The Art of Improving Stadium Attendance

As players continue to perform in front of empty bleachers and stadium revenue trickles into nothingness, are sporting institutions approaching their events from the wrong direction?

Let’s forget COVID-19 for a second and think about how things were before the pandemic swept across the world – barring some of the top leagues in the world, where the sport has a well-established fan-base, football (soccer) teams around the world have regularly played their games in front of empty stands and zero viewing audiences.

Unlike top leagues (like in England, Spain, Germany, etc.), smaller leagues or “lesser footballing nations” do not have the kind of television revenue support they need to boost their clubs’ stability.

For smaller and lesser leagues, stadium revenue is still one of the biggest sources of income and unfortunately, in India, they are almost non-existent.

There is an expectation that the game of football itself is the biggest reason for people to throng to stadiums.

I have played there for 7-years and am aware of the quality of football in India – trust me – it is not!

However, this isn’t about the quality of the game alone – it is about the experience of the person visiting the stadium to watch a game.

WHAT IS THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY?

In 2019, I visited the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi as the Senior Division League was underway.

Besides the teams scheduled to play on the day, and a few representatives of other teams, nobody was in the stadium.

The snack vendor, who’s been selling the same things since my playing days (17-years ago), was still manning his tiny table while some couples found the top tier ideal for private meet-and-greet sessions.

And a football match was on!

All I could think of was the approach to fill stadium seats and how futile it appeared.

Firstly, there is a belief that the customer is coming in for the “football”.

Unfortunately, the customer has neither been studied nor understood because for football to be the topmost reason for people to come in, one of two factors need to exist – Loyalty or Quality of Football.

Loyalty doesn’t exist because most clubs have never tried to connect with any (potential) fans at any level.

And, quality of football, already spoken about, isn’t good enough!

At my digital marketing agency, I have always maintained that understanding the Target Audience (TA) is much more effective than any marketing effort!

The more you know what your TA wants, the less you have to work to grab their attention.

Think about it – when would you be more accurate – when you know that your customer wants to buy a washing machine? Or, when you know that your customer wants a 6-litre, front-loading machine with dryer – preferably Bosch or LG – for his family of 4?

It’s simple logic – the more knowledge you have, the more accurately you can give them what you want.

And here’s something about Indian sports fans – They love their stars more than they love their sports!

And anyone who tries to throw cricket into my face should first check the stands for domestic games.

WHAT CUSTOMERS WANT

The average matchday in European football starts on the weekend – sometimes on Friday nights even.

And each game has a sense of occasion – it is an event that everyone is going to because they are going to enjoy the entire experience – from pre-match to at-match to post-match!

And while our sporting associations are doing a lot more to spread the word, they are not doing anything to improve that experience.

If all you are going to get, when you enter a stadium, is dirty seats, stale food and no drinking water, and the football doesn’t offer anything to write home about, why wouldn’t you sit at home and watch Netflix?

The North American approach to soccer is a perfect example of thinking about the customer’s experience.

Sports events, for fans, are not an individual experience – they are “group experiences”!

That simply means, people will either go to watch a match with someone else, or not at all.

And that “someone else” is never a problem when they are a fan – They're a problem when they couldn't care less about the game!

If you want to take your son or daughter or wife or girlfriend or friend to a game, it has to be more entertaining or fun than whatever the alternative might be!

It’s that simple – you are competing for someone’s time and if you want someone to forego a movie or theme park or dinner, then you need to offer something better than that!

And the fallacy lies in believing that the game itself is enough of an offering!

From high school and college to all levels of professional sport, North Americans have hit the right formula!

Fans start gathering early in the day and car-boots become barbeque and beer central – “tailgating” marks the start of the celebration that is Game Day.

The party continues inside as well - as the game gets underway, snacks, drinks, halftime shows and national anthems – all lend to the occasion.

Those who don’t come for the game, come for the entertainment!

Sure, you could drink at a bar or eat at a restaurant or listen to music or watch the game on television – OR, you could do all of that and more at the stadium with the people you love!

A WHOLESOME EXPERIENCE FOR EVERYONE

You want the winning formula? Here it is: Focus on Women!

It’s a very simple formula – if you are able to convince a woman that the best way to spend 2 to 3 hours on the weekend – for her entire group or family – is to go to a sporting event, then you have hit your mark.

For a mother to take her son or daughter to a game, she has to be sure that there is enough to eat, drink and entertain her kids before, during and after the game!

For a woman to accompany her family or spouse or boyfriend or group of friends to the game, she has to know that she will have fun out there too!

If women know that they can have more fun at a football stadium than they would at a local bar or restaurant, then they will definitely bring their family or friends along - just like they would at a bar or club or mall or theatre!

Your sporting event needs to be as safe and secure as the alternatives - and as much fun, if not more!

And here's a bonus tip – Forget about the game!

I know you are the sporting institution and your role is to promote the sport but just think – if families or groups just came in for the food or drinks or kids’ games or halftime shows, the game would still benefit from it.

You would get more people into stadiums, sell entry tickets, sell food or drink coupons and that would lead to increased revenues and stadium upgrades – which would lead to even better events and bigger crowds!

This is how you get families and groups into stadiums – by offering them options that they would come for, even if there wasn’t a football game on.

It’s a cycle that you need to invest in slowly, remembering one key fact – you are in it for the long haul!

If your goal is to truly improve the quality of any sporting event, then you need to focus on making these events bigger and better experiences for the entire family!

Maybe this downtime that COVID-19 has forced on us is a great chance for us to take a step back and re-think our approach to making sporting events more popular and sustainable at all levels of the game - not just for our athletes and sporting institutions, but for our sponsors and viewing audiences!