In recent years, the concept of Fan Engagement in football has emerged as a way for federations, associations, leagues and clubs to strengthen supporter relationships and, as a consequence, to more sustainably grow attendances.
Globally, in the majority of leagues, attendances are falling. This is due to many factors, including the primacy of digital services (including eSports, gaming, the streaming / broadcast of matches and fantasy leagues); the impact of broadcasting deals on changes to kick off times and match days; ticket pricing; the evolution of different working patterns; the emergence of many other leisure and sporting options (including start-up and expansion sports) and negative external perceptions of football, with anti-social behaviour, violence, racism and homophobia, all cited as barriers to attendance and engagement.
The concept of Fan Engagement (reflecting the wider service industry concept of Customer Engagement) proposes to address and / or mitigate these factors by re-defining what has been a historically ‘arms-length’ relationship with fans.
Instead, it aims to create a ‘stakeholder’ relationship, where the football organisation is designed around the needs of its community and acts according to the values and principles that define it in the eyes of its fans. Fan Engagement therefore relies on a much deeper understanding of the fan: who they are; the nature of their relationship with the game, club or national association and their individual behaviours, motivations, expectations and experiences.
Although elite leagues and clubs generate far more revenue from commercial partnerships that they do from ticket revenue, Fan Engagement is an absolutely necessary tool to allow them to strengthen existing fan relationships and to open up new supporter markets through a distinct and compelling offer.
For non-elite leagues and clubs, the need to sustain or increase local ticket revenue is vital to financial viability.
Graduates with an in depth knowledge of Fan Engagement will therefore be able to offer potential employers a proven, effective and measurable path to sustainability and growth.
Fees
COURSE OUTLINES
- Why Fan Engagement? Definition, Principles & Rationale.
- MODULE 1: The Origins of Fan Engagement
- MODULE 2: Defining the Fan
- MODULE 3: The Rationale for Fan Engagement
- MODULE 4: Building a Fan Engagement Strategy
- Delivering Fan Engagement.
- MODULE 1: Club Identity: ‘Same song, different lyrics?’
- MODULE 2: Understanding & Engaging with your Fan Base
- MODULE 3: Delivering Value in the Fan Experience
- MODULE 4: People & Culture
- What is a Fan? Understanding the nature of fandom.
- MODULE 1: Fan v Customer: A love based on friction, emotion and irrationality
- MODULE 2: Understanding Fan Behaviour
- MODULE 3: Fan Consultation & Structured Dialogue
- MODULE 4: Growing Engagement (Data and Measures)
- Leadership: Creating & Sustaining a Culture of Engagement.
- MODULE 1: An introduction to Fan Engagement Leadership
- MODULE 2: A Model for Engagement
- MODULE 3: Community Engagement
- MODULE 4: Embedding Fan Engagement
- Develop a detailed understanding of Fan Engagement: its definition, history, principles, practices, and rationale.
- Understand the nature of fans and fandom to place fans at the centre of club, league, and/or national association activity.
- Create a Fan Engagement strategy and design the optimal fan experience, including all relevant ‘touch points’ for all key fan segments.
- Establish a culture of engagement within an association, league, or club (Fan Engagement Leadership).
COURSE DETAILS
Duration: 4 months.
Average dedication: 6/8 weekly hours.
Delivered in: English.
Aimed at:
- Managers of organisations linked to clubs, federations, associations and/or leagues.
- Members of agencies, consulting firms and/or startups focused on providing comprehensive solutions for fan engagement / experience.
- Professionals in general, interested in this subject.
Thanks to our integration with remote supervision technologies, the Verified Certificate of Approval:
- Guarantee transparency of the certification process.
- Validates the identity of the certificate holder.
- Accredits the acquisition of specific competencies and skills.
- 24-hour access to study material, from anywhere on any device.
- Accompaniment, monitoring, and virtual support from an expert in the field.
- Activities and assessments with personalised feedback.
- Discussion forums and interaction with colleagues from all over the world.
- Certificate issued by Barca Innovation Hub and endorsed by the corresponding institution.
- Self-assessment to measure your learning progress.
PREREQUISITES
A general understanding of leadership, social impact and ethics would be beneficial.