July 04, 2004

A ‘What The Traffic Will Bear’ Ticket Plan

FROM ECONOMICS 101 comes a clever revenue-enhancing plan designed to offset some $600,000 in lost revenue from the elimination of one home game.

The return to an 11-game season has forced the Beavers athletic department to put its marketing cap on to assess the degrees of demand among the various home games.

Ticket prices for huge rivals Oregon and Washington are $55; to jack those up higher might embitter Beaver fans.

Sticking out like a sore thumb on next year’s schedule is a big-time game with marquee opponent (co-national champ) Southern Cal on Nov. 6. What normally would have been a $33 ticket is now priced at $60.

"We felt the market would bear it. So far it has done pretty well," said Matt Arend, OSU director of ticket operations.

Supply and demand.

Economics 101.

(this 135 word excerpt was distilled from a 305 word article from The Oregonian of 7-1-04)