London Olympics

Williams needs to optimize on a number of different dimensions. The Olympic Committee wants to maximize total ticket sales, but also needs the revenue that is generated. However, the Committee also has motives for ensuring that tickets are affordable for locals, and that fans of the various sports can get tickets to events should they so desire. There are other sources of revenue, but the public relations dimensions of not selling out events or locals not being able to access tickets were both considerable concerns for the Organizing Committee. Empty seats on global television would look terrible for London, the Olympics and the Organizing Committee. Ensuring that the public could afford the tickets was important for PR for the Games, something the Committee needs in order to obtain public support, local media support and political support. Thus, maximizing revenue was seen as less important, despite the importance of that revenue to the total budget.

Swimming:

High demand, will sell out at almost any price

Popular, but not a strong sport for Britain

Can be used to maximize revenue

185,000 tickets available

Indoor Track Cycling:

Low demand

Ticket sales maximization strategy

Britain does well

28,000 total tickets

Table Tennis:

Strong regional popularity (Asia)

85,000 tickets available

Ticket sales maximization -- we're talking about saving face with the one culture that cares most about that

3. Recommendations for Mr. Williamson

Swimming is a cash cow for the Olympics. Keep some cheap tickets for the locals, up high. Sell the rest at high prices. This is a revenue maximization event.

Indoor track cycling should have appeal because the UK wins medals. But it is a small sport. Some interest from Europe, too. But tickets should be cheaper. Market it on the national pride angle. There aren't many tickets, so it should sell out.

With table tennis, this sport has high regional popularity. Filling the stadium so far from Asia could actually be a challenge. Britain does not do well here. There are a lot of tickets. Have some high end prices for the Asian visitors, especially prestigious seats. Farther seats should be at a fairly deep discount.

In general, tiering is good. High end prices for good seats at popular events. Any seat that could be on television should be filled. Use low prices to fill less desirable events.