Wolverine fans will play a new game when buying single football tickets this season. It'll be like The Price Is Right -- right for the university, that is.
Prices for 2013 games will float with demand.
Bill Shea of Crain's, who studies sports business the way quarterbacks study game videos, explains what's up:
Dynamic pricing could generate $1 million or more in new revenue for the University of Michigan's athletic department when the software is deployed for the start of single-game football ticket sales on Aug. 1.
The Michigan football team is the first major college athletics program to adopt dynamic ticket pricing technology, which allows the school to fluctuate single-game ticket prices based on real-time market demand. . . .
Scarcity drives up the prices.
Electronic data-crunching will analyze ticket availability, seat location, historic demand, resale prices, team records and even weather forecasts. Chance of precipitation could mean chance of bargains.
It's like dealing with airlines and hotels -- timing and demand matter. Low-interest games could be discounted like a red-eye flight to Podunk or a room overlooking an air shaft.
UM students and buyers of ticket packages still will pay prices that don't float. -- Alan Stamm
