Northwestern Makes List of Top 10 Most Innovative Companies… In Sports!

From Fast Company:

For redefining ticket sales. Under the direction of two in-house economists, the university is testing out a new ticket-selling system for some of its games. It’s called “Purple Pricing”—like a Dutch auction, but with a twist: Prices start high and drop until tickets sell out, and fans buy whenever a price is appealing. There’s no risk of overpaying (like, say, on StubHub, where prices fluctuate) because everyone pays the final price. So if a fan buys at $50 but the price drops to $40, the fan is refunded $10. The system gives the school precise data about the market value of its tickets, ensuring more revenue and less scalping, and presenting a new path for a messy ticketing industry.