St Louis Rams To Consider Variable Pricing

Dec 22, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Rams cheerleader performs during the second half of a game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the Edward Jones Dome. The Rams defeated the Buccaneers 23-13. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Ticket pricing is one of the challenging aspects in sports. Some games are going to be more popular than others but the prices are fixed. Then Stubhub and the secondary marketplace came in and forever changed the way we get our tickets. A few years ago, teams started to introduce “variable pricing” for their single game tickets. This system allowed for a computer to dictate based on the demand whether to raise or lower ticket prices. Here is some excerpts from the St. Louis Post Dispatch:

"“As our schedule gets closer, as the dates get released, we’ll evaluate what our single-game pricing will be when we put our single-game tickets on sale,” Rams executive vice president Kevin Demoff said in a recent interview.Variable ticket pricing is new to the NFL this season. At least four teams already have committed to it: Buffalo, Detroit, New England, and Seattle.Under the variable pricing plan, marquee games on a team’s schedule would be more expensive. Less desirable games — such as preseason contests — are cheaper.The baseball Cardinals use a similar pricing plan and refer to it as “dynamic pricing.”“We have some games that will be higher-demand games — especially Dallas,” Demoff said.The times and dates of those games won’t be known until April when the NFL releases its schedule. A prime time game, for example, would be more desirable. A home game close to Christmas probably would not."

I think variable pricing is a great tool that sports teams should utilize but from the article, it seems like they might not use it to lower ticket prices. I believe in the free market but the free market doesn’t always favor the business but the consumer which should mean the market should lower the prices if the demand isn’t there for the game regardless of the opponent. Whether it is Dallas or Arizona, the market should always speak for itself whatever the outcome may be.

What do you think? Tell us in the comment below!