A fan 360 approach benefits the entire sports ecosystem — from fans and leagues to teams and sports media. Fans gain personalized experiences, such as customized ticket offers for games when their favorite pitcher is starting on the mound, tailored content recommendations based on the lengths and formats they consume most and merchandise recommendations specific to their favorite product categories (hats versus jerseys, for example), making them feel more valued and connected.
Interactive features such as real-time polls that let them show off their knowledge about their favorite teams, augmented reality experiences that let them scrimmage (virtually) with their favorite players and choice-based loyalty programs can enhance their engagement alongside enabling more data collection to further fuel the flywheel in order to better meet fans’ needs continuously over time.
On the business side, a fan 360 strategy can improve the performance of ticketing and merchandise marketing campaigns by enabling targeted campaigns that deliver a tailored message to a specific audience at the right time and on the right channel. It can also enable enhanced decision-making across the entire front office.
Despite its clear advantages, many teams have yet to adopt a fan 360 approach. Disparate data sources or data silos remain a major hurdle. For example, ticketing, merchandise, fantasy engagement and game viewership data often reside in separate systems (or with separate entities), making it a challenge to bring together a cohesive view of each fan. Sports entity data teams are often mighty but small — making complex technology solutions unrealistic to leverage. Legacy systems further complicate the situation, as outdated technologies lack the agility and data-sharing capabilities necessary for secure, seamless data collaboration across systems. Adding to the complexity are evolving data privacy regulations, requiring careful, secure use of fan data.
Spaulding Ridge: Turning fan 360 from vision to reality
Building a fan 360 requires a comprehensive approach. Data from a wide range of sources — from ticketing platforms and streaming services to ecommerce transactions and loyalty programs — must come together with their own structure, ownership and privacy considerations. Without a clear strategy and the right technical foundation, organizations can quickly find themselves overwhelmed by fragmented data and inefficient workflows. Spaulding Ridge specializes in turning data challenges into competitive advantages by allowing sports entities to unify their data on modern cloud platforms, enabling a single, accessible and actionable view of each fan while helping ensure compliance with evolving data regulations.
