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Are your R’s in order so that you can retell your story?

The NBA announced tentative plans for its 2020-21 season — 72 games starting Dec. 22. The NHL appears to be headed toward a January start featuring bubble cities in the U.S. and Canada. MLB already has posted its 2021 schedule. Now the real work begins in a compressed time frame. But like everything else in 2020, lots of challenges need to be met with varied approaches and options. So, are your R’s in order;

Reviewing: I’m referring to reviewing all of your safety precautions. What have you done to ensure fan safety? Have you converted to a completely cashless transaction system? Paperless ticketing? Mask policy? Sanitizers? Pod seating? Some fans will be ready to come out and enjoy the game with few fears or concerns, while others will need to be convinced. Have you involved your medical partners, like the Cleveland Cavaliers have done with the Cleveland Clinic, in some type of Dr. Fauci role so they can be involved in promoting a safe environment? If not, review your medical partner agreements and determine the best way to activate that partnership.

Reconnecting: Your communication strategy needs to incorporate some smaller face-to-face events that can begin to reconnect the ticket-buying public with the team and the organization. Zoom fatigue is real, and while it has been a very effective tool, people are eager to express their fandom and are “thirsty” for information — about how the season will be played, how attendance will work, what policies have been implemented. Create pod events — up to 10 people invited to the venue to see the improvements and learn firsthand about ticketing options, how premium hospitality will be handled and so forth. It will be time consuming but is a vital first step in convincing people that it is safe to return. 

Reaffirming: Is the ticket plan I had last year still applicable? Will my group of 50 be able to attend a game together this year? What happens if the season is delayed or games canceled? When will my payment plan start? How many games will be played? If fans are permitted, what will be the formula to determine who will be able to attend? These questions need answers, and those answers need to be communicated to your fan base.

Reimagining: If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that the ways we have always done things can be altered and we can accomplish objectives in ways that we would have never considered. As the adage goes, necessity is the mother of invention. We need to reimagine how people enter and exit venues, how they are screened, how they purchase food and beverages, how food and beverages are served in clubs and suites.

Renewing: How will we begin renewing our relationships with our ticket buyers and our partners? Will pricing remain flat? Will suites and club memberships be extended with incentives? Will we accept partnership renewals for fewer years as those businesses enter recovery phases?

Reselling: I’m referring to current clients and prospects who were close to committing before the pandemic and its impact. Because they haven’t attended this season, or because they haven’t activated their partnership assets, they might need to be resold, particularly if what you are now proposing differs from what they previously purchased or what they had been proposed. For example, a previous proposal that had emphasized in-arena assets and now is focusing on digital assets due to limited attendance. Ticket buyers might need to be resold on attending in person because they enjoyed the quality of the telecasts or perhaps they have health and safety fears. Reselling — and in some cases down-selling — might take on more importance in 2021.

Re-educating and reactivating: Corporate partners and potential partners might need some re-education about how best to activate their partnership agreements. There continues to be a great deal of uncertainty regarding how the 2021 season will play out. How are digital assets best activated and what is available? Will we be at least 50% fan capacity during the second quarter, which is most crucial to my business? How can the hospitality assets in my agreement be utilized, reformatted or replaced?

Restaffing: As the pandemic and its effect on attendance introduced us to furloughs and layoffs at levels we had not seen before, we need to reimagine the work day, the phone room, employee autonomy and scheduling, as well as the number of employees, how they are allocated and how they function. It is becoming apparent that when team operations are back to 2019 levels there will be fewer employees — or possibly the same number — with those employees allocated to account for new priorities and needs.

All of these elements are crucial to relaunching the organization. Your story, because it has been rewritten, at least in part by forces outside the organization, needs to be retold and amplified. The need for communication is probably greater now than at any point since the organization was launched at its origin. Misinformation, misperceptions and assumptions will be prevalent due to speculation and lack of access to the facts. Your relaunch and telling your new story are essential to your financial fortunes in 2021 and, unlike most stories based upon 2020, we will hope for alternate endings.

 

Bill Sutton (billsuttonandassociates@gmail.com) is director emeritus of the Vinik Graduate Sport Business Program at USF, dean of Elevate Academy and principal of Bill Sutton & Associates. Follow him on Twitter @Sutton_ImpactU.

Questions about OPED guidelines or letters to the editor? Email editor Jake Kyler at jkyler@sportsbusinessjournal.com

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