The current economic conditions are effecting everyone from school teachers to house wives. How is the recession effecting the ticketing industry?
One of the most recent and obvious effects is prices for baseball playoff tickets on the secondary market. As chronicled here, you could buy tickets to the one of the Dodgers/Phillies games for about $10 bucks/each. And Red Sox playoff tickets this year were going for about half of what they have been going for the last few years.
NFL tickets have also taken quite a hit on the secondary market. One reason is that the average price of NFL tickets rose approximately 8% this year. For example, decent lower level tickets to see the New England Patriots this year have a face value of close to $200/ticket after fees. If you look on the secondary market, a lot of football tickets are going below face value or breaking even. Another factor contributing to this is that Monday Night Football used to be a much hotter ticket, but it seems that since it moved from ABC to ESPN, it doesn’t have the same allure (or price premium on the secondary market) that it used to. NFL isn’t the only sport that has raised it’s prices. Major League Baseball has also steadily raised their average ticket price every year. And this year, for the first time in 4 years, MLB season attendance has dropped.
As for concerts, one affect of the downturn has been smaller bands cutting their touring due to gas prices and less ticket sales. Many indie bands no longer can afford a west coast tour because the stops are so spread out. 400 miles of gas to goto a show that only 30 people might show up at is too much of a risk, but big towns being less than 2 hours away from eachother on the east coast is much more financially viable. As for big name concerts, most of the high-priced summer tours are already over and then went onsale about 6 months ago, when the economy was not so bad. Madonna still came close to selling out her tour at $350/ticket for premium tickets and Tom Petty had one of his best tours in years at close to $100/ticket. But will people shell out that much next summer? It has yet to be seen.
What does this mean for the ticketing industry? As an event patron, it’s going to get easier to goto events for cheaper or even way under face value. Also, the slowing economy may force concert promoters and sports teams to lower ticket prices. As a ticket broker, things are going to continue to get tougher with primary ticket sellers charging more than ever right now and the economy getting worse, as well as the constant inflow of new ticket brokers (and their inventory), it’s just going to get harder and harder to make the same profits.
Another unknown factor is when Live Nation starts selling their own tickets next year, perhaps with dynamic pricing and even more scalping of their own tickets. I’ll address their future plans and possible effect on the secondary ticketing market in a future blog post.
#1 by Anonymous at October 31st, 2008
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You’re partially right on this post. I don’t think you can fault the NFL secondary ticket market decline solely on the economy, even if you could actually produce a reliable source to back up your claim that the NFL has taken such a hit.
If you look at the current standings halfway through the season, three of the more marketable teams – the Colts, Patriots, and Cowboys – are not as marketable because their performances have been subpar (and the Pats losing Brady as well). And seeing how all three teams are such big draws, most people in the secondary market tried to get as many tickets as possible to games involving these teams. Now that none of these teams is as big of a draw as they were when the season started, there are many brokers with excess inventory that they need to unload at prices far below what they had anticipated.
As for teams lowering prices, that won’t happen. I have already seen the ticket prices for some MLB teams and at the very best, teams will hold the line. In many other cases, teams will continue to increase prices with little regard for the economic situation of their fans. It’s hard to say exactly how the overall MLB pricing structure will move in 2009, but I’ve noticed many teams have not yet released 2009 season ticket pricing yet. This is rare at this point in the year for pricing to not be out there as they try to land new season ticket business. My guess is that many teams are wanting to put off finalizing tickets prices as long as possible in hopes that some economic recovery could justify bigger ticket hikes for 2009 without fear of alienating season ticket holders.
#2 by rachel at June 22nd, 2009
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I agree, the tickets for major sporting events are costly and most people are huge fans and would love to attend many games, but it’s just the cost that matters to some. I think there should be an event where fans are able to live a dream of playing in a tournament in which they can win tickets. Then its like the best of both worlds where fans play with Sports Legends in a vacay spot like the Atlantis Bahamas or something. Then i think it gives people an equal chance and its cheaper.