How to set ticket prices? - Page 2

RonCo · 09-30-2015, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Friendly_Beaver

Correct me if I'm wrong but the idea that you can change your ticket prices mid season making things more realistic is absurd.

Has a team ever changed their prices mid season? How would they even handle that, give a refund to people who bought tickets in advance/season ticket holders? I can't see this ever happening, sure they do some giveaways and packages where you buy tickets you get a hotdog/drink with it etc but I've never heard of a team saying, we jacked our prices way out of line this year so we will reduce them for the rest of the year and if they did, the person who made that decision (you) probably wouldn't have a job anymore.

In my opinion if you made the prices too high that's your own fault, if you raised prices with low fan interest and loyalty and knowing you weren't going to have a good team that's not OOTP's fault.

There are many examples of real life teams changing the price of games during the season. I don't understand how this ability would be considered "gaming the system." The advent of true dynamic pricing is just a modern version of an age-old concept of pricing to market.

One of the issues may well be that OOTP doesn't take rapid price changes into account for fan interest (I could see fans turning off a bit if rates were increased 50%, or fan interest increasing a little if prices were reduced)--which I don't know if OOTP does or not. But if this is the case the problem is not with the ability to change ticket prices, but is with a proper model of the "risk/reward" system associated with doing so.

jmknpk2 · 10-25-2015, 08:16 AM

MLB baseball teams now use dynamic pricing on a regular basis. This is contrary to historical and traditional pricing schemes. I might buy a ticket to a specific game of my home team before opening day for $100. Later in the season, if tickets to that specific game are not being sold, the ticket price for the seat next to me might be lowered to $80. This is the reality in MLB today. On a daily basis, MLB teams look at each game independently, then depending on the supply and demand situation for each game, raise and lower the price of tickets accordingly. For games that are selling out, ticket price goes up, with the demand, as the game nears. For games that are not selling out, ticket prices are lowered, as the game nears, to fill the stadium and create revenue. Smart business decision by the real life MLB baseball teams.

OOTP previously allowed dynamic pricing when MLB did not usually follow the pracitce. When MLB started doing it, OOTP reversed the decision, no longer allowing dynamic pricing. This change makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever.

If the issue is season ticket prices, then use two pricing schemes. Have a set season ticket price which does not change. This would mimic real life baseball, because real life teams set a season ticket package price which is usually sold before the season starts. Then, after they've collected all the advance full season ticket monies, any unsold tickets are released for individual game purchase under dynamic pricing policies, usually before the season starts or shortly into the season.

OOTP could have a set fixed price for season tickets which are purchased before the season starts. The number of season tickets sold and price would be fixed for the entire season.

Then, remaining seats would be available for individual games with dynamic pricing. This second price could be set for each individual game, the way OOTP previously did. This would match real life, and seems best for OOTP to follow.

The algorithms and code already existed for the dynamic game pricing system used in OOTP 15 and earlier. Some algorithms and code exist in OOTP 16 for segregating season ticket revenue from individual game attendance revenue. Only a couple if statements and a few fields in reports and option/settings windows would need to be added to the code.

The attendance model OOTP followed through OOTP 15 seemed very robust and realistic to me. Opening day tickets could usually sell at twice normal ticket price or higher, just as in real life. I could sell more tickets at a higher price when my team was winning and/or when fan interest was higher. Saturdays, Friday nights, and Sunday games would sell more tickets at a higher price. Division games brought in more ticket revenue than non-divisional rivalries. I could always sell out my stadium by setting the ticket price low enough, just as in real life. Instead, I could charge more per ticket and not completely sell out the stadium, but maximize profit using the Attendance-Revenue = Number-of-Tickets-Sold x Price-Per-Ticket equation. There seemed to be at least a 10% randomness per game, preventing me from accurately predicting the best individual game price (as other baseball sim games allow). This seemed a very good model to me. I would love to have it back.

I find the argument about gaming the system completely unjustified. In both my individual and online leagues, I have closely monitored and adjusted ticket prices during seasons.

If one wants to consider the ability to maximize attendance profit as "gaming", then one could also argue that minimizing expenses through individual player contracts is also "gaming" the system. By signing the best players to the cheapest contracts, expenses are reduced, improving the bottom line of a team. By adjusting ticket price for individual games, attendance revenue revenue is increased. Calling either of these "gaming" the system is an absurd notion in my mind.

I certainly understand that a lot of leagues might not want to have dynamic pricing, because human owners wouldn't want to be burdened with doing all the mathematical calculations and analyzing the attendance revenue factors. Such leagues might just want to focus on on-field aspects and let the AI handle money matters.

A league option allowing dynamic pricing could be very useful to game users. This would allow appropriate historic modeling of baseball, where dynamic pricing could only come into existence in game worlds during the second decade of the 21st century, just as happened in real life MLB history.

darkcloud4579 · 11-26-2015, 10:07 PM

Missed this thread the first time around, but discovered it when I found out about the whole season ticketing thing and how changing ticket prices doesn't have any impact during the season anymore.

Figured others might have missed this too in their own solo play, but good to know that online leagues somehow use this feature and were the driving force behind it.

I'm being sarcastic, btw. I don't think letting them dictate the feature's use makes any real sense...but I'm biased against any league that uses in-game financials to begin with.

NoOne · 11-28-2015, 12:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkcloud4579

Missed this thread the first time around, but discovered it when I found out about the whole season ticketing thing and how changing ticket prices doesn't have any impact during the season anymore.

Figured others might have missed this too in their own solo play, but good to know that online leagues somehow use this feature and were the driving force behind it.

I'm being sarcastic, btw. I don't think letting them dictate the feature's use makes any real sense...but I'm biased against any league that uses in-game financials to begin with.

maybe they are the loudest. are they they majority of players? that wouldn't be the only possible cause

even with comish mode on changing ticket prices doesn't affect it?

for the playoffs at least, i am fairly certain this is not correct. i recently tried changing playoff prices and seemed to make a noticeable amount more while playing the same number of home playoff games as the previous year and the same loyalty, fan fervor, similar records, division winner etc... (edit: i looked it up, i made about 25% more, so definitely ticket prices affected playoff attendance income, all other factors being the same - regular season still might work on different rules)

post note for things that may hve been written long ago, lol: anythign rational suggested was not absurd. it's a simplified system because what is done in real life is too complicated to replicate for a game experience. restricting suggestions to only what is done in real life would be absurd.

jdolecek49 · 03-30-2020, 02:04 AM

this is where i seem to struggle. I did really good the first year but now budgets are more important, so tried to release a player but then I got a pop up that said this would increase my would increase my player expenses. I thought getting rid of a player would free up some money so since that did not work what are some suggestions?

My owner is a jerk, i kept trying to get him to increase my scouting budget and this worked for a few numbers. I would get him to raise it 10 million but I kept asking for more so it pissed him off and he went from 17mill down to 40 mill...guess he thought I was being greedy....

10-25-2015, 08:16 AM	#22
jmknpk2 All Star Reserve Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 982	MLB baseball teams now use dynamic pricing on a regular basis. This is contrary to historical and traditional pricing schemes. I might buy a ticket to a specific game of my home team before opening day for $100. Later in the season, if tickets to that specific game are not being sold, the ticket price for the seat next to me might be lowered to $80. This is the reality in MLB today. On a daily basis, MLB teams look at each game independently, then depending on the supply and demand situation for each game, raise and lower the price of tickets accordingly. For games that are selling out, ticket price goes up, with the demand, as the game nears. For games that are not selling out, ticket prices are lowered, as the game nears, to fill the stadium and create revenue. Smart business decision by the real life MLB baseball teams. OOTP previously allowed dynamic pricing when MLB did not usually follow the pracitce. When MLB started doing it, OOTP reversed the decision, no longer allowing dynamic pricing. This change makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. If the issue is season ticket prices, then use two pricing schemes. Have a set season ticket price which does not change. This would mimic real life baseball, because real life teams set a season ticket package price which is usually sold before the season starts. Then, after they've collected all the advance full season ticket monies, any unsold tickets are released for individual game purchase under dynamic pricing policies, usually before the season starts or shortly into the season. OOTP could have a set fixed price for season tickets which are purchased before the season starts. The number of season tickets sold and price would be fixed for the entire season. Then, remaining seats would be available for individual games with dynamic pricing. This second price could be set for each individual game, the way OOTP previously did. This would match real life, and seems best for OOTP to follow. The algorithms and code already existed for the dynamic game pricing system used in OOTP 15 and earlier. Some algorithms and code exist in OOTP 16 for segregating season ticket revenue from individual game attendance revenue. Only a couple if statements and a few fields in reports and option/settings windows would need to be added to the code. The attendance model OOTP followed through OOTP 15 seemed very robust and realistic to me. Opening day tickets could usually sell at twice normal ticket price or higher, just as in real life. I could sell more tickets at a higher price when my team was winning and/or when fan interest was higher. Saturdays, Friday nights, and Sunday games would sell more tickets at a higher price. Division games brought in more ticket revenue than non-divisional rivalries. I could always sell out my stadium by setting the ticket price low enough, just as in real life. Instead, I could charge more per ticket and not completely sell out the stadium, but maximize profit using the Attendance-Revenue = Number-of-Tickets-Sold x Price-Per-Ticket equation. There seemed to be at least a 10% randomness per game, preventing me from accurately predicting the best individual game price (as other baseball sim games allow). This seemed a very good model to me. I would love to have it back. I find the argument about gaming the system completely unjustified. In both my individual and online leagues, I have closely monitored and adjusted ticket prices during seasons. If one wants to consider the ability to maximize attendance profit as "gaming", then one could also argue that minimizing expenses through individual player contracts is also "gaming" the system. By signing the best players to the cheapest contracts, expenses are reduced, improving the bottom line of a team. By adjusting ticket price for individual games, attendance revenue revenue is increased. Calling either of these "gaming" the system is an absurd notion in my mind. I certainly understand that a lot of leagues might not want to have dynamic pricing, because human owners wouldn't want to be burdened with doing all the mathematical calculations and analyzing the attendance revenue factors. Such leagues might just want to focus on on-field aspects and let the AI handle money matters. A league option allowing dynamic pricing could be very useful to game users. This would allow appropriate historic modeling of baseball, where dynamic pricing could only come into existence in game worlds during the second decade of the 21st century, just as happened in real life MLB history. Last edited by jmknpk2; 10-25-2015 at 08:26 AM.

03-30-2020, 02:04 AM	#25
jdolecek49 Major Leagues Join Date: Feb 2020 Location: Florida Posts: 494 Blog Entries: 1	freeing up some cash??? and coping with owners this is where i seem to struggle. I did really good the first year but now budgets are more important, so tried to release a player but then I got a pop up that said this would increase my would increase my player expenses. I thought getting rid of a player would free up some money so since that did not work what are some suggestions? My owner is a jerk, i kept trying to get him to increase my scouting budget and this worked for a few numbers. I would get him to raise it 10 million but I kept asking for more so it pissed him off and he went from 17mill down to 40 mill...guess he thought I was being greedy....

11-26-2015, 10:07 PM	#23
darkcloud4579 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 8,305 Blog Entries: 32	Missed this thread the first time around, but discovered it when I found out about the whole season ticketing thing and how changing ticket prices doesn't have any impact during the season anymore. Figured others might have missed this too in their own solo play, but good to know that online leagues somehow use this feature and were the driving force behind it. I'm being sarcastic, btw. I don't think letting them dictate the feature's use makes any real sense...but I'm biased against any league that uses in-game financials to begin with.