Forget about scoreboards. On the business side for sports teams, it’s all about dashboards.
As in the armies of numbers and statistics collected to figure out what fans and sponsors like, don’t like — and what they ignore. And, of course, to slice and dice those figures into historical comparisons by day of the week, start time, season and many other factors.
The Golden State Warriors offer an example of the in-depth reports chewed over by front offices to hone fan interest and loyalty and, in turn, improve sales.
“This has to be an organizational thing,” Warriors Chief Revenue Officer Brandon Schneider said of what makes business analytics effective. “For us, it starts with ownership. Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, when we’re having meetings and making decisions, they want to see the numbers. What data informed our decision?”
Below are listed some of business measures the Warriors’ analytics group delivers in a dashboard data report to team executives after every home game:
• Primary and secondary ticket sales and average price
• Suite rentals
• Food and beverage total revenue and sales per person
• Merchandise total revenue and sales per person
• Food and beverage sales before and after tipoff
• Concessions sold by category (alcohol, soda, etc.)
• Merchandise sales before and after tipoff
• Total attendance for game and year-to-date and historical comparisons
• Attendance comparisons based on promotions vs. non-promotions games
• Time of arrival for fans
• Where fans entered the building and comparisons of entry-point use
• Tickets used versus sold
• Mobile ticket entry
• Ticket revenue by single-game buyer, groups, partial-plan buyers, season tickets
• Parking revenue
