For clubs and sports organisations, the game is no longer the main product as the interest in the fan’s experience has become a thing that clubs and organisations look to build on and turn their attention too.
The fans’ encounter is just as important as the product (the game) itself. Regardless of the result of the match, if the fan has had a good experience, such as getting tickets, good value seats, and enjoys the general atmosphere of the whole event, and even the communication from the club, it means this particular supporter will keep attending matches and may even share and talk about their experiences to others, which is more powerful than actual promotion itself. The result of the game is hardly in focus at this point, of course, it would be better if the team wins, however, it is the genuine atmosphere that counts more than the victory.
With design thinking at the helm, it means clubs and organisations are looking at new ways and ideas to match what an individual wants to see and do before and during the game itself.
Design thinking also allows sports clubs and organisations to help them communicate more effectively to the fan.
Take for instance the Major League Baseball (MLB).
When a fan is traveling away to see their team play in a different stadium, that supporter would not have a clue where they are, and the MLB specifically designed an app to help solve this particular issue.
The app complements and personalises their experience with an interactive map, social media, exclusive content, offers, rewards and in some cases it can allow you to order food and drink from your seat (Login Radius, 2018).
This allows a greater value and understanding of what it is like to be either a fan traveling to an away stadium or a tourist who just like the fan, has never been to this stadium before and it is personalised to them and their needs, so they can navigate around.
However, there are other ways that design thinking has been brought up in the sports industry such as European football.
Much like every other sports, heading to a European football match is not just about the game itself, it is more about the experience and atmosphere (similar if a tourist from Asia, UK, USA or Europe goes to the Melbourne Cricket Ground and watches the AFL or cricket), however, it can also be considered as an entertainment.
With the popularity of the big clubs doing well, for example, Real Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United in England, Juventus in Italy, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund in Germany it means that they are gaining new supporters daily and therefore the new fans are more likely to build a sustainable relationship with that club as the on-field performance and scoreline is somewhat irrelevant.
With some of those fans from overseas, it means not everyone may watch the game so even the little things on game days go along way for a fan that can’t watch, such as interaction on social media (Damian Fabich, 2018). After all, it will help build up the experience of supporting that particular club even, if you are not inside the stadium or if you are in a different country, as all the little interactions can count for a huge sense of belonging and connection.
Meanwhile, the National Football League (NFL) has used design thinking for two reasons, one is to formulate a better communication tool between the NFL and their teams and the second reason is to get new people to watch the NFL particularly on Sunday afternoons.
The NFL has 32 teams in the league so it was always hard to have a decent way of communication, however, thanks to design thinking the NFL teamed up with experience design company ikonic, to help build an app to solve this problem, similar to the one the MLB created for fans at the stadium.
Before they designed the app, ikonic and the NFL identified the problem which was the communication between the teams and the league plus the team owners, coaches, and athletes.
So ikonic created a solution to make it easier for all parties, which was a member-exclusive app for the players, coaches, and team owners to communicate more effectively and efficiently than in the past.
Ikonic, conducted several interviews, using quantitative data over four weeks (ikonic design) to help design the app and to see what potential users wanted in the app, such as exclusive content specifically designed for the players, coaches and team owners. Once the app was up and running it meant that through the app they could finally have a secure communication tool between the NFL and their shareholders 24/7.
The second problem that the NFL is facing is that it wants to have a $25 billion in revenue by 2027, in 2018 the NFL recorded its revenue to be $17 billion but they also face a bigger issue and that is attracting more younger people to watch the games, which is their main priority.
The average age of the NFL is 50 years old, while only nine percent of its core audience is under the age of 18 (Expeireince Point, 2019), and this is even though the NFL is the most dominant sport in America.
The NFL turned to design thinking to help attract new fans as well as retaining their current fans through customer experience.
This is not new by the NFL to use design thinking to attract more viewers to its game. The Atlanta Falcons took a whole new approach when they designed their new stadium.
The Falcons partnered up with IBM to reimagine their home ground, Mercedes Benz Stadium, by putting the fans at the forefront of the stadium designs for a more fan-centric design atmosphere, which included Netflix and video games in parts of the stadium plans.
The Falcons and IBM changed the way most organisations see fan experience by adapting state of the art technology in their stadium and infrastructure, long before the final product was in place. IBM was talking to the fans at every stage of the development when they helped design the new stadium just to know what the fans want and to meet their needs.
During the design and infrastructure phase, IBM’s Paul Papas explained that the whole process was about the fans and what they wanted, “each fan that we interviewed kept returning to the same points: they wanted to be closer to the game, wherever they were, and they wanted their stadium experience to go beyond the seats,” (Experience Point, 2019).
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This means that every little connection goes a long way, and it’s bigger than the just the seats, its the whole fan journey such as booking tickets, train ride to and from the station, gaining accessible news and content from the club directly which can also be from social media, what the stadium looks like, merchandise, value for seats and buying food and beverages and of course the value of the game itself, these are the all the things that can make up a fan experience.
Tottenham Hotspur took design thinking to a whole new level when they moved from White Hart Lane to their new stadium and more technologically advanced Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
To capture a new dynamic to fan experience, Tottenham encouraged everyone to download the clubs’ app as the app can help the fans plan their day around the stadium such as dining and shopping (Chris Arkenberg, Pete Giorgio and Chad Deweese, 2019).
Not only does Tottenham Hotspur Stadium have maps and itineraries to plan your day, however, it has a sustainable wifi connection that can match the capacity while also maintaining its stadium operations.
Another interesting point about Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is that through the wifi and the app connections it notifies fans to specific food and drink outlets and even bathrooms, it also helps the stadium staff help ease congestion at various areas.
As you can see there have been different ways that clubs and organisations have used design thinking such as stadium design (Tottenham Hotspur and Atlanta Falcons), or through an app like the NFL and MLB have adapted, or design thinking could just be a sense of connection as is the case in European football.
Regardless of what adaptations clubs and organisations use of design thinking, one thing is certain is that they both are tailoring and customizing experience and content to what the common fans want and that is the best design thinking in sports, as after all, it is about the fan and their needs.
References
Arkenburg, C., Giorgio, P. and Deweese, C. (2019), Redesigning stadiums for a better fan experience, Deloitte, viewed on 23 February 2019, https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/telecommunications/in-stadium-fan-experience.html
Experience Point. (2019), Design thinking and Football: Reimagining America’s Favourite Pastime, Experience Point, viewed on 23 February 2019, https://blog.experiencepoint.com/design-thinking-and-football-nfl
Fabich, D. (2018), How Design Thinking will help to reshape the face of European football and sport entertainment, Medium, viewed on 23 February 2019, medium.com/@damianfabich/how-design-thinking-will-help-to-reshape-the-face-of-european-football-and-sport-entertainment-1d29cb66f2b1
Identity Blog. (2018), Improving fan experience in the sports and entertainment industry, Loginradius, viewed on 23 February 2019, https://www.loginradius.com/blog/2018/11/improving-customer-fan-experience-sports-entertainment-industry/
ikonic experience, Smarter NFL Communication, ikonic experience, viewed on 23 February 2019, https://ikonicexperience.com/case-studies/smarter-nfl-communication/
Behind The White Lines 