Football clubs typically make their money in three ways: tickets sales on game day, broadcast revenue, and income from sponsorships and merchandise. To increase these three elements requires a popular team that is well-branded and a means to attract punters to the stadia.
Global brand franchises such as Manchester United have significant opportunities to increase revenue on the commercial side (merchandise and sponsorship) because the more popular a club, the more of its strip you can sell and the more likely you are to secure top rate sponsorship. So getting more fans is a big business and clubs like FC Bayern have opened up an office in Shanghai to build the brand appeal in new markets. Once you have that, getting punters into the stadium is the usual next step and, now, the stadia themselves are becoming arenas for greater differentiated experiences for football fans.
In a recent article in Wired (Dec 2017) (sponsored by Audi, who are increasingly upping the use of tech in footy), there’s a rundown of the new technology being used to up the game:
- Holographic and AR/VR technologies for fans to immerse themselves in games
- A massive increase in data and analytics to give broadcasters interpreted analysis real-time for why the stats are relevant
- On pitch cameras that improve the broadcast experience: high speed and “spidercam” cameras
- Use of drones in training and on game day
But this is just the start. The article states “The next step is for football clubs to consider technology from the outset when they’re designing their new stadiums […] A network of new transportation methods will add to the ease in which fans can access stadiums, from self-driving car lanes and drone delivery systems. Meanwhile AI will help all of these technologies to co-exist and flow automatically, enabling supporters to get the best experience possible.”
I know football is big business. But as a city-dweller, I can’t help being a little envious of this future picture, and the ease with which it will probably become a reality quite soon.
I wish we could say the same was true for the places in which all those fans live.