Photo from Stubhub.com
The pricing strategy for the 2015 Rugby World Cup is a bit different than most events of this size. The International Rugby Board has offered tickets as low as 10£ (12.44 euro) for the early matches of the tournament. This has already caused some issues with people purchasing the tickets and then reselling them on sites such as StubHub for as much as a 568% price increase. They offered tickets at this price so children could attend games as well as a way to attract new fans. Tickets at this price are only offered for the early games and so fans will have to dish out big bucks to attend games later in the tournament. Games at Twickenham Stadium, where the championship game will take place, could cost a fan around 7,080£ (8808.85 euro).
Do you think this pricing strategy will attract new fans? Will their interest die out once they can no longer attend games for low prices? How could they improve their ticket pricing strategy?
Hall, Joe. "How Do I Get a Rugby World Cup 2015 Ticket? Fans Who Miss out in Official Ballot Could Face Prices 400pc Higher." City A.M. N.p., 3 Oct. 2014. Web. 15 Oct. 2014. <http://www.cityam.com/1412328539/rugby-world-cup-2015-tickets-fans-who-miss-out-official-ballot-could-face-prices-400pc>.
I think the success of this ticket pricing strategy is, in theory, a great idea since earlier games are conceivably less popular than games later in the season. So, more tickets for earlier games will sell if they are cheaper. That said, the reselling of these tickets at more expensive pricing prohibits this from happening. Therefore, the success of this pricing strategy depends on how passionate fans are about the sport (how much they are willing to pay for tickets) but in hindsight I think it will not be successful.
ReplyDeleteDo you think there is a way they could prohibit the reselling of the tickets?
DeleteToday in class we discussed an article regarding ticket pricing for English football matches and how they have skyrocketed in recent years but they still sell out games because apparently fans are willing to pay those prices but the German clubs have kept ticket prices low because they value their fans. Do you think that the IRB values their fans and that is why they are keeping prices low? Could rugby learn from football's pricing strategy or the other way around?
If photo ID with the persons name who purchased them is required at the door they might be able eliminate the reselling of tickets. They could also limit the number of tickets sold to one person. In terms of prices, I think supply and demand would eventually cause the ticket prices to reach an equilibrium. If there are enough people willing to buy them at increased prices than they could easily sell them more expensive and not have to worry about attracting more fans.
DeleteIt is impractical and too difficult to regulate and put an end to the reselling of tickets at higher prices. I think the IRB sells its tickets for cheaper in the beginning of the season because they value their fan base; it's unfortunate that this method is unsuccessful. So, since the tickets are selling at more expensive prices anyway, it may be beneficial for rugby to sell higher priced tickets in the first place so that more money goes back to the IRB (rather than to just those reselling tickets).
ReplyDelete