Stadium Experience
Everywhere in the sports world, attendance is dropping. People would rather watch games on their couch in the comfort of their own homes than fight the crowds and spend the money to go watch their favorite teams play. Personally, I would much rather go to an event and experience all it has to offer. When the Dawgs are playing on Saturdays, there is nothing else happening in the world. For three and a half hours, I forget that there is anything outside of that stadium. But hey, that's just me.
So how are teams going about combatting this trend? One thing that I've noticed is the increase in social media AT the game. Let's use Sanford Stadium as an example. You walk in and are immediately surrounded with hashtag campaigns and encouraged to send pictures. All through the game trivia and other games are played on the video board, encouraging fan engagement. Everyone wants to see their face on the big screen, but a tweet scrolling across seems to be the next best thing.
Interestingly enough, the Boston Red Sox have a totally different approach to this. At Fenway Park, there is no social media and there are no between-inning games. You are there strictly to watch baseball. And yet, their attendance is not dropping. So it looks like the difference can be partly described by the fanbases, even though most of the sports world is moving towards this virtual reality in the social media world either way.
