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March 9, 2015The Cleveland Cavaliers are once again on the forefront of ticket-based business practice, changing the paradigm of season ticket holders as they embrace a mandatory automatic renewal policy. This means that instead of hunting people down and trying to sell them every single year for their renewal, they’re going to SiriusXM the Wine and Gold United by just charging that credit card and assuming you’re in.
Sports Business Daily has more.
Under the new system, the team contacts its season-ticket holders via email, sending them a dues notification form outlining terms for the upcoming membership year. That notification requires all 14,000 Cavs season-ticket buyers to select an annual, quarterly or monthly payment plan for continuing as season-ticket holders for the season ahead. Those terms will then be automatically renewed next February, and each year going forward, unless the fan selects an “opt out” option. When that happens, it’s a signal to the team that it needs to start a concerted effort to retain the fan. But for the rest of the fans, no further sales action is needed; they continue on as season-ticket holders with their selected payment plans.
I’m being a bit tongue-in-cheek when I compare the Cavaliers to either your local gym or satellite radio. Obviously an annual ticket package is a high-priced item that nobody’s really fooling you into renewing. For the Cavs, it’s just smart business. It will save a ton of effort by their sales staff and allow them to focus only on ticket holders who might be leaving. Initial thought was concern about the Cavs cutting sales staff, but right now the team says there are no reductions planned. The team had begun implementing this process for new season-ticket holders in 2012, but this year will mark the first that it will impact all members. The SBD report also mentions a 15 percent increase in ticket prices.
This makes so much sense that it only seems controversial because nobody has done it yet. It’s the type of decision that will be widely accepted as a standard across the NBA and other professional sports in due time. And for Cavs fans this won’t be remotely controversial as long as LeBron James remains a member of the Cavaliers. The year after he leaves or retires might be another story.
6 Comments
Wiggins doesn’t let this happen.
Thanks Kevin Love.
The one good thing about it is that it allows you to spread the cost of the tickets over the entire year as opposed to paying a lump sum.
As long as people know there is an automatic renewal I don’t see a problem I mean that’s how my porn membership works. I mean that’s how my “gym” membership works!
The sales and marketing team probably figured they could cut costs and earn more potential revenue by allocating the efforts of the sales people to retaining existing customers who seem hesitant to renew. Makes sense financially, as long as the automatic renewal is properly promulgated.
I don’t know about the automatic reup but to be able to pay for season tickets with monthly payments is cool and would probably get more fans to buy season tickets. I now I would. It’s that big payout that keeps real fans from being able to afford season tickets.
Teams have been allowing season ticket members to spread out their payments for years now. It’s pretty widely accepted throughout the industry. Many teams even offer it for some of their smaller packages.