FIFA World Cup fever: How to build lasting fan loyalty with event tech

As World Cup Fever hits, sporting organisations have never had more opportunities to rethink how to engage fans, build loyalty and strengthen community.

Opportunities brings great expectations

Every match, tournament and community event creates thousands of interactions. Fans register for events, purchase tickets, upgrade experiences, volunteer, compete, donate, renew memberships, download apps and engage across multiple digital channels. Each interaction provides valuable insights into what motivates that individual and what they are likely to do next.

The challenge is that many sporting bodies still manage these experiences across disconnected systems. Ticketing, registrations, memberships, fundraising, communications and event operations often sit in separate platforms, creating unnecessary complexity for organisers and a fragmented experience for fans.

Event technology built to optimise sports fan loyalty

Event technology is gradually enabling the unification of data. API connections between platforms like ticketing and CRM systems, as well as digital marketing tracking, build a clearer picture of who the fans are and the stimulus they respond to. But we're a long way from all event-related systems talking to each other.

It's important to note that it is still fairly common for some systems to be deliberately isolationist in how they capture and retain data. For example, not all ticketing companies make the data they capture available to their clients, or provide analytical tools. So making the data available and accessible is the most basic first step.

Major sporting entities are probably the most advanced in this area because they have:

- memberships (usually purchased)

- ticket sales

- merchandise sales

- volunteers

- hospitality

- frequency of events/repetition

- loyalty

Fan loyalty would be the most important part of the equation, because the rest doesn't amount to much without  fan loyalty. As expectations continue to rise, loyal supporters increasingly expect the same seamless digital experiences they receive from leading retailers, airlines and entertainment brands. They want simple registration, personalised communications, frictionless ticketing, easy upgrades and relevant offers throughout their entire journey with a club, league or sporting event.

The organisations that succeed will be those that treat every interaction as part of one connected relationship, rather than a series of isolated transactions.

This becomes even more important during major sporting events, where fan engagement extends well beyond the game itself. From participant registrations and volunteer management through to hospitality, merchandise, premium experiences and post-event engagement, every touchpoint shapes how people remember an event and whether they return.

Success in bringing experiences together

A modern event technology platform helps bring these experiences together. By connecting registrations, ticketing, memberships, payments, communications and event operations into a single ecosystem, sporting organisations gain a clearer understanding of their audiences while reducing operational complexity behind the scenes.

That creates benefits on both sides. Fans enjoy a more personalised, intuitive experience, while organisers gain better visibility into attendance, participation, revenue opportunities and long-term engagement. Instead of reacting to isolated data points, they can make informed decisions in real time and build stronger, more valuable relationships over multiple seasons.

Who is getting it right? Learnings from around the world

The Oakland Roots and Soul Sports Club offers a useful example of what success looks like in practice. They recruited Leap as their trusted team member to scale their marketing and advertising efforts, scaling email marketing campaigns and bold, engaging, targeted ads to drive ticket sales and attendance to key sporting events. 

By leveraging Leap event technology, the club saw a 3 fold increase in email subscribers and a 7x return on ad spend. Oakland Roots achieved a record 26,575 ticket sales to their home opener and double the event attendance from 2024 to 2025.

After playing an instrumental role in achieving this milestone, Leap continues to provide data-driven value to this partnership. In 2025, this sports club achieved the first and third highest attended games across the league, ranking them with the sixth highest attendance overall in the USL.

The future of fan loyalty and great sporting experiences

The future of great sporting experiences like the FIFA World Cup is not simply about delivering great events. It is about building lasting communities around those events. The sporting organisations that invest in connected technology today will be the ones best positioned to grow participation, strengthen loyalty and unlock new commercial opportunities tomorrow.