Bubbles

Optimising Data at Live Sporting Events

Posted on:

July 15th, 2022

Posted in:

Insights & Thought Leadership

We’re in the midst of another exciting summer of live sporting events. With the likes of the British Grand Prix just past, Wimbledon’s conclusion last weekend and the start of another Premier League round the corner. Stadiums, grounds and circuits are bustling with supporters. The data they create throughout their fan experience journey is a valuable asset. 


With the undoubted excitement of watching on TV, nothing beats the fan experience of attending a live sporting event. How can data improve the experience even further and maximise revenues for the host Club or Association?


Increasing access to data at live sporting events

There is increasing access to data at live sporting events. Analysing any facet of a player or drivers’ performance. For instance, the All England Club at Wimbledon provided spectators with “AI Powered Stats” to help improve fans knowledge of players.  

Arguably Sporting Clubs are less effective at capturing data points from spectators than players. Missing the opportunity to translate this into revenue and increased satisfaction from an improved fan experience. So, what data points should be captured, analysed and actions agreed? 


Wimbledon turned to big data to help improve fans’ tennis knowledge.

Pre Event & Ticketing 

The opportunity to use data to provide a better spectator experience starts from ticket purchasing.  Identify where spectators will be sat in the stadium to offer them personalised relevant experiences in advance. This drives sales of merchandise and/or food and drinks. With good access to customer data this can even relate back to previous purchases.   


Upon Arrival

Connect into real time turnstile data to identify when individual spectators arrive. Use this to drive real time personalised messaging, or understand customer behaviour such as arrival time before kick off. Perhaps in combination with heat maps to understand general customer behaviour.    


According to a recent Nielsen study, Formula 1 is on track to top a billion worldwide fans this year, with 77 percent of those new fans under 35 years old.

Food Concessions 

Use data to understand how and when spectators are purchasing food and drinks.  Use real time data from POS systems to understand how busy kiosks are;. Increaseing staff levels or direct customers to quieter areas when beneficial. Better use of data can drive sales from food outlets and increase customer satisfaction.     


Merchandise

A live sporting event provides an incredible captive audience. But opportunities to sell merchandise are often lost due to small physical stores. Lacking the capacity to cope with big crowds. Connected stock, e-commerce and customer data offers spectators more convenient ways to buy merchandise through targeted real time offers or the ability to click and collect. 


Data becomes especially powerful of course when you’ve got a consolidated central view of all data and diverse data points can be compared and analysed.   This is where Clekt and the Enterprise Data Hub can support Sports Clubs to fully maximise the impact of their “off the field” data.   


Get in touch if you’d like to find out more!