Don’t be stung by the Hornets Attendance
An article in the Daily Comet about the Hornets.
The article reminds me of a line in the movie Major League. Major League, for the uninitiated, is a baseball comedy about a fictional Cleveland Indians team that begins the season with a group of misfits. They lose many games in the early part of the season before hitting their stride and becoming a playoff contender. Bob Uecker, playing announcer Harry Doyle, states “In case you haven’t noticed, and judging by the attendance you haven’t, the Indians have managed to win a few ball games, and are threatening to climb out of the cellar.”
The point of the current article is that same thing is going on with the New Orleans Hornets.
So why bring it up? When I started to read it, I started to tense up. Many times these articles end up touting subsidies for stadiums and mentioning the alleged jobs created by sports franchises. That is a post for another day. An additional post for another day is why newspapers seem to support these proposals.
I am glad I didn’t see that in the current article – but I suspect it won’t be long until you read that one. I do, however, have a quarrel with one point. Here’s the quote:
It appears that the only time fans attend Hornets games are to watch someone else play. Case in point, the top three attendance figures in that span was against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat. It seems like fans wanted to see LeBron James (Cavaliers), Kobe Bryant (Lakers) and Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal (Heat) play more than the Hornets.
Why should I be surprised that holding the price constant (?), more people wish to watch the Hornets play the Lakers than watching the Hornets play a lousy team like the Grizzlies?
It seems so obvious to me, but in both of those cases, the Hornets are playing, right? Isn’t it the case that we are leaning something about how much the New Orleans residents enjoy watching the Lakers compared to the Grizzlies?
We are not learning about how much fans enjoy watching the Hornets compared to Lakers as the article suggests.
As you know, when we discuss demand curves, we always use the phrase “ceteris paribus†which of course means holding other relevant factors constant. If we were to think of the demand curve for Hornets tickets, one of these ceteris paribus conditions would surely be the quality of the opposing team. Increasing the quality of the opponent will increase the demand curve for tickets.
Now assuming that the price does not change based on opponents (?), and assuming there are still unsold tickets, and assuming that nothing else changes (day of week, start time, Mardi Gras parades), we could interpret those increased sales as indications of fans perceptions of quality of the opponent.
Let me give you some suggestions for some extra credit.
1. Do you think the quality of the Hornets team is a ceteris paribus condition for the demand curve for Hornets tickets?
2. If in fact the demand for Hornets tickets is higher for better quality teams, what can the Hornets do to increase profits?
3. Do the Hornets engage in such a policy? Only if you provide me some evidence will I give you some extra credit on this item.
4. And back to this one later during the semester, but does the fact that the Hornets don’t sell out every seat indicate they are making a pricing mistake? I’d hold off on this one until we get to discussing elasticities.
–CT
February 18th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
1.) The quality of the Hornets team is definitely a ceteris paribus condition because if the Hornets are a good team, then more tickets will be sold. For example, the Hornets are currently at the top of their division, and I heard on the news recently that Hornets ticket sales are steadily increasing as the Playoffs are approaching.
2.)If the Hornets were trying to make money solely on selling tickets to watch the opposing team play, then they could schedule a really tough schedule filled with teams that have the top players in the NBA. The big down side to that would be the fact that they would have a horrible record.
3.)The Hornets do not engage in such a policy. I checked on Ticketmaster for two games on Wednesday nights at 7:00 PM. The two opponents I priced were the the Houston Rockets and the Atlanta Hawks. For the two games, there were seats on the third row for $350. In conclusion, I am sure if the Hornets engaged in such a policy, the prices would fluctuate between their games that they play Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming’s Rockets and the not so famous Atlanta Hawks.
February 28th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
1.)There is no question that the Hornets are a ceteris paribus condition. The reason is simple, every time the Hornets win they gain fans which lead to ticket sales. This is even more evidentally true when the playoffs approach.
2.)The Hornets could draw in local fans to watch the opposing team, but at the same time impress the locals by winning. This would get the fans hooked on the local team and would start going all the time. I know of people that went once and are now hooked on the Hornets.
3.)The Hornets do not engage in this policy. The prices are the same for all games. They do however have certain packages on certain days with no relation to the teams. For example, on Wednesdays they offer a package of two ticket, two drinks, and two pictures with the dance team. This is the same every Wed.
April 15th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
1.The ceteris paribus conditions according to the quality of the hornets team is a huge factor. Take into consideration, before the Hornets started winning games, tickets were easy to find. Now that the team is producing some wins, the tickets are becoming more scarce. This proves the point that the quality of the Hornets is a ceteris paribus condition.
2. To increase the number of fans, the Hornets can focus on playing a harder schedule of bigger named teams, and they can maybe play them more than once. An added bonus would be giving them a good, close game to watch. This would increase the influx of fans that would be brought into the arena.
3. I have been to one game before and have had many friends that go.I know that the Hornets do not engage in this policy. Although sometimes, they have special events to promote more people to support the team and of course seating areas differ on prices.
4. Yes, if they keep their tickets at a higher price, people will tend to shy away from buying the tickets and watch the game at home. But if the ticket prices are lowered then there is more of an incentive to watch the game live at the arena instead of at home on the tv.
June 29th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
1. Looking back on the full season, the ceteris paribus condition definitely played itself out. At the beginning of the season, a majority of people couldn’t name more than 2 players on the Hornet’s roster. Although the team played well, ticket sales reflected the fans lack of interest. As the season progressed, fans realized that the hometown team was a good team worth watching just as much as the visiting team. Once the fans got hooked and the playoffs started, prices jumped tremendously.
2. The organization could offer specials for nights that they predict low attendance. Cheap beer or free hot dogs would likely increase attendance at any sporting event.
3. I don’t know if they offer cheaper concessions, but they do offer ticket packages. By allowing people to see a few weaker teams at lower prices, attendance will increase. Just as it happened during the season, when people see them play lesser teams they realize that the Hornets are a quality team worth seeing on a regular basis.
4. I don’t think they are making a pricing mistake when they don’t sell out. If the Hornets are playing poorly and matched against a bad team, it may be hard to find 17,000 people to show up on a given night, regardless of price.