I'm joined this episode by Chris Giles, co-founder and CEO of FanRally, a platform that replaces traditional season tickets with a tech-enabled subscription service.
Members pay a monthly subscription fee instead of paying for tickets and can reserve seats directly on their phones, finding games that work best for their schedules.
FanRally is aimed at modern consumers, including younger fans, who are comfortable with subscription services. Also, the seat reservations can't be resold, so it helps teams identify the fans attending games and to build more direct relationships with them.
The company was founded in 2020 after Chris had served as COO of the Oakland A's and VP of Sales & Strategy for the San Francisco 49ers.
Backed by Capital One, it has already partnered with more than 20 teams across the NCAA, NBA, MLB, MiLB and NHL.
In the episode, we discussed:
- How university partners have used FanRally
- How FanRally can replace season tickets in a way that benefits both fans and the athletic department
- Integrating an existing point-based system into FanRally
- How FanRally allows athletic departments to reclaim revenue currently going to third-party resellers
- The data available to departments using FanRally
- Ways professional sports teams are doing ticketing better than college athletics
- Using FanRally to increase student attendance at games
- How sponsors can benefit from FanRally
- How FanRally increases a team's yield from a revenue perspective on premium seats
You can follow FanRally on Twitter and LinkedIn.
You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.
You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.
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