The NFL’s New Orleans Saints American football franchise has opted to increase its ticket prices for the 2019 season in an effort to boost the fan experience at its Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
Team officials said the income would be used to improve the game-day experience, and not to maximise the value of the seats.
The details of how the price hike would impact specific seats were not revealed, but 75 per cent of ticket holders will see prices rise by 10 per cent or less, while the rest of the seats could see higher rates.
The Saints sold more than 585,000 tickets last year, with season passes costing between $390 and $3,080. The increases will put them amongst the league’s average ticket prices.
“While we could certainly go out there and have a much larger increase and sit here and count the money, it would be a disservice (to the fans) and it would hurt satisfaction,” said Ben Hales, the Saints’ vice-president of marketing and business development.
“It doesn’t do us any good to raise prices and then drop in fan satisfaction.”
The NFL team used analytics to determine the actual value of specific seats. Premium seats could therefore see a higher increase, while other sections will see a smaller hike.
“For this increase that’s coming up right now, it’s an average of $9 a ticket per game,” Hales said. “We communicate really specifically with each season ticket-holder so they know exactly what their increase is, what the payment process is.”
Image: Ken Lund
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