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Sales are soft for Friday's game and someone says the word every ticket office reaches for: discount. Jeremy Neisser makes the case that a price cut and a value add are two completely different promotions — one lowers what fans expect to pay from here on out, the other raises what they believe they're getting. He walks through the research on reference pricing, a study of MLB bobblehead promotions from 2012 to 2023 that moved attendance without touching ticket price, and real packages from the Blue Jackets, Bulls, Dynamo, and Rocket City Trash Pandas. Then he gives you the five places to look for value before you ever subtract from the price.

KEY TOPICS COVERED
- Why running discounts often enough quietly retrains what your fans believe a ticket is worth
- What a reference price is, and how a repeated $5 off resets the number in your fan's head
- The difference between changing your price and changing your offer — and why only one of them costs you revenue
- Research showing fans value promotions for being fun, different, and worth talking about, not just for the savings
- Why "we got hats with our tickets" travels further than "I saved $4"
- What an MLB bobblehead study from 2012 to 2023 found about gate giveaways versus special ticket packages — and what both had in common
- Real value-add packages you can copy from the Columbus Blue Jackets, Chicago Bulls, Houston Dynamo, and Rocket City Trash Pandas
- The five buckets every add-on comes from: food, merchandise, access, recognition, and experience
- How to find high-perceived-value add-ons that cost your team close to nothing
- Why the word "free" can make a fan value your giveaway less — and the one-line fix
- How to build exclusivity and scarcity into a value add so it drives a specific game
- The filter to bring into your next promo meeting before anyone reaches for a promo code

TIMESTAMPS
[00:00] – The Monday problem: soft sales, a Friday game, and the instinct to discount
[01:39] – Why discounting feels obvious — we're all trained to hunt for deals
[03:04] – The hidden cost of discounting too often
[03:58] – What a $20 ticket sold for $15 actually communicates to a fan
[04:54] – Reference price explained: the number every fan already carries
[06:15] – The Michael's picture frame problem, and how price sensitivity compounds
[07:10] – Value adds change the offer instead of the price
[08:10] – Why fans value a promotion for more than the savings
[08:39] – The Chandon, Wansink, and Laurent research on what people get out of a promotion
[09:31] – The psychology of getting "a little something extra"
[10:53] – The Savannah Bananas story: what surprise and delight actually looks like
[11:23] – The MLB bobblehead study: giveaways moved attendance up to 13%, ticket packages about 8%
[12:51] – Two approaches, two attendance increases, zero dollars off the ticket
[13:19] – Blue Jackets family value pack, Bulls family packs, and the Houston Dynamo four pack
[14:18] – The five buckets: food, merchandise, access, recognition, experience
[15:46] – Concrete add-on ideas inside each of the five buckets
[17:13] – Low actual cost, high perceived value — and why your building is already full of it
[18:12] – What this means for a GM, external relations director, or ticket sales director
[18:40] – Why "free" can backfire, and how to name the value instead
[20:06] – The question to bring back to your team
[20:35] – Running all five buckets in the meeting before you approve a discount
[21:32] – Final takeaway: our job isn't cheaper tickets, it's a more valuable game

CALL TO ACTION
If this sparked an idea, share the episode with someone in your office — then leave a rating or review on Spotify or Apple. It puts the show in front of more people trying to do exactly what you're doing: grow a fan base and sell more tickets.

QUOTE PULLS
"Discount often enough and you start teaching your fans to wait for the cheaper ticket." — Jeremy Neisser

"I didn't change the price. I changed what you get for it." — Jeremy Neisser

"Two approaches, two real attendance increases, zero dollars off the ticket. They didn't make baseball cheaper — they made going to that baseball game more valuable." — Jeremy Neisser

"Low actual cost, high perceived value. That's the whole game. And your building is full of this stuff — you're just not selling it." — Jeremy Neisser

"Our job isn't to make tickets cheaper. Our job is to make going to the game feel more valuable." — Jeremy Neisser

Links mentioned: 

1. Non-monetary promotions provide benefits beyond saving money
Pierre Chandon, Brian Wansink & Gilles Laurent, Journal of Marketing, “A Benefit Congruency Framework of Sales Promotion Effectiveness.”

Read the Journal of Marketing study

2. Free-gift framing can create a “feeling lucky” effect
Liu, Wei, Yang & Keh, International Journal of Research in Marketing, “Feeling Lucky: How Framing the Target Product as a Free Gift Enhances Purchase Intention.”

This is particularly strong because the researchers ran four studies, including a field experiment involving actual purchases, and found that certain free-gift framing increased feelings of luck, which increased purchase intention. 

Read the Feeling Lucky study

3. Calling something “free” can reduce its perceived value
Priya Raghubir, Journal of Consumer Psychology, “Free Gift with Purchase: Promoting or Discounting the Brand?”

The experiments found evidence that consumers can value a product less when it's offered as a free gift. Providing alternate price/value information helped inhibit that effect — which supports the idea of “Limited-edition hat — a $25 value” rather than simply “FREE HAT!” 

Read Raghubir's free-gift research

4. Sports-specific evidence: special-ticket packages and giveaways increase attendance
International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, 2026, “Special ticket packages and stadium giveaway promotions and the effect on demand for live sporting events.”

Researchers analyzed MLB bobblehead promotions from 2012–2023 and found special-ticket packages increased paid attendance by 8%, while traditional stadium giveaways increased it by as much as 13%. 

Read the sports marketing study at Emerald Publishing

Real-world sports examples mentioned

Columbus Blue Jackets — Family Value Pack
Starts at $35/person and includes a game ticket, value meal and OhioHealth Chiller skate pass. Blue Jackets Family Value Pack

Chicago Bulls — Family Ticket Packs
Includes a ticket, hot dog, chips and fountain drink. This is a great example because it's so simple: ticket + dinner. Chicago Bulls Family Ticket Packs

Houston Dynamo FC — Family 4-Pack
For 2026, the Dynamo announced a $99 package for Saturday matches that includes four tickets plus $40 in concession credit.  Houston Dynamo 2026 Family 4-Pack

Rocket City Trash Pandas — 2026 promotional calendar
Their official MiLB announcement details their premium giveaways and special-appearance strategy.  Rocket City Trash Pandas 2026 promotions

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Teams describe what they sell. Fans describe what they're doing. Nobody at home says "let's buy a five-game flex plan this summer" — they say "what are we doing Friday night?" In Episode 179, Jeremy Neisser breaks down four rules for closing that gap: write for the first timer, sell what your buyer was already trying to do, make your offer repeatable, and stop making your team the main character. It's a practical messaging reset for ticket pages, group sales pages, promotions, and every email you send this season — with a free worksheet you can drop straight into ChatGPT or Claude.

KEY TOPICS COVERED
- Why "flex plan," "membership," and "hospitality" quietly cost you sales even though they sound like plain English
- How to measure clarity by the first timer instead of the season ticket holder who already knows everything
- The exact rewrites that turn ticket-office language into fan language ("five-game flex plan" → "pick any five games")
- Why "Thirsty Thursday" still needs the $2 drafts spelled out next to it
- How to start your marketing with what the buyer was already trying to accomplish instead of your inventory
- Why the same mom in your CRM is three separate sales across April, June, and August — and how to message each one
- Where segmentation stops short: knowing who someone is doesn't tell you why they're buying today
- The difference between friction ("can they buy it?") and repeatability ("can they sell it for you?")
- The handoff test for group offers your HR director has to pitch to 40 coworkers
- Why most of the people in your building on a Friday night didn't buy the roster
- What to do with roster, affiliation, and prospect messaging instead of abandoning it
- The four-question test to run one underperforming offer through this week

TIMESTAMPS
[00:00] – The pattern you can't unsee: teams describe what they sell, fans describe what they're doing
[01:22] – What's coming: four rules for fixing the gap between team language and fan language
[01:52] – Why clarity always wins, and why cute and clever doesn't sell tickets
[04:13] – The free PDF worksheet — and how to load it into ChatGPT or Claude to write better copy
[04:43] – Rule 1: Write for the first timer, because clarity is measured by the person who's never been
[06:34] – Why "Thirsty Thursday" needs "$2 drafts all game long" attached to it
[08:00] – Rule 2: Sell what they're already trying to do — nobody wakes up wanting a group outing
[08:54] – Three live rewrites: company picnics, end-of-season youth nights, and premium hospitality
[11:20] – One mom, three reasons, three sales: April, June, and August are different buyers
[13:43] – Rule 3: Make it repeatable, because in sports your buyer has to recruit other buyers
[16:08] – Friction vs. repeatability, and why a two-click checkout still isn't enough
[17:52] – Rule 4: You're not what they came for — the hardest rule for teams to accept
[18:22] – Who's actually in your building on a Friday night, seat by seat
[20:44] – "How we view things drives how we do things" — the Chick-fil-A framing on creating value
[23:06] – Side-by-side message comparisons: all-star shortstop vs. run the bases Friday night
[24:59] – The four-question test to run before you send anything
[25:28] – Ask one question of your last ten messages: who is the main character?
[25:58] – Practical takeaway: pick one offer that isn't moving and rewrite it this week
[27:25] – Why clearer messaging is how sports grows from here
[27:55] – The people actually coming to your games, and why the fan is the main character

CALL TO ACTION
There's a free PDF worksheet for this episode in the show notes — download it, drop it into ChatGPT or Claude as part of your copywriting instructions, and use it on your next email or ticket page. Then pick one offer that isn't moving the way you hoped and run it through the four questions. Questions about your messaging? Email Jeremy at Sports Marketing Machine.

QUOTE PULLS
"Teams describe what they sell, but fans describe what they're doing." — Jeremy Neisser
"Don't make people learn your language before they can buy from you." — Jeremy Neisser
"Friction asks, can they buy it? Repeatability asks, can they sell it for you?" — Jeremy Neisser
"The problem isn't that teams talk about themselves too much. It's that they advertise the one thing most of their fans don't buy." — Jeremy Neisser
"Players leave. Rosters turn over. Seasons end. Memories don't." — Jeremy Neisser
"Our job isn't to be the hero of the story. It's to set the stage for the story the fan gets to tell afterward." — Jeremy Neisser

Links mentioned:
David Salyer's Chick Fil A - video clip
154 – How to Make Your Group Sales Page Easier to Buy From

FREE DOWNLOAD - LINK

Take the download and use it inside ChatGPT or Claude for instructions to help you write better copy

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Some of the cheapest, easiest promotions to run are the ones fans are already doing on their own. In Episode 178, Jeremy Neisser breaks down two low-maintenance promotional nights built entirely on existing demand: hosting fantasy football drafts in your suites and running a fidget trading meetup for families. Both come with real pricing examples, a small tweak that turns a one-night rental into future attendance, and the marketing rule that decides whether they sell. If you've got a soft date and no budget to fix it, this is the episode to act on.

KEY TOPICS COVERED
- Why the cheapest promotions to run are ones fans already do without you — and how to spot them
- How to package your suites or private spaces as fantasy football draft nights while draft season is still live
- Real pricing benchmarks teams are using ($400 for 20 people per suite; $900 per suite with extras)
- The one tweak stolen from Boise State — bundling a specific game ticket — that turns a room rental into a date on your calendar
- What Boise State, the Baltimore Ravens, and a baseball team actually included in their draft packages
- How to read Google Trends to catch a promotion while demand is climbing, using fidget trading as the example
- Everything a fidget trading meetup requires on your end (spoiler: a board and a room)
- How to build a branded trading board in Canva in about 20 minutes and print it locally for next to nothing
- The single principle that makes both ideas cost almost nothing to run
- How to write the offer in the buyer's words so it actually gets booked
- Where to run these on a soft date — suites, pregame and postgame spaces, or any open area
- How to keep the booking flow simple: visible price, clear inclusions, one button

TIMESTAMPS
[00:00] – Two easy promo ideas built to rescue a soft date on your schedule
[00:43] – Why fantasy football draft season makes this an August-into-September play
[01:12] – A suite rental example: $400 for 20 people and how the draft-night setup works
[01:42] – What Boise State and the Baltimore Ravens added to make their packages sell out
[02:40] – The bundling move that turns a one-night rental into future attendance
[03:10] – Fidget trading explained, and why families already get it
[03:39] – How stores and Chick-fil-A locations are already hosting trading meetups
[04:07] – What a fidget trading event actually needs from your venue
[04:35] – Build a branded trading board fast with Canva, ChatGPT, and a local printer
[05:31] – The shared reason both promotions work: you're supplying space, not creating demand
[06:29] – Sell it with the buyer's words — "host your fantasy draft here," not "suite rental package"
[07:26] – The best way to use these ideas when the date is soft and the budget is zero
[07:56] – Closing thoughts and an invitation to share how your event goes

CALL TO ACTION
If you've got a soft date coming up with no budget to fix it, pick one of these and run it — a fantasy draft in your suites or a fidget trading day at your ballpark or arena. Then head to Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a rating or review so the show reaches more sports marketers trying to sell more tickets and grow their fan base. Jeremy would also love to hear how your event turns out.



Links Mentioned:
SkyCarp Fantasy Football Packages
Baltimore Ravens Fantasy Football Package
Arizona Diamondbacks Fantasy Football Package
Hartford YardGoats Fantasy Football Package
Boise State Fantasy Football Package
Toledo MudHens Fantasy Football Package

Google Trends - Fidget Trading
Instagram - Fidget Trading
Fidget Trading Boards

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In the finale of the three-part Fan Journeys series, Jeremy Neisser shows sports teams how to stop losing fans by finding their single biggest leak and fixing it before touching anything else. He hands you a three-number diagnostic that pinpoints exactly where fans drop off, then walks through the specific email automations that close the capture gap, the relevance gap, and the re-engagement gap. If you've ever felt like everything in your marketing needs fixing at once, this episode gives you the order of operations to actually make progress.

KEY TOPICS COVERED
- The three-number test that shows you exactly where fans are leaking out of your journey — using data you already have
- Why trying to fix every leak at once guarantees you fix none of them
- How to calculate your capture gap, relevance gap, and re-engagement gap and rank them by impact
- Building an automated three-email post-game sequence that turns first-time attendees into repeat buyers
- Why first-time fans should never land in your general email blast list
- Simple three-bucket segmentation by attendance frequency — no expensive CRM required
- How to test different offers, subject lines, and tones by fan group and learn what actually converts
- Building a win-back sequence that reactivates lapsed fans and identifies who still has real interest
- When to let non-responders go and focus your energy on the fans who re-engage
- Why clarity and discipline beat a bigger tech budget every time
- The mindset shift from exporting-and-importing lists to running an intentional system
- Why systems compound while campaigns end — and what that means for your attendance

Episodes Mentioned:
Episode 176 - Where Fans Are Leaking Out(And Why It Happens in the Same Places Every Time) (Part 2 of 3)

Episode 175 - The Fan Journey: The 5-Stage Map That Turns Single-Game Buyers Into Season Ticket Holders (Part 1 of 3)

TIMESTAMPS
[00:00] – Kicking off Episode 177, the finale of the three-part Fan Journeys series
[00:28] – Quick recap of the framework: capture, know, respond, return, grow
[00:56] – The whiteboard test — can you actually draw your own fan marketing process?
[01:41] – Why the "fix everything" instinct stalls teams for six months with nothing to show
[02:09] – The move that works: find your biggest leak and plug it first
[02:33] – The simple three-number framework for spotting where fans drop off
[03:27] – How to calculate your capture gap (1,000 attendees to 100 repeat buyers)
[03:57] – Reading the relevance gap and re-engagement gap in the numbers
[04:25] – Why your widest gap is always your starting point
[04:48] – Building a post-game email sequence for first-time attendees
[05:18] – The second email: making a low-barrier, first-timer offer that's a no-brainer
[05:46] – The third email and why a simple automated sequence outperforms a blast
[06:14] – Don't dump first-timers into your 20,000-person list — build an intentional journey
[06:40] – Plugging the relevance gap with segmentation that isn't complicated
[07:08] – The three attendance buckets: one game, two-to-five, six-plus
[07:34] – Testing different offers, tones, and subject lines by group
[07:59] – Why you're learning valuable data even when most fans don't come back
[08:24] – Same email to everyone means you're relevant to no one
[08:51] – You don't need a $50K CRM — a spreadsheet and basic automations will do
[09:20] – Building a win-back sequence for quiet and lapsed fans
[09:50] – Triggering the sequence when a fan hits your inactivity threshold
[10:17] – What a win-back offer should actually do (and better subject lines to use)
[10:45] – Focus on the fans who re-engage — let the rest go
[11:15] – The real issue isn't tools, it's clarity and discipline
[11:44] – Why growth comes from building one system, then the next
[12:14] – Get really good at one or two things before adding more
[12:40] – Most teams already have the tools — what's missing is the connection
[13:07] – An open invitation to schedule a call and walk through implementation
[13:37] – How a mapped fan journey helps you sell more tickets
[14:03] – The final takeaway: find your biggest leak and start there
[14:32] – Systems compound, campaigns end
[15:02] – Share the series with your GM, director, or ownership group
[15:29] – Final thanks and sign-off

CALL TO ACTION
Want to walk through this for your own team? Jeremy is offering a 20–30 minute call to help you map your fan journey, find your biggest leak, and figure out how to build the fix inside the email software you already have. Grab a time at sportsmarketingmachine.com or use the link in the show notes.

QUOTE PULLS
"When you try to fix everything, you actually fix nothing." — Jeremy Neisser
"The tools are secondary. The system is primary." — Jeremy Neisser
"Systems compound. Campaigns end." — Jeremy Neisser
"You don't need a $50,000 CRM. You need a spreadsheet and a willingness to write down three versions of an email." — Jeremy Neisser
"Most sports teams already have everything they need to start. What's missing isn't technology — it's someone who sees how everything connects." — Jeremy Neisser

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Every team loses fans in the same three places — and most have no idea it's happening. In Part 2 of the Fan Journey series, Jeremy Neisser pinpoints the capture gap, the relevance gap, and the re-engagement gap: exactly where fans exit before they should and why the pattern repeats regardless of league, sport, or market size. You'll learn how these leaks compound season after season, and get a simple exercise to find your biggest one and start there. If you're spending marketing dollars to replace fans you already had, this episode shows you where the money is draining out.

ICYMI: Part 1 of Fan Journey Series

KEY TOPICS COVERED
- Why the same three fan leaks show up in every organization — from Triple-A to summer collegiate, in markets of 30,000 or 7 million
- The 85% problem: how many single-game buyers never return, and why that's a systems issue, not a product issue
- The capture gap — why the highest-value window with a new fan closes before most teams do anything with it
- What actually happens to a fan after they buy: receipt, survey, then dumped onto the general promo list
- The relevance gap — how generic email blasts quietly train fans to tune you out
- Turning the data you already own (surveys, purchase history, attendee records) into communication that feels personal
- The re-engagement gap — the most expensive and most common leak of the three
- Why a "buy tickets, opening day is coming" blast is not a re-engagement strategy
- The campaigns-vs-systems distinction: a campaign runs once, a system runs forever
- How all three leaks compound and shrink every stage downstream
- Why the teams that grow attendance have the fewest leaks, not the best product
- A step-by-step exercise to diagnose your single biggest leak this week

TIMESTAMPS
[00:00] – Why understanding where fans leak out matters more than any single tactic
[00:28] – The uncomfortable truth: fan drop-off patterns are identical across every sport and market size
[00:55] – Fans leak out of the journey in the same three predictable places
[01:37] – The fan journey is already happening — your job is to stop letting it happen by accident
[02:01] – External excuses vs. the real system problem behind fan loss
[02:30] – Why a significant share of drop-off comes down to irrelevant communication
[02:54] – The stat that reframes everything: 85% of single-game buyers don't return next year
[03:24] – Leak #1, the capture gap: failing to activate a fan right after they buy
[03:53] – What most teams send after a first game — and why it falls flat
[04:19] – Why the post-first-game window is the highest-value moment you'll ever have
[04:47] – Leak #2, the relevance gap: how generic emails train fans to ignore you
[05:07] – Using fan data you already have to make communication feel personal
[05:36] – Leak #3, the re-engagement gap: why lapsed fans need an automatic system
[06:05] – Building a system that reaches out to fans who've gone quiet
[06:29] – What a real re-engagement message sounds like vs. a promo blast
[07:16] – The cost of skipping re-engagement, and why systems beat campaigns
[07:44] – How the three leaks compound on each other season after season
[08:14] – The practical exercise: audit your database and post-first-game communication
[08:41] – Diagnose your specific leak before you try to fix anything
[09:11] – Moving from one-time campaigns to ongoing, repeatable processes
[09:37] – Why growing your base of loyal fans beats chasing new ones
[10:04] – How plugging your biggest leak moves attendance and revenue
[10:34] – Start small: find your single largest leak and begin there
[11:03] – Using data to see exactly what fans received after their first game
[11:32] – How to check whether your communication is actually landing
[11:57] – Systematizing re-engagement so fans keep returning
[12:25] – Final encouragement and an invitation to get help diagnosing your leaks
[12:53] – Wrap-up and a teaser for Part 3: how to actually plug the leaks

CALL TO ACTION
Diagnosing your biggest leak is this week's assignment. If you'd rather walk through it with someone, click the link in the show notes and schedule a call with Jeremy — he'll help you map your fan journey and find where you're losing the most buyers.

QUOTE PULLS
"85% of fans who bought a single game ticket last year don't come to next year. That's a systems problem, and systems problems have patterns." — Jeremy Neisser

"Fans don't leave because they stopped caring. They leave because you stopped communicating in a way that felt relevant to them." — Jeremy Neisser

"The window right after a fan's first game is the highest value window you'll ever have with that person — and most teams let it close without doing anything intentional." — Jeremy Neisser

"The fix isn't sending more emails. The fix is sending more relevant emails. And relevance comes from actually using the data you have." — Jeremy Neisser

"A campaign runs once. A system runs forever." — Jeremy Neisser

"The teams that grow their attendance year over year aren't the ones with the best product. They're the ones with the fewest leaks." — Jeremy Neisser

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Most marketing directors couldn't draw their own fan marketing process on a whiteboard — and that gap is quietly costing their team repeat buyers. 

In Part 1 of this three-part series, Jeremy Neisser introduces the Fan Journey: a five-stage framework (Capture, Know, Respond, Return, Grow) that turns a scattered list of tactics into a system you can actually steer. You'll learn why your team is already running this journey whether you designed it or not, and how to use the framework as a diagnostic tool to find exactly where fans are leaking out.

KEY TOPICS COVERED
• Why most marketing directors can't map their own fan process — and what that blind spot costs in repeat revenue
• The critical difference between doing marketing (one-off blasts) and running a marketing system that guides fans automatically
• The big idea: your team is already running the fan journey, whether you designed it or not
• Stage 1 — Capture: turning first-time awareness into a ticket sale and captured fan data
• Stage 2 — Know: moving beyond a "filing cabinet" of names into real understanding of who your fans are
• Stage 3 — Respond: sending communication so relevant it feels like it was written for that specific fan
• Stage 4 — Return: win-back campaigns, lapsed fan reactivation, and second-game offers that create repeat buyers
• Stage 5 — Grow: converting multi-game buyers into mini plan, flex plan, and season ticket holders
• How to use the framework as a diagnostic tool to pinpoint exactly where fans leak out
• Why fans not returning is usually a systems problem, not a product, weather, or competition problem
• A step-by-step exercise to map your own team's fan journey this week
• The right questions to pressure-test each stage — do you have systems, or just campaigns?

TIMESTAMPS
[00:00] – Opening: kicking off a new three-part series on the Fan Journey and the lens shift ahead
[00:29] – The whiteboard test: could you draw your full fan marketing process, start to finish?
[00:57] – Why most directors describe tactics instead of a connected strategy
[01:47] – What 20+ years in sports reveals: teams list activities, but miss the system
[02:38] – Doing marketing vs. running a marketing system — and why the difference matters
[03:08] – The big idea: your team is already running the fan journey, designed or not
[04:01] – Stage 1, Capture: how a fan first hears about you and buys that first ticket
[04:50] – Stage 2, Know: using ticket data, email, phone, and surveys to understand the fan
[05:19] – Stage 3, Respond: putting fan knowledge to work with communication built for them
[06:19] – Stage 4, Return: win-back campaigns, reactivation, and second-game offers
[06:48] – Stage 5, Grow: moving single-game buyers up to mini plans and season tickets
[08:43] – Recap of the full map: Capture, Know, Respond, Return, Grow
[09:11] – Why it matters: the framework as a diagnostic tool, not just a concept
[10:02] – Finding the leaks: every team loses fans, usually in the same places
[10:56] – The e-blast trap: downloading a list and blasting it isn't a system
[11:15] – Systems problem, not product problem: why fans really don't come back
[11:39] – Your assignment: map your own fan journey on paper or a whiteboard
[12:31] – Pressure-testing each stage: do you have systems, or just campaigns?
[12:58] – Converting repeat buyers into plan holders beyond "smiling and dialing"
[13:26] – Closing thoughts and a tease for Episode 2: where the leaks show up

QUOTE PULLS
"Your team is already running the fan journey, whether you designed it or not. Your job is to stop letting it happen by accident." — Jeremy Neisser

"There's a massive difference between doing marketing and running a marketing system." — Jeremy Neisser

"This framework is actually a diagnostic tool. It shows you exactly where fans are leaking out of the journey." — Jeremy Neisser

"A lot of the time the fan would have come back. They just never got the right message at the right time. That's a systems problem, not a product problem." — Jeremy Neisser

"The fan journey isn't something you build. It's something that's already happening." — Jeremy Neisser

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Most teams push mini plans hard from October through March, then go silent the moment the season starts — right when they're creating new fans at every home game. In Episode 174, Jeremy Neisser makes the case that your warmest mini plan prospect is the fan driving home from tonight's game, not a cold name from last winter. He breaks down the psychology of selling to fans while the experience is still fresh, why teams stop even when they know better, and five tactics you can run this week to turn single-game buyers into repeat fans.

KEY TOPICS COVERED
• Why the fan who just attended is a qualified buyer — not a cold prospect — and how that erases the hardest part of the sale
• The simple math that proves every home game produces a fresh list of mini plan prospects
• The real reason fans buy mini plans (hint: it's not the sport) and how to sell to fresh emotion instead of faded memory
• The ladder that moves a casual fan to a lifer: single game = acquisition, mini plans = habit formation, season tickets = loyalty
• How to build packages from the games left on your schedule instead of waiting for a full season of inventory
• Why in-season prospects are already warm — you have their email, phone, and attendance data right now
• How selling mini plans in July feeds next year's season ticket pipeline before renewals even start
• The organizational trap that quietly kills mini plan sales during the season — and the one-person fix for it
• The commission problem that pushes reps toward big groups and away from mini plans
• The 24-hour thank-you email that hits fans at their highest-value moment
• The "two games in 30 days" CRM trigger that flags your warmest in-season leads
• The limited-time ticket-credit offer that lowers the barrier to commit
• Using a QR code on the video board to catch fans at peak enthusiasm
• The post-game text that turns a first visit into a second one

TIMESTAMPS
[00:00] — Jeremy spots the pattern: teams promote fireworks, giveaways, and bobbleheads front and center, but stop selling the one product built to create repeat buyers
[00:56] — Why quitting mini plan sales in-season means walking past new fans you're creating at every home game
[02:05] — Prospect vs. qualified buyer: the fundamental thing most teams miss about in-season selling
[03:11] — The hottest lead in your database is the fan driving home from tonight's game
[03:45] — Run the math on one game: 3,500 fans, 700 first-timers, 300 who had a great time — and why they should be on tomorrow's outreach
[04:35] — The real reason in-season selling works, and it's not about tickets — it's fresh emotion
[05:30] — Selling the day after asks fans to repeat what they felt; selling in October asks them to remember it
[06:20] — You're not selling tickets, you're selling habits: how repeat attendance becomes a behavior pattern
[07:00] — Mini plans as the bridge: acquisition to habit formation to loyalty, and walking fans up the ladder
[07:44] — Five reasons in-season mini plan selling works
[08:14] — Reason #1: Every home game is a lead-generation event — treat attendance as a list, not a number
[08:43] — Reason #2: The remaining schedule is your inventory — package fireworks, rivalries, and flex nights intentionally
[09:12] — Reason #3: Fans understand the value better after attending (the Chick-fil-A analogy)
[09:41] — How the post-game follow-up feels like a reminder, not a sales pitch
[10:08] — Reason #4: You already have their contact info — email, phone, and which games they attended
[10:29] — Reason #5: In-season mini plans build next year's season ticket pipeline right now
[10:58] — Why teams stop selling mini plans — and why it's not really their fault
[11:25] — How game-day execution mode crowds out sales mode across the whole organization
[12:19] — Mini plans disappear because nobody owns them anymore — not because nobody cares
[12:46] — The commission problem: why reps chase $2,500 groups over $150 mini plans, and how marketing can help
[13:15] — The fix: assign one person to own in-season mini plan selling and automate the outreach
[13:45] — Tactic #1: The 24-hour thank-you email with a simple mini plan offer
[14:11] — Tactic #2: The "two games in 30 days" trigger — flag repeat attendees as warm leads
[15:10] — Why multi-game buyers are the warmest in-season list you can build
[15:40] — Tactic #3: The limited-time ticket-credit offer that lowers the barrier to commit
[16:10] — Tactic #4: A QR code on the video board to catch fans at peak enthusiasm
[16:36] — Tactic #5: The post-game text to recent buyers the morning after
[17:05] — This week's challenge: audit your CRM for one-game buyers nobody has personally contacted
[18:04] — The main takeaway: acquisition, habit formation, loyalty — and why mini plans are the bridge
[18:58] — Final reminder: the best time to sell the next ticket is while the experience is still fresh

CALL TO ACTION
If you're building your second-half sales strategy, there's a lot more on this topic — reach out and Jeremy is happy to talk through how it could look as you export lists and work on selling more tickets in the back half of the year. And if the episode helped, leave a rating or review on Apple or Spotify to get it in front of more people trying to sell more tickets and grow their fan base.

QUOTE PULLS
"The hottest lead in your database is the fan driving home from tonight's game — not the one from last April." — Jeremy Neisser

"The issue isn't that fans won't commit. It's that teams stop asking at the exact wrong time." — Jeremy Neisser

"Sell a mini plan the day after the game and you're not asking a fan to imagine something. You're asking them to repeat something they just felt." — Jeremy Neisser

"Single game tickets are acquisition. Mini plans are habit formation. Season tickets are loyalty. Mini plans are the bridge." — Jeremy Neisser

"Mini plans don't disappear because nobody cares. They disappear because nobody owns them anymore." — Jeremy Neisser

Revelocity Sports
Sports Marketing Machine on LinkedIn
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Book a call with Jeremy from Sports Marketing Machine

Send us Fan Mail

Most sports teams know exactly who their fans are — the fireworks families, the premium buyers, the last-minute deal seekers — and still send every one of them the same email blast. In Episode 173, Jeremy Neisser uses a simple ice cream shop analogy to show why that quietly drives fans away, and why the fix isn't better copy or a new platform. It's a system that responds to fan behavior after the send. If you felt the pull of Episode 171 on lifecycle marketing but haven't built anything yet, this is the episode that explains what's actually stopping you.

Register for the upcoming July 23 webinar: REGISTER

KEY TOPICS COVERED
- Why "we know we should be doing this" is the most common response from teams — and the real reason they never start
- How to tell the difference between an email problem and a systems problem (and why it matters for your results)
- The weekly email workflow that feels productive but keeps you stuck in the same loop all season
- Why sending everyone the same blast wastes the fan data you already have on purchases, promo nights, and spend
- The Bluey Night example: how generic messaging makes loyal fans feel unseen and stop paying attention
- Why personalization stalls — it's not that teams don't believe in it, it's that it feels overwhelming
- The critical distinction between campaigns and systems, and why great email marketing is built on systems
- How fans actually experience your team (as a night out, not a campaign) and what that means for your marketing
- What should happen after every open, click, purchase, attendance, and no-show
- The one question to ask this week that reveals whether you have a system or just a send button
- How teams are automating their way into more ticket revenue without adding nights and weekends

TIMESTAMPS
[0:00] — The ice cream shop analogy: why knowing your customer means nothing if you market to everyone the same
[2:05] — Connecting back to Episode 171 on lifecycle marketing and reframing the real issue as a systems problem
[3:00] — The repetitive weekly email workflow that feels like progress but keeps teams stuck
[3:53] — You already have the data: who buys premium, who brings kids, who waits until the last minute
[4:50] — The Bluey Night example — what generic messaging feels like from the fan's side
[5:41] — Why this is a systems issue, not a copywriting or creative one
[7:02] — Campaigns vs. systems: the difference between good and great email marketing
[8:27] — Why systems keep running while campaigns end and require someone to remember
[9:26] — The central takeaway: the email isn't finished when you hit send
[10:24] — Building follow-up experiences after every fan interaction
[11:50] — The question to sit with this week: after someone buys a ticket, what happens next?
[12:16] — The upcoming webinar on automating more ticket revenue with the tools you already have
[13:13] — Closing: leave a rating or review to help other ticket sellers find the show

CALL TO ACTION
If this episode has you asking "where do I even start?" — register for the upcoming webinar. Jeremy walks through the framework for building automated journeys, triggers, and priorities using the tools your team already has, with examples from teams that built these systems without working nights and weekends. Link in the show notes.

Links mentioned: 

Episode 171

Episode Webpage

QUOTE PULLS
"It's not an email problem. It's a systems problem." — Jeremy Neisser

"Most sports teams know exactly who their fans are and what they like. They just don't market like it." — Jeremy Neisser

"Campaigns end. Systems keep running. Campaigns require someone to remember — systems remember for you." — Jeremy Neisser

"The email isn't finished when you hit send. It's finished when it changes what your fan does next." — Jeremy Neisser

"The best marketing organizations don't think about sending emails. They think about building experiences." — Jeremy Neisser

Revelocity Sports
Sports Marketing Machine on LinkedIn
Sports Marketing Machine on Instagram
Book a call with Jeremy from Sports Marketing Machine

Send us Fan Mail

Your promotions page is live, but half your nights are just names — "Taylor Swift Night," "Oil Field Appreciation Weekend" — with no details. A promotion with no details doesn't sell tickets, even when the night itself is great. 

In Episode 172, Jeremy Neisser breaks down the Minimum Viable Promo: the smallest concrete detail you can add today so a first-time visitor understands why a night is worth showing up for. You'll get the framework, real examples from across Minor League Baseball, and three fixes you can make this week.

KEY TOPICS COVERED
• Why reading your own promotions page like a first-time fan exposes the gap quietly costing you ticket sales
• How teams end up with promo pages full of bare titles — and why it's a timing problem, not a competence one
• The Minimum Viable Promo (MVP) framework: the lowest bar of detail that still gives fans a reason to buy
• How a single descriptive sentence turns "Taylor Swift Night" into a night fans recognize as "for me"
• What the Chattanooga Lookouts do differently — describing every promotion while leading MiLB in ticket sales growth
• The Dueling Pianos lesson: how one line of copy can sell a night with no sponsor and no photo
• A side-by-side from the Midland Rockhounds showing a detailed promo vs. a vague one on the same page
• The three practical fixes: publish with whatever you know, schedule a recurring revisit, and focus on the next 2–3 games
• Why the 72-hour buying window means your next few games matter more than the whole season
• How to use a recurring 15-minute calendar block to keep details current without adding staff or budget
• The clarity principle — "when you confuse people, you lose people" — and how it applies to every promo listing
• A simple to-do you can run today on your next two or three games

TIMESTAMPS
[00:00] – Why your promotions page might be quietly costing you ticket sales
[00:29] – The pattern across MiLB, the majors, hockey, and soccer: nights posted as names and never updated
[01:06] – A live promo page with no details still doesn't sell — even when the night is phenomenal
[01:22] – This is a timing problem, not a competence problem: why it happens to good teams
[01:44] – Promotions get planned months out before giveaways, sponsors, and specials are locked in
[02:11] – Introducing the Minimum Viable Promo (MVP): borrowing "minimum viable product" for your promo page
[02:45] – The lowest bar: one concrete thing that tells a fan why this night is different
[03:36] – "Taylor Swift Night" vs. a one-sentence description that creates a reason to come
[04:03] – The single sentence that flips a fan from scrolling past to "that's for me"
[04:33] – Case study: the Chattanooga Lookouts describe every promotion — and lead MiLB in ticket sales growth
[05:02] – Effective copy in action: the Dueling Pianos "this ain't your mama's" example
[05:58] – The gap illustrated: Midland Rockhounds' detailed Thirsty Thursday vs. vague Oil Field Appreciation Weekend
[06:25] – Practical fix #1: publish with whatever you know — an incomplete description beats a bare title
[07:21] – Practical fix #2: build a recurring 15-minute revisit to add confirmed details
[08:19] – Practical fix #3: focus on the next 2–3 games and the 72-hour buying window
[08:43] – Why this tiny website tweak actually moves ticket sales
[09:12] – Clarity always wins: "when you confuse people, you lose people"
[09:45] – Bringing it home: your promo page doesn't need to be perfect, it needs to be clear
[10:10] – Your to-do this week and how to book a promo-calendar review call

Links mentioned:

• Chattanooga Lookouts
• Bowling Green Hot Rods
• Midland Rockhounds
• Episode Page on Revelocity Sports

CALL TO ACTION
Want a second set of eyes on your promo calendar? Head to Sports Marketing Machine and book a 20-minute call — Jeremy will walk through your full promotions calendar (or just the month ahead) one promotion at a time and find the quick wins that help you sell more tickets.

QUOTE PULLS
"When you confuse people, you lose people. Clarity always wins." — Jeremy Neisser

"A promotion with no details doesn't sell tickets — even if the actual night is phenomenal." — Jeremy Neisser

"You don't need the giveaway photographed. You don't need the sponsor locked in. You just need one concrete thing that tells a fan why this night is different." — Jeremy Neisser

"Don't try to fix the whole season at once. Look at your next two or three games — those are the ones driving ticket decisions right now." — Jeremy Neisser

"Your promotion page doesn't need to be perfect. It just needs to be clear." — Jeremy Neisser

Episode Page

Revelocity Sports
Sports Marketing Machine on LinkedIn
Sports Marketing Machine on Instagram
Book a call with Jeremy from Sports Marketing Machine

Send us Fan Mail

Email is the channel sports teams use the most and get the least out of. In Episode 171, Jeremy Neisser breaks down why batch-and-blast sending leaves money on the table — 70 to 75% cart abandonment, 80 to 85% of single-game fans never returning — and lays out the fix: a lifecycle email system built on six behavior-triggered journeys, layered with persona-specific messaging. If you want higher open rates, higher click-through rates, and conversion that's 3 to 5 times a generic send, this is the blueprint.

KEY TOPICS COVERED
- The real difference between using email as a blast and building email as a system that responds to fan behavior
- Why 70 to 75% of fans abandon their cart — and how to catch them automatically instead of paying twice to reacquire them
- The retention problem hiding in your data: 80 to 85% of minor league single-game fans don't return the next year
- The six core lifecycle journeys every team should run, and the exact behavior that triggers each one
- How win-back and lapsed-buyer journeys quietly outperform every other automation you'll build
- Why the "first known attendee" message matters even when it converts lower — and what it does for fan loyalty
- How the "one more game" journey moves single-game buyers up the ladder toward mini plans
- Why "Know Before You Go" is the most overlooked journey — and how it doubles as an upsell and a sender-reputation booster
- Turning the post-game survey from a self-serving feedback form into a warm-lead engine for groups and season tickets
- The persona layer: how the same Bluey Night email should read completely differently for a young family vs. empty nesters
- The core personas for minor league and summer collegiate teams: young families, empty nesters, young professionals, diehards, and corporate buyers
- The real-world results teams are seeing: open rates of 35 to 65% and conversion 3 to 5 times a generic promo blast

TIMESTAMPS
[00:00] – Why email is the most-used and least-leveraged channel in sports marketing
[00:58] – Blast vs. system: the difference that's quietly costing you ticket revenue
[01:57] – The hidden price tag: cart abandonment, one-and-done fans, and zero automated follow-up
[02:39] – How most teams actually use email — the batch-and-blast calendar
[03:33] – Why one generic blast fails a list full of very different fans
[04:01] – The megaphone problem: communication that doesn't respond to behavior
[05:00] – A quick history lesson: how email-to-fans started in minor league baseball
[05:21] – The fix — send the right email at the right moment, triggered by fan behavior
[06:49] – Introducing the lifecycle system and the six core journeys
[07:18] – Journey 1: Win back — reactivate fans before they forget you exist
[08:04] – Journey 2: Lapsed buyer — bring back fans who bought in prior seasons
[09:03] – Journey 3: First known attendee — convert a one-timer before they go cold
[10:26] – Journey 4: One more game — turn single-game buyers into multi-game fans
[11:53] – Journey 5: Know Before You Go — reduce friction and unlock pre-game upsells
[14:12] – The six journeys recapped in order
[15:00] – Why "Know Before You Go" matters more than teams think (new fans don't know the basics)
[16:31] – The post-game survey done right: catch unhappy fans, flag happy ones for upsell
[17:22] – The persona layer: why the same email to everyone fails
[18:41] – Bluey Night example: young family vs. empty nester messaging side by side
[21:03] – Tired parents need logistics; grandparents want a memory — write to each
[24:00] – The core personas for minor league and summer collegiate teams
[25:38] – Recap: the problem, the six journeys, and the persona layer that makes it land
[26:30] – The done-for-you setup and the upcoming free webinar (late July, 100 spots)
[27:59] – The results: 35–65% open rates and 3–5x conversion on triggered email
[29:18] – Final thoughts: personalized marketing always wins

CALL TO ACTION
Jeremy is hosting a free webinar in late July (limited to 100 spots) that walks through how to build this lifecycle email system inside your own email platform. A registration link will be added to the show notes when it goes live. Want help applying it to your team? Jeremy's email is in the show notes — reach out to talk it through.

Jeremy's email - [email protected]

Episode page - https://revelocitysports.com/podcast/episode-171/

QUOTE PULLS
"There's a huge difference between using your email software as an email blast and using email as a system." — Jeremy Neisser
"70 to 75% of your fans get to the cart, put things in, and abandon it. Every one of those numbers is a fan you already paid to acquire." — Jeremy Neisser
"The fix isn't to send more emails. The fix is to send the right email at the right moment, triggered by what the fan actually did." — Jeremy Neisser
"Sending the same email to everyone means you're writing for nobody in particular — which means you're connecting with almost no one." — Jeremy Neisser
"The hill I will die on is that personalized marketing always converts way better than your e-blast marketing. It simply is better." — Jeremy Neisser

Episode Page

Revelocity Sports
Sports Marketing Machine on LinkedIn
Sports Marketing Machine on Instagram
Book a call with Jeremy from Sports Marketing Machine