Football is a unique product whose success heavily relies on a club's performance. Simply put, most clubs attract fans primarily during times of winning trophies and competing in European competitions. Of course, there are exceptions, especially among top-tier clubs with global fanbases, rather than just local fanbase.

However, even a popular product doesn't always guarantee sold-out stadiums. Maximizing ticket sales and ancillary revenue presents a completely different challenge for football clubs, one that requires a data-driven approach. Our research with clubs in the 1st and 2nd divisions of the Belgian Pro League reveals that access to fan data is a priority for 76% of the clubs.

Club Brugge provides a great example of how data can be leveraged to boost monetization. By tracking fan heat maps within the stadium, they analyzed common movement patterns and discovered that while fans were interested in purchasing more merchandise, the stores were either too far away or too crowded. In response, the club added two additional points of sale, leading to a 33.69% increase in matchday revenue over the 14 games following this adjustment.

Every empty seat is a lost opportunity

Let's start with the basics — perfect attendance is very rare. Data from the German Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 reveals a significant number of no-shows at games. It's important to differentiate between season ticket holders, who skip about 10-12% of their games on average, and one-time visitors, who miss their games 5-7% of the time.

A prime example of this issue is RB Leipzig, which reports 100% attendance, but there's a catch — they count tickets sold, not the actual number of people in the stadium. In reality, despite selling 32,000 season tickets for the 2023/24 season, on average, one in four season ticket holders doesn't attend, which amounts to around 7,600 absent fans. This situation prompted the club to require season ticket holders to attend at least 10 out of the 17 home games to retain their membership.

You might think this isn’t a big problem since the clubs have already been paid for those empty seats. And that’s exactly how many of them view it.

No-shows cause a negative domino effect:

Issue: Fans not attending block tickets for potential buyers who assume the game is sold out

Opportunity: Attract new visitors and increase ticket sales

Issue: Fans who don’t attend aren’t spending money at the stadium — simple as that

Opportunity: Higher merchandise and concessionary sales

Issue: Empty stadiums create a dull atmosphere and don’t look appealing on screens

Opportunity: Better sponsorship and broadcasting deals

In the digital age, relying on fans to keep coming back as they did in the past is short-sighted. To truly maximize the potential of the product, it’s essential to understand behavioral trends. And that brings us back to the importance of fan data.

The key is to combine demographics with behavior

We often see two common problems: either clubs lack the proper tools to collect data, or they have loads of data they gather without a clear strategy for how to use it effectively.

Anyone who has bought a ticket knows how much information clubs require — it takes minutes to fill out, and many of us wonder what they’ll do with it. We’d hope for personalized service, but more often than not, it’s just to fill the CRM.

Here’s how clubs should be leveraging that data.

1. Look at larger trends first

This might be straightforward, but many really don’t even scratch the surface. You should ask yourself how my fans make decisions.

• What are the attendance numbers by opponents over the past seasons?

• Is attendance relative to the club’s league position—or the position of the opponents?

• How do attendance numbers vary by kick-off month, day, and time?

• How does the weather affect attendance?

• Are certain competitions attracting more visitors?

These patterns can help clubs predict attendance and adjust their communication and marketing strategies accordingly. For instance, clubs with a global fan base could focus their advertising on tourists during travel seasons and shift their attention to local audiences for other fixtures. The key is to identify which games a fan is most likely to skip.

It also doesn’t make sense to advertise games to season ticket holders. Instead, clubs could communicate the option to transfer or release their tickets if they can't attend.

Additionally, clubs can anticipate inventory needs within stadiums. Many collaborate with external food and beverage providers who determine how many concessions will be open. This often leads to long lines and frustrated fans abandoning their purchases, resulting in lower sales.

We could go on with numerous examples, but let’s focus on ticket sales and logistics as the key areas.

2. Understand games choices of your fans

Every club should be capable of breaking down the decision-making process behind ticket purchases, as this reveals different fan segments, each requiring a tailored approach.

• What is the age and gender of the buyer?

• Where do they come from – local or foreign?

• Returning or first-time visitor?

• How many tickets do they purchase?

• What seating preferences do they have?

• What prices are they willing to pay?

We’ve already discussed how geography can shape your marketing campaigns based on seasonality. But the rest of your data plays a significant role in upselling, cross-selling, or simply encouraging repeat purchases.

Let’s explore a few examples.

If you know a buyer is attending with their family, it opens up opportunities to offer products geared toward children, who are often big influencers in purchasing decisions. This could range from merchandise and kids' meal options to special entertainment activities.

First-time visitors are more likely to buy merchandise compared to regular fans who likely already own some. On the other hand, season ticket holders should be offered the chance to purchase the new season kit early on — if they’ve bought the last three versions, it’s almost guaranteed revenue, right?

If you know fans usually attend in larger groups — whether it’s families, colleagues, or friends — you can tailor ticket and food bundles to match the group size.

And one last one — if you know the buyer’s preferred price range, you can offer them upgrades that are still within their budget. Or, you can make these offers around special occasions, like their birthday.

3. Laser target their preferences

It's great to offer bundles, but wouldn’t it be even better if you could almost predict what the fan wants and deliver it at just the right moment?

This is especially crucial because fan monetization doesn’t stop once they pass through the turnstile. This naturally leads to questions like:

• How early before the game does he arrive?

• What items does the fan repeatedly buy?

• What is his usual order size?

• What payment range is he willing to spend?

• Does he buy multiple times per game?

This information allows clubs to offer personalized bundles—not just to the right groups, but with the right content. You can easily tailor offers to match buying trends. Why offer a €20 bundle to a customer who is willing to spend €50? That’s a missed revenue opportunity.

If you know a fan tends to make multiple purchases during a game, you might want to let them order from their seat and pick up their items once they receive a notification. On the other hand, if someone typically buys only once, perhaps sending them a discount notification could encourage that purchase.

Build clear customer journey from multiple touch points

The key is having all data sources connected to ensure no data is lost. Every club should be able to maintain a clean profile for each fan that includes demographics, geography, and purchase behavior trends. With such a profile, tracking the lifetime value of fans and rewarding their loyalty becomes easy.

The real power lies in understanding patterns and tailoring product offerings in marketing communication to match the desires of each individual. The days of one-size-fits-all campaigns are over. Personally, I find it frustrating to receive standardized offers — like being asked to buy a season ticket when I already have one or to follow a club's social media account that I’ve been following for years.

As a fan, if I provide my data to a club, I want it used to enhance my experience. If I put in the effort to fill out all the registration forms, the club should take the time to cater to my needs.

Not only does this approach build loyalty, but it also increases fan monetization. Clubs can do advanced filtering — like identifying all fans who have attended at least five games, spent more than €75 on food and beverages, but haven’t purchased any merchandise. With just a few clicks, you have a list of people who can receive a special campaign offering a discount on a shirt with their name on it. That’s just a simple example, but you get the idea.

Use single identifier for every single point of contact

Last common issue is that many club platforms are supplied by different providers and don’t communicate with each other. While implementing Single Sign-On (SSO) might seem like a straightforward solution, it doesn’t fully address the problem.

Having a complete customer journey doesn’t necessarily ensure accurate customer data. For example, if fans share their tickets with others, the club no longer collects data about the real visitor. This skews all demographic, geographic, and purchase behavior data.

Additionally, if a fan lends their season ticket card, which may also be used for payments within the stadium, the profile can be further distorted by the spending behavior of the lender, rather than reflecting the actual card owner.

Moreover, clubs typically only have information about the ticket buyer, not the rest of the attendees. Since buying multiple tickets is common in football, if a fan purchases eight tickets in their name, the club lacks details about the remaining seven people. This means the club cannot communicate with them, send offers, or personalize their experience, resulting in missed opportunities for fan engagement.

The ideal identifier should be something universally owned and always with us — like our face. If every fan linked their face to their ticket, the club would know exactly who is entering and enjoying the game. By also linking payment cards to their faces within the club’s platform, the club could analyze spending patterns and behaviors.

If fans could only use a friend’s season ticket card by attaching their face to it for that specific game, the club would accurately track individual behavior separate from the ticket holder’s account.

Using facial recognition isn’t a trade-off but rather a mutual benefit for both the fan and the club. Fans share their data in exchange for better personalization and treatment from the club.

So no wonder every third club sees data as the most crucial value in the present and future.