Like many Kenyan football fans in past ten years,I found myself spending less time attending live league matches and more time watching my favorite team from comfort of my own house.It’s not for lack of interest.
We have been living in a time when high-defination broadcasts of Kenya Premier League provide an as close to being without hassles or expense, not to mention fans’ desires to multitask and share reactions and stats through social media while they watch their favorite team, something that will now be difficult to do after the exit of Supersport the official league broadcaster yesterday.
Simply,Kenya Premier League has grown in leaps and bounds,every follower from the dark days of transistor radio broadcasts can give a testimony that fixtures are released on time,standings update almost in real-time and players receive attractive salaries.
But KPL, a company fully owned by clubs that participate in the league, failed to design ways to bring fans to stadium because they never saw this coming and before it gets to worse they need to work hard if they will have to attract a new sponsor.
In the period that Supersport was sponsoring the league it is only matches involving the community clubs like AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia that attracted crowds and this should be a concern to both clubs and KPL as they get a way to give value to their remaining sponsors.
One way of doing this is to improve the stadium atmosphere, which KPL failed to do. Perhaps clubs should also consider giving their fans incentives to attend their matches.
Corporate teams like Bandari must find innovative ways of attracting fans even if it means encouraging their employees to go and support their teams. If the employees can come for their matches, they will in turn attract their relatives and friends and soon, we may see a full house in their matches.
Both parties,league governing body and clubs in premier league have to realise the key component of successful fan engagement inorder to attract revenue that they will miss most from the sponsorship so as to keep the league running.
Creating a great form of interaction with the fans will create a higher performance tolerance which is crucial in football industry. Club’s interaction with supporters is highly dependable on club ownership structure. Publicly owned teams tend to naturally have greater success at this than privately owned clubs do.
From a business perspective, having loyal fans that understand club’s long-term well-being always has to come before individual games revenues from ticket and merchandise sales.
Organized watching of away games for fans or so called watch parties are another brilliant contemporary idea that helps teams create a greater level of engagement with their loyal supporters and also attain more of their marketing potential.
A bad atmosphere at sports stadium where most are outdated poorly wired will not serve fans better.It is a little wonder that the current generation of fans simply will choose to stay at home rather than go back to the stand.
A good atmosphere in a stadium matters to the business people who run sport because it can attract even more ticket buyers and with the above simple steps and more, a suitor will come into KPL door knocking with a great offer as a broadcaster that will benefit clubs,players and the followers.
