasing in part due to the struggles of the airline industry and fuel costs.

 

 

Maybe I should preface my comment by saying in Asia, Australia and the Middle East. Haven't lived in the US since 2007.

 

I'd have to check the overall worldwide numbers (with Europe teetering on the brink of collase, I can't imagine air travel has blipped any direction but down, except perhaps Germany)...just know they're in the process of building 50-100 new airports here in China over the next decade.

 

For international/trans-ocean flights, the prices have markedly increased in the last 2-3 years.

 

 

[cabiness42]

Well, you sure can't say the Sox aren't trying everything to sell tickets.

 

Just got a personalized email from someone in the ticket office, even though I live 288 miles from the stadium.

 

I did tell him that if he helped me find a job in Chicago/NW Indiana, I'd guarantee to buy at least a 9-game package for 2013 :>

[caulfield12]

Well, you sure can't say the Sox aren't trying everything to sell tickets.

 

Just got a personalized email from someone in the ticket office, even though I live 288 miles from the stadium.

 

I did tell him that if he helped me find a job in Chicago/NW Indiana, I'd guarantee to buy at least a 9-game package for 2013 :>

 

 

How did they get your e-mail address in the first place?

[ewokpelts]

Well, you sure can't say the Sox aren't trying everything to sell tickets.

 

Just got a personalized email from someone in the ticket office, even though I live 288 miles from the stadium.

 

I did tell him that if he helped me find a job in Chicago/NW Indiana, I'd guarantee to buy at least a 9-game package for 2013 :>

what was in the email?

 

[cabiness42]

what was in the email?

 

Good Morning XXXXX,

 

I was unable to reach you earlier because of an invalid phone number but I wanted to introduce myself as your new personal ticket representative for the 2012 season. I also wanted to inform you that we have some exciting ticket opportunities and group packages available this season and now is the best time to reserve your seat. If you have any questions regarding the season you can get back in contact with me at (312) 674-5131 or by email at XXXXXXXX@CHISOX.COM. Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you soon!

[cabiness42]

How did they get your e-mail address in the first place?

 

From ordering tickets online?

 

[SouthSidePride05]

I recently got a voice mail from a Sox ticket rep with a similar message, presumably because I purchased online tickets too. It was probably the same person; I assume they only have 1 guy making cold calls to each person who ordered tix this season. And he probably isn't very busy.

[ewokpelts]

i actually have three guys i deal with, but i got a voicemail from one of the "new business" reps hawking tickets to me.

[caulfield12]

Why have the White Sox never had a 1-800/toll-free number to call for tickets?

 

Just curious. That seems pretty basic marketing, especially when you had to make long distance or out of area code land line calls.

[knightni]

Because they're still thinking small and not regionally or nationally like they should.

 

Do the Cubs have a toll-free number?

 

 

[caulfield12]

Because they're still thinking small and not regionally or nationally like they should.

 

Do the Cubs have a toll-free number?

 

 

1-800-THE-CUBS

 

Heard it during their broadcast.

[ewokpelts]

1-800-THE-CUBS

 

Heard it during their broadcast.

Thats for INDIVIDUAL games.

 

Sox have one as well. 1-866-SOX-GAME