January 11, 2012 | Volume 10, Issue 17

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Dear Faithful Readers,

The reality of being in sports business is that when your team is winning, everything else wins too. A franchise that is winning will have little trouble attracting fans and selling tickets. Conversely, losing teams lose fan interest and have an extraordinary task to keep their team profitable. This is the entire game of being in sports business…keeping your team profitable regardless of performance. Which is why it is interesting to see the different tactics teams use to differentiate themselves to ensure they will remain profitable regardless of ups and downs. Read on to learn how the Tampa Bay Lightning is creating value for season ticket holders regardless of their performance on the ice.

Enjoy the Feature,

Joe Shapero
[email protected]

P.S. Wow! Only 3 weeks until the most talented sports executives touch down in Oklahoma City for the 2012 National Sports Forum! 28 breakout sessions, 4 super panels, 60+ vendors showcasing the next best service/product and 2 behind-the-scenes tours of OKC's finest sports facilities...the 2012 NSF has it all. Click Here to review our great agenda of speakers, panels, and tours and if you are ready to register, Click Here...we hope to see you there!

Tampa Bay Uses RFID to
Create Cutting-Edge Promotion

The Tampa Bay Lightning increase season ticket sales by incorporating RFID microchip.

CONTACT

Advertisement

Brad Lott
Executive VP, Service & Operations
Tampa Bay Lightning
Phone: (813) 301-6602
Email: [email protected]

ORGANIZATION

Tampa Bay Lightning

PROGRAM TITLE

"Tampa Bay Lightning - Jersey Microchip"

OBJECTIVES

In 2010, the Tampa Bay Lightning were in the midst of a failing economy and were watching season ticket sales decline due to various issues. Fortunately for the team, the Lightning were purchased by philanthropist Jeff Vinik who gave huge resources for the team to become more cutting edge. Brad Lott, Executive Vice President of Service and Operations for the Tampa Bay Lightning, believes, "When Mr. Vinik purchased the team, he gave us the opportunity to be competitive in the future. From there, it was about what we could dream up to get people excited again." With a bright outlook for the future, the Lightning set out to get their season ticket base to 10,000 regardless if they won or lost on the ice.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

To create added value for season ticket holders, the Tampa Bay Lightning created a revolutionary jersey to give to all full-time season ticket holders during the 2011-12 National Hockey League season. To give the jerseys a distinct look and subsequently unite fans at home games, the Lightning adorned the jerseys with a "season ticket member" patch and allowed fans to customize the jerseys with their own name and number. Due to Tampa Bay's desirable climate and large number of travelers, it's not uncommon for out-of-town jerseys to outnumber Lightning jerseys in the stands. Giving away these special jerseys to the season ticket holders helped to increase team colors at Lightning games at the Times Forum.

In addition to making them feel like a member of the team, the Lightning wanted to incentivize their most loyal fans to purchase while in stadium. "Season ticket members commit 41 nights a year to be in our building, so we felt they deserved benefits that no one else could receive," said Lott. "We noticed that season ticket holders weren't buying food in-stadium, they were opting to eat out and we wanted to incentivize them to try out our new offerings." To get them to buy in-stadium, the team embedded RFID chips into the sleeve of each jersey. The chips can be scanned throughout the stadium for an exclusive discount: 25% off concessions and 35% off merchandise. Lott describes the creation of the promotion, "It started as a joke, someone mentioned putting a chip in our fans, but then we realized we could make this a reality." The Lightning partnered with Quest and Radiant Systems to create the RFID chips. Quest and Radiant Systems created a durable chip about the size of a quarter that can be dry-cleaned, ironed and washed 10,000 times.

Confident in the RFID chips ability to work, the team installed an RFID reader at every Point-of-Service station in the Times Forum building. The reader scans the chip, automatically recognizes who the season ticket member is and gives them their discount. The transaction information is recorded by Quest who then provides the information to the Lightning. The chip numbers are associated with account numbers and the team is able to see buying patterns and where season ticket members are buying from. This information allows the team to better understand their consumers to create smarter, more effective promotions. "The beauty of this system is that it is segmented out based on the area of the arena that a season ticket holder sits in. It gives us the ability to do promotions based on segmented areas throughout the arena," adds Lott.

Tampa Bay Fans wearing their RFID "Season ticket member" jerseys.

MEDIA

To advertise the RFID jerseys, the Lightning did an intricate pre-season campaign using both traditional and non-traditional media to make sure they covered all bases. They advertised in-arena, online, through social media, radio, TV, print, and via their sales staff. They left no stone unturned.

PARTNERS

The Lightning partnered with Quest and Radiant systems to create the RFID chips that were placed in the sleeves of the season ticket member jerseys. They did not bring on any sponsors for this promotion.

RESULTS

The RFID jerseys have been a huge success and as a result, the Lightning has seen all of their revenue categories go up. Season ticket sales have increased from last year's 6,000 to 11,000 this season. Additionally, all merchandise and concession sales have increased 25% substantially.

Season ticket "members" taking advantage of the promotions 25% off concessions.
To see what else the Tampa Bay Lightning are up to, click here.

LOOKING AHEAD

Being the first team to use this technology, the Lightning had to pioneer the way for other teams to begin using RFID to identify fans and give exclusive offers. Now that they know the technology is popular with their fans, they will begin to improve the system to make it make more turn-key. "The technology in an RFID chip is similar to a credit card. You can store whatever you want, essentially whatever you can dream up," adds Lott. No one knows for sure what the Lightning will dream up next but one thing is for certain...they will continue to use this promotion in the future.

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