October 15, 2020 / Insights How to prepare for the biggest month of sport. Ever.
2020 has been a tough year for all of us, but spare a thought for sports fans, who have had to sit through a number of shutdowns and league blackouts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The good news is, it’s about to get a whole lot better.
A log-jam of major sporting events relevant to Australians, starting with The TAB Everest at Royal Randwick in Sydney on Saturday, October 17 is about to take place.
“We have never before seen such a frenetic period of major live sporting events occurring in such a short period of time,” explained Patrick Galloway, Co-Founder of Sportsyear.
“After The Everest there is a weekend consisting of the AFL and NRL Grand Final, the Cox Plate, a huge early morning UFC fight and then fans will turn their attention to a three game Origin series in November,”
“Coupled with the likes of baseball’s World Series, Premier League soccer and the NFL season in the United States, it’s a period of wall-to-wall sport that all fans will embrace,” he said.
The 2020 #Origin series will kick-off in Adelaide for the first time in history after the #NRL today finalised venues for the Men’s and Women’s series.
— NRL (@NRL) September 15, 2020
Details - https://t.co/n6mQkCIs7q pic.twitter.com/UGB0KtC4LA
Galloway says the Australian hospitality industry should be think about three key things when it comes to capitalising on the bevvy of upcoming major live sporting action.
COMMUNICATE YOUR LIVE & LOUD OFFER
Galloway’s digital platform Sportsyear is now helping hundreds of Australia’s leading live sport venues automate their own optimum live sport schedule and market it effortlessly.
It uses data to run the optimum live sport offer for a venue, which is based on variables such as the local fan demographic, gaming offer, venue capacity, room size and broadcast options.
“I would urge Australian hospitality operators to think long and hard about the live sport experience they can provide over the next few weeks, because a golden opportunity is at hand,” said Galloway.
“Fans will absolutely make a decision to attend a venue to watch live sport based on their ability to reliably know whether a game is going to be shown with sound."
TURN THE SOUND ON MORE OFTEN
Australian operators can now promote live sport 24/7 and attract a whole new demographic of patrons to boost their bottom line.
“The globalisation of sport through technology is creating a wave of interest around sports such as the NBA and NFL and there is of course still a love of traditional Australian sports,” Galloway explained.
Sportsyear encourages partners to create a running live sport offer, that is built to engage Australian fans all day long.
“It’s no longer acceptable to just say ‘NRL shown here’ or ‘Live sport here’ because the Australian sporting landscape is so cluttered, and Australian fans need more clarity,”
“Owing an NRL or AFL team is a must, and riding that team’s fortunes out on social media and through an investment in some memorabilia in venue is a great first step,” he said.
"The NBA and NFL are brilliant lunchtime offers for groups of mates, who will lap up the opportunity to clearly see and hear the action in each other's company,"
OWN YOUR OWN DATA
Sportsyear has tracked and listed every sporting event relevant to the Australian fan for the past 16 years and Galloway says data is going to be key for winning operators of the future.
“We know how important it is for hospitality operators to own customer data,”
“As well as automating scheduling and promotions, Sportsyear is now helping operators collect, store and own their sports fan customer data, to be integrated with existing CRM systems,”
Through its booking support tools, Sportsyear is helping operators access information on their local fan demographic, which will help Sportsyear partners better plan around future marketing decisions.
“When a venue owns their own fan data, it will boost that venue's marketing ROI significantly,” Galloway added.
