Price premiums for sporting relevance: A conjoint analysis for sport event tickets

Abstract

Ticketing is a central income source for financing sport events. However, there is no valid empirical data in this area, neither in practice nor in research. The article addresses this research gap and identifies sport event spectators’ willingness to pay of price premiums (or discounts) for matches with varying sporting relevance and different seat categories. For this purpose, an empirical study in women’s football serves as research context. The research demonstrates that conjoint analysis is a suitable method for estimating the willingness to pay for sport events depending on the sporting relevance; especially, for sport events that cannot refer to previous data. Based on a survey of 278 stadium visitors of a match of the German women’s national football team, it could be shown that spectators’ preferences are very heterogenous. For half of the respondents, the sporting relevance of the match is the dominant factor influencing their willingness to pay. They are willing to accept a high price premium for matches with a high sporting relevance. The results help sports managers to optimise their pricing strategies and align them simultaneously with spectators’ preferences and willingness to pay.