In the world of customer experience in professional sports, like an athlete competing for a shot at glory, the quest is to go beyond.
People have plenty of reasons to watch games only experiencing their television sets and screens, with today’s better camera angles, augmented and virtual reality, and access to smart devices and streaming. A recent survey showed that nearly 70 percent of fans prefer to stay home.
When they do venture out to games, ticket prices can be exorbitant, and traffic can make it a daylong commitment. So how are teams competing? By going beyond – far surpassing the basics of a good game and unobstructed view to provide “a total stadium experience, from start to finish.”
Take the food alone: Culinary options at stadiums have gone far beyond the proverbial dog and a beer. At Citi Field in New York, fans can take in a Mets game with classic New York-style hot dogs and pastrami sandwiches. Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs, features K.C.-style BBQ brisket, burnt ends mac & cheese, and something delicious-sounding called a short-rib melt.
Then there are the skyboxes – not exactly the cheap seats. The food also runs aplenty, for example, at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium suites, where an experienced Chilean chef serves up southwest and global specialties for fans enjoying amenities such as HDTV’s, a private bar/kitchen area, and a private restroom.
Customer Experience In Professional Sports Extends From Gifts to Gameday
Of course, the focus on experience starts even before the crowds stream into stadiums and indulge their luxury or gastronomic cravings. When fans purchase season tickets, many teams reward them with gifts such as exclusive merchandise and commemorative items. To make sure the fans stay happy, teams solicit feedback and keep in touch through social media, surveys, and other channels.
Technology is increasingly keeping fans on the tee, as it were. Golf’s PGA tour offers a free augmented reality app that allows fans to follow the action by projecting a model of interesting holes onto any surface, and watching real-time shots appear on the hole during competition.
Yet nothing quite compares to the excitement of the big game day. For the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who have won numerous customer experience awards, it all comes down to Raymond James Stadium – known for its pre-game tailgates featuring blaring music and cornhole sack toss games, and a life-sized pirate ship located in Buccaneer Cove.
Every time the Bucs score, the ship’s cannons fire, sending booming sounds throughout the stadium.
As one fan, calling the fan experience the NFL’s best, wrote: “The food is always good. The drinks are plentiful. The facilities are nice and clean. There’s a great view of the field from every angle.”
The Bananas Set The Bar
The Savannah Bananas, an independent baseball team in a summer college league, offer a quirky assortment of customer experience twists, using a philosophy of being “Fans First.” Fans are treated to more than 200 micro experiences at every game, which change from night to night.
They include everything from ticket takers in banana costumes to a break-dancing first base coach and players going on dates with fans during games.
“You need something that people can actually talk about,” explained team owner Jesse Cole. “You need something that’s shareable, that’s remarkable. We wanted people to say this wasn’t like a typical baseball game, so they would spread the idea.”
Cole has said that his philosophy includes “whatever is normal, do the opposite.” It’s great advice for any company. While you may not end up with dancing grandmas (the Bananas already have the Banana Nanas), you’ll ideate around something seemingly crazy until you get to something completely doable. It’s the difference between ordinary and Extraordinary.
Professional Sports Teams Use Loyalty Programs To Build Fan Experience
Yet it is professional athletes who are often the objects of public fascination, as witnessed by the intense focus on the romance between singer Taylor Swift and NFL star Travis Kelce.
In a recent internal study, Accenture found that fans most desire a chance to get to know their favorite athletes and teams, through “behind-the-scenes access to their lives.”
Teams are trying to provide just that, often through loyalty programs that offer fans incentives “to engage more deeply with the team” in exchange for points or rewards that can be redeemed for benefits such as discounted tickets or exclusive merchandise.
The New York Yankees, for example, offer Yankees Universe – opportunities for special meet-and-greets with Yankees players and legends and exclusive invitations to private events and fan gatherings.
A similar program is the Boston Celtics’ Green Team, which features the chance to attend private practices and fan meet-ups, sit on the bench during pre-game and post-game events, and gain first access to team news, player interviews, and behind-the-scenes video.
Customer Experience Efforts Are Usually Helpful But Can Also Be Harmful
In Seattle, the Seahawks focus so rigorously on fan experience that the fans themselves are known as the 12th man.
Those fans willing to pay for the privilege get a myriad of opportunities to engage with the team and players, including being a special guest for a flag raising at kickoff, watching the team take the field from inside the player tunnel, writing a message for the stadium video board, or attending the coach’s postgame press conference
In the NFL, the Chicago Blackhawks are also known for their fan experience, ranging from pregame events – touring the locker room and training facilities – to participating in the national anthem and riding the “zamboni” ice resurfacing machine during intermissions.
Of course, teams can inadvertently give fans a negative experience, as another Chicago team – by beloved Cubs – learned when they ditched the Old Style beer served for decades in plastic cups at Wrigley Field in favor of a new sponsorship deal with Budweiser.
Fans reacted poorly, and it’s understandable why. From a fan perspective, selling Bud Lite instead of Old Style was jarring. There was something about having an Old Style at Wrigley that really meant something to generations of people.
Building Fan Engagement Through Remarkable Customer Experience
These customer experience initiatives are meant to drive fan engagement with the teams, and convert what could be fair weather fans into permanent adherents.
The best way to do that is just what teams are doing – creating remarkable customer experience by using various elements of my “WISER” methodology:” Witty, Immersive, Shareable, Extraordinary, and Responsive.
Customer experience in professional sports allows teams to increase profit while fans gain memories that they will remember and share with others. Everybody wins.
Photo by Steve DiMatteo on Unsplash.
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