Fan engagement with live sports is evolving at lightning speed. Canadian leagues are harnessing data from their partnerships with licensed betting operators to capitalize on shifting viewership trends.
At the Canadian Gaming Summit, held June 18-20, 2024, in Toronto, panelists explored topics from technology’s role in enhancing fan engagement to the collective importance of maintaining sports betting integrity. Here are some key highlights from the Summit.
By Angela Kryhul
How is legalized sports betting impacting fan engagement?
Owen Welsh, associate VP, sports betting, gaming and innovation, Canadian Football League (CFL): More fans are trying sports wagering and it brings them closer to the game. The data is proving that [sports betting] fuels a lot of the metrics we want to lean into: our viewership numbers and our ticket sales are increasing. Betting fans are more likely to watch a game at length, are more likely to purchase merchandise and are more likely to visit team and league websites and social channels.
Andrew Stokes, senior director, global partnership group, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE): While we’re only a couple years in and it’s still relatively early in the game, [legalized sports betting] is endemic to the fan experience in the same way that buying a piece of merchandise or drinking a beer can be at a sporting event.
Jai Maw, president, Betting Hero: It can be an amazing entry point for emerging leagues or even established leagues that are trying to attract new viewers and customers. For example, we just did a consumer study in North Carolina with NASCAR and it was amazing to see the amount of customers that are now watching NASCAR because they know there are betting markets available, who previously wouldn’t have watched the race. Sports bettors want the most personalized experience they can find. And they’ll keep looking until they find it.
Greg Bloom, CEO, BYB Extreme Fighting: For us right now, outside of what we call the in-arena assets, we’ve had the most success working with our operators through their VIP programs to bring fans in and give them a real live event experience, including coming backstage and meeting the fighters.
How is legalized sports betting impacting operational and game strategies?
Sebastian Jedrzejewski, director of regulatory affairs, IC 360 Solutions: It has added a whole layer in terms of demographic information. [IC 360] ingests live betting data from more than 50 books across 35 jurisdictions. My conversations with leagues and sports governing bodies have changed entirely. For example, if [fans] are wagering on a sport and there is a competing league in the same sport, why would the latter schedule their event at the same time if they know the preference is for the [wagering] money to go in the other direction? There’s actually a direct metric to make sure you’re catering towards the most engaged users.
Owen Welsh: We’re exploring a few things based on wagering trends. From a league perspective, how to change strategies if we know fans are betting or wagering a certain way or experiencing the sport differently. We may not be able to change our schedules, but maybe we deploy different strategies for our broadcasts, or have different tactics on the [betting] platforms, work with our operators a bit differently and work on our marketing and content strategies.
How is sports betting data evolving the viewing experience?
Owen Welsh: The future for our league in Canada is more towards new viewing experiences for the sports better, reaching family audiences and gathering enhanced sports intelligence.
The CFL is rolling out an augmented viewing experience on TSN+. We have our footballs and our players tracked; we have cameras set up in every one of our stadiums across the country. We’re ingesting the data we need to improve or create new viewing experiences. You’ll see quarterback throw speeds, running back speeds, rout trails. It’s a different kind of experience. How that translates into an improved or enhanced betting experience is really the next step for us.
We’re certainly investing heavily in AI to create those experiences and in various digital products to increase fan engagement. That’s been proven to work for us. We’ve seen pretty substantial growth in digital engagement and viewership numbers.
Published August 2024
