Stadium Staffing

In our next lesson on Virtual Business, we were in charge of stadium staffing for football games and concerts. More specifically, we had to hire ushers and stadium security so the fans could make it to their seats and stay there, as well as making sure there is no food thrown on the field or any people forming a mob in front of the concert stage. Our goal was to have nobody move seats and no fan violence, while spending a maximum of $200,000 on staffing. This lesson was significantly harder than the previous, as it was hard to find the correct amount of staff while staying under the $200,000 cap. Also, the attendance for different events would frequently change, making it hard to set the staffing for each event. I thought this lesson did a good job of teaching us how staffing has to do with maintaining a sports franchise. Staffing is very important because if you do not have good staffing, you will have less attendance because the fans will act poorly.

Ticket Pricing

In an attempt to grasp the knowledge required to run my own stadium, our Sports Entertainment and Marketing class ran a virtual business simulation in which we were in control of stadium prices for the Storm, the fictional local football team. We had to test out a few games, making the prices very low the first game, them very high the second game. By watching the ticket sales in those game, we then had to make our own prices based on the section the seats are located. This simulation gave me the opportunity to learn about yield management pricing, and how different ticket prices per section affect the amount of people that go to the game. I also learned that once sponsorship is available in the sim, I will make much more money. I like this part of the simulation because it reinforces the idea we have been talking about how effective sponsorship are in the sports marketing world. I look forward to continuing this simulation because it is fun and it allows us to act as though we are in command of a major sports franchise.