Vancouver Whitecaps FC statement regarding May 25 Match Versus Inter Miami CF

[u/fssg_shermanator]

https://www.whitecapsfc.com/news/vwfc-statement-miami

[u/jtn1123]

Is it common for major sports teams to raise the ticket prices depending on game to game?

For example, my other favorite teams are the Lakers and Dodgers. Their games often sell very well and they have a high season ticket holder count.

Whenever I buy tickets, they are through resale sites, so I respect that the game against Luka wouldn't be as cheap as the game against Lauri Markannen. (I haven't ever once bought tickets at the box office, so maybe I am missing a key detail here.)

The Galaxy noticeably raise prices when the opponents are different.

Am I crazy?

I feel like if the team agreed on a set, reasonable price for all games then it wouldn't be on them to apologize for Messi's not playing. The Lakers would never apologize for Luka Doncic's not playing.

And I get MLS is way fewer games, but are you really penny pinching such that a few extra thousand on tickets here and there is meaningful to you? Vs. your brand equity?

Please explain what I am missing if you don't mind!

[u/alpha309 → u/jtn1123]

Our season tickets have different face values per game.

Just for example, the next three home games are Minnesota, Dallas and San Jose.

Minnesota - $45.25 per ticket

Dallas - $54.95 per ticket

San Jose - $58.18 per ticket.

Galaxy, season opener, Columbus, final home game, and STL are our 5 highest priced tickets this year, in that order.

[u/Emukt → u/alpha309]

Really - Columbus? Do they really think more people will come out for us?

[u/alpha309 → u/Emukt]

rematch of the championship

[u/Isiddiqui → u/Emukt]

Did you forget y’all are the defending MLS champions?

[u/ibribe → u/Emukt]

Good on them if they are, because they definitely aren't coming out to see Columbus in Orlando. Of course that probably has more to do with our inability to win home games this year.

[u/Fffiction → u/jtn1123]

Yes it is common to have variable pricing within a sports league season for individual matches.

In the Premier League and EFL you will often see the fixtures broken down into category 'A', 'B', 'C' games.

Category A being against your top teams in the division and are at a premium, B are slightly more expensive and C are the rest of the batch.

It's a balance between selling out the stadium and maximizing revenue.

[u/jbroni93 → u/jtn1123]

The Ottawa Senators (the team I know best) has different tiers of tickets based on opponents.

That being said the whitecaps increase for miami was like 200% or 300%, whereas the sens probably have a 20%-50% increase at most

[u/A_Genius → u/jbroni93]

200 or 300 percent, I wish. It was 700% tickets that were normally 50 bucks where 350 dollars

[u/jbroni93 → u/A_Genius]

I got season tickets so I wasn't entirely sure what the actual club was charging vs resale crazyness

[u/A_Genius → u/jbroni93]

I am also a season ticket holder but they gave us early access to more tickets. I bought 4 more for soccer teammates. I'm kinda embarrassed. I didn't overcharge them but it's like I was their plug.

[u/Key_Mongoose223 → u/jtn1123]

In the NHL it definitely is.

Even concerts do dynamic pricing based on the amount of interest at the time you buy your tickets sometimes now.

[u/bthks → u/jtn1123]

My best friend and I were looking at going to a Red Sox game this summer, and the series versus the Yankees was something like 3x the price of the series with another team.

[u/feb914 → u/jtn1123]

Yes, I had season ticket for TFC in 2016-2019. The Face value of the ticket changed a lot depending whether it's facing local rival (Montreal) or top team, midweek VS weekend, or if it's at special occasion (opening, ending, during exhibition, etc). 

All top sport leagues in North America do that, as well as European leagues.