Don't forget to monitor those ticket prices!

[John]

My team has had 6 home games so far, 3 each sim. After the first sim I decided to adjust my ticket prices downward by $0.26 to test what would happen. Attendance crept up by 2.2%, and that gain offset the 1% lower prices I was charging. The team ended up pulling in $8,759/game more during the second sim. By lowering my ticket prices, I'm actually gaining more revenue.

Over the course of a full season that $8,759/game would work out to an additional $709,475 in my team's coffers. May not sound like much, but that's cash that can be used to cover a couple major league minimum contracts (meaning I can afford to be a bit more aggressive promoting players from the minors). Or it could be included in a trade.

One way or another, who's going to sniff at picking up a "free" extra $700k? All it takes is a little fiddling with those ticket prices to find the sweet spot. I can't encourage owners enough to keep a close, close eye on this as the season progress. Don't just set and forget! Keep adjusting as your fans' interest rises or falls to maximize your profit.

[Matt]

I have tweaked mine down after each of the first two sims. I started with very aggressive pricing, with prices of 26.00. After averaging a little under 30,000 for the first sim, I tweaked them down to 25.00. Average attendance was up to a little over 32,500 per game the last sim, roughly. I have tweaked them down further to try to get closer to sellouts.

The simple point is, the closer you get to selllouts, the more you maximize your income. It's finding that spot where you can get maximum price and still sell out. Either side of that, not selling out, or not charging enough, and you are losing revenue. It's that simple.