I walked up to the ticket window at San Diego’s Petco Park in 2012 and saw something I had never seen before. Ticket prices for upcoming games vs. the Diamondbacks were one price, with higher prices for upcoming Giants games.
Same sections, same seats. There were also varying prices listed for different days of the week, with Monday-Wednesday prices lower than Thursday-Sunday.
I didn’t realize it then, but the San Diego Padres had adopted what is known as variable pricing, in which prices vary according to day of the week and what team is coming to town. Getting in to watch a Giants-Padres game would cost much more than, say, a Diamondbacks-Padres games.
Before that experience, I had bought a lot of sports tickets across the years, and there was always one consistent price for seat/section.
OK, I’m a rube from the Midwest, but I had always known what to expect, price-wise, ahead of time.
Today, variable pricing is everywhere and no longer a surprising reality to fans when they buy tickets to a sporting event.
However, yet another pricing strategy has become commonplace. Surge pricing.
Yep, just like when Uber puts surge pricing — sometimes called dynamic pricing — into effect during periods of high demand, sports teams are using algorithms and AI to raise prices in real time when there is unexpected demand for a game.
Let’s say the Timberwolves have become the breakout team of 2026-27 in the NBA and the algorithm used by, say, the Kings detects late demand for tickets. So, the Kings will jack up prices for single-game ticket purchases in sections that still have lots of unsold tickets.
In a town like Oklahoma City where most tickets are sold before the season begins, I wouldn’t think surge pricing would be much of a factor.
But the OKC Thunder certainly use variable pricing, setting different prices far in advance, depending on who’s coming to town.
My friend Steve Buck is a half-season Thunder ticket holder who came across the variable pricing scenario in his ticket package this season. The Thunder offered all the games to him at a certain price except for what they call a ‘flex’ game.
That game for Steve’s package turned out to be the 76ers, who now have LeBron James on their roster and are expected to be a title contender from the East Division.
I’ll let Steve share his thoughts on the situation. He says he has no objection to dynamic or variable pricing strategies because they are reactions to supply and demand, a basic economic reality.
Let’s call it economic game theory.
“The Thunder did not allocate the 76er’s game and allowed half-season ticket holders to purchase it separately.,” Steve said. “When I logged into the ticket app, pricing was over 200% of what my cost was per game/per seat in my half-season package. I didn’t like that premium, but it represented market forces at work. A single game in OKC against a team that features many superstars and an NBA talent that is considered, by some, to be the GOAT. (For the record, I still take MJ).”
I did some research on the Thunder website to see what single-game tickets in Loud City — the upper deck 300 section — would cost me for different games in the upcoming season.
I found that I could get in for as low as $22 per seat to watch the Pacers, but would have to shell out $53 per ticket to watch the Nuggets.
And the 76ers? That ticket would cost $151, but the Thunder website noted that it’s a ‘verified resale ticket,’ which must mean the Sixers are a sellout months before the Feb. 13, 2027, game.
Steve also has some thoughts on what should happen if, say, LeBron doesn’t play in the OKC game next February.
“Here’s where I think there should be market intervention, especially when these dynamics are applied by the primary market and not secondary market,” he said “I buy these premium tickets with the expectation that LeBron James plays. If he doesn’t, shouldn’t dynamic pricing work in the reciprocal, meaning I would get a refund for my now devalued purchase?
“Of course, I wouldn’t because I knew the risk when I purchased; but I believe demand-based pricing (surge/dynamic/premium) should come with a built-in protective factor against roster changes, injury, and load management especially when the purchase is made from an original ticket issuer. As a partner with the Thunder (half-season ticket holder in lower bowl seats) I believe that type of gesture from the club is warranted especially as I am not allowed to resale those tickets.”
Some great perspective, Steve. I hope the Thunder are listening.
Meanwhile, the dynamics of surge pricing can work the other way, at least in the secondary market. It played out in advance of this year’s annual Oklahoma-Texas game in the Cotton Bowl.
The Sooners were expected to be a national contender, but faltered, which sent demand and ticket prices plunging, according to the USA Today price tracking website.
If you waited until the week before the Red River Rivalry to buy your ticket on the secondary market, congratulations! You paid a couple hundred bills less than what you would have paid weeks or months before.
Said the USA Today article: “Ticket prices have dropped by nearly $200 in the last month. The Texas Longhorns are currently the No. 1 team in college football after five straight wins, while Oklahoma has fallen out of the USA TODAY Coaches Poll after losses to both Michigan and Georgia.”
Now that’s market forces at work. Game theory, indeed.
BONUS CONTENT: My friend Don Mecoy weighed in with his experience with surge pricing on the secondary market:
“As a former season ticket holder, I depended on those market forces. Kobe’s last away game was in OKC, and those were the most lucrative tickets I ever sold.
On the other side, I paid four figures for tickets to last year’s finals, which of course weren’t played in OKC; so I got my money back.”