When the Real Game is Off the Field: Teams vs. Their Fans
Stupid beats technology every time.
The Pittsburgh Pirates, by releasing Rowdy Tellez four plate appearances short of a $200K bonus, play down to their reputation. It’s a slap in the face to fans already frustrated with an organization that boasts talent like Paul Skenes but can't attract enough supporting cast to win consistently.
At $100/fan/game, that's 2,000 tickets over the season - let's round up to 10,000 tickets so that we're talking net revenue. Are you telling me this news doesn't turn off more than 150 potential fans per game?
UNLV's situation isn’t much better. Their transfer quarterback walks away mid-season, citing unkept promises, leaving fans questioning the integrity of both the QB and their leadership. Watch for his new 2025 NIL deal, coming soon to a school near you!
It’s OK for off-field bets to fail—but brands must own those failures in the context of their original upside. Remind fans why these bets were made in the first place.
Transparency, not avoidance, keeps fans engaged when things fall apart. Fans can forgive bad decisions; what they can’t forgive is being kept in the dark.
CEO @ Limestone Digital | Sports Tech Investor
5 个月On the UNLV topic, this is one of the things that worries me about schools rushing to bring on "NIL General Managers." They're solving the wrong problem. If the problem we're optimizing for is "NIL", then by definition, I would argue that we're actively choosing not to elevate fan/alum and athlete progress. Folks like Blake Lawrence have more of an inside view of how the pieces come together, but the wider view on this is that you need athletes and fans moving "up and to the right" if you want the system to scale.