A New Book On Fan Loyalty Is Out; I Got To Write The Forward…

I had never been asked to write a forward for a book, and then in the course of thirty days two dear friends and colleagues asked me to do so. I guess everyone else was on vacation, lol. Seriously it was very humbling and quite an honor to be asked by both Shripal Shah and then Fiona Green to put down some words about a topic they were expanding upon. It’s rare you get to leadoff like this, so I was hoping to at least conenct a little bit.

Shripal’s book, his third this year, is a deep dive into the how’s and the why’s of fan loyalty. It has some great case studies and handles the subject really well. It is out this week and will make a great read for so many who are looking to engage, keep and reward those spending the dollars.

There is even a video, check it out here.

You can read some excerpts, and most importantly, purchase it here. As so many head back to school, it is a great primer for those entering into the business and a solid reminder of what it takes to keep folks coming back for those trying to remind and retain.

As far as the forward, I gave it my best shot…see below. Congrats Shripal on pulling this togther. More on Fiona’s book when it comes out later this fall.

Loyalty in sports can be painful. I know this first hand, being a New Yorker who has followed the Jets, the Knicks, the Mets and the Rangers for as long as I can remember. I don’t recall actually choosing these teams, some they, or my family chose for me, back in the time when those four teams actually won championships. Look it up, it actually happened, and although I have very vague memories of that glorious time of 1968-69 (I have more vivid memories of sitting in front of my grandfather’s color TV in Brooklyn watching the moon landing)  I believe that’s where this kindred seed was sown. Blind, meandering loyalty to an organization regardless of results. Now think about that. If your milk goes sour maybe you switch brands. Your local restaurant switches chefs, maybe you move on. A long running comedy show not funny any more? We stop watching. Your NFL team goes 0-17? There is always next year. At least for the most loyal.

Now by the way that’s not to say I don’t enjoy the success of New York’s other teams, and now you factor in MLS (although I was a huge Cosmos fan), the Liberty, Gotham FC,   in addition to college sports and those other teams that have been around for more than a while, and after spending more than now 50 formative years on what Tom Chestnut, one of my former bosses at SportsChannel and with the Philadelphia 76ers called “The Lunatic Fringe of Sports Media and Entertainment,” you get to realize that at least for the casual fans, you see the ebb and flow of fandom around the world.

Core fans? They are the diehards, the ones who flood talk radio and podcasts, who show up by the thousands at Fan Fests, the ones who buy the merch and sing the fight songs and even at an older age still have someone else’s name on their favorite jersey, they are there for you.

At the end of the day, whether you are a supporter of Leister City or the Calgary Flames or the Atlanta Dream you follow the pitch or the ice or the diamond on whatever device you like, and you show up and cheer or are part of a chat group, because they…are you. While most sports aren’t really aspirational…you can’t for the most part play like Jalen Hurts, but you can be inspired by his story and his success and with that inspiration, you are part of a community.

However in an era of free agency, rising costs, distracted and shortened attention spans, we do see now that even THOSE loyal can ebb and flow if they feel excluded from community, or disenchanted or not as well informed as they can be. Frankly, find some things better to do with their time if they don’t feel wanted.

That’s why this book by my colleague Shripal is so vital. It serves as both a reminder and a primer for the value of rewarding loyalty on every level.

Now how do we measure “Feel.” Well, we listen, we watch, we ask questions, we count the numbers and we try to stay ahead of the curve. We certainly shouldn’t alienate, we should accommodate, whether we as organizational leaders are contending for a title or playing for the future. We have to adapt and understand what is valued for loyalty. It is what makes sports culture so unique, but it can also collapse quickly if we are not paying attention, and making assumptions that those in the stands will keep coming back.

It’s a deadly assumption.

The good news is today technology tied to traditional measuring gives us the ability to gauge loyalty levels from the casual to the tribal and to reward and enhance that loyalty both overtly…with “stuff” and subtly. We have analytics tools, real time modeling, polling, and every way to predict and support not just what consumers are “feeling,” but how we would like them to feel and be better engaged with the product.

Yes at the end of the game we want to feel good about what we have watched or engaged or spent our time on. But we don’t control the results. What we control is our time, and rewarding loyalty  and literally seeing that reward is well…invaluable.

If you take the time to listen, to read, and to use every tool in the toolbox, everyone wins.

And they will keep coming back for more, no matter how painful that is.

Thanks again, Shripal…not just for the opportunity but for taking the time to do the work.