The ideal live sporting event in many people’s eyes would be the one that goes uninterrupted. Having to leave a seat and line up for refreshments or merchandise during a match or in the intervals can cause great stress to the viewer as they can never truly know whether they will miss something spectacular or not.
Tap.in2 eliminated this problem, providing an app accessible via smartphone, that acts as an ordering platform for things like food, drinks and merchandise to the Cleveland Cavaliers during their NBA playoffs and Finals run.
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Co-founder, Jordan Syms, spoke with Forbes about how the platform works.
“For any fan at the Quicken Loans Arena,” said Syms, “they can open the app, and go through a table of contents of things they can have delivered to their seats. During a fan’s first order, they can save their credit card information then order whatever they like and put in their seat number. They will get an email and text notification when their order is ready and being delivered. In under 6 minutes, any fan is receiving what they ordered.”
The deal with Cleveland was Tap.in2’s first partnership with a professional sporting body, and has been deemed highly successful, capturing over 50,000 users in their 22 game stint throughout this year’s playoffs.
“As we extend our existing platform with more in-venue services, we’re looking forward to establishing Tap.in2 as a leading sports and live entertainment partner across the NBA, NFL and NASCAR by 2016,” said Jordan Syms, according to Sys-Con. “The Cavaliers have been a terrific NBA partner and we expect an even bigger market presence as we expand with them this season and bring additional teams on board.”
While the whole idea maximizes comfort for the consumer, it has the potential to entice more money being spent on concession; because we all know that if something is within reaching distance it instantly becomes far more attractive.
While it is customary for fans to make their way to the concession stand before the game or during the intervals, these moments have the potential to be just as important as the sports themselves. If we take a look at the Super Bowl, for example, the half time show is talked about just as much as the game itself. If all sports can continue to develop their advertising and entertainment schedule’s throughout their regular seasons, these live events could become more profitable for the franchises and their sponsors.
After a successful debut with the Cavaliers, all kinds of sports can look forward to seeing Tap.in2 surfacing in their vicinity very soon.