A case of the Experience Economy: The Soccer Spanish League (LFP)

Lack of attendees at the Spanish Soccer Stadiums

Recently, I was listening to my favorite Spanish radio station when a debate came up about the lack of attendees to the Spanish soccer stadiums. I must declare that, although I live in Portland, Oregon, it is part of my weekend obligations to watch one or two (or three) games of the Spanish Soccer league and, as any Spaniard reading this will easily understand, watching soccer on TV and listening it through the Radio is a very special experience...
Anyway, back to the debate, the commentators were regretting the fact that in many of the stadiums the stands were half empty and were blaming the high price of the tickets for this situation; they were arguing that a significant price reduction would raise sales which would create a more supportive environment for the local teams and, from a financial point of view, it would generate higher revenues than the current scenario.

Messi vs Cristiano, FC Barcelona vs R.Madrid

At this point I would like to address this matter through the lens of the Experience Economy (*) and try to answer the following question: What do the fans exactly buy when they pay for a game ticket? If we look at the stats published but the LFP (Professional Soccer League in Spain) datos asistencia estadios LFP, out of the 8 stadiums with the highest attendance, 7 belonged to the top 7 clubs of the league table, which shows that the top teams fans seem to be buying a Winner Experience. If the team is having a good season, the chances of victory are higher which justifies the price of the ticket. Among these winner teams, a few stand out because their roasters include some of the world best soccer players (ie. FC Barcelona or Real Madrid), therefore, in this case their fans are also able to watch  every weekend the beautiful game of these top players. Interestingly enough, when any of these special clubs visit any other stadium, tickets are sold out to watch the stars of the opposite team. We could name this a Football Stars Experience.

My next point might be a bit controversial in Spain, but it does explain why in other leagues, mainly the English one, in spite of the fact that not all teams can win, most of their stadiums are sold out week in, week out. In England what the EPL spectators are also buying is a Tribal Experience. It is not by chance that the biggest football replica market is the English one; the atmosphere of their stadiums, the singing of their supporters, the history of their clubs are not comparable with any other league in Europe, and that sense of belonging to a group/club is experienced every game at the home (or often away) stadium. For the most part, the English liturgy is not part of the Spanish Football culture and therefore the tribal experience is not particularly interesting for the Spaniard consumer.

Will a ticket price reduction increase significantly the attendance of supporters to the Stadiums? I don't think so, unless a price cut guaranteed a better performance of the team, which is highly improbable. The stands are half empty because the holistic experience offered is not attractive:

-If you drive your car to go to the stadium, you'd better arrive at least 2-3 hours earlier or otherwise you will have to park really far away from your seat. You can expect traffic jams and long delays after the game, which is particularly annoying if on top of that your team has lost. If you use public transportation, the long lines and delays are also the norm.
-The seats at the stadium, far from being comfortable, are exposed to the weather conditions.
-The Catering stands are limited (long lines), low quality, limited offer and particularly expensive.
-Even if you buy a good seat ticket, chances are that you will be close to somebody who will spend the whole game insulting the referee or the striker of the opposite team... a very unpleasant experience for families with kids.
-You pay for 90 minutes of soccer, that's it. Not even a big screen to watch the replays is allowed in the stadium; nothing (any type of entertainment) happens before (in the surroundings of the stadium), at half time or after the game.
-Back home, fully stressed, you wonder if it is really worth to pay a single euro for this type of experience.

The NBA show

Perhaps this is a very extreme vision of Soccer day in Spain, but let's compare it with a similar experience in the NBA: Most of the games are sold out, no matter how well or bad the team is doing that season. Why? Because on top of Winner or Basketball Stars experiences (or not), their games offer a holistic entertainment for the attendees (especially families) before, during and after the game:
-Games and activities outside the arena and during the game on the Court.
-Cheerleaders and Dancers offering performances during the game
-Diverse and plenty of catering options with a fast (and expensive) service.
-Screens on the court that allow to see again the best plays from any seat in the arena.


Obviously, different sports (Soccer and Basketball) in different sport centres, so it is not a matter of copy/paste the formula but to understand that, even for a non big Basketball fan, an NBA game is an entertaining sport show, an experience likely to be repeated.

The Spanish Soccer games could be sold out again if consumers obtained an Entertaining Football Experience for the prices of their tickets. The LFP and Clubs executives should think about enhancing each and every element of that experience to make it memorable, extraordinary and repeatable every weekend. Certainly, this won't be an easy task but the return can be huge.

(*) B. Joseph Pine in the The Experience Economy: Work is theatre & every business a stage (1999), describes the Experience Economy where consumers don't purchase only goods or services but demand more and more experiences, memorable events that connect with them in a more personal way.