Let’s say you score tickets to an NFL game on your birthday and would like to both walk on the field before the game and get a visit from a cheerleader to sing you “Happy Birthday.”
Sound preposterous? Maybe not. On Thursday, the NFL plans to announce an initiative to increase fan enjoyment, partnering with app developer Experience to upgrade seats and obtain closer access to the team, including via pregame field access and visits from cheerleaders.
Three NFL teams used this service last season: the Buccaneers, Falcons and Super Bowl champion Seahawks.
The Falcons offered the service to 3,000 of their season-ticket holder accounts, and for each game, averaged about 800 sold.
“Anything from pregame on-field, to a birthday message, to cheerleader visits, to mascot visits, to the fly-by pass, which is a dedicated lane where you don’t wait to get into the stadium,” Falcons chief marketing officer Jim Smith told Sports Business Daily. “All the experiential things sold out within the first four hours they were made available.”
Last season, the Seahawks allowed their season-ticket holders to attend head coach Pete Carroll’s postgame press conference and kick field goals after the game.
Experience’s president, Ben Ackerman, told Sports Business Daily the NFL model is expected to lean heavily on “experiences,” as it will be difficult for fans to upgrade their seats, given that 98 percent of seats in NFL stadiums were sold last season.
At this time, it is not known whether the Giants or Jets use this service at MetLife Stadium.