Maximising Revenue from Ticketing and CRM

Ticketing is a key income stream for many professional sports teams with tickets and other event day income representing up to 42% of total turnover for some of Europe’s largest football clubs. In North America, the average NFL game draws large amounts of spectators, while the MLB New York Yankees receive millions in revenue from gate receipts alone.

With many professional sport leagues and international sports federations retaining control of media rights, key sponsorship properties and sometimes merchandise and licensing agreements, ticketing represents one of the most important revenue streams that clubs, franchises and organising committees can control.

The value of the worldwide ticket market is boosted by mega events such as the FIFA World Cup and Olympic Games. However, many sports promoters are experiencing - or are becoming more concerned about - declining live attendances. Fans are not only expressing antipathy about the perceived value for money, but are now able to enjoy an ever-increasing choice of leisure activities, including 24 hour televised sport. Audience development has therefore become a priority for those proactive owners and managers who are adopting more robust customer acquisition and retention programmes.

Maximising Revenue from Ticketing and CRM offers insight and new opportunities for increasing live audiences and ticketing revenue, whether for a one-off event or to establish a sizeable and loyal customer base season-by-season.

• Analyses and values the global sports ticketing market.
• Offers guidance for developing effective strategies to maximise ticketing revenue.
• presents practical advice on planning, implementing and evaluating marketing campaigns.
• appraises and illustrates the application and limitations of pricing policies to different scenarios.
• investigates how customer relationship management can develop fan loyalty and encourage up-sell and cross-sell opportunities.
• recommends practical solutions for minimising the effects of touting and scalping.
• assesses the use of secondary ticketing to maximise venue utilisation and generate incremental event day revenue.
• highlights best practice and lessons learned in the use of ticketing management systems to enhance the customer experience.
• explains the pros and cons of ticket formats and how these can enhance the operational efficiency of stadia and arenas.
• evaluates access control equipment and the specification and integration of venue management systems.

Chapter 2: Developing a strategy to maximise
ticketing revenue

2.1 Introduction

2.2 The ticket product hierarchy

2.3 Developing a robust marketing strategy

2.4 Segmenting your market

2.5 Targeting your key audiences

Chapter 3: Directing effective marketing campaigns

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Creating a reputable brand

3.3 Marketing channels

3.4 Measuring the performance of campaigns

3.5 Marketing in practice

Chapter 4: Setting optimum prices

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Business Strategy Objectives

4.3 The Sports business environment

4.4 Pricing strategies

4.5 Pricing techniques

4.6 Effective price-setting

4.7 Ticket price benchmark

Chapter 5: Using customer relationship
management to develop loyalty

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Customer loyalty

5.3 Developing a customer-focused strategy

5.4 The ABC of CRM

5.5 Developing a CRM strategy

5.6 Lessons learned

5.7 CRM in practice

Chapter 6: Dealing with Touting and Scalping

6.1 Introduction

6.3 Black market or free market?

6.4 How touts and scalpers operate

6.5 Practical solutions for the sports industry

Chapter 7: Utilising secondary ticketing

7.1 Introduction

7.2 How does it work?

7.3 Secondary ticketing in practice

7.4 Ticket Futures

Chapter 8: Ticketing Systems: Enhancing the
customer experience

8.1 Introduction

8.2 The booking and payment process

8.3 Effective ticket management

Chapter 9: Ticket/Card formats - Optimising
operational efficiency

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Paper vouchers

9.2 Print-at-home tickets

9.3 Contact cards

9.4 Contactless cards

9.5 Mobile tickets

Chapter 10: Controlling the venue

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Venue management

10.3 Ticketing systems and venue security