The self-correcting ticket price.
It’s clear that lots of sports franchises suffer from suboptimal ticket-pricing schemes. Between games that feature many empty seats, games that sell out entirely, and the ability of scalpers to obtain profits on the secondary market, money is obviously being left on the table. The University of Minnesota is trying an interesting idea with its new Golden Ticket pricing concept that for $75 lets you attend all nine Big Ten men’s basketball matchups.
But with a catch.
The catch is that if you go to a game and Minnesota loses, then your pass expires.
The idea is that demand is low for games against weak opponents so Golden Ticket holders will fill the empty seats. They will find it too risky to attend the games against strong opponents freeing up supply to accomodate the increased demand for those games.
Coonskin curl: Mark Witte.
Cheap Talk 
5 comments
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November 30, 2012 at 8:14 am
Anonymous
This seems to punish attending certain games… Wouldn’t it work better the other way round? If the catch was that if you DIDN’T go to a certain number of games that Minnesota WON your pass would expire?
November 30, 2012 at 10:36 am
Anonymous
D’oh – I overlooked your final comment that this is intended to reduce demand for big games, not just maintain demand the rest of the time.
November 30, 2012 at 11:17 am
Watchmaker
I wonder what happens if attendance is over capacity.
November 30, 2012 at 11:32 pm
Danny Lynch
I assume the golden ticket holders will have to declare ahead of time if they are going to the game. The seats of the people who don’t declare they are going can be sold on the day of the game.
December 1, 2012 at 1:26 am
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