Dynamic pricing is nothing new but it began dominating headlines across the UK following the release of tickets for Oasis’s upcoming reunion tour. Although originally advertised with a face value of £135, one of the main ticket retailers began selling these same tickets at £350 due to the extremely high levels of demand.
Do not think dynamic pricing is just reserved for music concerts though as it is present in many other industries, including hospitality, transport, and even amusement parks. There are real fears that it may spread across football too, especially following the news that Valencia and Celtic Vigo would be rolling out the system for home matches. Is this likely to be the start of a popular trend though or will other clubs prefer to stay clear of the negative press a dynamic pricing structure attracts?
Why Dynamic Pricing?
To put it simply, the benefit of dynamic pricing is that it brings in more money. Rather than having a flat rate for an event, dynamic pricing allows ticket prices to increase in instances where there is a surge in demand. For the likes of Valencia and Celta Viga, this should have little impact on low-key affairs but will likely see prices increase substantially for when the likes of Barcelona or Real Madrid come to visit.
The underlying premise is that when there is heightened demand for a ticket, clubs can charge more and still sell the tickets. Much like with music concerts, there are no real alternatives customers can choose from. If you want to watch Oasis live, you need to buy an Oasis ticket. If you want to watch Valencia CF live, you need to buy a Valencia ticket. They cannot increase the number of available seats to match demand, so instead they increase the price as they know there will be enough people willing to pay the inflated cost.
This will enable clubs to sell out the stadium but maximise their ticket revenue in the process, bringing in more money to the club. Owners may try and claim this is not their motivation for introducing dynamic pricing but other arguments remain entirely unconvincing. For Valencia chairman Peter Lim, it is about fairness as he argued, “It wouldn’t be fair for someone who planned ahead and bought a ticket early to pay the same as someone who waited until the last minute.”
Dynamic Pricing in Football
Football clubs are introducing ‘dynamic pricing’. Valencia are increasing ticket prices – often several times over – with the ‘support and technology of La Liga’. A very slippery slope which is simply a dreadful development for match-going fans. https://t.co/9BatJvzZWs https://t.co/RkwRHxs3qo pic.twitter.com/zoFE1uLZw5
— Colin Millar (@Millar_Colin) September 2, 2024
Valencia and Celta Vigo’s foray into the world of dynamic pricing is not a footballing first. Scottish outfit Hearts introduced dynamic ticket pricing for their season tickets ahead of the 2012/13 season. This saw some adult tickets jump from £380 to £470 in just a matter of hours. It proved a great way of angering a fan base who were told before release that prices were at their lowest starting price for four years. The trouble was, as it turned out, this applied to only a small fraction of the available tickets.
Hertha Berlin also introduced dynamic pricing at the start of the 2016/17 season after partnering with Smart Price software. Due to having such a large stadium, some tickets dipped in price when demand was low as supply exceeded demand. Overall though the average ticket price did increase, albeit by a fairly small percentage. Still, for a stadium that holds over 74,000 fans, that is a fair amount of extra revenue.
While there are a few instances of clubs flirting with dynamic pricing, it is far from common in football grounds. Instead, clubs tend to operate with a tiered system with fixed prices that only vary depending on seat location and the opposition team, not current demand. Will this continue to be the case or are we about to see a gradual movement towards this pricing structure in the sport so many people love? Let’s look at the arguments for and against.
Yes – Dynamic Football Will Become More Popular
We may not like it but clubs are run like businesses, designed to gain as much revenue as possible by exploiting the love and passion of their fans. This is why clubs are churning out expensive shirts every single season, charging an increasing amount for ticket prices and even dabbling into things such as fan tokens.
Football clubs have become increasingly greedy and it is not hard to find recent examples. Aston Villa, for one, recently announced they would be charging season ticket holders £70-£79 for a Champions League game and £75-£94 for a non-season ticket holders. Months earlier, neighbouring side, Wolverhampton Wanderers, were increasing some season ticket prices by a whopping 190%. Evidently, clubs are very fond of making money so a dynamic pricing model would no doubt appeal to many if it wasn’t for the overwhelming backlash it would receive.
No – Dynamic Football Will Not Take Off
The one real reason why clubs will be reluctant to adopt a dynamic pricing model for tickets is because of how unpopular they would be. In a public statement, the Football Supporters Association said it would be met with “enormous opposition” in English leagues. Fan action does have an impact too as we have seen in the past. Wolves ended up reversing their aforementioned hikes on season tickets and froze prices instead. Similarly, back in 2016, Liverpool’s owners quickly u-turned after plans to introduce £77 matchday tickets and a £1,000 season ticket saw fans organise a mass walkout.
Final Thoughts
Dynamic pricing will no doubt be on the radar of many clubs who know they could sell out tickets even with inflated costs. In the Premier League, most clubs have 97%+ full stadiums on average through the course of the campaign as there is such demand for tickets. At the moment, clubs are trying to find a balance between increasing ticket prices and not angering fans too much but the pursuit of more money might be too tempting for some owners.
Although dynamic pricing would inevitably price out local working-class fans, some owners would prefer they be replaced by a tourist paying twice the price. To stop this from happening, fans must be loud and organised in their opposition to such exploitative pricing models. Should they succeed in this, dynamic pricing should stop short of becoming the norm across European football.