Cardiff Blues use Beacon technology to bring fans through the gates

As the new season begins in many sports, clubs across the country are trying to decide how to attract fans to stadiums.

If you don’t have some of the world’s best players at your disposal, then you may need another selling point. After all, fans of lower league football teams or rugby teams are less likely to be drawn all the way to the stadium by the players on offer, especially if they’re able to see it on TV without having to move, without having to spend vast sums of money and with access to stats and insight at the touch of a button.

And one way of attracting fans to the stadium is by making the experience different to the one you get at home. Over the years, broadcasters have found a nice little niche – in a way they’ve replicated the stadium experience at home, and many is a time we’ve seen a tagline along the lines of ‘the best seat in the house’. It’s become time for clubs to branch out and offer something different.

And that’s what Pro 12 rugby club Cardiff Blues are attempting to do. As Welsh rugby attendances dwindle, there is a jarring dichotomy between how the international team performs and how the club teams do.But the fact you can see all the action from home is also a huge factor.

In order to make their home stadium, the BT Sport Arms Park, more appealing to fans, the Blues have installed solar powered iBeacon technology around their stadium.

Cardiff Blues get sporty with iBeacon tech

This sort of technology is already in use in American sports stadiums, especially at MLB grounds where 93% of the stadiums have the technology installed – though not solar powered like the Blues.

Essentially, the technology allows the user to interact with the stadium itself using a connected device. The idea is that when in the ground, the fan will be have an experience that is unique to being in the stadium. As soon as fans enter the ground, they will be greeted with a message welcoming them to the stadium, giving them discounts in the club store and reminding them to vote for the man of the match.

It’s the kind of technology that could bring fans back to stadiums around the country. From the small and almost insignificant benefits of telling fans which toilets and bars are currently busy or helping people find their seats to more advanced extras like making in-game statistics and social media reaction available to everyone.

The only problem at present is that this has to be done through an app. So in order to take advantage of these benefits, fans have to be connected to the app.

But this is a step in the right direction for sporting stadiums in the UK. At present, only the top Premier League teams can realistically hope to fill their grounds from week to week, but lower league teams, rugby teams and women’s teams need to get creative in order to bring fans through the gates.

If you can’t offer the best sports people in the world, then you can certainly offer a great fan experience if you get creative about it.

About author

Chris McMullan
Chris McMullan 831 posts

Chris is a sports journalist and editor of Digital Sport - follow him on Twitter @CJMcMullan_

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