Nous partîmes cinq cents ; mais par un prompt renfort, nous nous vîmes trois mille en arrivant au port
Most fans in many popular sports pay less for their tickets than conventional economic theory would predict.
Which poses the question: are team owners therefore irrational?
Not necessarily. There are (at least?) four justifications for such apparent under-pricing.
First, say Krautmann and Berri, owners can recoup the revenues they lose from under-pricing tickets by making more in other ways: selling programmes, merchandise and over-priced food and drink in the stadium.
Secondly, Shane Sanders points out that it can be rational to under-price tickets to ensure that stadia are full. […]
Thirdly, higher ticket prices can have adverse compositional effects: they might price out younger and poorer fans but replace them with tourists […] a potentially life-long loyal young supporter is lost and a more fickle one is gained. […]
Fourthly, high ticket prices can make life harder for owners. They raise fans’ expectations.
oil on wood { Ellsworth Kelly, Seine, 1951 }
