Leeds United consider AI-powered dynamic ticket pricing
Leeds United could introduce AI-powered dynamic ticket pricing to increase revenue at the Premier League club, its chairman has said.
Paraag Marathe said the Elland Road club could reward loyal supporters with cheaper prices while pricing tickets for more casual fans at a higher mark-up.
“There’s probably an opportunity to do it in a way that does increase revenue, but also makes it affordable for your most hardcore fans,” Marathe told sports industry conference Leaders Week London at Stamford Bridge.
“Off the pitch, something that I’ve been thinking about is pricing tickets in the stadium doing dynamic pricing, similar to how the airline industry does it.
“Not just to make to maximise price, but if there’s a way to truly dynamically price based on your supporters – how frequently they go and how much they transact and interact with the club – we can make it more affordable for those folks or certain seats where it’s a little bit more of a hospitality corporate area.”
Leeds United to hike prices?
Dynamic ticket pricing sees the cost of sporting tickets shift depending on demand and closeness to an event. It was deployed, highly controversially, by Fifa during the World Cup across the United States, Canada and Mexico.
It saw tickets hiked into the thousands of dollars early on before forced cuts to ensure stadiums were full for the quadrennial event.
Organisers of the 2028 European Championships, hosted by the UK and Ireland in two years’ time, have ruled out dynamic ticket pricing for the upcoming tournament.
The UK government hopes incoming legislation that will enforce a ban on ticket holders selling on secondary markets for a profit will encourage major organisations to price their offerings more competitively.
“Even right now as we dynamically price, we don’t really use AI. We don’t let it make the decision for us; we just do it in tiers based on what we think,” Leeds United bigwig Marathe, who is also president of 49ers Enterprises and vice chairman of Scottish club Rangers, added.