The Dodgers cut some ticket prices. Thank analytics.
In a winter in which the Dodgers dramatically raised the price of season tickets, they extended a pleasant surprise to their fans when they put single-game tickets on sale Friday.
They froze or cut the price on half of those seats, said David Siegel, vice president of ticket sales.
The Dodgers still expect to make more money on ticket sales this year — because baseball operations is not the only department of the Dodgers running more efficiently by crunching the numbers.
“We’ve invested a lot in analytics,” Siegel said. “The business side is no different.”
The Dodgers have led the major leagues in attendance in each of the past four years, but they play in the largest stadium in the majors, so they had more than 600,000 unsold seats last season. The metrics can show them how to price each seat so it is most likely to be sold, based on such factors as location in the ballpark, day of the week, opposing team and giveaway item.
As an example, a seat classified as “Reserve MVP” — one of 44 classifications for tickets listed on the team website Friday — sold for $100 for opening day, $56 for the Friday or Saturday night game against the World Series champion Chicago Cubs, $52 for Clayton Kershaw bobblehead night, $36 for a weeknight game with no giveaway item and $23 for the two weekday afternoon games.
Siegel said the Dodgers increased the single-game price by more than $3 for 25% of tickets. He said they froze or cut the single-game price of half their tickets and increased the rest by $1, $2 or $3.
As the Dodgers try to maximize ticket revenue, they have reduced the number of games in which they offer their lowest price, from 16 three years ago and 11 two years ago to nine last year and two this year.
Those two games start at noon, one on a Wednesday and one on a Thursday, meaning a working parent cannot take his or her children to a game in which a ticket is sold for less than $21.
If a game is not sold out, Siegel said the Dodgers would offer an unspecified day-of-game discount for children. He said the discount would not apply to the 12 games categorized as most popular, including opening day, the Cubs series, the April 15 Jackie Robinson statue dedication and the May 3 Vin Scully honors presentation.
Follow Bill Shaikin on Twitter @BillShaikin
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