New Study says “Quarantine Re-emergers” Ready for Live Sports

Quarantine Re-emergers” Ready for Live Sports

As vaccines have an expanded rollout across America, sports venues are beginning to open their doors to fans with new health and safety protocols along with limited capacity measures.

Masks and social distancing become the new norms for the near future, fans are ready to re-engage with their favorite teams—live and in-person.

“

Fans are ready to come back.

— Dan Migala, a co-founder and partner at 4FRONT

The innovation arm of Sports ETA, sports marketing firm 4FRONT, recently conducted research on an audience of sports fans dubbed “quarantine re-emergers” with the study revealing positive trends for sports venues and organizations.

By examining anonymized online browsing behavior and third-party data covering 921 million phones, tablets and other devices in the U.S., 4FRONT identified 434 million devices belonging to what it calls those who are part of households “that have recently visited dining, entertainment and retail locations,” with modeled predictive data also factored into the equation.

Of the 109 million devices belonging to NASCAR fans — based on online browsing behavior like interacting with a NASCAR website or purchasing NASCAR apparel — 68 million, or 62%, were considered re-emerged, the best percentage of any of the sports examined by 4FRONT. UFC was next at 59% of 40 million devices, followed by the NFL at 53% of 497 million devices. Major League Baseball (42% of 245 million) and the PGA Tour (20% of 94 million) were at the bottom of the list.

“I think broad headline, fans are ready to come back,” said Dan Migala, a co-founder and partner at 4FRONT. “Just the overall data, they’re basically saying we’re ready. The fact that the majority of those are in that 40-to-60% range is a great sign.”

Even small crowds during a pandemic present a wide array of challenges for sports organizations, beginning with the safety of fans and employees. Collaboration is one route for helping alleviate some of the issues.

NFL teams shared best practices throughout the season, and Kansas City Chiefs president Mark Donovan said the organization had been in communication with MLB’s Royals. Kauffman Stadium is across a parking lot from the Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium.

The Chiefs hosted approximately 17,000 fans for each home game last season. Fans had to go through temperature checks, sit in small groups and pods, adhere to strict social-distancing measures and wear facemasks whenever they weren’t eating or drinking.

434 Million devices ... part of households “that have recently visited dining, entertainment and retail locations”

“As fans return to sporting events, it’s important for our member organizations to support and collaborate with its venues and facilities to set best practices to be used in attracting future events to restart the sports events tourism industry,” said Al Kidd, President & CEO of Sports ETA.

4FRONT ANALYTICS COVID-19 RELEVANT DATA SEGMENTS

4FRONT’s data management platform (DMP), Oracle BlueKai, houses 70+ data sources and 60,000+ data segments with unmatched targeting capabilities. Using AnalyticsIQ, 4FRONT’s DMP has curated an audience called “Quarantine Re-emergers” based on geolocational pinpoints and online browsing behavior of registered devices.

Total Devices (U.S.):

~921M Devices

Quarantine Re-emergers (U.S.):

~434M Devices

Devices in households have recently and frequently visited dining, entertainment and retail locations.

(47% of Total Devices U.S.)

% of Devices Re-emerged

43% 60%

54% 51%

NASCAR Fans (U.S.): ~109M Devices 68M Devices Re-emerged: 62%

UFC Fans (U.S.): ~40M Devices 23M Devices Re-emerged: 59%

NFL Fans (U.S.): ~497M Devices 263M Devices Re-emerged: 53%

MLS Fans (U.S.): ~105M Devices 55M Devices Re-emerged: 52%

College B-Ball Fans (U.S.): ~303M Devices 155M Devices Re-emerged: 51%

Esports Fans (U.S.): ~98M Devices 50M Devices Re-emerged: 51%

Source: Oracle BlueKai, AnalyticsIQ College Football Fans (U.S.): ~327M Devices 160M Devices Re-emerged: 49%

NBA Fans (U.S.): ~409M Devices 192M Devices Re-emerged: 47%

NHL Fans (U.S.): ~188M Devices 87M Devices Re-emerged: 47%

WNBA Fans (U.S.): ~4.54M Devices 2.1M Devices Re-emerged: 46%

MLB Fans (U.S.): ~245M Devices 102M Devices Re-emerged: 42%

PGA Tour Fans (U.S.): ~94M Devices 19M Devices Re-emerged: 20%