Modern ticketing in British Premier League football

The English Premiership kicked off last weekend and at least one early winner stands out: CRM firms that offer 21st-century ticketing schemes. Most recently, the just-promoted Sheffield United launching a the Talent Sport ticketing and customer relationship management system from Software4Sport. And the technological move was instantly made well necessary with the promotion: Season ticket sales are already at a ridiculous 21,000, up from the previous record by 300%.

The Talent Sport system implemented covers ticketing, web sales, CRM, corporate sales and marketing in new (at least for Sheffield U) efforts to track demographics, attendance, purchases and fan loyalty. Later this season, the club plans to introduce an automated telephone sales line. Meanwhile, expected contenders Liverpool FC have upped their technological investment and have some grandiose plans for the near future.

The boys from the Beatles’ old stomping grounds will this season issue ticket holders with contactless smartcards from supplier Fortress after installing card readers at all eighty turnstiles. Liverpool FC IT manager Ken Webster has gone so far as to state that the club could eliminate paper tickets altogether by 2008. The advantages for the huge club are obvious. By replacing 28,000 season ticket voucher books, security and speed are improved, while forgery and scalping should decrease.

Fortress launched the system at Anfield Stadium cards in a limited trial two years ago. Fortress also managed to sell Fulham FC on the system for their Craven Cottage ground. More than 20,000 smartcards have been issued “to members, season ticket holders and casual fans” after a test drive in a friendly match against Boavista attended by 4,000 fans.

Fulham and Fortress faced a bit of an interesting problem in the installation, as since the ground is heritage-listed, the extant turnstiles cannot be altered. In answer, the smartcard readers were installed at each turnstile, either mounted on a separate pole or inside customer service kiosks. The system can also detect paper tickets with barcodes. (Incidentally, for those keeping score at home, it was Tottenham Spurs 2, Sheffield United 0 and Manchester United 5, Fulham 1 on the opening weekend.)