95 - 12 Marketing & Fan Engagement Predictions for 2025

In this Sports Marketing Machine Podcast episode, Jeremy Neisser shares his 12 marketing and fan engagement predictions for 2025. He discusses the impact of AI on fan engagement, the rise of flexible membership models, the dominance of short-form video content, and the importance of user-generated content and micro-influencers.

Neisser emphasizes the need for a holistic marketing approach, innovations in merchandise, and the significance of mobile ordering for concessions. He also explores donor engagement strategies and the integration of NIL athletes into marketing campaigns, highlighting the evolving landscape of sports marketing.

Takeaways

• AI will enable hyper-personalization in fan engagement.
• Membership models are evolving to be more flexible.
• Short-form video content is crucial for reaching younger audiences.
• AI can automate content creation for real-time updates.
• Micro-influencers can significantly impact local marketing efforts.
• A holistic marketing approach is necessary for effective attribution.
• Limited edition merchandise can drive fan excitement and sales.
• Mobile ordering will enhance the game day experience.
• Donor engagement should go beyond just financial contributions.
• NIL partnerships can boost marketing efforts and revenue.

Chapters
00:00 - Introduction to Sports Marketing Predictions
02:06  - AI and Hyper-Personalization in Fan Engagement
04:30  - The Rise of Membership 2.0
06:25  - Short Form Video Dominance
08:50  - AI-Generated Content for Real-Time Updates
09:19  - User-Generated Content and Micro-Influencers
12:10  - Shifting from Old Attribution Models
14:48  - Merchandise Innovations and Limited Edition Drops
17:35  - Game Day Innovations and Mobile Ordering
20:27  - Donor Engagement Beyond Cash
21:45  - NIL and Team Synergy
23:39  - Creator Partnerships and NIL Expansion
25:30  - Emerging NIL Platforms for Smaller Markets

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Transcript

Jeremy Neisser (00:00.662)
Welcome to episode 95 of the Sports Marketing Machine Podcast. I'm your host Jeremy Nizer. 12 marketing and fan engagement predictions for 2025. I share where things are going from an advertising perspective, fan engagement, and even a merchandise and fundraising at the university level. Let's dig into it. My top 12.

Jeremy Neisser (00:37.61)
Welcome to the Sports Marketing Machine Podcast, the show that helps those working in sports level up their marketing so they can sell more tickets, increase merchandise sales, raise more funds for your university or college, and grow your fan base. Like I said, I'm Jeremy Nyser. Before I dig into today's topic, which is my 12 marketing and fan engagement predictions for 2025, I just want to take a second to say thank you. Thank you for tuning in. I'm genuinely passionate.

about creating memories for fans at Sporting Offense. The cheers, the shared experiences, the memories made, the lasting connections, this podcast exists to support you. So if you are in the sports industry, you're trying to get people to games, you're working your tail off to create these unbelievable memories for fans, this podcast is especially for you. So if you're in marketing, ticket sales, external relations, or even just a student eager to break into the industry, this is it.

I've got you. This is your podcast. My goal is to provide you with practical strategies to not only fill your seats, but create those unforgettable moments for fans. So thanks for being part of the journey. Let's dive in. 12 marketing and fan engagement predictions for 2025. I've separated these into a bunch of different buckets. Let's start off with fan engagement trends. AI is here to stay.

and it's only going to get better. So where I see things going is creating hyper-personalization through AI. So AI can analyze fan data to deliver personalized ticket offers, exclusive content, and even tailored engagement strategies. So let me give you an example. Let's say a fan attended a game of yours on a Friday night. Then they get targeted for a discount for similar games or a message promoting a nearby concessions. Maybe they're at the game.

and you want to promote specific concessions to them. How could you do that in a way that makes sense? Maybe they're sitting in a section 101 on the right side of the rink or the right side of the ballpark or the right side of your pitch and there's a concession stand behind them that has a specialty item that may not be aware of. But hyper-personalization through AI will allow you to be able to target them, to send them a message that says, hey Joe,

Jeremy Neisser (03:03.903)
Right behind you is a concession stand that offers X, Y, and Z. Not sure if you picked up dinner yet, but this might be good for you. So, just thinking through things to make that fan experience better by using AI. There isn't a tool that does this yet, but if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. And there's going to be someone out there, some AI company that creates things like this, to just make it easier for fans to get what they want and meet them where they are.

So the actionable takeaway is keep an eye on AI platforms. I'll be sharing some with you as we continue on, but there's going to be some that integrate with your CRM or even ticketing software. There's a few out there already and even some that don't that allow you to kind of see that data in maybe necessarily not real time, but a little bit within the week or what have you, which is great. understanding attendance behavior and really driving

Additional revenue with the help of AI will definitely help you increase ticket sales, loyalty, merchandise sales, food sales. This could kind of go in a lot of different directions, but I love the idea of hyper personalization through AI. Number two idea and prediction for this upcoming year, the rise of membership 2.0. Season tickets as a whole in a lot of markets are going down.

the members, oftentimes it was businesses and fans, but we see that the season tickets are actually going down. People just aren't using them like they used to. So the rise of membership 2.0 would be like a flexible alternative. Now I'm not proposing that it's going to turn into like a zoo pass, where a zoo pass is you've got access, you can go whenever you want, how often you want and do it like that, but more of a access to games

Plus, additional perks, exclusive content, merchandise discounts, unique experiences. I think the list will continue on where this membership model will replace season tickets. I know a lot of teams have switched to the All You Can Eat model and will continue to do that in a lot of different areas from sports to baseball to soccer to all these different sports. They're switching more to an All You Can Eat model for this season ticket or even mini plans as well.

Jeremy Neisser (05:27.298)
but you're gonna see things continue to evolve in that. Let me give you another example. Let's say a team offers a $25 a month membership and that includes general admission to every single game, you get 10 % off concessions and early access to limited edition merchandise. I'm just making this up, but that gives you an idea to say, gosh, that makes sense that we're gonna have these package type offerings similar to like how McDonald's gives you a Big Mac fries and a drink and puts it all together in a package.

you're going to start to see more and more of those which it's going to push the creative envelope for lot of teams. So my actionable takeaway for you is maybe pilot a membership program for one season, pairing it with a targeted promotion just to kind of see, hey, do we have some interest? And maybe you can refine some benefits in there and see what you have. All right, on to prediction number three. Remember, these are my 12 marketing and fan engagement predictions for 2025.

These are falling under the bucket of content and marketing channels. Short form video dominance, short form video will continue to be a major player for you in 2025, no doubt about it. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, even YouTube Shorts are reaching more and more people, younger audiences, and these are the ones that are really captivating their time spent on these channels.

So I love the fact that teams are creating these videos, but the problem is going to be that you're going to have to create even more, which means you're going to probably have to double down on figuring out how do we get more out of our social media team, what that looks like, because the short form videos are going to continue to skyrocket and dominate in 2025. Let me give you a few additional ideas here. Behind the scenes clips, player highlights, fun fan moments, 15, 30 second videos. So.

I would really dedicate a portion of your marketing content budget to short form video production. If you don't already have a social media person working on this side of it, I would 100 % focused on that. the producing graphical images for social posts is okay, but video will roll in 2025. It already does. It's just going to take another giant step forward.

Jeremy Neisser (07:52.716)
Number four prediction, AI generated content for real-time updates. What does this mean? AI tools can instantly produce highlight reels, game stats, fan-specific shout outs. They can do all kinds of different things. By creating automatically a post-game highlight reel and sending a potentially personalized thank you email to ticket buyers within the minute of the game's end, all of that AI can kind of help with.

So using AI driven content platforms and thinking around, how do I automate a lot of these different things that I have? You're going to see a lot more and more of these things take place just to get content out there packaged faster. And I love the fact that there's Boxout Sports out there that creates the graphic images. They're eventually going to get into the animation side of things and continue to evolve a little bit. just, that's just where I kind of see AI is.

helping teams create content faster than you would be able to create it and cut it yourself. number five, the rise of UGC, user-generated content and micro-influencers. Let me define what a micro-influencer is and user-generated content. Micro-influencer, so we know Kim Kardashian, huge influencer. You would have to spend millions of dollars for her to promote whatever you have that you want her to sell.

A micro influencer would be someone within your community. Could be a mom, could be a real estate agent, could be the local person that does the food reviews in your community. Could be a lot of different things. But those micro influencers have a following. That following of people who firmly believe in what they promote and what they're talking about. That person who is the content creator has created an audience based on trust.

and creating content that resonates with a specific audience. So those micro influencers will be important for you to connect with in 2025 to build relationships, maybe even run marketing campaigns with. Let's use that example of the food reviewer in your community. Let's just say there's someone in your community that goes out and reviews lots of different food and you've added some new things to your menu. You bring them in and have them talk about

Jeremy Neisser (10:14.796)
whatever it is the new food your fried cheesecakes or your stuffed shell burritos or whatever it is that you created bring them in have them create some content around it let them do what they do best and this would be awesome for you because their following is local some of it's probably regional some of it's even national but finding those folks in your community that you could partner with those micro influencers it's going to definitely

Elevate your brand and really drive revenue in the food the merchandise and ticket sales UGC user generated content your fans go to your games and they take a ton of photos They take a lot of videos and they post them on social media you Have a relationship with these fans through social media either you reach out to them Instagram or Facebook or Twitter or threads or wherever it may be tick-tock and you ask them Hey, can I use your content a little bit?

If you see that their content is gaining momentum, you say, hey, would you mind if we put some marketing dollars behind it and we'll give you a link to share and give them a little bit of money to be able to say thank you for them as kind of an advertising side. You do that, that's going to grow a lot more ticket sales, merchandise sales, and food sales because it's actually created by someone who went to your game and experienced what it's like to attend one of your games.

So micro influencers and user generated content should always be a top priority you in 2025 because these are the folks that will really move the needle when it comes to advertising and marketing. Which brings me to topic number six, the old attribution model thinking. This will shift to a more holistic marketing approach. All right, let me explain this a little bit. Old attribution model.

So teams have traditionally looked at their marketing in a silo. Hey, I split a hundred dollars or five hundred dollars into Facebook ads. How much money did I make? I put thousand dollars into my display ads. How much money did I make? This is a single channel approach. I'm only looking at Facebook and thinking, well, how well did Facebook do? How well did the display ads do? This single channel approach is outdated. And in 2025, it has to be rep...

Jeremy Neisser (12:40.278)
with more of a holistic approach. I like to think of it of new customers versus return customers. A lot of your marketing is designed to go get new customers. A lot of your other marketing, your email marketing, your text messages, that's designed to get your return customers to come back. So if you're working with an ad agency that is only showing you single channel attribution,

This is what my Facebook ads did. This is what my Instagram ads did. This is what my display ads did. They're missing the boat. Because if you think about it, your fans experience your brand in a lot of different ways. So a fan could be driving to the office one day for work. They look up, they see your billboard as they drive into the office. They're working in the office, they go to lunch, they hop on Facebook or Instagram, they're scrolling through, they see your video ads there on Instagram or Facebook.

After lunch they work the rest of their day. They drive home They're on the radio and they hear your ads then they pull into their their house. They ask their significant other Hey, do you want to go to the game this weekend and they go online and buy tickets? Well, who gets credit? Well Facebook's always gonna say that they're getting credit for a lot of these different things and so does Google But the problem is that the billboard the radio the Facebook Instagram ads they all work together

together to get to fan to buy the tickets. So instead of that silo approach of how well did Facebook work or how well did Instagram work or how well did my TikTok ads work, that single channel approach is completely outdated and in 2025 it should be replaced with a holistic approach. I like new customers versus return customers, but maybe you have a different idea.

But I just want to share that number six, my recommendation, my thought, my prediction is that old silo single channel attribution model of your advertising spend is just outdated. All right, moving on. Number seven, this is kind of in the merchandise innovation bucket.

Jeremy Neisser (14:48.258)
So we know that tariffs are coming, President Trump is implementing them, and this is going to create a little bit of a mess for a lot of us sports teams who have already placed orders and will be placing orders. But think about this idea of limited edition drops and personalizations. Oftentimes when we buy merchandise, we have to buy specific quantities. Because of that, we're tied to specific things.

So if we were creating exclusive merchandise such as themed jerseys tied to anniversaries, historical moments, anything that really drives fan excitement and potentially sales, this is a good idea. So let me give you an example. Potentially, I see teams who are moving a lot of hats create a hat of the month club. This would be unique designs, retro logos, holiday theme, those types of things.

So if you've got a lot of hats that you sell and you can look on your list and you've got 500, 600 people that buy different hats, maybe you create a hat of the month club. This could really create pre-sales, which is really where this is going. Limited edition drops, personalizations, but oftentimes teams right now, we're going to buy 200 of these shirts. They're going to be different sizes. We're going to put them there. What if you created it to where there were pre-sales for a lot of these things? So

That's where I feel like a lot of this is going. So the tariffs will definitely increase production costs and it definitely will be costing you more money. But how do we get that money back faster? And that's by creating some limited edition drops, some personalizations, things like that. The other actionable taken away for you is partner with local manufacturers. You've probably got an embroidery company locally in your town that you could probably cut out some dollars locally

to spend with them maybe there's some trade or maybe you could give them season tickets or whatever you could do to really help you on that supply chain dependency because a lot of the embroidery is taking place overseas and it really could hurt you from a pricing perspective but if you do some local partnerships with your local embroidery shop or screen printers this actually may make life a little bit easier for you

Jeremy Neisser (17:06.508)
So just an idea there. That's a prediction that I see some teams are going to be doing in 2025. All right, let's move to the bucket now of game day innovations. This is number eight on the list. Number eight on the list. I feel like mobile ordering for concessions is going to take a jump. Fans don't like waiting in line. I don't like waiting in line. I am in, and just like you and a lot of our other fans, instantaneous.

I don't like something on TikTok, I swipe up. I don't like something on Facebook, I just scroll on. We are in an instantaneous satisfaction. need that hit of dopamine really quick. I feel like online concessions, mobile ordering for concessions is going to jump. The more teams promote this, the less they'll have fans waiting in line. I also see that that opportunity where fans can walk into a concession stand.

Or like we see at some of the NFL stadiums and Major League Baseball stadiums where they walk in it's tied to like an Amazon Your account there you're gonna see a lot more of that where people walk in grab something scan it themselves and they walk out and it Automatically sees what they are taking and buying right ten right then in there So you're gonna see a lot more of mobile ordering and concessions take this step forward and enhancing

that fan experience to make it faster for fans to order through the app. They pick up or they get it delivered to their seat, but they're going to get it a whole lot faster where they don't have to sit there and wait for it. What this also means though is that enhancements to internet inside of arenas and ballparks and stadiums all across America will have to take place because you're going to get a lot more fans hopping online and ordering concessions, which means the internet's going to slow down. And of course there's the game day apps and

In the NFL level there's gambling and NBA and MLB and what have you. You got a lot of the gambling side of things. But overall, biggest takeaway here is that the internet's going to have to be enhanced if you're moving to this position of really pushing people to mobile order for concessions just to make their life easier. Now we know that fans who buy online spend more than they do in person. You can see it.

Jeremy Neisser (19:28.076)
with your Shopify store, your merchandise store, fans who are buying things online, their average order value, how much they're buying is significantly higher than if they bought it in person. Same thing with Amazon. If you look at what you bought at Amazon in 2024, you're going to notice you spent a boatload of money on Amazon. My point is, that knowing that we're trying to push people to mobile ordering, that's going to allow you to actually sell more items because people spend

more money online than they do in person. right, moving to number nine prediction, number nine. This is under the fan and donor engagement. So donor engagement beyond just cash. So at the athletics level, the university level in the athletics department, engaging donors with perks tied to contributions, behind the scene access, scanning reports, NIL aligned experiences,

Those are going to continue to take the next step forward. I'm going to jump into NIL next bucket, but all of those engagement with donors, how do you get them to be involved? How do get them to be a little bit more beyond just giving cash? What else can you provide for them that allows them to feel like they're more special?

more than just anything else. They just feel special that way. Let me give you an example. A high-level donor gets access to a private dinner with the athletes and coaches. Or they get to go on an away game trip. Or they get to do, they get to sit on the sidelines and get all of the stats for the games. Whatever that may be, or private practice viewings, exclusive team merchandise, those types of things. Donors are gonna be looking for things beyond just you asking them for cash and making it transactional. All right.

Moving on to the NIL bucket, is prediction number 10. Team and athlete synergy. So teams will incorporate NIL, name, image, likeness athletes. These are the athletes that are getting paid. This could be your cross country and basketball and football. These are the athletes at universities who are getting paid. What I see is teams will incorporate

Jeremy Neisser (21:45.416)
NIL athletes into their marketing campaigns to promote ticket sales and merchandise. So this could be at the university level This could also be at the professional sports level. So at the university level Star athlete would promote the hey, this is the game day jersey that we're selling and This is only exclusives on social media. This is tied to an NIL revenue sharing agreement. So the minor league hockey team

partners with the local university, get the football player who's promoting this new game day jersey and every piece of jersey that's sold, the athlete gets a kickback on the revenue sharing as part of that. That's an example. Let's do this in the college athletic side. Hey, this is the game day that we're game day jersey that we have that's available and the university is doing some sort of revenue sharing model with that athlete.

who is the star quarterback or the star basketball player, what have you. Doing things like that will definitely help the university move more product. Also the sports team move more product, but it also helps the athlete there as well. So thinking through how can we use NIL to feature in your team campaigns and that make sure you detail how the revenue splits are clear. Who's getting money? How it's broken up? How are you tracking all of those?

Biggest takeaway though is that I see team and athlete synergy going to be taking off in 2025. Alright, number 11 takeaway. Remember, we've only got 12, so we've got two more left here. Creator partnerships and NIL expansion. So teams partnering with athletes as creators to leverage their NIL deals for marketing. So let me give you an example. A player shares their pregame routine in collaboration with a team sponsor on Instagram.

Maybe this is the pregame routine sponsored by Jiffy Lube or what have you, but that sponsorship deal, a portion of it goes to the student athletes, the other portion goes to the team, but universities are partnering with these NIL student athletes as creators to leverage their deal, leverage their audience, leverage their brand to be able to enhance the partnership.

Jeremy Neisser (24:05.406)
with the sponsor enhance the experience for the fans so they see what's happening behind the scenes and Everyone wins the student-athlete with the NIL deal the sponsor because they're getting a tremendous visibility the university because they're enhancing the brand recognition for the team and the fans because they're getting more awareness and more content about what's actually happening with the team so I see that happening it's a win-win-win-win all the way around so

My takeaway for you would be three to five athletes try to find some within your team's brand that you could offer co-branded opportunities. Game day, video blogs, sponsor shout outs. How do you get these athletes involved? If you're a minor league sports team or even a professional sports team, summer collegiate, how could you look to create some NIL opportunities with these athletes? Thinking through that.

So teams with NIL partnerships, 100%, I will see a higher engagement and higher conversions. This could be tickets, merchandise, or what have you through athlete-led campaigns. And number 12, name image likeness-focused platforms. So what are these? Platforms matching athletes with sponsors. They will evolve, and this will help support non-revenue sports in smaller markets. So your track team, your

potentially even volleyball student-athletes that aren't getting the revenue from NIL like the basketballs and the footballs and even some baseballs to an extent you're gonna start to see some of these student-athletes hop on to these platforms that match athletes with sponsors that will help evolve and support the sponsorship opportunities and what this will work and how this will work in smaller markets. So let's go back to my example of Jiffy Lube. Jiffy Lube is in every single market in America

probably some franchise opportunities, but Jiffy Lube as a whole says, hey, I want to try and some athletes that can talk about what it's like to get into Jiffy Lube, get a quick oil change and get out. I'm just using them as an example. So they may partner with a cross-country student athlete or a volleyball star that has an audience, but really hasn't tapped into this NIL bucket where these platforms are going to match athletes with sponsors and this will continue to grow.

Jeremy Neisser (26:28.92)
to where these smaller markets will find the ability to be able to enhance the experience and grow the sponsors at the local level. I love this idea. I think this is going to continue to evolve. We see this at the major, major level, huge national sponsors, Pepsi and AT &T. They're able to hop onto these platforms, but then it's going to venture down to your smaller markets. So I love it.

Keep an eye out for emerging NIL platforms to give athletes and sponsors streamlined ways to collaborate. Make it easy. This will help smaller market teams attract new opportunities. So there you go. Lots of great fan engagement marketing predictions for 2025. These are the ones that I came up with based on conversations, understanding where data is going, looking at trends, and really just digging into seeing

what major league teams are doing, what minor league teams are doing, how things are continuing to evolve. The future of sports marketing in 2025 is really all about meeting fans where they are and empowering them to connect on their terms. From hyper-personalization to flexible membership to short-form content to the NIL-driven collaboration, the common thread is adaptability. Teams that embrace innovation.

Leverage technology and focus on creating authentic, fan-first experiences will not only boost revenue but will build long-lasting loyalty. The challenge isn't just keeping up with trends, it's staying ahead by continually testing, learning and involving. So if you found this episode helpful, please take a moment to share a positive rating or review on Apple or Spotify. Until next time!