Industry News

LaLiga signs up G2 to boost ticket sales

Spanish football body LaLiga wants its clubs to match the sold-out stadia of England and Germany through a new ticketing programme to be designed by sports consultancy G2 Strategic. 

La Liga, which governs the top two divisions of the Spanish club game, has a long-term goal of improving attendances at matches. Average attendance figures and the percentage of stadia filled has long lagged behind England's Premier League and Germany's Bundesliga.

A total of 10.5m spectators attended top-tier LaLiga matches in the 2015-16 season, around 30% fewer than the 13.9m and 13.2m who attended Premier League and Bundesliga games respectively.

G2 has previously worked with France's top soccer division, Ligue 1, as well as basketball's Euroleague, on similar programmes.

Joaquín Blázquez Buisán, head of digital marketing and events at international advisory firm IMAP, has been appointed to head up the partnership alongside Marshall Glickman, chief executive of G2. 

Tebas said: “Following the completion of our new television contracts, the next step for LaLiga is to help educate our clubs regarding best practices that are implemented by sports leagues throughout the world.

"We accepted proposals from several firms, but after checking on G2’s work in France and over the years with Euroleague, we concluded that they will bring a fresh perspective to the table, which is exactly what we need. Increasing attendance is now among our highest priorities.”

The G2 scheme will see between eight and 12 teams selected to work with the company to develop specific plans for each club to encourage more supporters to watch games live in the stadium during the 2018-19 season.

Glickman said: “Over several years working with European leagues and clubs, we have concluded that the traditional economic model is too reliant on ‘natural demand’ from supporters and avid fans.

“As the traditional fan base slowly declines, I have had to coach my clients to adapt to an array of global demographic and consumer trends, as well as the economic realities they are all facing. The clubs cannot rely only on increasing payments from television rights.”

Posted in Industry News