A Case Study of Kansas University Basketball FY21
The University of Kansas ended the FY21 Basketball season with more revenue using a dynamic single-game sales strategy and Paciolan’s Seat Management tool.
Yes, more revenue, even with decreased capacity and canceled games.
Situation
Suffice to say; it was a challenging season. Like everyone in live events and collegiate sports, the University of Kansas faced many unknowns and uncertainties: no fans, canceled games, and reduced capacity, to name a few.
Through it all, KU must navigate the pandemic and decide how to manage revenue best. For example, if they don’t stay with the Variable Season Ticket Pricing strategy, should they go with Dynamic Single-Game Sales? (Spoiler alert, yes, they did). If so, what tools and processes can they leverage to help execute?
The Basketball season ended with 11 games at reduced capacity and three canceled games. As a result, KU’s team had to choose a pricing strategy to try and maximize the yield throughout the season.
So, in the end, KU executed a dynamic single-game sales strategy using Seat Management in the Paciolan platform. With this tool, KU had the flexibility to make pricing changes at the seat level throughout the season to respond to market demand and ended the season with 46% more yield.
Let’s see how they did it.
This is a home run. Especially in a year when we’re all pushing for revenue.
I can’t believe how easy it was to use. We were able to reprice multiple times a day to respond to how the inventory is selling.
Scott Hahn Associate Athletics Director at Kansas Athletics
Objective
Maximize revenue during a hectic and unprecedented Basketball season, including three canceled games and 11 games at reduced capacity.
Solution
The University of Kansas team used Paciolan’s Seat Management tool to change the price of single seats - not by price table or price type - multiple times a day and respond to how the inventory is selling.
To illustrate the different pricing scenarios and projections without using actual sales numbers, we’ll use 100 as an index to indicate the standard season ticket pricing strategy - at full-capacity and sold-out inventory.
Because of three canceled games, the yield would have been 81 or down by 19%. The number assumes full-capacity and sold-out inventory.
If Kansas had chosen to employ the static single game pricing strategy, they could have increased yield by 31% (from 81), which would have been a success. But, again, this projected number assumes full-capacity and sold-out inventory.
With dynamic single game pricing using Paciolan’s Seat Management, KU surpassed all other projections with a yield of 46% more than expected. (Note that, unlike previous numbers, this number reports actual sales at reduced capacity.)
Watch the video to see how the pricing scenarios and projections play out.
Did you catch that?
The last bar chart reflects "actual sales at reduced capacity" compared to the projections at "full capacity and sold-out inventory."
That means that even at reduced capacity and non-sold-out inventory, the Dynamic Single Game strategy using Seat Level Pricing still beats out other strategies’ yields scenario. Had it been sold at full capacity, the increased yield rate could have been higher.
Success
Surpassed expected yield by 46%
Exceeded season ticket full capacity sold-out inventory yield by 27%
Maximized inventory sold in Primary market: 81% of inventory sold via eVenue
KU deployed all the tools at their disposal to manage market price and demand, smarter and better, to beat goals in a challenging year.
To learn more about how you can maximize revenue using Seat Management or any other innovative features in the Paciolan platform, please contact your Client Partner.
