Creative Offers
9 Tips and Hacks for Maximizing Your Playoff Revenue with FEVO
February 27, 2024
The playoffs bring promise — but they also bring pressure.
It’s the thing everyone in your organization has collectively been working toward for the entire year. It's the first step necessary in claiming a championship for your city. And it’s an opportunity to drive invaluable additional revenue for your organization.
Obviously tickets are going to be in high demand. We’d never go so far as to say “they sell themselves,” but there’s certainly a lot working in your favor: a high-quality product, scarcity, FOMO, the potential for lifelong glory.
But with all the increased demand and attention, you’ve also got plenty of white space to play around and put together some creative Offers that’ll help you take advantage of the postseason excitement.
Luckily, your FEVO peers are experts at using our platform in new and surprising ways, so today we’re taking stock of some of the best postseason Offers we’ve seen over the years. Expect every use case under the sun, from Premium Seating with the Seattle Kraken to sideline access with the Houston Texans to a College Student Night from the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Because when you really think about it, making the playoffs is just the beginning.
1. Flaunt Your Premium Inventory
When it comes to selling premium inventory, the times, they are a-changin’. Long gone are the days when fans only want to buy suites and hospitality packages over the phone or via a lengthy sales form. Teams are moving premium inventory online to great success, and a huge percentage of fans are even buying these offerings via mobile. The Seattle Kraken used FEVO to quickly set up premium offerings for their unpredictable playoff schedule. Don’t assume your fans won’t go for it — in fact, it may bring new and unexpected names into your premium pipeline for years to come.
2. Reward Your Employees
Most teams have some sort of playoff package in place for their employees. But the process of actually redeeming the tickets can be tedious and inconvenient. The Arizona Diamondbacks created a checkout experience with FEVO that allowed employees to not only collect their tickets for free, but to bundle them with additional discounted seats so that they could sit together with family and friends, something that wasn’t previously achievable.
3. Get Creative With Group Sales
Additional games are never promised in the playoffs, so the Coachella Valley Firebirds created a single, gated URL calendar page where they could easily add new games whenever needed. What made this offer exceptional, though, was the fact that in order for group leaders and individual group buyers to gain access to the discounted page, they had to make a commitment for a group event for next season. This tactic resulted in an unprecedented number of early commitments for the following season.
4. Leverage the Youth
College students are always looking for something fun to do. That’s why many organizations offer discounted student nights that tap into local colleges. While you might be reluctant to offer that type of deal on highly coveted playoff tickets, remember that it’s exactly these kinds of nights — playoff nights — where lifelong fans are made. The Pittsburgh Penguins created Student Rush Offers for the playoffs and used FEVO to email-gate the promotions: a valid college email address was required at checkout to secure discounted tickets.
5. Make Parking Easy
We’re all familiar with how much of a pain it can be to find parking during major sporting events. The Houston Texans harnessed this opportunity to upsell fans by allowing them to pre-pay for parking at their recent Wild Card Game against the Browns, bringing in extra revenue while making the game-day experience smoother for attendees.
6. Open Up the Sidelines
Parking isn’t the only way the Houston Texans and FEVO collaborated. The team also created a super premium experience that allowed fans out onto the sidelines before the game to watch the teams warm up. The package also included an all-inclusive buffet and open bar. This is a great example of creating valuable add-ons that aren’t tied to a seat!
7. Put Away Games on the Big Screen
During last year’s Stanley Cup Finals, both the Las Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers created watch parties at their stadiums when their respective team was on the road. This is a great way to create an environment that brings fans together while selling additional F&B to earn some ancillary revenue.
8. Take the Show on the Road
Sometimes you play a team that lives just down the road, creating the opportunity to charter a bus and ferry your superfans to the away game. The New York Liberty sold packages to their playoff game vs the Connecticut Sun that included breakfast, a bus ride and tickets to the game.
9. Create Exclusive Merch
Limited-edition merch is big business. Plenty of streetwear brands create their entire business model around it: it creates hype and drives viral buying behavior, with fans eager to get their hands on the product before it sells out. For last year’s playoff run, the New York Liberty created some limited-edition merch of their own, honoring MVP Breanna Stewart with a special T-shirt that took pre-orders through FEVO.
