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| Source: http://sportsmockery.com/white-sox-announce-the-most-epic-promotional-giveaway-ever-you-will-want-one/ |
The economic principle I’m exploring is people generally respond to incentives in predictable ways
My research question to help me study the economic principle is what incentives do MLB franchises do to get people to go to games?
An article published in AdWeek titled “How bobbleheads became baseball’s secret weapon to boost attendance”, by Christine Birkner, demonstrates this economic principle because it shows how free promotional handouts increase the amount of people who go to games.
First, Bobbleheads have became a staple item for MLB teams to give away as a promotion during games. It’s been shown that when MLB teams hand out bobblehead promotions they increase the attendance by 15% to 30%. Now, this stat varies from team to team but it has been a proven way to increase attendance. The reason more people attend games when handouts such as bobbleheads are being given away, is because it incentivises people to go to the stadium because the item they are giving away is potentially collectable and has value. This potential value is a big enough incentive for people to leave their homes and watch games at the stadiums.
Second, free promotional handouts allows MLB franchises to cater to a border amount of people who wouldn’t typically go to a game. MLB teams have different types of promotions that can range from things such as Star Wars to superhero characters. When teams give away things that are atypical it can appeal to those people and incentivises them go to the game and thus attendance rises. According to the article, "Somebody who's into comic books might not otherwise go to a baseball game, but if the Marvel bobblehead is there, they will buy a ticket,".
Third, bobbleheads have been a tradition that has lasted a lifetime and it has been a collectable forever. MLB teams know the power of the bobblehead and they use them to the fullest. Fans enjoy collecting bobbleheads because their is a certain nostalgic and “collectability factor” that comes with having them. Teams add different things every time they release a new bobblehead and fans like to see what new things they added. Bobbleheads are a tradition for fans and it has been proven to increase attendance time and time again.
In my next blog post I will research: To what extent does lowering ticket prices incentivise people to attend MLB games?
Something I found interesting was how the numbers increase when handouts are given. I never thought that it would have an affect on attendance.
ReplyDeleteSuggestion for future research: Maybe see the difference between a game with huge rivals vs just a normal game within the MLB.
Something i found that is interesting is that the teams handout special items that may be themed around something. these items bring people who might not go to the games except for the item.
ReplyDelete