The Fan Exchange: How to Use Your Team's Biggest Asset

One can argue that the stock exchange is a modern technology marvel. A system that seamlessly matches up buyers and sellers to complete transactions in real-time at agreed upon prices. At some point in our careers, I’m sure we’ve all wondered why this same rational system did not apply to sports and media. Brands are the buyers, teams and publishers are the sellers and the “stock” sold is fan engagement via various forms of inventory. It could all be very rational and non-emotional versus today’s environment of heated, drawn out negotiations and pricing that varies based on property, category and market.

Over the past 24 months, in the digital media marketplace, we’ve seen the emergence of such a “rational” system, better known as “Real-Time Bidding” (RTB), quickly emerge as a viable platform for buyers and sellers to transact, namely with online display inventory. I use the term “emergence” loosely. Today, 5 billion¹ display impressions are served daily through the RTB exchanges and that will double in the next 24 months. A simplified version of how RTB transactions, called auctions, work:

Do you have a repeatable sales system that will predictably convert prospects into season ticket holders?

After I read The System Builder by Xuan Nguyen, I was convinced that unless you build a business by creating and implementing predictable systems, the success or failure of the business is a crap shoot with the probabilities favoring failure. And there is too much money and sweat equity at stake to try and build a business that will likely fail.

Death of a salesman

Best of The Migala Report Archives

Every spring we’re honored so many colleges share this piece we published a few years ago. With new readers, including graduating seniors entering the sports business, we felt it was appropriate to share again with our own readers. We hope it inspires those in the industry as much as it has inspired those wanting to get into this business.The following is an adapted version of Publisher Dan Migala’s opening speech at the 2007 Baseball Winter Meetings.