Oklahoma State might have one of the most exciting offenses in college football and one of the best players in all of college basketball, but the school is making news off the court as they move forward with their digital media strategy and the engagement of their expansive fan base.
As the Cowboys travel to Kansas City this week for the Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament, much of the focus will be on Oklahoma State’s quest for a tournament championship. After all, they just beat top-seeded Kansas last week.
But off the court, Oklahoma State Athletics has a new focus: digital strategy and fan engagement. They’ve recently selected Kansas City-based Sporting Innovations to help define the strategic approach to use advanced technologies to enhance the fan experience.
Oklahoma State faces challenges similar to other collegiate and professional sports teams around the world. This includes challenges with millennials and younger generations.
These fans can be overwhelmed with options and distractions surrounding the college atmosphere during a football game. Oklahoma State has made a goal to better understand these fans, and create a modernized experience in its stadiums so that fans come into the stadium and want to stay for the entire game.
To achieve this, Oklahoma State will leverage Sporting Innovations FAN360 platform to give them a better understanding of who its fans are – their habits, their preferences, and their affinities. Utilizing this data, Oklahoma State will be able to provide more tailored and enhanced experiences across its fan base of students, alumni, and donors. The solution hopes to increase ticket sales, higher attendance, better experiences, and genuine loyalty.
“We are eager to begin our partnership with Sporting Innovations,” said Mike Holder, OSU’s director of athletics. “We are constantly searching for ways to enhance the game day experience for our fans, and Sporting Innovations has developed a very strong reputation in that area by integrating technology and creativity.”
Sporting Innovations is a sports technology company and a recognized leader in fan engagement solutions. Its FAN360 platform is a software ecosystem that transforms how sports teams utilize data and technology to enhance the fan experience and create new revenue opportunities. It is a full-scope solution designed specifically for sports, and provides intelligent fan insights, marketing and sales tools, fan experience enhancements, and more.
This approach with FAN360 allows Oklahoma State to integrate all of its technology components into a more cohesive and intelligent platform. It presents the opportunity to take a comprehensive perspective on its entire universe of available data, and identify key business efficiencies throughout its athletic department.
“Oklahoma State is facing the challenges that FAN360 is specifically designed to help address, particularly as they build cohesive strategies around enhancing fan experience,” said Asim Pasha, managing partner of Sporting Innovations. “As sports veterans, we have a unique perspective that will help us collaborate with Oklahoma State to provide the ideal approach for utilizing technology to bring their fans the best experience in college athletics.”
Sporting Innovations and Oklahoma State are currently collaborating on the development of the strategic business plan and objectives. The two groups plan on releasing the initial phases over the next few months.
SportTechie will be monitoring their progress as well as other schools that take Oklahoma State’s lead and begin to place the building blocks for their digital strategy.