The GAA has announced a reduction in ticket prices for top flight games in the Allianz Football and Hurling Leagues which get underway on the evening of Saturday February 1st.
Adult tickets will cost only €10 when bought in advance with Childrens tickets at half that price. The advance tickets can be bought through County Boards, online via tickets.ie and through Supervalua and Centra outlets across the country.
The Allianz Football League starts with a bang bringing together Dublin and Kerry under floodlights at Croke Park in a rematch of what was hailed as one of the greatest games in history in last year’s All Ireland semi final.
In 2012 the Association reported a rise in annual revenue through gate receipts to a figure of €26.7 million representing a little over 50% of total revenues for the year.
The figures for 2013 will be published in early March.
Flexible ticket pricing, matching the cost of tickets to the demand is one of the key areas in which sport around the world is seeking to maximise the revenues it earns through the events it stages.
Gate revenues remain the single biggest income stream for sport on a global basis with ticket sales worth €19.1 Billion for sports governing bodies and teams in the latest PwC report into the Global Business of Sport.
A number of different strategies ere being tried using the greater awareness of buying patterns and customer behaviour that are now available.
The move to sell tickets through major GAA sponsors Supervalu and Centra has proven to be a big winner with over 200,000 tickets sold over the counter in 2013. Booking advance income is important and something which the GAA has hardly benefitted from at all until recent years, with the exception of one or two games a year.
Creating a differential between the cost of a ticket in advance and on the day of the event will drive earlier sales, guaranteed revenue and greater loyalty from fans who will see the benefit in terms of a cash saving.
Lesson for Sport: Using knowledge of customer behaviour to tailor events and packages is an important trend to catch hold of
Lesson for Business: The greater knowledge of fans activities and habits makes the loyal sports audience an even more valuable asset for sponsors and commercial partners of sport.
