More Good News: Orioles Announce Dynamic Pricing

“It’s a great day for baseball!”

That’ll be an extra $10.

After enacting a notoriously stupid policy of charging fans a premium for having the audacity to enjoy a game on a whim (and thereby making baseball less competitive with other forms of entertainment), the Orioles are now following the industry trend of dynamic pricing. What exactly is “dynamic pricing?” In short, it’s another way the team can bend you over and screw you. The idea is to encourage fans to purchase season tickets, by hitting you in the wallet when you decide you want to go to fewer than 13 games.

Dynamic pricing means that a super-secret-supply-and-demand algorithm will determine the price of tickets – real time. Unless you buy your tickets well in advance, the price will go up if the game is going to a good one (exciting opponent, unexpected playoff implications, player approaches statistical record, popular giveaway, nice weather, etc.).

Defenders of the dynamic pricing approach will tell you it can also work in reverse – fans are bound to also get tickets to less attractive games at a discount. Let me ask you this: do you believe that the Orioles are going to allow fans to get tickets at a discount? Isn’t the idea to make money? Forgive my cynicism, but in this money grab, the house is going to win – not the other way around.

Look, I understand that the dynamic pricing works (for the club). It puts money in their pockets, or else they wouldn’t do it. The San Francisco Giants made the strategy look attractive by making gobs of money on ticket sales since instituting the policy in 2009. Forget the fact that the Giants have also fielded good teams in that same period. Moreover, dynamic pricing rules the day in secondary marketplaces like StubHub, so at least this puts the money in the pocket of the club instead of the third party.

But that rings very hollow. Baseball tickets should be available for a set price. And fans should be able to purchase tickets without intentional, arbitrary barriers. You want a tiered price structure? Fine. Douchey, but understandable. But don’t make the consumer watch ticket prices like the stock market. – if you make it too difficult, they’re going to choose something else. The game is in the midst of an aging fan base, in an age when HD television is as much an danger to attendance as poor play. You want asses in the seats? Don’t play games with us. Play games for us.

You want to score season tickets, Orioles? Build excitement with a winning product, and a competent off season plan. Don’t announce a price hike and dynamic pricing while the natives are restless over complete roster inactivity.  The Orioles have a window in which they can compete for the playoffs, but also a window in which they can win back a fan base they abused for 15 years. An entire generation of Baltimore baseball fans is cynical, mistrustful, and accustomed to being let down.