Kristian Gotsch

A while back I claimed that although the world of sports had been a late adopter of CRM there was a great opportunity for sports in taking the lead in social media.

Assuming that clubs and leagues integrate their social media activities with their overall CRM strategies it could not be long before sports clubs – instead of being late adopters of CRM – stand out as thought leaders.

In the past years several sports clubs and leagues have taken steps in the area of social media. These initiatives range from clubs setting up online forums or using existing network tools to connect with fans to the other extreme of for example Ebbsfleet United, where fans own the club!

Although the adoption of social media in sports is still in its early stages (as it is in most industries) a range of industry specific...

Situation: Waiting at gate A18 at a European airport one Sunday evening – together with approximately 200 other passengers on their way home, going on vacation or getting ready for business meetings the following day at the destination. Unfortunately the airline ("RDA") is experiencing problems with the plane and the handling agent "Nova" informs passengers to wait at the gate where an update will be given an hour later. The scheduled evening departure means that there are no alternative flights that evening, so we all eagerly wait around for the update. A little less than an hour later a representative from another handling agent ("M.A.") shows up at the gate as another airline ("Pound") have a flight scheduled to use gate A18 an hour later. When the representative sees all the people already checked in, she demands that people leave the area!! Everyone is a bit surprised and a few ask questions whereas others informs the "M.A." rep that we have all been told to wait here...

These days customer relationship management (CRM) and providing better service to customers seems to be at the top of any company’s strategy and focus list. This trend is also present in the world of sports and entertainment, where sports clubs and other players in the entertainment industry are adopting new means to attract and retain customers in a world where entertainment itself is becoming more and more of a commodity.

An often misleading question is whether a company has adopted a CRM strategy or not? For sports clubs in particular the question that should be raised is where a club is on the "CRM journey" as all clubs find themselves somewhere along on the path of successful customer relations. The fact that sports clubs are drawing paying spectators at all is in itself part of a CRM strategy and as such it should be acknowledged that pursuing further benefits from CRM is not a matter of starting something up but is rather a matter of simply continuing the journey,...

As companies are adopting strategies and initiatives that enable increased customer feedback to ensure that customer expectations are met – or exceeded – it appears that one initiative is taking customer interaction and impact of customers’ opinions on a company’s strategy one level further.

Myfootballclub.co.uk – an online initiative with a £35 ($70) membership fee – was launched in April 2007 with the intention of purchasing a football (soccer) club in England and have members directly impact the running of the club through online voting and discussions. Early 2008 myfootballclub.co.uk had raised enough money and decided to purchase Ebbsfleet United FC, a team in the fifth league in England. The goal is to make Ebbsfleet United FC more successful and move it upwards in the rankings and leagues of English football.

Considering that the core of this initiative is the strong relationships between a sports club and its customers, this initiative falls under the...