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| Photo courtesy of Chelsea Moller |
1.) Fan
loyalty and engagement is important to sports organizations for a variety of
reasons. It provides a way for organizations to monitor, measure, and analyze
the trends and tendencies of their fans. The dynamic of a loyal fan of a sports
franchise is basically identical to that of a repeat customer for a business.
Aside from certain aspects that are usually known to lead to the success of a
business such as a solid foundation, integrity, innovation, and overall makeup
of the brand or business, the repeat customer is what generates recurring
revenue and drives a business to continue to keep it alive. This is no
different in the sports world.
If
a sports organization were to be interested in learning what their fan base is
thinking, then perhaps creating a social media profile (or two) would benefit
them. If the sports organization were interested in learning how to track their
loyal fans across their social media platforms, then perhaps they would choose
to follow a few individuals who happen to have influence over other fans within
the same organization. There are companies that exist solely to measure,
analyze, and assess a “fan loyalty index” across the world of sports. According
to Passikoff (2013), the 21
st annual
Brand Keys Sports Fan Loyalty Index shows that the most loyal fans in the NBA (as of April 16, 2013) are
Miami Heat fans with the San Antonio Spurs fans at number two. There could be a
correlation between this statistic and the fact that these two teams were the
best two teams in the league at this current time. I’m sure teams that win more
often than they lose will have a higher fan loyalty score than those who lose
more often than they win. I suppose a “bandwagon” mentality could be addressed
here, but this would begin straying from the original topic matter. Speaking of
the Miami Heat, and bandwagons, as of this current week in sports, the Miami
Heat’s best player, LeBron James, has signed a deal to return to his hometown
team, the Cleveland Cavaliers. This should have a dramatic effect on the annual
Brand Keys Sports Fan Loyalty Index of the Miami Heat during the next year.
2.)
Some
professional sports organizations are already running campaigns that encourage
and benefit fan loyalty. According to Fischer (2012), the Miami Dolphins introduced
a “new consumer loyalty effort called
The Fin Club, powered by New York-based startup
CrowdTwist” (¶ 1). The Fin Club awards points for “virtually any
Dolphins-related activity” including ticket and merchandise purchases. There
are other incentives that reward fans with points including following the team
on social networks like
Facebook or
Twitter. These fans can redeem their
points for unique rewards such as the chance to run out the team flag during
player introductions at a home game, interviewing
players, or hosting a
business meeting in the team’s locker room. Through the services provided by
CrowdTwist, The Fin Club will allow the Dolphins to “measure, analyze, and
reward all trackable fan behavior around the team, both online and offline.” Many
fans are responding very well to the existing fan loyalty programs across the
sports industry. It allows the loyal fan to interact more with their favorite
team through engaging activities as well as providing them special benefits
that wouldn’t be available or accessible to other fans. Loyal fans enjoy their
exclusivity. Unfortunately, the Miami Dolphins aren’t necessarily the “choice”
team to experiment with fan loyalty rewards programs, given that the Dolphins
aren’t necessarily a winning team. I would be interested to see how this type
of program would affect a team with a rich tradition of sold-out home games and
fan interaction, like the Green Bay Packers.
3.) Three
ways to engage fans before, during, and post game to increase fan attendance
may include either running multiple promotions at once, having one large
promotion to encompass it all, or both.
In
order to engage fans before a game, a sports organization could offer
discounted concessions and/or merchandise up until the scheduled game time. A
sports organization could also offer some kind of seat-selection drawing to
reward a fan that’s already in attendance before the game. An organization
could collect the data from each ticket scanned upon entry to the facility
until the scheduled drawing when one lucky fan’s seat number could be called to
win the prize/reward. Another way to engage fans before a game could include a
tailgating promotion where a player or two from the home team walks around the
lot with the mascot for a couple of hours before the game begins. These
“tailgating tours” could reward fans with upgraded seats or vouchers for the
team’s in-stadium merchandise shop or concession stands.
In
order to engage fans during a game, a sports organization could have a
promotion that occurs during the game’s “break time(s).” This would occur
during halftime of a basketball, football, or hockey game, as well as during
the seventh-inning-stretch of a baseball game. Smaller promotions could also
occur during the team’s timeouts. In order to cut back on the congestion of the
concessions and bathrooms during these special breaks, this promotion could be
viewed on the “Jumbotron” to keep many people in their seats during the break.
Sports organizations could also bring in local or national entertainment acts
in order to perform during these breaks. Organizations could also run
discounted concessions for a limited time after the home team scores. They
could also build up the discount as the game progresses too. Let’s say, for
each goal the Chicago Blackhawks score tonight, fans will receive an additional
$1 off of a standard Chicago Hot Dog at the concession stands (up to a total of
$4 off). They could always choose a different item to promote, or a different
cause as the destination for their “build up” promotion to be paid to. For
example, let’s say for the length of a baseball series in Chicago, the Cubs
have agreed to donate $1,000 to the United Way for each run scored by the home
team over the next three home games.
In
order to engage fans after the game, a sports organization could offer a chance
to “come on back” by awarding tickets for the team’s next home game to five
lucky winners whose names will be announce over the loud speakers after the
game has ended. These lucky fans will have to claim their tickets on their way
out of the facility that day in order to redeem the promotion. I’ve found that
most sporting events like to usher people out as soon as possible in order to
begin cleaning up. If this is the case, then an organization could offer promotions
that fans don’t need to physically remain at the facility for, like a chance to
win an autographed piece of merchandise to those who upload a legible photo of
their ticket stub to the team’s social media page before midnight of that
night, or by attending an official team “after party” whether it’s at a
recurring designated sports bar, tavern, restaurant, etc.
Works
Cited:
I
consider myself to be a sports fanatic. More specifically, I consider myself to
be a sports-statistics junkie who is extremely interested in how the
sports-world works. For as long as I can remember, I have always been
fascinated with the puzzle pieces that form the bigger picture, not only in the sports realm but also in
business (and life) in general. The largest department within these industries
that captures my undivided attention, more so than others, is management. My
current course at Full Sail University, Sports Management and Operations, successfully
combines all of these categories into one class, and I absolutely love it. 