How Covid has helped to shape the sports club of the future
The business of sport has been through a tough time of late. Sports clubs have seen their revenue from ticket sales all but eliminated in the face of Covid, and are faced with rising challenges around how to offer greater engagement for sponsors, monetise the content they have more effectively and create an altogether better customer experience for their fans, digitally and physically.
The key questions are how do clubs create stronger relationships with fans and in turn build more sustainable long-term revenues? And how will new innovations introduced with Covid sustain in a post-covid world?
Sport has entered a new playing field
The sporting industry has had to adapt. Where once the major focus was match day revenue through traditional sources of income (i.e. ticket sales, merchandise, concessions), clubs now need to look further afield and build a 360 degree fan engagement strategy. This opens up new opportunities to diversify revenue streams and drive sustainable growth throughout the year (on and off season).
You’ve got to be in it to win it
How can we create unforgettable live experience that fans can’t miss out on?
Match day is the pinnacle of sports. But, even before Covid, clubs were experiencing challenges to demonstrate the value of live action with 51% of sports viewers preferring to watch it at home with friends. Therefore more so than ever when we start to go back to the ‘new normal’ and stadium begin to fill up again, clubs will need to create incredible live experiences that knock it out of the park in comparison to home viewing to drive ticket revenues back up.
As 70% of people who attend a live sports event use mobile devices to engage and 80% of sports fans are multi-screening, there is an open goal to transform the live experience through cross-channel engagement. Think modern versions of “kiss cam” with fans posting selfies on Instagram to get a feature on the big screen, like the 2019 Vitality Netball World Cup’s #thisisnetball campaign. Also bring them in on the ‘show’, like Tour de France did when they nailed live spectator engagement. Fans were encouraged to film the race and post on social media to capture every moment of the race at every angle. The user-generated content helped to plug the gaps of the traditional broadcast whilst driving engagement online and creating a feeling of shared effort around bringing the live action to the world.
Cast the net wide
How can we bring fans closer to the action who aren’t in the stadium?
Particularly in the current situation, sports clubs need to consider the fans beyond the stands and how they can feel closer to the action from home. Despite this being a very current challenge it is likely to stick around for a while and has the opportunity to create new revenue streams for clubs going forward, beyond Covid. A great example is Australian National Rugby League’s ‘Fan in the Stand’ initiative which loads of sports clubs globally have since latched onto. This is where fans pay around $20 for a cardboard cut out to be placed in a seat at their home team stadium. Also, a German football club was amongst the first to trial a new app, Myapplause, that lets fans at home submit cheers, claps or whistles that are played during the game to build atmosphere in the stadium.
It’s all about the game of inches
How could we build better connections to our fans, and between fans and sponsor brands?
With the internet and smart phones allowing us to stay connected at every second of the day there is a huge opportunity for clubs to build stronger, on-going relationships with their fans all day, every day. An exciting innovation around this area is the e-season ticket — and we have Covid to thank. It’s still early days but more clubs are beginning to explore the possibilities behind the idea. An e-season would provide access to a ticket holder-only portal with exclusive offers including early release of the starting line-up, fan quizzes and live chats to interact with other fans. This can help to generate revenue where it has been lost during Covid, and open a new revenue stream targeting the stay-at-home fan when stadiums open up again.
This also applies to brand partnerships. It no longer should be about a match-day sponsorship where the extent of the deal is on-shirt branding or prominent stadia signage. It should extend to an always-on package, wrapping up social and online content into the wider deal such that the brand can see the value throughout the year.
Home (stadium) is where the heart is
What are other event opportunities are there to engage fans?
Fans are part of the family. So clubs try to welcome them in all-year round (putting Covid aside for now…). With a huge stadium empty for the majority of the year, clubs are under pressure to find other ways to bring people through the door. This is traditionally through corporate hospitality and hosting live events such as concerts, as this provides a straight forward but significant income. But applying a fan-centric perspective, there is a great opportunity to use the club as the centre point of the fan community. Creating a new membership that encompasses events, training days and exclusive access to live Q&As and player interviews can create a stronger sense of community, add another revenue stream and reduce the stadium’s spare capacity.
No doubt there are tough times ahead for sports clubs. But like many other industries Covid has been a catalyst for change and innovation. I believe that the digital revolution fuelled by Covid has created a perfect storm for sports clubs to rethink their approach to fan engagement, their commercial models and how they can future-proof their revenues. And whoever gets started on this journey first will no doubt find themselves at the top of the podium.
Maddy Meacher is a Client Manager at Manifesto Growth Architects. As a strategic growth consultant, she is passionate about helping companies to unlock their growth potential and is inherently curious to explore innovative approaches to growth from across industries.
