As the sports, hospitality, and live entertainment industries continue to face huge pressures from the ongoing global pandemic, industry leaders everywhere are scrambling to find new ways to keep fans engaged and make up for dampened revenue in 2020 and beyond.

Sports in the Bubble

This reality dominated the discussion at SportTechie’s Pro Day web conference titled ‘The Future Fan: The Next Evolution of Fan Engagement,’ which kicked off with NHL Chief Content Officer Steven Mayer and the NBA’s Head of Next Gen Telecast Sara Zuckert weighing in on their experiences and lessons from the NHL bubble in Edmonton and the NBA bubble in Florida, which allowed each league to safely play through the end of their respective 2020/2021 seasons.

How Loop Built Its Own Venue Bubble Solution

Loop’s Senior Vice President of Business Development Mike Canevaro spoke about our own recent experience facilitating venue bubbles for two NCAA tournaments: the 2020 Gulf Coast Showcase in Fort. Myers, FL (Beach Bubble), and the 2020 MGM Resorts Main Event in Las Vegas (Vegas Bubble).  Collaborating with bd Global sports, the success of this initial deployment of our new Venue Tracing solution was a solid indication of the flexibility and reliability of our technology stack.  By using the same core technologies powering our Insights and Engagement Services, we created an end-to-end venue management solution, successfully keeping 553 participants safe at the Las Vegas and Florida NCAA tournaments with on-site COVID testing, venue tracing, and a centralized alert notification system.  Loop’s venue bubbles featured contactless check-ins via our SmarTap NFC reader, and delivered alert notifications directly to users’ mobile devices via the mobile wallet present on all Apple and Android devices. 

The Mobile Wallet As An Engagement Gateway

For timely and efficient alert notifications, it was important to have a solution that was frictionless for users and delivered messages that people would be sure to see.  The mobile wallet worked perfectly because users aren’t required to install an app, which is an additional barrier, and enabled alert notifications to be pushed directly onto users’ lock screens.

As Mike explained to the SportTechie audience, the mobile wallet is more than an effective way to alert users about exposure risk, it’s a powerful channel for delivering personalized content to fans when connected to Loop’s cloud based Insights platform.For brands, sports teams, event promoters, and all businesses facing increased pressure during this pandemic due to travel restrictions and cancellations, venue bubbles are a lifeline to keep the lights on.  While the stakes for businesses to engage fans and customers digitally have never been higher, we believe that Loop’s solutions suite is perfectly positioned to provide businesses with the resilience to rebound from COVID and accelerate their digital transformation.