Soccer Econ 101 (Part 3): Does Toronto Show Us What to Expect in Future Ticket Prices? (UPDATED)
By: Laurie | October 17th, 2009
(This is part 3b of my Soccer Econ 101 Series. Go here for parts 1, 2 and 3a.)
Somewhat disturbing comment on the Goal Seattle forums from “pugetpounder,” who is also a Seahawks fan, about 2010’s 30% price increase for everybody who is not a 2009 STH:
[The price increase is] not surprising to me at all…
In 2004 I got my Seahawk Season tickets for $200 per seat ($20/game). This year a season ticket in that same exact section was $490 per seat ($49/game). A 145% increase over 5 years.
Why is this disturbing? Because the Seahawks and the Sounders share… Well, if their marketing departments are not officially married, they’re at least Friends With Benefits.
What this means is that, given the overwhelming succes of SSFC, we could be looking at similar price increases over the next few years, given that in both instances the original goal was to fill seats. Now the Sounders may be following the Seahawks with the goal of maximizing revenue.
Admittedly, we probably won’t be facing increases on quite the same scale, given that soccer is nowhere near American football in popularity. But the increases could definitely be enough to make a lot of current fans think twice before renewing.
So what will it mean to be a current SSFC season ticket holder, at least after the 2011 season? (Remember here that current prices are unquestionably below market, and that prices are set for 2010 and 2011. But after that all bets are off.)
Probably the closest thing to SSFC would be Toronto FC, the other shockingly popular team that’s sold out every game. How have they used ticket prices to handle the fact that their ticket demand exceeds their supply?
For the answer, I went to Duane Rollins, blogger at the fun Canadian blog The 24th Minute. (And thanks also to Toronto Offside’s Mark for looking into it as well.)
Duane’s a TFC season ticket holder from the first — and in the cheapest supporters’ section — so he knows firsthand what the price increases have looked like.
Season 1: $200 – 15 MLS games, 1 Canada U-20 game v. ARG, 4 friendly vouchers (which became 2 friendlies against Benfica and Aston Villa)
Season 2A: $228 – 15 MLS games, 2 friendly vouchers
Season 2B: $252 – 15 MLS games, 1 MLS All-Star ticket, 2 friendly vouchers (which became Independiente and Pachuca)
Season 3: $280 – 15 MLS Games, 1 friendly (River Plate), 2 V-Cup games, 1 CCL Prelim. game.
Season 4: $323 – 15 MLS Games, 1 friendly, 2 V-Cup games
Or, in other words, a 61% increase from season 1 to season 4.
Duane did say that the price increases have not necessarily been across the board. Last year the more expensive seats got a higher percentage increase, while this year it seems to have fallen on the cheaper seats in the supporters’ sections.
What does this mean for SSFC fans?
I’m not sure. The one real wild card in this is the fact that SSFC has Qwest, so unlike TFC they have the capacity to expand the ticket supply substantially, and to keep prices down if they choose to. There would be tradeoffs to this, including the possibility of not having sellouts — which the team now prides itself on — and the added expenses of opening up things like concessions and security in the upper deck.
Will they decide this makes sense for the team? I have no idea. But I’d suggest starting to save up now for 2012. Just in case.
UPDATE: Got more info on TFC ticket prices from our Mark, our Toronto blogger. I think these are Canadian dollars.
Original single game prices for TFC were:
Club seats: $70
Reds: $53
Dark Greys: $40
Mid-Greys: $25
Light Greys: $12
Supporters Section: $10
And this year’s 2009 prices over 2008 were:
2009 Season Tickets
Club seats: $1600 (increasing to $1634 for 2010-up 2%)
Dark Greys: $880 (increasing to $931 for 2010-up 6%)
Light Greys: $326 (increasing to $361 for 2010-up 11%)
Supporters Section: $280 (increasing to $323-up 15%)
Or, in other words, a total price increase from 2007 to 2010 in the supporters’ section of $16, from $10 to $26. That’s 160%!
For comparison purposes, here are season ticket prices for this year as compiled by “foreleft” on the Goal Seattle forums.
Ticket prices for this year:
Columbus $10-$29
Colorado $12-$35
LA Galaxy $14-$200
Chicago $15-$70
Chivas USA $15-$100
Kansas City $15-$25
Real Salt Lake $18-$60
FC Dallas $19-$150
San Jose $20-$60
NE Revs $20-$65
Houston $20-$74
Seattle $20-$85
NY Red Bulls $20-$100
DC United $22-$50
Toronto FC $32.58-$184 (US dollars.)
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Comments | Add your comment
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I think the likelihood is that the Sounders will pair price-increases with capacity increases so that there will always be an opportunity to buy a relatively affordable ticket at the low-end. Notice the only stadium where that isn’t the case (though as a United season ticket holder I would argue they could be providing a few seats cheaper than their $20) is the one where you as a new customer simply can’t get a season ticket.
Posted from
United States
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Sgc, I hope you’re right.
I hate to say this, but I’d feel a lot better about the situation if Paul Allen weren’t one of the owners.
Posted from
United States -
some day the Sounders will figure out that they would make a lot more money with “undervalued” prices in the 300 level, than the lie they call a sell out.
35,000 at 35$ on average is 1.2M$ per match
67,000 at 20$ on average is 1.4M$ per matchThey have placed more value on the word sellout than they have on actual money.
Posted from
United States -
Dave, the issue is whether there are 67,000 fans that will pack into Qwest for every game? If there are, and the FO is sure of it, then yes they’re giving up $200,000 per match. But if there isn’t or the FO isn’t sure there is, then the risks are substantial. Suppose the FO opens up the whole stadium with an average price of $20. At that price they need to sell 60,000 tickets at each match to get back to that $1.2 million they’re getting now. What if the total demand is really only 45,000? Then they only make $900,000 per match, giving up $300,000 on what they were making before.
When you’re trying to maximize profits, there’s an equilibrium point where any reduction in price is just throwing money away because the demand will not increase to make up the difference and where any increase in price will reduce the demand so much the total revenue goes down. My impression is that the FO is seeking to peg the available tickets a few thousand below the demand they perceive, so they can stay close to that equilibrium point. That’s the tricky part when they start looking at opening upper deck sections. If you open one part of the upper bowl, then it becomes harder to resist opening the whole thing, so they’ll wait to make that move until they’re sure that the demand is really there. But they can’t wait until there’s 30,000 people on the season ticket waiting list to do it because I don’t think people are willing to be that patient.
Posted from
United States -
Carlos, I’m using the same argument you use for the Open Cup.
Price the Upper deck at 10$. undervalue it.
Posted from
United States -
It’s not quite the same argument, because the choice there was between selling out Starfire at 4000 fans or mostly filling the lower bowl at Qwest with 20,000+ fans. My argument was that it was better to sell 20,000 really cheap tickets to Qwest than 4,000 reasonably priced tickets to Starfire. When you start talking about the upper deck at Qwest, however, it’s a different proposition. There you have to take into account the possibility of stealing from yourself. What happens if you open all of Qwest with really cheap seats in the upper deck? Then all of the people who are price sensitive move up to the upper bowl, leaving those who are less price sensitive in the lower bowl. Whether the lower bowl gets filled or not will depend on the total demand. If the demand is more than 67,000, then great, the stadium fills up. If it isn’t, then seats are left open and the vast majority of those open seats will be in the lower bowl. That’s the line that the FO is trying to walk. At this very moment, at halftime in the KC match, we’re in the playoffs, and that will help tickets sales. If after all is said and done, the Sounders hoist the MLS Cup, then I think we’d see another spike in demand, and then the FO might start seriously considering the possibility of opening some part of the upper deck.
Posted from
United States
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