Webinar Recap: How to Get the Most Out of Your Fans and Venue in 2024

Last week we fired up the trusty FEVOForum webinar machine for Going Further With FEVO: Unlocking New Ways to Sell in 2024.

Our goal: to highlight ways in which three of our partners have tapped into the value of A) their fans and B) their venue to maximize sales with the help of the FEVO platform.

Sometimes that means supplementing a game ticket with a creative marketing campaign or activation that connects with a certain segment of your audience — say, beer drinkers, or dog owners.

Sometimes that means repurposing your beloved venue for an event outside of your organization’s regular game schedule — say, hosting a local high-school rivalry under the bigger, brighter lights of a college stadium.

Below, three examples of how our panelists and the organizations they report to achieved exactly that. (PS: If you missed it, you can also watch the webinar in full at the bottom of this page.)

Orange County Soccer Club’s Annual Beer Fest Series

In 2017, Matthew Fonseca (VP of Sales and Service, OCSC), came to a simple realization:

“There are a lot of soccer fans in Orange County, but there are even more people who are into drinking beer, hanging out with friends and coming out to an event in their backyard.”

So Fonseca teamed up with a local beer and events company to host the club’s first Beer Fest, which brought fans out to sample a variety of local craft beers at the stadium for a few hours before taking in a soccer game. Seven years later, that initiative has evolved into an entire Beer Fest Series, with five dedicated events throughout the season — all of which sell out, including via dedicated “mini plans” that give fans access to all five Beer Fest events.

Moral of the story: Your fans love your team. But they also share other interests. Identify those interests and then create new and exciting experiences that tap into them while compounding revenue.

The Washington Nationals’ Pups in the Park Games

Once a month throughout the baseball season — except August, when the figurative dog days descend upon our Nation’s Capital — Adam Dantus (Sr. Manager, Ticket Sales) and the Washington Nationals host literal dog days, with their Pups in the Park games.

Using FEVO’s ticket ratios tool, they’re able to sell optional “dog” tickets with the purchase of any “adult” ticket, allowing dog-owner fans to bring their four-legged friends out for a day at the ballpark. Revenue from all dog tickets goes to the Humane Rescue Alliance, a pet adoption nonprofit in DC.

Moral of the story: Tapping into your fans’ shared interests isn’t only a good way to drive ticket sales — it can also build community and goodwill, which pays long-term dividends that can’t be measured in dollars and cents.

A High-School Rivalry Game at the University of Louisville

The annual rivalry game between St. Xavier and Trinity High School is a Kentucky state tradition. Between them, the two schools have claimed 13 of the last 17 Class 6A state championships.

Neil Rohrer, Director of Ticket Operations at the University of Louisville, declared it the biggest prep game in the entire state — which is why his team stepped into the give it the stage it deserves, by hosting the game at the University's L&N Stadium, with ticket sales driven through FEVO.

It’s a fantastic way for the University to contribute to the city while simplifying ticket sales for the two high schools and ingesting a glut of new names into the University's sales database. 

‍Moral of the Story: Your venue doesn’t have to be only your stadium. Hosting like-minded events from around the region is a great way to activate new audiences and create additional revenue streams.
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