FanPost

Tracking Timberwolves Dynamic Demand-Based Ticket Pricing

Alex Trautwig

After piloting dynamic demand-based ticket pricing last year, the Timberwolves have fully embraced the concept for 2013-2014.

Having captured and analyzed the ticket prices at the beginning of the season (October 12), I wanted to do a follow-up a month later (November 12) to see how much the prices have changed. (Source: Timberwolves.com)

There are 36 home games remaining in the season. In October, there were 7 combinations of prices at 11 levels ranging from the cheapest games, with tickets priced from $8-$115, to the most expensive, with tickets priced from $26-$418.

For 14 games, ticket prices at one or more price levels have changed. The table below is sorted by the average increase in price.

Rank Game Date Opponent Avg. Increase Pct. Change
1 12/7/2013 Heat $11.13 20.23%
2 11/16/2013 Celtics $5.17 6.51%
3 11/22/2013 Nets $5.13 9.32%
4 11/20/2013 Clippers $5.00 4.43%
5 1/4/2014 Thunder $4.00 7.27%
6 3/28/2014 Lakers $3.38 5.09%
7 11/27/2013 Nuggets $3.33 5.02%
8 4/9/2014 Bulls $3.00 4.52%
9 12/11/2013 76ers $2.67 3.36%
10 12/27/2013 Wizards $2.43 2.15%
11 1/1/2014 Pelicans $2.33 1.84%
12 11/13/2013 Cavaliers $2.00 4.95%
12/30/2013 Mavericks $2.00 2.16%
14 12/18/2013 Trail Blazers $1.60 1.73%

Unsurprisingly, people want to see great teams and superstars. LeBron James and the two-time defending champion Miami Heat draw more fans than anyone else, 99.1% capacity for road games in 2012-13 (Source: ESPN.com). The Nets, Clippers, Thunder, and Bulls all have superstars. Kobe will be back in April. The Celtics, Nuggets, 76ers, Wizards, Pelicans, and Trail Blazers don't have superstars, but those games are all in the next two months or so. Only the Lakers game in March and the Bulls game in April are later than January 4, 2014.

The prices for each section seem to move independently, depending on how many tickets are sold. When prices have changed, between 3 and 8 of the 11 price levels saw increases, depending on the game.

For 22 games, ticket prices at every level have remained the same as they were in October.

1/8/2014 Suns 1/10/2014 Bobcats 1/15/2014 Kings
1/18/2014 Jazz 1/29/2014 Pelicans 1/31/2014 Grizzlies
2/4/2014 Lakers 2/8/2014 Trail Blazers 2/10/2014 Rockets
2/12/2014 Nuggets 2/19/2014 Pacers 3/5/2014 Knicks
3/7/2014 Pistons 3/9/2014 Raptors 3/11/2014 Bucks
3/16/2014 Kings 3/23/2014 Suns 3/26/2014 Hawks
3/31/2014 Clippers 4/2/2014 Grizzlies 4/11/2014 Rockets
4/16/2014 Jazz

You can save a few bucks by choosing the February 4 Lakers game over the March 28 Lakers game and the March 31 Clippers game over the November 20 Clippers game. The superstar duo of James Harden and Dwight Howard hasn't moved the price of the February 10 or April 11 games against the Rockets, yet, either. Similarly, for teams that are less in-demand, you can get better prices for games that are a bit further out.

One additional item of note, the lowest-priced ticket for each game (upper level corners and baseline seats) have remained at the same level for every game, so far.

If you'd like to check out the detailed data, I created a Google Spreadsheet. I have set reminders for December 12 and January through March to continue tracking the data.

I'll be curious to see if the team would ever drop prices for a game that just isn't selling. If you notice this happening, send me a tweet or make a comment below.