Stadium Experiences - how to compete with the digitalisation of sport
What role do stadiums have in the 21st century and how can rights-holders and brands utilise fan experiences to build loyalty?
Dominic Mills
Published on August 12th, 2024
In this Insight:
Stadiums - the home of fan experience
Sport has been a crucial cornerstone of society and culture for millennia. Sitting at the heart of this, are stadiums and sports venues - acting as the nucleus for teams and athletes and providing spectators with the ever-present backdrop to their fandom.
In today’s world of in-depth broadcasting, live streaming, watchalongs and social media highlight reels, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the importance of the in-stadium experience is diminishing.
Instead, the growing digital and global nature of sport has made the fans’ experiences in the stadium all the more important.
With fans having more alternatives than ever to watch and engage with sporting events, the stadium offers one of the last authentic in-person experiences. But to attract a new generation of fans to stadiums, rights holders have to understand and invest in differentiators.
In this article, we explore the key components of fan experience through the lens of Deloitte’s fan survey article: ‘The Stadium Experience: Keeping sports fans engaged - and loyal’.
The basics of fan experience
All customers have a level of expectation when paying for a product or service. At its most basic level, these expectations are the least a customer will expect to receive to be satisfied with their purchase.
This level of expectation also extends to sports fans when they pay for a product or service. Deloitte’s survey article: ‘The Stadium Experience: Keeping sports fans engaged - and loyal’, sought to identify what these expectations are when sports fans arrive at the stadium.
The survey found that comfort (including safety and cleanliness), view, entertainment and atmosphere are by far the most important attributes for fans - 50% more important than the next closest aspect.
These four attributes are consistently the highest ranked across all surveyed sports, fan types and age groups, but it was noted that casual fans place higher importance on these.
Although these expectations may not revolutionise any modern stadium experiences, perfecting these is a necessary prerequisite for competing and out-muscling the next generation of fan experiences.
(Source: Deloitte, The Stadium Experience: Keeping sports fans engaged - and loyal)
Beyond the basics
Once rights holders have understood the basics of the fan experience, they can start to look at differentiating aspects that can further elevate the stadium visit and create a lasting legacy.
Before diving into these, it’s important to note that any changes to the fan experience should always be made with a clear understanding of the fans and their values - here, tools such as fan forums, surveys and focus groups are crucial. Deloitte’s research found a number of factors outside of the basics that are important to the fan experience and bring with them a number of exciting opportunities.
Personal identification with the team: The most important factor outside of the four basics is personal identification with the team, where fans want to feel part of their team’s culture and community. In 2023, Premier League club Arsenal achieved this through redesigning the artwork outside Emirates Stadium to feature players, staff, fans and iconic moments from the club’s history.
Unique stadium experience: Las Vegas Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium is another example of differentiating, by offering a unique stadium experience with their Wynn Field Club, a revolutionary in-stadium nightclub designed to attract Las Vegas party-goers to the game.
Personal interest and values: Finally, the survey found that stadiums that can offer experiences that match fans’ personal interest and values also lead to greater loyalty. Here, Seattle-based Climate Pledge Arena is a great example. The ‘world’s first zero-carbon arena’ provides fans with free public transportation to and from the venue, electrical vehicle parking and charging, and has understood local fans’ values when delivering locally sourced food and beverage.
Hospitality - the next level of fan experience
One of the biggest differentiators in stadium experiences are VIP tickets, also known as hospitality tickets.
Hospitality experiences at sports stadiums provide guests with unrivalled views of the sporting action. As well as the best seats, hospitality packages take the stadium experience to a new level, with bespoke food, drink and entertainment, all designed to foster an experience that lives long in the memory.
In addition to using hospitality as a tool for providing fans with an elevated experience, rights-holders also utilise it to appeal to businesses and brands. Research from Nielsen has found that a sports venue is the second most common setting for a corporate Hospitality event, behind only a corporate lunch or dinner.
By enhancing hospitality experiences in the stadium, right-holders can cater to businesses as well as individual consumers, and brands can connect with their clients and employees in an entertaining and memorable setting.
Fan experiences - the backbone of sport
In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic impacted every corner of the world. One of its many consequences was the effect it had on in-person sports experiences.
For many years sport had become more and more digital, but as the pandemic showed what a world without fans would be like, it became clear that in-person events were crucial not just for in-stadium fans, but also for fans tuning in digitally.
Since then, organisations have been working hard to ensure that stadium experiences remain a part of sport. At SPORTFIVE, we work with the biggest rights-holders and brands to help deliver elevated experiences for fans.
From managing the commercialisation and delivery of Official Hospitality Packafes for UEFA EURO 2024™, to helping world leading brands such as Volkswagen and Carlsberg deliver world class guest management, we facilitate premium experiences in sport.
If you want to find out more about stadium experiences and hospitality, or our work, feel free to get in touch.
