Are the Rideshare Options of the Future Available Now?

25 Thursday Sep 2025

Posted by grewallevymarketingnews in Chapter 12: Developing New Products, Chapter 13: Services: The Intangible Product

Tags

autonomous, cars, driving, future, robotaxi

This gallery contains 1 photo.

Are we living in a science fiction movie? You might be forgiven for thinking so while reading recent headlines, including …

Continue reading →

Curveball: World Series Tickets Prices Reach an All-Time High

27 Thursday Mar 2025

Posted by Grewal Levy Marketing in Chapter 06: Consumer Behavior, Chapter 13: Services: The Intangible Product, Chapter 15: Strategic Pricing Concepts

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

baseball, MLB, prices, tickes

Despite the challenges that persistently face Major League Baseball (MLB), including complaints about the lack of competitive parity in the league and ethical struggles involving controversial topics such as gambling and performance-enhancing drugs, the sport and the league seem to be performing fairly well. For example, ticket prices for the 2024 World Series reached the most expensive level in history.

In a match-up between two of the biggest U.S. cities, the Los Angeles Dodgers took on the New York Yankees for the first time in 43 years. Fans of these two teams represent the two largest markets for MLB, due in large part to excitement surrounding their ongoing success and their nostalgic, historical legacy. The Dodgers have dominated lately, including a recent championship and highly publicized signings of once-in-a-generation players like Shohei Ohtani. But the Yankees have dominated for most of the history of the MLB and boast a remarkable 27 World Series championships (the Dodgers had 7, going into the 2024 matchup), won by unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime players like Babe Ruth.

Today, both teams can boast some of the biggest names in the game. Shohei Ohtani is unlike anything baseball fans have seen recently. He is a blazing hitter and base runner, such that in 2024, he dinged 54 home runs and stole 59 bases, the first player ever to surpass 50 on both metrics in one season. Beyond such impressive offensive stats, his defensive position is as a pitcher—a nearly unprecedented combination. The Dodgers kept him from pitching in 2024, to protect his health in the long term, but he has achieved a career ERA (earned run average) of just 3.01. Meanwhile, the Yankees All-Star outfielder Aaron Judge reached base nearly half the times he came to the plate, notched a .322 batting average, and hit 58 home runs, which led the league.

So there were a lot of reasons for fans to be excited about the matchup. Tickets for Game 1 were announced first: a whopping $975 per seat. But that was just the beginning. Game 3 set records for being the most expensive game in the league’s entire history, and resale prices started around $2,000 per seat. Ticketing for prime seats started at $20,000 and climbed from there.

The Dodgers ultimately dominated, winning the best-of-seven series in five games. But perhaps the real winner was MLB, which enjoyed not just the revenues from tickets but also the highest network ratings for the broadcast of the World Series in years.

Discussion Questions

Why are the Yankees and the Dodgers two most profitable franchises in MLB currently? What value propositions do they offer?
How have the Yankees managed to maintain such strong brand loyalty, despite not winning a championship in years?

Sources: Abby Montanez, “Yankees-Dodgers World Series Tickets Are the Most Expensive Ever,” Yahoo Sports, October 25, 2024; Jordan Valinsky, “Tickets for this Year’s World Series Are the Most Expensive Ever,” CNN, October 25, 2024; Mike Winters, “World Series Ticket Prices Are the Second-Highest Ever – a Yankees Home Game Could Run You Nearly $5,000,” CNBC, October 24, 2024

Right on Schedule? How the U.S. Department of Transportation Is Dealing with Flight Delays

13 Thursday Mar 2025

Posted by Grewal Levy Marketing in Chapter 04: Conscious Marketing, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Ethics, Chapter 13: Services: The Intangible Product

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Airlines, delay, fine, flying, penalty, regulation

Flight delays are, at some point, unavoidable. There are thousands of elements that must go right for airline travel to happen smoothly and safely, and even if airlines could realistically be expected to avoid every single mechanical issue that might arise in their planes or schedule staff perfectly, they still must deal with the completely uncontrollable influence of weather conditions. Thus, for the most part, airlines can and should be forgiven for reasonable, occasional flight delays and cancellations.

But reasonable and occasional are very different from preventable and chronic, and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) seems determined to establish this distinction. In recent moves, it has fined JetBlue and Frontier for their persistent records of delays. The fines—$2 million to JetBlue, $650,000 charged to Frontier—go partially to compensate affected passengers.

Then it brought a $2.1 million suit against Southwest Airlines, alleging that in 2022, two of the airline’s regularly flight paths featured a habitual pattern of late arrivals. Passengers flying between Chicago and Oakland or between Baltimore and Cleveland—two routes that were scheduled at least 10 times per month—would arrive late (by at least a half hour) more than half of the time. According to the U.S. DOT, that signals a chronic pattern. Furthermore, the DOT has estimated that about 90 percent of those delays were preventable. Therefore, it alleges that the airline failed to live up to its legal obligation, which requires it to establish and publish actually realistic flight schedules so that passengers have ready access to reliable information that supports their own planning efforts.

Beyond the impacts on travelers trying to get to Oakland or Cleveland on time, Southwest’s chronic delays constitutes an anticompetitive practice, according to the DOT. Specifically, it advertised and marketed these flights, as occurring in accordance with the published schedule. Because it could not live up to that promise, Southwest arguably was engaged in deceptive advertising that could give it an unfair competitive advantage.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Southwest denies the allegations. It regards the accusations as outdated and, while recognizing that those routes suffered issues in the past, highlights its successful completion of approximately 20 million on-time flights since the legislation that enforces punishments for chronic delays passed in 2009.

Discussion Questions

Are fines of airlines that run chronically delayed flight paths appropriate? Are they fair? Take the perspective of the punished airline, its competitors, and travelers to develop your answer.
What are some other ways to incentivize airlines to deal with and avoid chronic delays?

Sources: Niraj Chokshi, “U.S. Sues Southwest Airlines over Chronic Delays,” The New York Times, January 15, 2025; Ayana Archie, “The Transportation Department Sues Southwest Airlines for Alleged Oft-Delayed Flights,” National Public Radio, January 16, 2025; “DOT Sues Southwest Airlines for Chronically Delayed Flights,” Department of Transportation, January 15, 2025

Gallery