Tag Archives: Stephen Murdoch

Soaring Sports Game Ticket Prices Are Nothing New

Dr. Eric Dolansky- Goodman School of Business at Brock University: Consumers are happier about price increases when they know they're coming and why they're happening.
Dr. Eric Dolansky- Goodman School of Business at Brock University: “Consumers are happier about price increases when they know they’re coming and why they’re happening.”

For years, hotels and airlines, car rental agencies and energy companies have been using a phenomena known as dynamic pricing to set costs for their consumers. This real-time pricing results in fluctuations depending on a variety of factors, but is often associated with supply and demand – and it is becoming more and more prevalent in the sports world.

This economic practice has been studied by Dr. Eric Dolansky, an assistant professor at the Goodman School of Business at Brock University. Specifically, Dr. Dolansky has examined sequences of pricing and the effect it has on consumer habits. While many consumers grumble about dynamic pricing causing hikes in gas prices, that in part has to do with the unpredictability of the increases.

The situation with sports tickets is a bit different in the minds of consumers, argues Professor Dolansky. This type of dynamic pricing is tied to demand, so consumers expect the prices to increase as the nature of the competition increases, or the date of the event nears and the supply of available tickets dwindles. For example, seats in Section 121 at the Air Canada Centre on October 17 for a Toronto Maple Leafs game against the Carolina Hurricanes range from $193 to $223. But in the same section for the Leafs’ October 26 game versus the Pittsburgh Penguins, tickets range from $253 to $288.

It's not a new idea- from wanderstories.com: "In Roman times, the tickets were known as tessara - small clay discs, which were stamped with details of the locus, or seat number, gradus or row number, cuneus, or sector and entrance gate. For example: LOC X, meaning seat number 10, GRAD V - row number 5, CVN III - sector number 3. Tickets were free, but everyone had to have a ticket to attend. Tickets were distributed to organizations, institutions and groups, who in turn, distributed them to the Roman citizens. As the games were popular, there was also a black market, where tickets would be sold, with high prices for some of the most important games." CP
It’s not a new idea- from wanderstories.com: “In Roman times, the tickets were known as tessara – small clay discs, which were stamped with details of the locus, or seat number, gradus or row number, cuneus, or sector and entrance gate. For example: LOC X, meaning seat number 10, GRAD V – row number 5, CVN III – sector number 3. Tickets were free, but everyone had to have a ticket to attend. Tickets were distributed to organizations, institutions and groups, who in turn, distributed them to the Roman citizens. As the games were popular, there was also a black market, where tickets would be sold, with high prices for some of the most important games.”

Evidence Professor Dolansky has studied suggests when consumers are aware prices are going to rise from a particular point, and they have a basic understanding of the events that are driving the increase, they tend to believe it is more fair.  For the Silo, Stephen Murdoch

Supplemental- Conference keynote presentations by Dr. Dolansky

Clemente, S., Dolansky, E., Mantonakis, A. and White, K.  The Effects of Perceived Product-Association Incongruity on Consumption Experiences – Academy of Wine Business Research Conference, Niagara, Ontario, June, 2013.

Clemente, S., Dolansky, E., Mantonakis, A. and White, K.  The Effects of Perceived Product-Association Incongruity on Consumption Experiences – Society for Consumer Psychology, Las Vegas, Nevada, February, 2012.

Clemente, S., Dolansky, E., Mantonakis, A. and White, K.  The Effects of Perceived Product-Association Incongruity on Consumption Experiences – Association for Consumer Research, Vancouver, British Columbia, October, 2012.

Clemente, S., Dolansky, E., Mantonakis, A. and White, K.  The Effects of Perceived Product-Association Incongruity on Consumption Experiences – Southern Ontario Behavioural Decision Research, Waterloo, Ontario, May, 2012.

Old school sports tickets and events– Gladiatorial Combat http://wanderstories.com/wp-content/samples/book/Rome/Colosseum.html

St. Catharines New Highest Technology Hospital Is Impressive

The Project: The 980,000 sq. ft. acute care community hospital replaces two aging facilities in the Niagara region and accommodates 375 acute care beds, with associated outpatient and support services.

Niagara Health System New Health Care Complex – St. Catharines Site "2oth Century NOT included" CP
New Health Care Complex – St. Catharines Site “2oth Century NOT included”

It provides a comprehensive range of clinical services including:

• a cancer centre serving 1,200 patients close to home, relieving them from the stress of travelling to Hamilton or Toronto for treatments

• a longer-term mental health service that includes 53 beds

• dialysis services

• cardiac catheterization services, which provides diagnostic investigation, reduces hospitalizations for heart disease and provides faster local care for residents of the Niagara region

The goal of this project was to provide Niagara Health System with a modern, state-of-the-art, one million square foot building capable of providing one million square feet of care.

In addition to design and construction management, PCL’s [ PCL comprises a  family of  general contracting companies  and is the largest such organization in Canada and the fifth largest in the U.S. CP ]scope of work also included the procurement and installation of more than 25,000 pieces of medical equipment, as well as medical gas, head walls, nurse call system, information technology, audio visual, and security technology.

Some of the many interesting features that set this building apart include construction of the first radiation suites in the Niagara region, an enclosed ambulance bay to provide protection to incoming patients, an interior design that strategically locates departments to minimize clinical travel time by staff, and an exterior design that implements materials indigenous to the Niagara region.

 

Interior and exterior architectural designs affect patient and staff psychology so why not design accordingly? This ceiling detail of the Walker Cancer Care Treatment Room ceiling reveals the care and consideration that went into the hospitals designs. CP
Interior and exterior architectural designs affect patient and staff psychology so why not design accordingly? This ceiling detail of the Walker Cancer Care Treatment Room ceiling reveals the care and consideration that went into the hospitals designs. CP

 

Architectural

• Main Street feature wall using a combination of indigenous and complementary stones that tell a story of the geological formation of the  Niagara Escarpment.

• Use of structural elements in the form of a tree at the main entry and cafeteria to create the canopy.

• First operating rooms in Canada to use Corian wall finishes.

• Integrated interior finishes and way finding system,using landmarks to help visitors and patients locate themselves in the facility.

• Enhanced use of natural light to infiltrate deeper into the building, with particular attention to patient spaces.

• An acoustical design at the building envelope to mitigate and isolate noise generated by a nearby train corridor.

 

Structural

• Blending structural elements with architectural finish and spectacle.

• Strategy of a structural grid system to maximize open spaces and floor to ceiling height.

• Foundation system and MRI inertia slab to address vibrations created by train traffic and a nearby machine stamping plant.

• Post Disaster design to address potential seismic event, to allow the facility to operate during and after as a relief centre.

• Use of cast-in-place elements to allow equipment flexibility.

Mechanical/Electrical

• Pandemic containment capability to deal with infectious outbreaks and disasters, allowing the facility to isolate building sections and departments.

• Building automation system, fully integrated with building elements and equipment to monitor and ensure optimal building performance.

• Back-up and dual power systems to ensure fundamental building and medical systems remain available and functioning at all times, including integration with the building automation system, to allow targeted load distribution to non fundamental systems to become available as required.

 

The Operating Theater. It's understandable if you think that this is a set from Star Trek-
The Operating Theater. It’s understandable if you think that this is a set from Star Trek-

 

Sustainability

• The project is targeted for LEED® certification. As part of the construction and design strategy, the project team developed several innovations and elements for a significant improvement of the target to LEED® Silver certification – from 26 to 35 points.

• Incorporated an energy efficient lighting strategy using natural lighting as much as possible, as well as the broad use of occupancy sensors and low energy lighting systems.

• Integrated and efficient cooling and heating systems, and an optimized building envelope system that helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

• The overall energy strategy resulted in the Energy Model that realizes an energy savings of 46% relative to the Model Energy Code for Buildings, which is expected to produce savings to the client in excess of $1 million annually.

• Use of native and hardy plant  species and an integrated storm water management program, including irrigation and water features to eliminate city water use for landscape elements.

 

A look at the state-of-the-art radiation treatment facility.
A look at the state-of-the-art radiation treatment facility.

Supplemental- Corian mineral composite wall panelshttp://www.architonic.com/pmpro/corian-panels-mineral-composite-panels-mineral-composite-materials-finishes/3240623/2/2/1

1000 Canadian projects now LEED Certified/What is LEEDhttp://www.dcnonl.com/article/id55463

B+H Architects, designers of St. Catherines new hospital- http://www.bharchitects.com/en/projects/129

PCL Construction, builders of St. Catherines new hospitalhttp://www.pcl.com/Pages/default.aspx