The Atlanta Hawks will host Tinder Swipe Right Night 2.0 this month, on March 19th. The dating app promotional night is back again after the success of last years inaugural event in January of 2015.
The Hawks had the second best record in the National Basketball Association during the 2014-15 regular season and made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals before losing to Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Yet one of the only times the team was trending on Twitter was during the Tinder Swipe Right Night.
Get The Latest NBA Tech News In Your Inbox!
Tinder is a dating app, or a match making app as they prefer to be called because it encompasses finding “Friends, dates, relationships, and everything in between.” The app was founded in 2012 and is based on a system of liking users’ photos, which are linked from Facebook. Swiping right for potentially good matches and swiping left meaning a user is not interested; then if both users are interested a match is created. Tinder being used in a promotional event for a professional sports team seems like an unlikely pairing, but it proved to be both unique and effective last year.
The Atlanta Hawks have had marginal success as an NBA basketball team, but even during their amazing regular season last year, home attendance at Philips Arena was not strong, ranking 20th in the NBA in terms of capacity filled. Therefore the team executives were looking for different promotional nights and they decided to swipe right on Tinder Night, to try and boost fan engagement especially from “millennials.”
During the first Tinder Night last year fans could Tweet and Instagram with the hashtag #SwipeRightNight, with the potential to be put on the jumbotron. As well as meet potential Tinder matches at different sections of the stadium.
This year, when the Hawks face off against the Houston Rockets fans will be able to attend the game starting at only $70 for two seats, while wearing their limited-edition Swipe Right Night t-shirts. Fans who come for the 2.0 event will also be able to go to complimentary glam stations, as well as attend smaller events hosted by well known Atlanta singles inside Philips.
Swipe Right Night 2.0, like last year’s event, offers Hawks fans who are on Tinder the chance to meet face-to-face. There will be locations such as “Swipe Right” and “Super Like” lounges where people in attendance who have downloaded the dating app on their phones can hang out, and meet one another.
“Tinder is a perfect fit for live events,” said Phil Schwarz, CMO of Tinder. “We know that combining Tinder with the electric energy inside Philips Arena for ‘Swipe Right 2.0’ will create an amazing social environment for fans to meet while enjoying the game. We are excited to be partnering with the Hawks once again to bring fans something totally unique.”
If the success of last years events is any indication, the second go around could be even more beneficial for both the Hawks and Tinder as they get set to host Swipe Right Night 2.0.