Replace Traditional Ticketing, Increase Attendance and Revenue Artwork

The Business of College Sports

Welcome to The Business of College Sports podcast! Host Kristi Dosh is a sports business contributor for Forbes and formerly ESPN's sports business reporter. A recovering attorney, she is the author of "Saturday Millionaires: How Winning Football Builds Winning Colleges." She's joined each week by experts in and around college sports to discuss the latest news and the impact it has on the industry. Whether you work in the industry or are simply a fan of college sports, this is where you come to learn what's really going on behind the scenes.

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The Business of College Sports

Replace Traditional Ticketing, Increase Attendance and Revenue

October 27, 2022 • Kristi Dosh • Season 3 • Episode 63

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.

Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.