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Wimbledon’s chief executive has categorically ruled out the use of ‘dynamic pricing’ at the iconic Grand Slam tennis championship.
Sally Bolton, chief executive of the All England Club (AELTC), responded to questions about the use of the controversial sales model at an event in London earlier this week. There has been an outcry over the use of ‘dynamic pricing’ during the Oasis on-sale recently, with various investigations having been launched to see if consumer laws were violated. Football supporter groups have expressed their fears that ‘dynamic pricing’ could be used for fixtures in the future.
Wimbledon began its annual ballot earlier this month, and Bolton confirmed that its existing pre-sale system and queuing will remain the only way of securing general admission tickets to the championships.
Speaking at the IMG-RedBird Summit, as reported by SportBusiness, Bolton said: “We’ll never go down the dynamic pricing route. We’ve just recently opened our ballot which we believe the fairest way to do it. So, there’s a window to apply in the ballot. You don’t have to keep refreshing your screen 1,000 times.
“It’s a fair way to allocate tickets. And there is something here about finding the sweet spot of supply and demand. And so, part of how our brand is premium and the reputation our brand and our event has, is because there’s a degree of scarcity, and as we think about how we grow our physical space, we only want to take that so far.
“We’ve been very clear that that is not about excessively increasing capacity, because the amount of tennis we will have will still be the same. We want to make sure that we’re continuing to create that supply constraint dynamic to it, because, in a positive way, it needs to remain exclusive.”
Ticketmaster investigation
The UK’s competition watchdog last week officially launched an investigation into whether Ticketmaster breached consumer rights rules during last weekend’s controversial Oasis on-sale.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it is taking action after reports by fans of significant issues with Ticketmaster when attempting to buy tickets for the reunion tour. In calling for evidence from those affected, the CMA said there are concerns over whether buyers were given clear and timely information, and whether consumer protection law was breached by the utilisation of ‘dynamic pricing’.
Top-flight Spanish clubs Valencia and Celta Vigo have both started incorporating dynamic pricing into their sales model for this season. Valencia claimed to have the backing of the Spanish football authorities when they announced the changes in August.
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