Fostering Community in Sport
Community in sports has always been a thing. Whether it’s celebrating when your team wins, or ruminating over a devastating missed goal, sports have always had a way of bringing us together. It increases meaningful connections and social bonds and, for the teams themselves, this can in turn translate to more people coming to more games.
The thing is, as our countries become more diverse, in order to foster a community, sports organizations need to recognize the unique needs of each of its members. Indeed, part of community is recognizing that there are different types of people, each with different needs.
Let’s think about sports in more detail. What’s the first one that comes to mind? If you’re Canadian, it’s probably hockey. That’s because hockey is ingrained in being Canadian, it’s part of the culture. However, what happens when new Canadians come into the country who don’t have that same cultural connection to hockey? Or, what about younger fans who feel hockey really doesn’t speak to their demographic? For example, the price of a Leafs ticket is likely above what any young teen can afford, and this high ticket price also makes the game not an overly affordable family friendly outing. The truth is, many professional sports in North America (including hockey) have been catering to an older, mostly caucasian population. This has radically left out a good portion of the population. In addition, if you don’t grab the attention of younger fans, they’re less likely to become fans when they’re older, meaning eventually the popularity of the sport will start to die down.
So, when we talk about fostering a community, we need to make sure it’s inclusive to younger and more ethnically-diverse groups. Otherwise, you’re really not bringing together a community, you’re only bringing together a select few.
How to Foster Community At the Game
Fan Activations
Fan activations are key for fostering a sense of community at the game. These activations build brand affinity and brand loyalty, while providing attendees with a positive experience and to create a lasting connection. But, it’s important that the activations are ongoing and innovative. For example, the major league soccer team Columbus Crew attracts a younger, tech savvy audience with digital activations throughout the game. From entering the stadium using facial recognition, participating in multiple quizzes and polls from their phones, and more.
An important piece of fan activations that build community is making fans feel like they’re in something together. Like they’re part of the team, and when the team wins, they win too. An example of a simple but very effective way of doing this is Pizza Pizza’s Score a Slice campaign. For this campaign, Pizza Pizza partners with teams such as the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Hamilton Tiger Cats, and more. Although each partnership works a bit differently, the concept is the same: if the team does well, everyone at the game gets a free slice of pizza. For example, when the Toronto Maple Leafs score the first goal in the first period at a home game, fans at the game “Score a Slice”, to be redeemed the next day.
Inclusivity
Going back to the idea of community being more diverse, it’s important that the game itself fosters an inclusive environment. This can mean making fans who don’t live in the city that your team represents feel more welcome. For example, in order to make fans from other parts of Canada feel included, the Toronto Raptors took “Toronto” off their jerseys when they toured other parts of Canada during their pre-season games. This helped to bring in the audience members who don’t live in Toronto and build the community in a broader sense. Since the Toronto Raptors is the only Canadian team in the NBA, this was a critical move to expand their fan base.
Being inclusive also means ensuring the games are as welcoming as possible for younger and more diverse populations. One of the ways in which the Boston Red Sox is making their games more inclusive for young families is by adding family-friendly events to their games, such as face painting between the third and seventh innings, a Clubhouse where little ones can rest, a special family entrance, and more. Since baseball is less expensive relative to other professional sports, it makes for a great family outing. However, due to the long nature of the games, a lot of young families are discouraged from going to the game, knowing it will likely be too much for their little ones. This is why the Red Sox’s idea of a more family friendly stadium is so important to their broader vision. They took the fears of these families and turned them into an experience designed specifically for them.
How to Foster Community Online
A key way to foster community online is by providing a space to connect. An example of a team that is taking this very seriously is Birmingham City Football Club. The Birmingham City Football Club is currently developing a metaverse platform for fans to connect with the team and each other. Some of the exciting things to come in this metaverse include showcasing the football club’s rich history through virtual museums and conducting virtual tours and behind-the-scenes content. To encourage fans to check out this new metaverse, a lot of the virtual tours and behind the scenes content will be exclusive to this platform. This will not only help the football club reach a younger and more tech savvy audience, it will also help to reach a broader audience demographically, and keep those who can’t come to the game regularly feel more connected.
The MLB also recognizes that the Metaverse could be a useful tool for fostering a sense of community online. MLB unveiled a new virtual ballpark earlier this year. Fans were able to join the space, customize their avatar with their favourite jersey, participate in games, and more. It will be interesting to see how MLB uses this technology next season to foster a sense of community across teams.
Brand Ambassadors Drive Community
Brand ambassadors can be extremely helpful to reach broader audiences and get them interested in the sport they’re representing.
One of the best examples of how a sports brand partnered with a brand ambassador to reach a greater portion of the community, is the Toronto Raptors’ partnership with Drake. Drake is a huge Raptors fan and the team capitalized on this to reach a young, multi-ethnic audience. Part of what makes this partnership work is the authenticity. Drake isn’t paid for his ambassadorship, he’s simply a huge fan who promotes the brand and gets courtside seats as a thank you. In addition, by allowing Drake to use the Raptors name on his clothing brand, OVO, the Raptors has turned into a lifestyle brand. Now, the Raptors have the “cool factor”, which naturally brings in a wider audience, to be part of this community.
Not all brand ambassadors need to be as big as Drake. Connecting with brand ambassadors on a more local level can also drive community. For example, the Boston Red Sox connect with local “mom bloggers “ with large social media followings to strengthen their relationship with families within the Boston community. The team recognized that if you want to reach a younger audience, you need to reach moms. So, the team partnered with a research firm to conduct two focus groups, which ultimately lead to the creation of the “Red Sox Mom Club”, a brand ambassador program with “mom bloggers” in New England. This program not only helped the Red Sox reach other moms in the New England area, it also helped them to come up with ideas to make this group feel more included, such as the family-friendly events and areas mentioned earlier.
Finally, players should also be considered brand ambassadors. Although putting too much focus on a player can be risky (for example, if the player gets injured or traded), it’s still no secret that the players are a big interest driver in the game. One way to somewhat get around this issue is by focusing not on specific team players, but rather players as members of the community. For example, if your team is the only Canadian team in the league (if you’re the Toronto Raptors or Toronto Blue Jays for example) you can try focusing on Canadian players in the league, regardless of whether they are on your team.
Let’s Build Community!
It’s important to consider community both at the game and online, and to consider how brand ambassadors play a role in reaching and connecting with a broader audience. Need assistance putting together your community-building plan? We’re always here to help and would love to do it at the ball game.
Sources:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dna-successful-sponsorships-fan-engagement-peter-lubell/
https://www.pizzapizza.ca/score-a-slice/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/red-sox-seek-younger-fans_b_12738758