Softening The Blow of Gambling (and Alcohol?) Bans with the Matchday Experience: What Clubs Should Already Be Doing.

In 2013, when it became apparent that Hearts were in severe financial difficulties, Ed Cochrane and I, as JTs supporters, wanted to help. Neither of us hadthe means to put the cash in to the club which could save it from administration but we did have a wealth of experience and expertise in a) attracting new audiences, b) delivering exceptional customer experiences and c) increasing customer spend through delivery of said exceptional experiences. Though fans hate to be called customers that's exactly what they are and that's how they should be treated - as if every single one of them is precious, not to be taken for granted and could take their money elsewhere and every effort should be made to make them not only feel valued but that their experiences with the business (club) are enjoyable and memorable enough to want to come back, spend more and bring people with them. Clubs can learn so much from the very best brands across retail, sales, hospitality, leisure and entertainment in that respect. Why is this important? In the 2012/13 season Hearts average home attendance across 21 matches (19 x league, 1 x league cup, 1 x Europa League) was 12,971. If the club could get just an extra ￡2 net spend per fan per game that season it would have generated an extra ￡544,782. That's the equivalent of multiple very decent sponsorship deals. An extra fiver would have generated ￡1,361,955. These figures aren't enough to plug the massive Romanov debt at the time but would have made paying wages and bills (what ultimately led to administration) doable. It fell on deaf ears. This was the Mad Vlad era, after all, but even if it hadn’t prevented administration how much different could things have been for the club if they'd brought that cash in for the last 10 years?

For any club this can make a huge difference. More to spend on the team, or academy or upgrading the stadium. Cash in the bank to eradicate the hand-to-mouth existence. Less reliance on sponsorships and advertising. Contingency for the ever-decreasing pool of viable potential sponsors. Less stress on the commercial team.

This is absolutely achievable because fans are no different to customers. If they are given enough incentive/reason to spend more - specifically through an exceptional experience - they will spend it. We do it all the time. Having a great meal? We'll order a pudding or another glass of wine. Had great service? We tip more. It's why we're happy to spend more staying at a Four Seasons than a Premier Inn. In football fan terms we're not talking huge increases. A couple of quid. A fiver. And not necessarily additional expense, but redirected from the pre or post-match pub down the road, or making the decision that there's more value to their lives by spending that bit extra at the match than ordering stuff they don't need from Amazon.

For clarification, this is NOT a call for clubs to bung a couple of quid onto match tickets. This is not a cash-grab or fleecing of the fans. Hell no. That's what NFTs and Fan Tokens are for. This is a call for clubs to give fans cause to spend a bit more on matchday because they see it as worth it for what they get in return.

There's a misconception that attending live football is expensive. It's not. Not in relation to other sports and/or other pastimes. In 2021 the Mirror found that the average price of the cheapest adult ticket in the Premier League was ￡29.63, while the average price of the most expensive (non-hospitality) adult tickets was ￡63.06. We can probably take the average price overall to be circa ￡40-￡45. Of course, if you're a Season Ticket holder it's even cheaper, with the 202 average cheapest Premier League adult Season Ticket being just ￡485.70, so twenty-dd quid a game. This to watch the elite in world football. In Scotland it's even cheaper. The average Season Ticket price at Celtic for this season is ￡510, Rangers between ￡477-￡492, you can watch Aberdeen from ￡350-￡480 per season or Ross County from just ￡250 for 18, 19 or 20 home games (depending on how the split works out for each team). It's not expensive. Not when you can barely get a pint in Edinburgh for less than ￡8. It's just, by and large, not great value for money, which is rooted in the overall experience not being good enough to justify spending any more. But give fans an experience which justifies a couple of quid extra and they'll spend it. Here are some stats from a 2019 Forbes article, with stats from global consultancies like McKinsey, Forrester and more, which show how important the experience is:

• Companies with a customer experience mindset drive revenue?4-8% higher ?than the rest of their industries.
• 84% of companies ?that work to improve their customer experience report an increase in their revenue.
• 73% of companies ?with above-average customer experience perform better financially than their competitors.
• 83% of companies ?that believe it’s important to make customers happy also experience growing revenue.
• Brands with superior customer experience bring in?5.7 times more revenue ?than competitors that lag in customer experience.
• 77% of consumers ?say inefficient customer experiences detract from their quality of life. (so, if you're matchday experience is shit not only are you not maximising revenue but you're making fans' lives worse!)
• Customer-centric companies are?60% more profitable ?than companies that don’t focus on customers.
• Loyal customers are?five times more likely ?to purchase again and four times more likely to refer a friend to the company.
• Customers tell an average of nine people about a positive experience with a brand, but they?tell 16 people about ?a negative experience.
• Customers are likely to?spend 140% more ?after a positive experience than customers who report negative experiences.
• Companies that provide an emotional connection with customers outperform the sales growth of their?competitors by 85% .
• A?2% increase in ?customer retention - for example by giving fans such an amazing experiences that those who aren't Season Ticket holders come back game after game - is the same to profits as cutting costs by 10%.
• 87% of customers ?who say they had a great experience will make another purchase from the company, compared to 18% of customers who had a very poor experience.
• 80% of customers ?say they are more likely to do business with a company if it offers personalized experiences.
• And it's not just that fans are likely to spend more and spend more often because of a world class experience - offering a high-quality customer experience can lower the cost of?serving customers by up to 33% .
• Even better? You'll have a more engaged, productive, effective workforce too, which ultimately leads to yet more revenue. Companies that excel at customer experience have?1.5 times more engaged ?employees than less customer-focused companies. Companies with initiatives to improve their customer experience see employee engagement increase by?20% on average . Companies with engaged employees outperform the?competition by 147% .
• You can check out the full article, and understand how important it is to have a CEO who believes passionately in delivering an exceptional experience here.

These figures are, of course, not football specific but they do apply to football as easily as any other industry. Fans are customers/consumers. Football blends the industries that these stats related to: entertainment, leisure, hospitality, retail. Fans will spend a bit more on things we enjoy and value more because that's what we, as humans, do. And if it's to help the club they love and they get something of value in return why they hell wouldn't they? It just needs a bit of strategic planning, some creativity and commitment, a bit of experience of other sectors wouldn't go amiss because to do it right means looking at football as it should be - a blend of competitive sport, entertainment, hospitality, leisure and retail. And none of it needs to have a cost of implementation if you work smart. We can help you with this, btw. This is why I recently launched Xperience , our network of stadium and matchday solutions providers who can, combined with our expertise, help deliver world class matchday experiences which increase revenue and reduce costs. Yes, reducing costs are just as important. Saving a quid per fan is as good as making a quid per fan. Most of these providers have no upfront cost, so there's little to no risk. Some of them have monthly rates but will be in place of not in addition to your existing costs, and most probably at reduced rates too.

Why am I labouring this point? Because the voluntary gambling ban announced yesterday by the Premier League will hit some clubs hard. Not existentially hard - it is the Prem, after all - but still hard enough financially to be felt, and it's not going to be easy to plug that financial hole because it's not as simple as finding a new sponsor with the click of one's fingers. There are fewer viable sponsors at this level today than in years gone by. We know this because most clubs would NOT already have gambling partners if they had better alternatives. We know this because brands with questionable histories are on fronts of shirts. We know this because we've seen clubs duped by crypto brands. We know this because even brands people thought weren't risky are terminating agreements because they're in financial peril. We know this because those of us who do what we do suddenly have major brands ghosting us after months of positive discussions. We know that this doesn't come into effect until 26/27 season but how many clubs are truly prepared for this ban? And in the lower leagues, where any government ban won't take effect, are clubs in a position to agree to a voluntary ban? Because there will be pressure to do so at some point in the future. That's what happens, isn't it? Once one body makes a decision to take action on an issue the focus naturally turns to all others to do the same. What percentage of clubs are truly prepared for this? It will be a low number.

But there's no reason to be unprepared for this. This has been looming for at least a decade. At my interview with the Scottish FA in 2016 we discussed this very issue, and the need for football to have a long term plan to replace gambling sponsorship and to maximise other revenue channels to provide contingency. In Scotland this very same risk hovers with the threat of a ban on alcohol sponsorship and advertising. Whether you agree with this or not, whether or not it's a solution to a problem which doesn't exist, or whether it even happens it's vital that SPFL clubs start planning for this eventuality now, if they haven't already done so.

Alternative sponsors, though thin on the ground, and even though sponsorship has never been truly maximised by rightsholder or brand, will have a vital role to play but it's critical that clubs activate other opportunities. It's actually been vital for the longest time, because the majority of clubs don't, and never have, made enough money or been profitable, but it is now critical. There are umpteen ways that clubs can make real, sustainable revenue. There's a 24/7 fan universe for each and every club to be tapped in to in terms of both fan spend and commercial partnerships and, yes, just like the matchday experience, if what you offer fans is exciting enough and valuable enough they will spend a couple of quid here and there. Web3, done safely, and with clear, effective communication, with a fans first approach centred around exceptional and valuable engagement, unique, world class experiences and exclusive content, will generate cash from fans and sponsors alike. Social Media hasn't been monetised properly through club sponsorships and partnerships. Matchday sponsorships - match sponsor, match ball sponsor, programme sponsor etc - haven't been sold in the most effective way, which is why we have commercial teams scrambling around on a Friday afternoon calling previous matchday sponsors, mostly fans with brands, trying to pitch them a deal for tomorrow's game. Non-matchday stadium opportunities barely scratch the surface on what could be achieved at little or no cost to the club.

There are so many more opportunities we could go into but, for me, the simplest of the lot is to focus on the matchday experience and everything that goes into delivering it, for the reasons previously outlined. Elevate the experience and fans will spend. Make it easier for them. Turbocharge your F&B with superfast epos so that fans don't have to make a decision on whether or not to risk missing the start of the second half by standing in the half-time pie queue AND get more fans through the tills too. Utilise AI powered way-finding and queue management to create stress-free, quick and easy access around the stadium and to its provisions. Provide interactive entertainment, contests and engagement opportunities. Build a fanzone which looks, feels and sounds better than any pub can provide and elevate it with the exclusive experiences and personnel that only the club can provide. Improve the food offering. Improve connectivity. Work better with commercial partners for on-site activations which will both elevate the matchday experience and provide better opportunities for the partners to engage directly with your fans. Invest the time in creating a culture of delivering a world class experience and in developing your people to deliver it to the highest possible standards. People who are made to feel more welcome, more valued, better assisted and, well, more human spend more and you'll have a happier workforce too because when your job is being nice to people your job is naturally nicer.

This not just important to mitigate against gambling or alcohol bans, and it's not just vital for clubs who live hand-to-mouth, loss-making existences. It's important for all clubs. All sports, even. If you have 60,000 fans in your stadium every week then just ￡2 extra net spend per fan becomes the equivalent of a high-level sponsor at ￡120K per game over the course of a season, which, if you have 60,000 fans probably means at least 24 home games per season as chances are you have European football to enjoy. That's ￡2,880,000 in return for a bit of a change in your culture. At the other end of the scale, it's even more important. A club with an average of just 5,000 fans can make a sustainable ￡200K-￡250K extra per season - about 50% more than the cost of some SPFL Premiership Front of Shirt sponsorships - which can be the difference between Top 6 or Bottom 6, relegation or preserved status or even existing.

It's not rocket science. It's not digging ditches. It's what the rest of the consumer facing world does. It WILL soften the blow of gambling and alcohol bans and provide. And it will provide much needed breathing space, contingency and opportunity to reinvest, grow and thrive, irrespective of bans.