Creating Value for Attending Live Sports

Right out of the gate, let’s take a minute to consider something. Have you ever attended a live sporting event where you left questioning what you just experienced? Probably. Whether you left the even in a full-on discussion or you subconsciously wrestled with your experience, positive and/or negative emotions arise. These emotions can sometimes easily waver one’s allegiance to a sport or team or have little to no affect at all. The deciding factor of this range of allegiance is usually dependent on the level of fandom for the sport or team that someone has. Being a die-hard Ottawa Senators fan myself, not much can waver my fandom for the team. Over the years I’ve enjoyed cup runs, where I blasted Go Sens Go by Belly, to sitting in a half-full stadium. Both instances my fandom went unwavered, as my level of allegiance to the team is high. However, over the last year I have attended a few Montreal Canadiens games, while visiting friends. I noticed my support to the Canadiens grew slightly after every game (note: Sens, will and forever be number 1). I loved the atmosphere that went along with watching a game at the Bell Centre. It’s the hockey Mecca of the world. Every fan in attendance is like a young Roch Carrier in the book The Hockey Sweater. A Franco-Canadian classic. Each time that I left the Bell Centre, I began to think how this experience could be emulated in Ottawa, other NHL arena’s, or even in other sports.

The atmosphere and passion that is found in Montreal can be found globally, especially in soccer. Sporting organizations such as, the Ottawa Senators, may not have as long of a history as other franchises, or a loyal fandom; at the moment. But it is 2019 and there are Sport Marketers out there, such as myself, who are destined to change certain team’s fortunes. Now you may be wondering “What can a sport marketer do, to improve a team’s following?”. Well for one, they can help with the solution to the sports attendance problem. Putting fans in seats is a major battle, especially with the improved streaming market. Sport Marketers are now tasked with an even harder challenge, to get people out of their comforts of home to a live game. The way to create value for attending live sports, come from the creation of a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out), an incredible atmosphere, and an overall experience.

Creating a Sense of FOMO

Sports fans are wild. We watch games during weddings, exam review classes and on dates (I’ve personally done all three). We don’t like feeling FOMO (fear of missing out). But how do we fight the streaming battle that everyone in the sport industry is dealing with? With many people watching from just about anywhere, the battle is stronger than ever. This is why we need to clearly define the difference between watching the game on a stream versus attending it live. As fans want to be a part of their teams’ success. Home ice (or field) advantage is huge in sports. A major factor within this is the atmosphere that teams are playing in. In the NFL, it’s rare that you will see poor attendance in stadiums who are known for being the loudest in the league. The reason for this is fans feel that they have an impact on the game. They win and lose with the team. If they stay home to watch the game, they will feel like they are partially to blame for the loss. Therefore, teams need to generate the ultimate atmosphere for fans to be a part of and for players to play in.

Creating an Incredible Atmosphere

The best way for teams to create an incredible atmosphere is to intensify the passion and environment at the games. To do this you need absolutely ludicrous fans. How do you generate crazy fans? You start by giving them a great story to tell about how they became a fan. Often times, people go the hereditary route. Which is great, as usually these happen to be the most intense fans. But in order to grow a team’s audience, you have to look at those who aren’t currently a fan. People who grew up watching a different sport, new Canadians, or people who are looking to switch teams. No one wants to be that person in bar, watching the game, who gets asked “How did you become a fan?” and they respond with “After their championship season” or “I just picked them because I liked their colours”. No one wants that! WE WANT A STORY. Now you may be wondering “How do you suppose teams do this?”. Go where the puck is going to be, not where it is. You generate stories by starting at the grassroots. Whether that be providing newborns in your city with toques (aka beanies for my non-Canadian readers) at the hospital, giving tickets to new immigrants so they can experience a part of Canadian culture, or having players meet people within the community. All of which create a great story and an emotional connection for fans to their favourite team.

Creating the Overall Experience

Although there are fans living with FOMO and others with the ultimate fandom stories, we still need to tackle the issue of creating an overall experience. We are now living in the age of living our best lives. People only want to invest their time in something that truly provides them with the best value. The MLB is one of the major victims of the new times. The younger audience is less interested in spending hours watching a game that has a pitching showdown, as there is no “big play” occurring. That’s why teams need to know look at what they are offering to fans inside the stadium, other than the on the field (or ice) product. This is where you’re seeing teams like the Ottawa 67’s having items like bouncy castles or jungle gyms, inside the arena for young kids to play on during the intermission. As for older audiences, teams could look at bringing in live entertainment at the stoppages like the Nashville Predators; where people are paying to watch a hockey game while also enjoying a top-tier artist’s concert at the intermission. These are all great ways for teams to create value while attending live sports.

With so many sporting organizations dealing with the dilemma of how to create value for attending live sports, this is where someone like me, a Sport Marketer comes in. All of the factors that were discussed in this blog, are things that I hope to work on in my career and to continue speaking about in my blogs. We have only scraped the surface of how issues in sports can be solved. With further dialogue who knows what we will come up with next. One thing is for sure, if you stay up to date with my blogs and social media, @nascimentomktg, you’ll be one of the first to know about new solutions in the sport industry. Enjoy.