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Saturday, March 20, 2010

Marketing Idea: Sports Venues

Empty Seats

It is rare in this economy to find a sold out sporting event, or venue. This affects the amount of profits a team or complex can receive. While the breakdown of revenues will differ with each venue/location and the actual numbers unknown and approximate breakdown follows:

  • Admission (ticket sales) 40%
  • Parking 10%
  • Food and Beverage sales 30%
  • Merchandise 15%
  • Other 5%

With unsold seats there is the loss of revenue and potential revenue

One of the largest sources of revenue for teams and arenas is corporate sponsorship. With an increased attendance the companies sponsoring the team will get more brand awareness and would be able to be charged more as well as more companies would be willing to sponsor.

Real world example

Figures and stats are not actual and just estimates

The Milwaukee Bucks at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee still have seats available even during their current hot streak. Even with the current promotions and discounts there remain unsold seats. The image to the left shows all the seats available for a Friday night game against the Miami Heat. Most of the back row(s) remain available for sale. If the Bucks or any team would have a cheap ticket deal for dollar seats or even 5 dollar seats the attendance will rise. There are numerous promotions available for discounted tickets which should remain the primary focus of the organization. The cheap tickets would be for individuals who have no preference for where they would sit and for a spur of the moment decision. A suggested distribution system and restrictions is explained below. The team and facility already are paying for those seats to be used similar to an airplane, if they go unused it is a loss of revenue and potential revenue. One possible downside of these cheap tickets is the loss of revenue from people willing to pay more. But these seats would be in the nosebleed section top rows.

The Setup

A special ticket window for individuals can purchase one dollar tickets, with a set limit of 500 per event. One ticket per person, cash only, no selection the tickets would be handed out in order of available seats starting on the highest row circling around the arena. This will allow for a quick transaction and a faster turnaround. One person taking the dollar (cash only) then giving the ticket should be able to hand out 10 per minute, so the 500 would be handed out in under an hour. The selling of the tickets would start 1 hour prior to tip-off/ start of the event.

The Benefits

With an estimate that each person attending a Bucks game would spend an average of $10 on refreshments and souvenirs and an estimated loss of 50 higher priced tickets that would have been sold at normal price.

  • 500 dollar tickets at 1 dollar each $500
  • Average $10 spent per person $5000
  • 50 lost revenue tickets (Would have paid $18) ($850)
  • Would have spent (Already were going) ($500)
  • Overall increase of revenue of $4150

That would be every home game, increased attendance and increased revenues.

Promoting the Special

It can be promoted by social media; the Bucks and Bradley Center already have a great social media presence. In short amount of time blogs and local news will pick up the story.

Similar Successes

The Brewers have dollar tickets for the seats that are blocked by the pillars which are sold on game day only and always sell out quick.

Andrew Bogut started “Squad Six” where he supplies 100 tickets for fans to help support and cheer on the team. “Squad Six” has been a huge success the atmosphere in the arena has improved much from last season.

This is a first attempt to get some of my ideas out on paper, tried to organize my thoughts as best as I could. All stats and figures were estimates done with some online research but not definite.

Would this idea work for the Bucks, or other venues? Would it detract from other promotions and result in a loss of revenue? Would there be a problem with people buying the dollar seats and moving closer?

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