Jeremy Tripp

So many sports teams operate with a binary view of their fans: you are either a season ticket holder or you are not. This study confirms what we've seen firsthand. Fans are looking for more meaningful ways to connect with their clubs beyond just game day, and they have shown a clear willingness to pay for that elevated access and identity. This directly mirrors the thinking behind our myCITY+ membership. When we saw our season ticket deposits swell to over 60,000 fans ahead of our inaugural season, we knew there was a massive, highly-engaged segment that wasn't going to be able to get into our building. Instead of leaving them in the single-match funnel, we built a paid tier that gives them real, compounding value: CITY Pay cashback on all purchases, a spot on the season ticket member waitlist, an annual surprise gift, and much more. In fact, the 10% CITY Pay cashback alone often covers the annual fee for fans attending just a few matches. The result: myCITY+ turns high intent into a known relationship, and it works. These members open our app and engage with content at a much higher frequency than the general audience, creating a direct line to our most invested supporters. Looking forward, I see clubs borrowing more from subscription models like Spotify Premium or Amazon Prime. Imagine a membership tier that unlocks early gate entry, the ability to share your membership benefits (like a family plan), or one that provides members with exclusive in-app audio feeds from the technical staff or unique second-screen video angles during a match. The technology is there, but it requires us to think less about one-off transactions and more about creating continuous value over time. How should we continue to evolve myCITY+ to best serve our most highly-engaged fans who are not yet season ticket members? https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/12/03/new-study-fans-want-more-from-teams-and-are-willing-to-pay-for-it/