Fries With Those Season Tickets: 49ers Try a New Business Model
The San Francisco 49ers will begin offering free food and nonalcoholic drinks to season-ticket holders
(Bloomberg) -- The San Francisco 49ers will begin offering free food and nonalcoholic drinks to season-ticket holders, an effort to keep fans happy in an era when the cost of attending an NFL game is soaring.
The Member Inclusive Menu initiative, as it’s called, makes Levi’s Stadium the first to offer such service. The 49ers’ season tickets range from $85 to $375.
Surveys of sports fans have shown that food -- along with ticket prices, the on-field product and parking -- is a key factor in a customer’s game-day satisfaction, team President Al Guido said. At a time of increased competition for the entertainment dollar, sports franchises are searching for ways to win new fans and keep the ones they have.
“No one has ever gone the path of literally having all food and beverage be included in the price point you pay for season tickets,” Guido said. “It’s not easy to pull off at this scale.”
The 49ers have about 60,000 season-ticket holders, accounting for about 90% of the seats, the team said. Those customers have renewed at a 98% clip since the stadium opened in 2014.
The team will raise prices next season by $20 per season ticket, or an average of about 13%. It’s the first increase since Levi’s Stadium opened.
The 49ers were motivated, in part, by the fan-friendly concession pricing at the home of the Atlanta Falcons, which has worked with concessionaire Levy Restaurants to offer a number of food items at prices far below other sports facilities. Levy also operates the concessions at Levi’s Stadium.
If you were to buy a hot dog, fries and a large soda at the team’s next home game, Oct. 27 against the Carolina Panthers, you’d be out $20.
The 49ers’ plan includes at least 20 of the team’s most-popular food items, including hot dogs, nachos, garlic fries and tenders. Specialty items like sushi, crab sandwiches and brisket aren’t included. Tickets sold to suites and any sold on a single-game basis or on the secondary market aren’t included, either.
The 49ers made the move after receiving hundreds of thousands of fan feedback messages since opening the stadium.
San Francisco is atop the NFC West with a (6-0) record this season.
To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Soshnick in New York at ssoshnick@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Rob Golum, John J. Edwards III
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