In our most recent edition of the ‘Turn 2 Blog‘, Michael Moats and I discussed the topic of ticket prices regarding the upcoming Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series races to be held at the Golden Isles Speedway located just a few miles from the Georgia/Florida state line. For only $10 per ticket fans will be admitted to the Friday night(Feb. 10) race that will pay $10,000-to-win while a charge of $15 will be assessed for the Saturday night(Feb. 11) event that will pay $12,000-to-win. In comparison, those are relatively low prices for races that pay LOLMDS points and virtually guarantee the presence of star drivers such as Scott Bloomquist, Jimmy Owens, Josh Richards, Don O’Neal and Darrell Lanigan.
As discussed in the previously mentioned piece, the question for the track is whether or not a profit can be made by charging those relatively low admission prices while paying out $10,000 and $12,000 to win plus the remainder of the purses on back-to-back nights. Admission prices for similar races often begin at $20 for grandstand seats and can sometimes range into the $30 bracket or more.
Can the speedway attract enough additional fans with the lowered ticket prices to make up for the revenue that would have been achieved at the higher rates?
I should point out here that I have covered the season opening LOLMDS races at Golden Isles for the past four years for InsideDirtRacing.com and have noticed that the crowds for those events have been quite good, especially considering the lack of predictability of February weather.
Fans seem to be willing to pay higher ticket prices to see star drivers such as Jimmy Owens in action
To further delve into the subject of ticket pricing, I recently conducted a poll on Twitter in which I asked, “What’s the highest price you would pay to see a dirt race from the grandstand?”
The answers revealed that fans appear to be willing to pay higher prices when the event calls for it. Of the 278 people who responded to the question, a total of 21% declared that they would spend $20 per ticket to sit in the grandstand of a dirt race. Another 22% said they would pay as much as $25 to get through the track’s gates.
In what could be considered encouraging to track owners and promoters, 21% claimed they would plunk down $30 for a ticket. And what some might consider surprising, the largest number of votes was amassed by a $35 price tag as 37% of the respondents insisted they would pay that amount.
My belief for some time has been that dirt racing is trending toward a pattern of tracks hosting more special events and fewer weekly shows. This was confirmed by another poll I conducted on Twitter which was discussed by Michael and I in another Turn 2 Blog here on this site. In that poll, my followers suggested that, by a 69% to 31% margin, they would choose to attend fewer special races over a greater number of weekly shows.
Tracks such as Smoky Mountain Speedway have made the decision to hold only special events in hopes of filling their grandstands
It would seem obvious that if fans are indeed willing to spend more money for specials they would have less cash available for attendance at a given track’s regular shows. If I, a person with no invest in a race track, have noticed this trend, it would probably be reasonable to assume that those who are actually in the business of racing have also picked up on this trend.
No doubt, more than a few promoters will be watching the events, and the fan count, at Golden Isles on February 10 & 11. If the grandstands are packed, it could set a trend for the future in terms of ticket prices. If what appears to be the same number of fans attending as would have shown up with higher ticket prices it would seem likely that promoters will see no need to offer reduced pricing, especially given the recent willingness of spectators to pay more for bigger races.
Quality usually comes with a price tag. How high of a price fans are willing to pay is a decision that has to be made on an individual basis. If the poll results mentioned above are any indicator, it would seem they are willing to pay a good bit to watch the sport’s big stars race in big events.
*Please note, I am not in any way rooting for the demise of weekly racing. I am merely pointing out what seems to be a trend from my point of view.
