Orbitz Anyone

George Simpson via his Over the Line column today wrote about the San Francisco Giants experimenting with yield management software for their individual ticket sales efforts. The software will take into consideration a number of variables including advance sales, pitching matchups, weather forecasts, etc., to determine pricing leading up to the first pitch.

I have long wondered why no team had tried this until now, and it is no surprise that the Giants are the first to do so with the Silicon Valley influence. A sports ticket is no different than an airline seat or hotel room...it is perishable inventory and if the seat isn't sold by game time the reveue potential is gone, and no chance to generate incremental revenue via sales of hot dogs, sushi, soda, beer, t-shirts, etc.

How will this affect season ticket holders who pay a fixed price for the entire season? Will people put off buying tickets well in advance waiting for the price to come down as the game draws near? These issues will play out over time, but the other thing that will be more interesting is how fast other teams jump on this bandwagon as everyone copies interesting and successful new business practices in professional sports.

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