Utah Jazz: Program means ticket prices will vary more

SALT LAKE CITY — It doesn't take a sophisticated computer software program to know a Utah Jazz ticket for a game against the Los Angeles Lakers will have more demand than a ticket for, say, a contest against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

It's obvious that some Jazz tickets — even in the exact same seats — are more valuable than others. When Kobe Bryant or LeBron James or the Boston Celtics come to town, it's a big draw. Not so much when the Clippers limp into EnergySolutions Arena.

Still, it isn't easy placing a value on each individual game.

That's where the sophisticated computer software program comes in.

For the 2010-11 season, the Jazz are one of three NBA teams (the Rockets and the Hawks being the others) that will use a computer program in an attempt to quantify the value of each game and then price the tickets accordingly.

The "dynamic pricing solution" software program, developed by Qcue out of Austin, Texas, will be used to determine the optimal price for each ticket based on numerous factors and algorithms such as opponents, day of the week, playoff implications, and even weather and other market conditions.

"The price of specific seats will change, depending on the demand for that game," said Jim Olson, Jazz senior vice president of sales and marketing. "It will create a lower price for games in less demand and a higher price for games that have a higher demand."

It's a variable pricing system much like the ones that airlines have been using for years.

Olson says this isn't a way to try to gouge fans who want to go to games against popular opponents, but that it's simply a way for the team to get more revenue when there is a huge demand and then give fans some great deals on games where there are more tickets available.

"We feel it's going to, overall, be positive for our fans," said Olson. "What it's going to do is make games more affordable for the average fan on the lower-end games. On the higher-end games, what we find is that many of the tickets are purchased on the secondary market. They aren't purchased through us, but they are sold at the higher prices anyway. This way, we'll be able to charge the higher prices and the fans will know who they are buying the tickets from and they will know that their ticket is legit."