Beyond the Game: Building Fan Loyalty Through In-Stadium Experiences
Immersive Experiences
In today’s world, sports is about more than just the game: it’s about the whole fan experience. With sports goers expecting to be entertained at every stage, stadiums are now competing to deliver the most memorable experiences to their fans via interactive content - and the opportunities are huge. Let’s explore what the future of technology-driven fan experience could look like at every touchpoint:
Outside Facade
Before even setting foot into the stadium, a fan’s journey has already begun. With the obligatory selfies being taken outside and the stadium often acting as a backdrop, many will have dreamt of this moment for a long time. Think of the stadium walls as a blank canvas - the possibilities for engaging content are endless. Outward facing high-definition LED screens, from ground level right up to the sky, could display visuals of players welcoming fans for a memorable first impression - similar to the promotion for Fury vs Ngannou at the Sphere. Super-scale digital billboard-style installations like these are just one of many ways to get fans excited.
Hall of Champions
Once inside, fans make their way around the concourse, looking for their key stops: bathrooms, concessions, merchandise. How could this part of their journey be elevated? Picture a Hall of Champions-style experience, with the walls filled from floor to ceiling with player statistics and stadium history highlights - but instead of still images, these visuals are displayed as part of a motion-reactive projection mapping experience. As fans walk the concourse, their movements trigger new content and information to be unveiled with every step. Sponsorship opportunities could help monetise this experience for the stadium, with branded content appearing on the walls for fans to interact with as well.
Once fans are inside the stadium and at their seats, there are a multitude of advertising and interactive opportunities to explore.
Jumbotron, Video Boards & Perimeter Boards
The largest and most easily identifiable aspect of a stadium is the jumbotron, allowing fans' faces and replays of in-game action to be constantly shown across the stands. But these boards are no longer limited to score updates, replays and kiss cam footage. Venues including SoFi Stadium and the Intuit Dome have elevated their jumbotrons into 360-degree double-sided video displays known as Halo boards. These digital centrepieces allow for an even more immersive experience due to their size and visibility, taking content opportunities to a whole new level. The perimeter boards around the edge of the stadium can also be utilised, offering a great way to generate sponsorship activations or layer up connected content for maximum effect.
Interactivity: Seats & Floors
In today’s world, fans aren’t interested in being passive viewers - they want to be active participants. Offering interactivity within the seats and the floors is a great way to engage them in the game. At the Intuit Dome, home of the LA Clippers, each seat is equipped with buttons and lights that allow fans to physically interact with different activations throughout matches and events. Bringing the interactivity to the fans in this way offers the ultimate convenience, allowing them to take part in these interactive moments without leaving their seats.
Thinking further afield, for their 2024 All-Star game, the NBA unveiled an interactive LED court. This high-performance, immersive floor had a variety of visual effects displayed on it throughout the game, including design and color changes, live replays and other video content, location-based player tracking animations, interactive games for fans during timeouts, and immersive animations following key plays and moments. This level of interaction and activity for the fans and players brought extra excitement to the game from start to finish.
Game Data Visualisation
For many fans, a big part of enjoying a sports event comes from absorbing data and stats that relate to the game. As graphic capabilities evolve to become more sophisticated and digital real estate expands, teams can take their data visualisation to the next level to display game data in a whole new way for audiences, helping fans to better follow the game, understand the performance of the players, and ultimately feel more connected to their team. The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London is one of the leading venues when it comes to this advanced visualised data approach, displaying live stats, heat maps, player tracking, and match analytics on their huge LED screens in real time.
Gamifying the Big Screen
Gamified content can transform the live stadium experience. For the Televisa World Cup, the Disguise Services team took player statistics and interactions and crafted the content to look like a video game, with stylised graphic choices and player icons adding a playful touch to the tournament. Another great example is what the Intuit Dome have done with their Halo Board. The display is fitted with t-shirt cannons along the top and bottom, with the board showcasing different Clippers players pointing at different sections of the crowd and mimicking a throwing motion before the cannons release the shirts. This is a great personal touch which helps make the match-day experience even more memorable for fans. Augmented Reality
While only visible through a phone screen, augmented reality (AR) can be a great tool for getting fans engaged both in-stadium and at home. The Disguise Services team worked with Princess Cruises, Snapchat, SoFi Stadium and the Rams to create a surf-race AR experience for match-goers. We digitally recreated six real-life Rams players who virtually dropped into the stadium via a portal, all viewable through an AR effect on Snapchat. Jumping on their surfboards, they dodged swimmers, dolphins, and even a whale to take the winning wave, culminating in a victory celebration atop a massive Princess Cruise ship – all while fans cheered them on from the stands.
How We Can Help
Ready to turn some of these ambitious ideas into reality? Our services team is here to help. We offer turnkey technical and creative services to ensure your interactive fan experience is brought to life and runs without a hitch—partnering with you every step of the way from consulting and solution design through to installation and operational assistance.