Across various sports, fans listed “atmosphere” as the best thing about attending a match, Tappit’s latest sports survey reveals. However, there are real spoilers out there that organisers should concentrate on to enhance the experience of sports fans. Technology is their best ally to provide a seamless and enjoyable game to all.
Enjoying the moment: a collective experience.
Whether it’s football, rugby, cricket or motor racing, across all sports, fans who responded to Tappit’s survey overwhelmingly listed “atmosphere” as the best thing about attending a sporting event. This is especially true at football matches, where 69% of the fans said that atmosphere was the most important thing, while it is the top attraction for 63% of the people attending a cricket match.
However, it is worth noting that more than half of all the fans surveyed consider budget when attending a sporting event, regardless of the sport – although men generally seem to spend more than women and the 45-54 age group is the least likely to have a budget. That’s not say that women enjoy sports less: Tappit’s survey results are quite balanced from a gender perspective on the questions that reflect how many times people have paid to see live sports in the last 12 months.
Pet hates: beating the queues & theft
One of the most commonly cited gripes at sporting events? Queueing. Since enjoying the atmosphere and watching their team live are the priorities for a large majority of sports fans, wasting time to go through the gate or to order refreshments is real ambience killer. Amongst the respondents to Tappit’s survey, 66% of rugby fans listed queueing as the worst thing about attending a match, while it is the case for 64% of people attending a cricket fixture and 62% of football fans. Another negative factor affecting the experience of a live sports event was theft, with, on average, more than half of sports fans are worried about it. Tappit’s survey showed that the people most concerned about theft are those attending motorsports, followed by football fans: 65% of them are concerned about it, especially amongst younger demographics, with 78% of 25-34 year-olds worried about theft. It may be called a gentleman’s sports, but nearly half of rugby fans worry about theft (48%), while this is an issue for 44% of the audience at cricket matches.
Go with the flow: the search for convenience
Convenience prevails across all sports, ages and genders when it comes to the key criteria in buying any foods, drinks or goods in a stadium: 53% of cricket fans said convenience was the most important factor when buying something vs. 48% of football fans. The latter said speed was the second factor they considered when making purchases in the stadium (27% of football respondents); while convenience mattered to 39% of people attending rugby matches, followed by speed (33%). Perhaps as a result of these opinions, then, an overwhelming majority of fans prefer to use cashless methods in stadia, including contactless cards, pin-and-chip cards, or prepaid cards or wristbands. Amongst the fans most likely to prefer cashless methods: rugby fans (69%), followed by those of cricket (65%), football (57%) and motor racing (64%). This is especially true among younger fans, with the 16-34 year old age group the one who most prefers to use contactless at sporting events. So what is the main conclusion of the survey from the payment perspective? Cashless technology helps to address two of the biggest pain points when watching live sports: queuing and theft. When that’s addressed fans can concentrate on their number one priority: enjoying the moment.
Clearly, there is a lot to be learned about fan experience and consumer behaviour at live sporting events. Stadia must adapt in order to maintain fan loyalty and exceed expectations.
Want to learn more? Download the full report here.
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