The presence of fans has always been an important financial boost for clubs around the world, besides sponsorship. Fans who attend matches not only spend money on tickets, but also on food / drinks and merchandise when they attend matches. A stagnating or even worse, decreasing number of fans is detrimental to the future of every club at every level worldwide.
However, sports fans are loyal, more loyal even than fans of car brands, technology, clothing or gastronomy. This loyalty is something that sports clubs have taken for granted for years.
But with more alternatives and better possibilities for match viewing at home (through digital TV, better camera angles and multi-platform media experience), or elsewhere via mobile devices and 5G connectivity, you will see an increase of the so-called couch fan.
The solution to this declining turnout is not an easy one, and it affects various domains. Of course team performance is an important influence, but data shows that that is certainly not the most important thing. With current digital platforms and personalization capabilities, a club can capitalize on the new generation of fans and better manage the fan experience to ensure the club’s financial income and future.
Fanatic fans are the foundation of every successful club.
Understanding the modern consumer is the foundation of all our customer experience projects. A solid understanding is also the basis of any strategy for creating more engagement with our fans: young or old, rich or poor, private or professional, from the region or far beyond, everyone has their own motivation and commitment to a love the club.
Why is someone a fan of our club? There are roughly 4 possible reasons why someone becomes a fan of your club: tradition, pride, interaction and convenience.
Many sports clubs have a long tradition, with fans often getting connected to their club very early because of their birthplace or family history.
Every sports fan wants his team to win! There are always fans who are more fan when the club wins, but keeping our fans engaged supports their desire to stay with their team during good and bad times. Being proud of a team can also stem from the way the club and the athletes interact with the community themselves.
Being involved is getting closer. In this case, fans want to get closer to the club, the action, the team. Anything that allows for more intimate access to any of these domains will keep our fan captivated and engaged by the nature of the interaction.
The young sports fans, who will fill stadiums worldwide in the near future, are a mobile (high convenience factor) generation. A mobile phone is an intrinsic part of so many people’s lives, which is why the mobile experience is an important element in the contact between clubs and fans.
The same basic requirements for remaining a fan apply to all fans. There must be a safe, comfortable & clean stadium to watch the matches. The view of the match must be in line with expectations when purchasing the ticket and of course there should be an atmosphere that one does not have at home and one expects a qualitative match. Clubs control all these items to a greater or lesser extent.
In addition to these basic requirements, an experience expectation has also emerged in recent years. Fans want to feel personally involved with the club, want to experience unique experiences in the stadium, but also at home on match days and non-match days. They expect the club to entertain them all year round and not just during the matches. That this always has the same high degree of personalization and relevance through multiple channels. In an easy way, without detours or disappointments that could have been avoided.
Can you do this as a club? Then you have turned your fans into real fanatics.