Price Dynamics in Live Event Ticket Sales: Evidence from College Football Resale Markets (2023)
Undergraduate: Mark Heymann
Faculty Advisor: Brian McManus
Department: Economics
Tickets to live events, such as sporting events, are commonly resold on the secondary market up until the date of the event, with prices determined by the time of sale and the quality of the seat. Simple dynamic pricing models predict that prices for homogeneous seats decrease as the date of the event approaches, and previous research has tested these predictions in various live event settings. In this research, I use novel data on secondary market college football ticket transactions to test the application of dynamic pricing models to this market. Unlike other live events, college football ticket prices are also strongly influenced by the information known about the game at the time of sale. In estimating the price path in this market, I measure the role of information changes on ticket prices. I find that after controlling for expected game quality, college football ticket prices do tend to decrease over time. However, a ticket to a higher quality game commands a higher price, meaning that when expected game quality increases over a portion of the ticket sales horizon, prices may instead increase during this portion of the sales horizon.
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