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For the first time in four years, the Indianapolis Colts are changing the cost of season tickets at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The average season-ticket price for 2020 will rise 2.9 percent, from $939 to $966, according to the team, but about two-thirds of the tickets will be priced the same or less. However, about one-third of the tickets—in the sections closest to the field—will see a price surge as high as 18%, the team said.
The Colts have about 56,000 season-ticket holders this year, about 3% more they had in 2018.
The lowest priced season ticket will remain at $460 next season while the highest priced will increase from $1,480 to $1,740.
“It’s not as much about what [we can charge], but rather about what the appropriate price is for all of the seats at Lucas Oil Stadium,” said Roger VanDerSnick, chief sales and marketing officer for the Colts.
The Colts in 2019 were in the bottom third of the league for season-ticket prices, and that’s not likely to change given the average hike of less than 3 percent, VanDerSnick said.
“It’s not where we [rank] within the league that’s important here,” he said. “We want to make sure we are priced appropriately for our market and for our fans.”
Each season-ticket package includes two preseason games and eight regular-season games, as well as the right to buy tickets to home playoff games.
VanDerSnick said some of the mid-range season tickets will actually drop in price, though he declined to say exactly how many.
“Just because we took a third of the prices up, we weren’t shy about taking prices down where we felt like we should take prices down,” he said.
The Colts declined to share a section-specific breakdown of 2019 versus 2020 ticket prices. They informed season-ticket holders in late October of changes to their the prices through a form letter.
In that letter, the Colts said they plan to enhance benefits for season-ticket holders. VanDerSnick said those includes additional game day experiences for fans, more promotions and growth of the team’s Touchdown Town tailgating experience.
“I’m proud to say that we’re doing well as judged by our fans, but we continue to lean into that and do more,” he said.
The 67,000-seat Lucas Oil Stadium has regularly been recognized by a variety of publications and news outlets for offering one of the league’s best fan experiences since it opened in 2009, but the Colts also regularly finish in the bottom half of the NFL for attendance. The stadium ranks 21st in seating capacity in the 32-team league.
The Colts are 26th average attendance this season, bringing in around 61,113 fans per game, according to ESPN.com. Last year, it finished 28th.
The stadium received upgrades to its Wi-Fi earlier this year through a nearly $7 million deal with the Capital Improvement Board—which owns the venue—to split the cost between the board, the Colts and Verizon.
The stadium also received new 5G cellular technology through an agreement between the NFL and Verizon to upgrade connectivity at each of the league’s stadiums.
VanDerSnick declined to comment on whether the Colts plan to seek tax-supported renovations for the stadium in the next few years.
Prices are determined by analyzing sales trends and how holders use the tickets throughout each season. The team also looks at ticket resale value on secondary markets and considers feedback it receives from ticket holders, VanDerSnick said.
“You’ve seen … somewhat of a conservative view in ticket prices” from the Colts, VanDerSnick said. “I’m not saying it will be another four years before there’s another price increase, but we’ll be doing this analysis every year. You’ll always see us have a strong view to making sure we have a range of opportunities for folks to join.”
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Truly not factually correct. Last year the Colts gave season ticket holders 10% of ticket prices in free concessions. This year its less than 2% so right there they raised cost to season ticket holders by 8% plus the 3% or a double digit increase. At some point you have to ask yourself is it really worth the money. I’ve had 5 friends who are all season ticket holders say this is their last year.
Agreed. It is almost as if they believe we wouldn’t notice. Also don’t forget that the Colts gave Luck a free $24M but then want more money from ticket holders. Also would have liked to see a Luck jersey trade in program to be able to get a new players jersey to wear but they also swept Luck retiring and getting an unearned $24M under the rug too.
Actually, the concession voucher last year was an incentive bonus for early renewals.
Spend lots of money to watch a mediocre team play! No thanks – I’ll watch from home for free
So they lie about the prices to IBJ? Lie about the enhanced benefits to IBJ? As mentioned earlier, they basically took away our concessions for 2020 and raised almost all our ticket prices? They can’t disclose any sections that got discounted? The Colts are crooked, they knew Luck was retiring! They waited till our tickets were all paid for prior to the news leaking. So lets be clear here – the Colts are almost last in attendance and decided to raise prices? Great logic there! I think you guys lost my business! If anything we should be getting the preseason FOR FREE!! rather paying full prices for meaningless games!
FED UP!
How they enacted a conspiracy/cover-up via Andrew and his family, coaches, teammates, medical staff and personnel staff in order to sell a few tickets is truly amazing. 😀
To each their own, but I’ll never understand the draw to pro sports, let alone shelling out some serious cash to spectate.