OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post - LONG Preliminary study on attendance, ticket prices, and fan loyalty

sporr · 12-14-2001, 11:14 AM

With the recent discussion on ticket prices, I thought that I would do a study on various effects on attendance from these prices and other factors.

Here is how I performed the tests. In a solo league of mine, I took the two World Series teams and created a week-long schedule where one team was home for 7 games. I simmed the 1st 7 games 10 times noting the attendance totals for the 7 games while changing various team ratings.

The first thing that I will note are two things that will not be factored into these tests: stadium capacity and team market size. Market size was kept at Average and stadium capacity was kept at 50,000. In my test, I found that Market Size has absolutely NO effect on attendance. Stadium capacity, on the other hand, directly impacts attendance. I found that in cases where the 50,000 capacity stadium would sell out, so would a stadium of 200,000 capacity! This is the first surprising thing that I noticed - attendance is not calculate by raw numbers, but by some percentage of the stadium capacity. All other things equal, the higher capacity stadium will always have higher attendance than one of lesser capacity no matter what.

The two factors that affect attendance that I will discuss are ticket price and fan loyalty.

ALL GROUPS HAVE AVERAGE MARKET SIZE.
ALL STADIUMS HAVE 50,000 CAPACITY
70 GAME AVERAGE SHOWN

CONTROL GROUP:
Ticket price: $7
Fan Loyalty: Average
Average attendance: 35,011
Attendance revenue per game: $245,077

HIGH TICKET PRICE:
Ticket price: $9
Fan Loyalty: Average
Average attendance: 24,435
Attendance revenue per game: $219,915

LOW TICKET PRICE:
Ticket price: $5
Fan Loyalty: Average
Average attendance: 42,727
Attendance revenue per game: $213,635

HIGH FAN LOYALTY:
Ticket price: $7
Fan Loyalty: Very Good
Average attendance: 43,859
Attendance revenue per game: $307,013

LOW FAN LOYALTY:
Ticket price: $7
Fan Loyalty: Poor
Average attendance: 19,751
Attendance revenue per game: $138,257

HIGH LOYALTY/ LOW TICKET PRICE:
Ticket price: $5
Fan Loyalty: Very Good
Average attendance: 50,000
Attendance revenue per game: $250,000

HIGH LOYALTY/ HIGH TICKET PRICE:
Ticket price: $9
Fan Loyalty: Very Good
Average attendance: 31,318
Attendance revenue per game: $281,862

LOW LOYALTY/ LOW TICKET PRICE:
Ticket price: $5
Fan Loyalty: Poor
Average attendance: 25,286
Attendance revenue per game: $126,430

LOW LOYALTY/ HIGH TICKET PRICE:
Ticket price: $9
Fan Loyalty: Poor
Average attendance: 14,068
Attendance revenue per game: $126,612

I always assumed that $7 ticket prices would yield the best profit regardless of other factors, but in beginning tests of a Very Good fan loyalty rating, I've found a slight edge to a ticket price of $8. I plan to test the other fan loyalty ratings to see if they affect the prime ticket price. If so, I should be able to tell the best price to charge at various fan loyalty levels. In most cases, it IS still $7. Another interesting note is that a team with poor fan loyalty actually makes more money when charging $9 for tickets than $5. I'll publish the rest of my study as I complete it.

12-14-2001, 11:14 AM	#1
sporr Global Moderator Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Muscatine, IA Posts: 8,277	LONG Preliminary study on attendance, ticket prices, and fan loyalty With the recent discussion on ticket prices, I thought that I would do a study on various effects on attendance from these prices and other factors. Here is how I performed the tests. In a solo league of mine, I took the two World Series teams and created a week-long schedule where one team was home for 7 games. I simmed the 1st 7 games 10 times noting the attendance totals for the 7 games while changing various team ratings. The first thing that I will note are two things that will not be factored into these tests: stadium capacity and team market size. Market size was kept at Average and stadium capacity was kept at 50,000. In my test, I found that Market Size has absolutely NO effect on attendance. Stadium capacity, on the other hand, directly impacts attendance. I found that in cases where the 50,000 capacity stadium would sell out, so would a stadium of 200,000 capacity! This is the first surprising thing that I noticed - attendance is not calculate by raw numbers, but by some percentage of the stadium capacity. All other things equal, the higher capacity stadium will always have higher attendance than one of lesser capacity no matter what. The two factors that affect attendance that I will discuss are ticket price and fan loyalty. ALL GROUPS HAVE AVERAGE MARKET SIZE. ALL STADIUMS HAVE 50,000 CAPACITY 70 GAME AVERAGE SHOWN CONTROL GROUP: Ticket price: $7 Fan Loyalty: Average Average attendance: 35,011 Attendance revenue per game: $245,077 HIGH TICKET PRICE: Ticket price: $9 Fan Loyalty: Average Average attendance: 24,435 Attendance revenue per game: $219,915 LOW TICKET PRICE: Ticket price: $5 Fan Loyalty: Average Average attendance: 42,727 Attendance revenue per game: $213,635 HIGH FAN LOYALTY: Ticket price: $7 Fan Loyalty: Very Good Average attendance: 43,859 Attendance revenue per game: $307,013 LOW FAN LOYALTY: Ticket price: $7 Fan Loyalty: Poor Average attendance: 19,751 Attendance revenue per game: $138,257 HIGH LOYALTY/ LOW TICKET PRICE: Ticket price: $5 Fan Loyalty: Very Good Average attendance: 50,000 Attendance revenue per game: $250,000 HIGH LOYALTY/ HIGH TICKET PRICE: Ticket price: $9 Fan Loyalty: Very Good Average attendance: 31,318 Attendance revenue per game: $281,862 LOW LOYALTY/ LOW TICKET PRICE: Ticket price: $5 Fan Loyalty: Poor Average attendance: 25,286 Attendance revenue per game: $126,430 LOW LOYALTY/ HIGH TICKET PRICE: Ticket price: $9 Fan Loyalty: Poor Average attendance: 14,068 Attendance revenue per game: $126,612 I always assumed that $7 ticket prices would yield the best profit regardless of other factors, but in beginning tests of a Very Good fan loyalty rating, I've found a slight edge to a ticket price of $8. I plan to test the other fan loyalty ratings to see if they affect the prime ticket price. If so, I should be able to tell the best price to charge at various fan loyalty levels. In most cases, it IS still $7. Another interesting note is that a team with poor fan loyalty actually makes more money when charging $9 for tickets than $5. I'll publish the rest of my study as I complete it.