Pegula (l) said that legalized sports betting is shaping the Bills' planning for future facilitiesTONY FLOREZ
NFL COO Maryann Turcke said the "battle for the future" is finding fans between the ages of 12-24. Turcke, on the opening day of the CAA World Congress of Sports, said, “We know the probability of a fan being an avid fan goes up if they participate. The biggest upside if young girls playing flag.” Turcke sat with Bills and Sabres co-Owner Kim Pegula in a joint interview with NFL Network’s Lindsay Rhodes. Pegula said legalized sports betting is shaping the team’s planning for future facilities. “We’re doing a feasibility study for renovations or a new stadium,” she said. “We have to think about ... how sports betting changes in-venue experiences when it (is legalized). It’s not how do we build it from concrete and with wiring, but how will the fans use it.” Turcke said legal sports gambling in New Jersey is already changing the fan experience. “There’s a lot of in-venue betting, it’s right around the $10 level,” she said. “It’s a fun way to engage.”
FAN ENGAGEMENT: Pegula said, “We’re not mass marketing anymore. We personalize everything we do.” She talked about the importance of two-way conversations and shared a video featuring fan-generated clips of celebrations when the Bills ended their playoff drought two years ago. After the video, Pegula was a little emotional. “Our fans shared with us what the moment meant to them,” she said, “and it always makes me tear up.”
THE DATA RACE: Turcke talked about the league’s effort to keep its data and analytics on par with top tech firms. “The work we’re doing now -- knowing who’s sitting in every chair, giving clubs quantitative data -- is important,” she said. "But how do you convert that into monetization, attending games, buying merchandise?” Pegula added, “We’re not competing with other clubs. We’re competing against other businesses. We’re competing with what Uber and other tech companies are doing. Fans want to buy merchandise with one click like on Amazon. They’re competing for the same wallet and attention and we have to be right there with them.”
