For the 2009 season the Giants put in place a new “dynamic” pricing scheme for certain sections of the ballpark where the price of the ticket varies by the perceived demand. So when the Dodgers are in town, tickets in those sections cost more than if the Nationals are playing the Giants.
Having never sat in those sections, the pricing never affected me. This season, however, they felt it worked so well for them last year that they decided to implement the pricing scheme across all seats. This means that now if I want to watch the Giants take on a decent team on the weekend, I’m paying up to five times as much. Some of their pricing decisions I cant wrap my head around:
Cheapie seats for Giants vs Red Sox weekend game (6/26): $40
Cheapie seats for Giants vs Dodgers weekend game (7/31): $30
Cheapie seats for Giants vs D-backs weekend game (8/29): $13
Cheapie seats for Giants vs Padres weekend game (8/14): $13
Cheapie seats for Giants vs Rockies weekend game (5/1): $8
A Red Sox game more expensive than a division rivalry game? More than three division rivalry games together? Really? Ask a Giants fan what team they would want to see the Giants play more than any other and you’ll get a resounding “Beat the Dodgers!” Yea, sure, its the Red Sox and they only come to town once every six years, but I’m still not buying the price discrimination.
Another questionable pricing decision:
Cheapie seats for Giants vs Dodgers weeknight game (6/28): $30
Cheapie seats for Giants vs Dodgers weeknight game (9/14): $13
So…the demand is higher to see the Giants beat the Dodgers in the middle of the season than at the end when the division race really heats up?
Yet another headscratcher I noticed was the price of games when they have giveaways:
Cheapie seats for Giants vs Astros weekend game w/ no special promotion (5/15): $11
Cheapie seats for Giants vs Astros weekend game w/ bobblehead giveaway (5/16): $17.50
Maybe I’m mistaken, but I’ve always understood the things they give the first X number of fans to be giveaways, as in free, but it would seem that now they’re charging $6.50 for this bobblehead.
The whole dynamic pricing scheme makes a lot more sense for a perennially terrible team like the Nationals, where fans come to see the visiting more than the home team. The Giants are awesome and people pay to see them tear up other teams. So if you’re going to vary the ticket prices, flatten it out, and don’t make a seat for one Giants game cost five times as much as another one.
Source: http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/sf/ticketing/dynamic_pricing.jsp