Title: The impact of dynamic ticket pricing on Major League Baseball attendance

Authors: Charles S. Wassell Jr.; Robert Carbaugh

Addresses: Department of Economics, Central Washington University, 400 East University Way, Ellensburg, WA 98926, USA ' Department of Economics, Central Washington University, 400 East University Way, Ellensburg, WA 98926, USA

Abstract: Throughout the 2010s, dynamic pricing has become a popular strategy for the pricing of tickets to Major League Baseball games, as well as other sports games. This paper considers the role that dynamic ticket pricing has in increasing a team's revenue and profitability. The paper first examines the evolution of this dynamic pricing and its theoretical effects. This is followed by empirical evidence concerning the impacts of dynamic pricing on attendance, as a proxy for gate receipts. While not definitive, our results suggest that implementation of dynamic pricing does increase attendance, and presumably profitability.

Keywords: baseball; Major League Baseball; MLB; dynamic pricing; attendance; ticket price; price discrimination; revenue; profit.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2022.124047

International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 2022 Vol.22 No.3/4, pp.243 - 264

Accepted: 05 Nov 2021
Published online: 11 Jul 2022 *

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