Multiple MLB Ballparks Moving to Dynamic Ticket Pricing

MLB ballparks have begun to adjust their ticket prices according to a dynamic pricing model as are hopefully the other 3 professional leagues. Many fans will read this news via various sources without being clear on what dynamic pricing actually means. To put it simply, it's no different than hotels that sell rooms for cheaper when they haven't been booked. Under a dynamic pricing model, unsold seats which are typically the upper level seating, will be sold for less than the original face value. The model will obviously only apply to single game tickets and never to season ticket holders.

The San Francisco Giants have had plenty of success with the help of a system called Qcue Inc. The Giants used a dynamic pricing for designated sections during the 2009 baseball season. As a result, the Giants reportedly sold more than 25,000 additional tickets and made an additional $500,000 in overall income. The Minnesota Twins plan on implementing a similar system with the help of Digonex Technologies.

One of the main incentives to using a dynamic pricing system for baseball is thanks to the large amount of home games played per season. Such a system would likely not work in the NFL because NFL stadiums sell out with such regularity due to only eight home games being played per season. A dynamic system would, however, likely put an end to the need for the infamous blackout rule in the NFL.

One of the shortcomings of this model is the question of how much does ticket price correlate with attendance? If bleacher seats drop down to $4 for Kansas City Royals games, is Kauffman Stadium guaranteed to be 3/4 full? The Giants and Twins are both popular franchises in Major League Baseball which is why the system works at their ballparks. As the Pittsburgh Pirates proved this past season, nothing puts fans in the seats quiet like a winning team. And in Major League Baseball, fans are notorious for waiting until something good happens on the field before they begin attending.

The main shortcoming is the possibility of angering season ticket holders. Why purchase season tickets if the ball club is going to sell them for much less than what a season ticket holder paid for them? Or, in the case of games with strong demands for tickets, the franchise is essentially guilty of scalping it's own tickets and runs the risk of keeping the real fans out of the game.

It's an imperfect model but the model will fit in most MLB ballparks.