Sports Marketing Machine Podcast

Send us Fan Mail
In the finale of the three-part Fan Journeys series, Jeremy Neisser shows sports teams how to stop losing fans by finding their single biggest leak and fixing it before touching anything else. He hands you a three-number diagnostic that pinpoints exactly where fans drop off, then walks through the specific email automations that close the capture gap, the relevance gap, and the re-engagement gap. If you've ever felt like everything in your marketing needs fixing at once, this episode gives you the order of operations to actually make progress.

KEY TOPICS COVERED
- The three-number test that shows you exactly where fans are leaking out of your journey — using data you already have
- Why trying to fix every leak at once guarantees you fix none of them
- How to calculate your capture gap, relevance gap, and re-engagement gap and rank them by impact
- Building an automated three-email post-game sequence that turns first-time attendees into repeat buyers
- Why first-time fans should never land in your general email blast list
- Simple three-bucket segmentation by attendance frequency — no expensive CRM required
- How to test different offers, subject lines, and tones by fan group and learn what actually converts
- Building a win-back sequence that reactivates lapsed fans and identifies who still has real interest
- When to let non-responders go and focus your energy on the fans who re-engage
- Why clarity and discipline beat a bigger tech budget every time
- The mindset shift from exporting-and-importing lists to running an intentional system
- Why systems compound while campaigns end — and what that means for your attendance

Episodes Mentioned:
Episode 176 - Where Fans Are Leaking Out(And Why It Happens in the Same Places Every Time) (Part 2 of 3)
Episode 175 - The Fan Journey: The 5-Stage Map That Turns Single-Game Buyers Into Season Ticket Holders (Part 1 of 3)

TIMESTAMPS
[00:00] – Kicking off Episode 177, the finale of the three-part Fan Journeys series
[00:28] – Quick recap of the framework: capture, know, respond, return, grow
[00:56] – The whiteboard test — can you actually draw your own fan marketing process?
[01:41] – Why the "fix everything" instinct stalls teams for six months with nothing to show
[02:09] – The move that works: find your biggest leak and plug it first
[02:33] – The simple three-number framework for spotting where fans drop off
[03:27] – How to calculate your capture gap (1,000 attendees to 100 repeat buyers)
[03:57] – Reading the relevance gap and re-engagement gap in the numbers
[04:25] – Why your widest gap is always your starting point
[04:48] – Building a post-game email sequence for first-time attendees
[05:18] – The second email: making a low-barrier, first-timer offer that's a no-brainer
[05:46] – The third email and why a simple automated sequence outperforms a blast
[06:14] – Don't dump first-timers into your 20,000-person list — build an intentional journey
[06:40] – Plugging the relevance gap with segmentation that isn't complicated
[07:08] – The three attendance buckets: one game, two-to-five, six-plus
[07:34] – Testing different offers, tones, and subject lines by group
[07:59] – Why you're learning valuable data even when most fans don't come back
[08:24] – Same email to everyone means you're relevant to no one
[08:51] – You don't need a $50K CRM — a spreadsheet and basic automations will do
[09:20] – Building a win-back sequence for quiet and lapsed fans
[09:50] – Triggering the sequence when a fan hits your inactivity threshold
[10:17] – What a win-back offer should actually do (and better subject lines to use)
[10:45] – Focus on the fans who re-engage — let the rest go
[11:15] – The real issue isn't tools, it's clarity and discipline
[11:44] – Why growth comes from building one system, then the next
[12:14] – Get really good at one or two things before adding more
[12:40] – Most teams already have the tools — what's missing is the connection
[13:07] – An open invitation to schedule a call and walk through implementation
[13:37] – How a mapped fan journey helps you sell more tickets
[14:03] – The final takeaway: find your biggest leak and start there
[14:32] – Systems compound, campaigns end
[15:02] – Share the series with your GM, director, or ownership group
[15:29] – Final thanks and sign-off

CALL TO ACTION
Want to walk through this for your own team? Jeremy is offering a 20–30 minute call to help you map your fan journey, find your biggest leak, and figure out how to build the fix inside the email software you already have. Grab a time at sportsmarketingmachine.com or use the link in the show notes.

QUOTE PULLS
"When you try to fix everything, you actually fix nothing." — Jeremy Neisser
"The tools are secondary. The system is primary." — Jeremy Neisser
"Systems compound. Campaigns end." — Jeremy Neisser
"You don't need a $50,000 CRM. You need a spreadsheet and a willingness to write down three versions of an email." — Jeremy Neisser
"Most sports teams already have everything they need to start. What's missing isn't technology — it's someone who sees how everything connects." — Jeremy Neisser

Revelocity Sports
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Book a call with Jeremy from Sports Marketing Machine

Send us Fan Mail
Every team loses fans in the same three places — and most have no idea it's happening. In Part 2 of the Fan Journey series, Jeremy Neisser pinpoints the capture gap, the relevance gap, and the re-engagement gap: exactly where fans exit before they should and why the pattern repeats regardless of league, sport, or market size. You'll learn how these leaks compound season after season, and get a simple exercise to find your biggest one and start there. If you're spending marketing dollars to replace fans you already had, this episode shows you where the money is draining out.

ICYMI: Part 1 of Fan Journey Series

KEY TOPICS COVERED
- Why the same three fan leaks show up in every organization — from Triple-A to summer collegiate, in markets of 30,000 or 7 million
- The 85% problem: how many single-game buyers never return, and why that's a systems issue, not a product issue
- The capture gap — why the highest-value window with a new fan closes before most teams do anything with it
- What actually happens to a fan after they buy: receipt, survey, then dumped onto the general promo list
- The relevance gap — how generic email blasts quietly train fans to tune you out
- Turning the data you already own (surveys, purchase history, attendee records) into communication that feels personal
- The re-engagement gap — the most expensive and most common leak of the three
- Why a "buy tickets, opening day is coming" blast is not a re-engagement strategy
- The campaigns-vs-systems distinction: a campaign runs once, a system runs forever
- How all three leaks compound and shrink every stage downstream
- Why the teams that grow attendance have the fewest leaks, not the best product
- A step-by-step exercise to diagnose your single biggest leak this week

TIMESTAMPS
[00:00] – Why understanding where fans leak out matters more than any single tactic
[00:28] – The uncomfortable truth: fan drop-off patterns are identical across every sport and market size
[00:55] – Fans leak out of the journey in the same three predictable places
[01:37] – The fan journey is already happening — your job is to stop letting it happen by accident
[02:01] – External excuses vs. the real system problem behind fan loss
[02:30] – Why a significant share of drop-off comes down to irrelevant communication
[02:54] – The stat that reframes everything: 85% of single-game buyers don't return next year
[03:24] – Leak #1, the capture gap: failing to activate a fan right after they buy
[03:53] – What most teams send after a first game — and why it falls flat
[04:19] – Why the post-first-game window is the highest-value moment you'll ever have
[04:47] – Leak #2, the relevance gap: how generic emails train fans to ignore you
[05:07] – Using fan data you already have to make communication feel personal
[05:36] – Leak #3, the re-engagement gap: why lapsed fans need an automatic system
[06:05] – Building a system that reaches out to fans who've gone quiet
[06:29] – What a real re-engagement message sounds like vs. a promo blast
[07:16] – The cost of skipping re-engagement, and why systems beat campaigns
[07:44] – How the three leaks compound on each other season after season
[08:14] – The practical exercise: audit your database and post-first-game communication
[08:41] – Diagnose your specific leak before you try to fix anything
[09:11] – Moving from one-time campaigns to ongoing, repeatable processes
[09:37] – Why growing your base of loyal fans beats chasing new ones
[10:04] – How plugging your biggest leak moves attendance and revenue
[10:34] – Start small: find your single largest leak and begin there
[11:03] – Using data to see exactly what fans received after their first game
[11:32] – How to check whether your communication is actually landing
[11:57] – Systematizing re-engagement so fans keep returning
[12:25] – Final encouragement and an invitation to get help diagnosing your leaks
[12:53] – Wrap-up and a teaser for Part 3: how to actually plug the leaks

CALL TO ACTION
Diagnosing your biggest leak is this week's assignment. If you'd rather walk through it with someone, click the link in the show notes and schedule a call with Jeremy — he'll help you map your fan journey and find where you're losing the most buyers.

QUOTE PULLS
"85% of fans who bought a single game ticket last year don't come to next year. That's a systems problem, and systems problems have patterns." — Jeremy Neisser

"Fans don't leave because they stopped caring. They leave because you stopped communicating in a way that felt relevant to them." — Jeremy Neisser

"The window right after a fan's first game is the highest value window you'll ever have with that person — and most teams let it close without doing anything intentional." — Jeremy Neisser

"The fix isn't sending more emails. The fix is sending more relevant emails. And relevance comes from actually using the data you have." — Jeremy Neisser

"A campaign runs once. A system runs forever." — Jeremy Neisser

"The teams that grow their attendance year over year aren't the ones with the best product. They're the ones with the fewest leaks." — Jeremy Neisser

Revelocity Sports
Sports Marketing Machine on LinkedIn
Sports Marketing Machine on Instagram
Book a call with Jeremy from Sports Marketing Machine

Send us Fan Mail
Most marketing directors couldn't draw their own fan marketing process on a whiteboard — and that gap is quietly costing their team repeat buyers. 
In Part 1 of this three-part series, Jeremy Neisser introduces the Fan Journey: a five-stage framework (Capture, Know, Respond, Return, Grow) that turns a scattered list of tactics into a system you can actually steer. You'll learn why your team is already running this journey whether you designed it or not, and how to use the framework as a diagnostic tool to find exactly where fans are leaking out.

KEY TOPICS COVERED
• Why most marketing directors can't map their own fan process — and what that blind spot costs in repeat revenue
• The critical difference between doing marketing (one-off blasts) and running a marketing system that guides fans automatically
• The big idea: your team is already running the fan journey, whether you designed it or not
• Stage 1 — Capture: turning first-time awareness into a ticket sale and captured fan data
• Stage 2 — Know: moving beyond a "filing cabinet" of names into real understanding of who your fans are
• Stage 3 — Respond: sending communication so relevant it feels like it was written for that specific fan
• Stage 4 — Return: win-back campaigns, lapsed fan reactivation, and second-game offers that create repeat buyers
• Stage 5 — Grow: converting multi-game buyers into mini plan, flex plan, and season ticket holders
• How to use the framework as a diagnostic tool to pinpoint exactly where fans leak out
• Why fans not returning is usually a systems problem, not a product, weather, or competition problem
• A step-by-step exercise to map your own team's fan journey this week
• The right questions to pressure-test each stage — do you have systems, or just campaigns?

TIMESTAMPS
[00:00] – Opening: kicking off a new three-part series on the Fan Journey and the lens shift ahead
[00:29] – The whiteboard test: could you draw your full fan marketing process, start to finish?
[00:57] – Why most directors describe tactics instead of a connected strategy
[01:47] – What 20+ years in sports reveals: teams list activities, but miss the system
[02:38] – Doing marketing vs. running a marketing system — and why the difference matters
[03:08] – The big idea: your team is already running the fan journey, designed or not
[04:01] – Stage 1, Capture: how a fan first hears about you and buys that first ticket
[04:50] – Stage 2, Know: using ticket data, email, phone, and surveys to understand the fan
[05:19] – Stage 3, Respond: putting fan knowledge to work with communication built for them
[06:19] – Stage 4, Return: win-back campaigns, reactivation, and second-game offers
[06:48] – Stage 5, Grow: moving single-game buyers up to mini plans and season tickets
[08:43] – Recap of the full map: Capture, Know, Respond, Return, Grow
[09:11] – Why it matters: the framework as a diagnostic tool, not just a concept
[10:02] – Finding the leaks: every team loses fans, usually in the same places
[10:56] – The e-blast trap: downloading a list and blasting it isn't a system
[11:15] – Systems problem, not product problem: why fans really don't come back
[11:39] – Your assignment: map your own fan journey on paper or a whiteboard
[12:31] – Pressure-testing each stage: do you have systems, or just campaigns?
[12:58] – Converting repeat buyers into plan holders beyond "smiling and dialing"
[13:26] – Closing thoughts and a tease for Episode 2: where the leaks show up

QUOTE PULLS
"Your team is already running the fan journey, whether you designed it or not. Your job is to stop letting it happen by accident." — Jeremy Neisser

"There's a massive difference between doing marketing and running a marketing system." — Jeremy Neisser

"This framework is actually a diagnostic tool. It shows you exactly where fans are leaking out of the journey." — Jeremy Neisser

"A lot of the time the fan would have come back. They just never got the right message at the right time. That's a systems problem, not a product problem." — Jeremy Neisser

"The fan journey isn't something you build. It's something that's already happening." — Jeremy Neisser

Revelocity Sports
Sports Marketing Machine on LinkedIn
Sports Marketing Machine on Instagram
Book a call with Jeremy from Sports Marketing Machine

Send us Fan Mail
Most teams push mini plans hard from October through March, then go silent the moment the season starts — right when they're creating new fans at every home game. In Episode 174, Jeremy Neisser makes the case that your warmest mini plan prospect is the fan driving home from tonight's game, not a cold name from last winter. He breaks down the psychology of selling to fans while the experience is still fresh, why teams stop even when they know better, and five tactics you can run this week to turn single-game buyers into repeat fans.

KEY TOPICS COVERED
• Why the fan who just attended is a qualified buyer — not a cold prospect — and how that erases the hardest part of the sale
• The simple math that proves every home game produces a fresh list of mini plan prospects
• The real reason fans buy mini plans (hint: it's not the sport) and how to sell to fresh emotion instead of faded memory
• The ladder that moves a casual fan to a lifer: single game = acquisition, mini plans = habit formation, season tickets = loyalty
• How to build packages from the games left on your schedule instead of waiting for a full season of inventory
• Why in-season prospects are already warm — you have their email, phone, and attendance data right now
• How selling mini plans in July feeds next year's season ticket pipeline before renewals even start
• The organizational trap that quietly kills mini plan sales during the season — and the one-person fix for it
• The commission problem that pushes reps toward big groups and away from mini plans
• The 24-hour thank-you email that hits fans at their highest-value moment
• The "two games in 30 days" CRM trigger that flags your warmest in-season leads
• The limited-time ticket-credit offer that lowers the barrier to commit
• Using a QR code on the video board to catch fans at peak enthusiasm
• The post-game text that turns a first visit into a second one

TIMESTAMPS
[00:00] — Jeremy spots the pattern: teams promote fireworks, giveaways, and bobbleheads front and center, but stop selling the one product built to create repeat buyers
[00:56] — Why quitting mini plan sales in-season means walking past new fans you're creating at every home game
[02:05] — Prospect vs. qualified buyer: the fundamental thing most teams miss about in-season selling
[03:11] — The hottest lead in your database is the fan driving home from tonight's game
[03:45] — Run the math on one game: 3,500 fans, 700 first-timers, 300 who had a great time — and why they should be on tomorrow's outreach
[04:35] — The real reason in-season selling works, and it's not about tickets — it's fresh emotion
[05:30] — Selling the day after asks fans to repeat what they felt; selling in October asks them to remember it
[06:20] — You're not selling tickets, you're selling habits: how repeat attendance becomes a behavior pattern
[07:00] — Mini plans as the bridge: acquisition to habit formation to loyalty, and walking fans up the ladder
[07:44] — Five reasons in-season mini plan selling works
[08:14] — Reason #1: Every home game is a lead-generation event — treat attendance as a list, not a number
[08:43] — Reason #2: The remaining schedule is your inventory — package fireworks, rivalries, and flex nights intentionally
[09:12] — Reason #3: Fans understand the value better after attending (the Chick-fil-A analogy)
[09:41] — How the post-game follow-up feels like a reminder, not a sales pitch
[10:08] — Reason #4: You already have their contact info — email, phone, and which games they attended
[10:29] — Reason #5: In-season mini plans build next year's season ticket pipeline right now
[10:58] — Why teams stop selling mini plans — and why it's not really their fault
[11:25] — How game-day execution mode crowds out sales mode across the whole organization
[12:19] — Mini plans disappear because nobody owns them anymore — not because nobody cares
[12:46] — The commission problem: why reps chase $2,500 groups over $150 mini plans, and how marketing can help
[13:15] — The fix: assign one person to own in-season mini plan selling and automate the outreach
[13:45] — Tactic #1: The 24-hour thank-you email with a simple mini plan offer
[14:11] — Tactic #2: The "two games in 30 days" trigger — flag repeat attendees as warm leads
[15:10] — Why multi-game buyers are the warmest in-season list you can build
[15:40] — Tactic #3: The limited-time ticket-credit offer that lowers the barrier to commit
[16:10] — Tactic #4: A QR code on the video board to catch fans at peak enthusiasm
[16:36] — Tactic #5: The post-game text to recent buyers the morning after
[17:05] — This week's challenge: audit your CRM for one-game buyers nobody has personally contacted
[18:04] — The main takeaway: acquisition, habit formation, loyalty — and why mini plans are the bridge
[18:58] — Final reminder: the best time to sell the next ticket is while the experience is still fresh

CALL TO ACTION
If you're building your second-half sales strategy, there's a lot more on this topic — reach out and Jeremy is happy to talk through how it could look as you export lists and work on selling more tickets in the back half of the year. And if the episode helped, leave a rating or review on Apple or Spotify to get it in front of more people trying to sell more tickets and grow their fan base.

QUOTE PULLS
"The hottest lead in your database is the fan driving home from tonight's game — not the one from last April." — Jeremy Neisser

"The issue isn't that fans won't commit. It's that teams stop asking at the exact wrong time." — Jeremy Neisser

"Sell a mini plan the day after the game and you're not asking a fan to imagine something. You're asking them to repeat something they just felt." — Jeremy Neisser

"Single game tickets are acquisition. Mini plans are habit formation. Season tickets are loyalty. Mini plans are the bridge." — Jeremy Neisser

"Mini plans don't disappear because nobody cares. They disappear because nobody owns them anymore." — Jeremy Neisser

Revelocity Sports
Sports Marketing Machine on LinkedIn
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Book a call with Jeremy from Sports Marketing Machine

Send us Fan Mail
Most sports teams know exactly who their fans are — the fireworks families, the premium buyers, the last-minute deal seekers — and still send every one of them the same email blast. In Episode 173, Jeremy Neisser uses a simple ice cream shop analogy to show why that quietly drives fans away, and why the fix isn't better copy or a new platform. It's a system that responds to fan behavior after the send. If you felt the pull of Episode 171 on lifecycle marketing but haven't built anything yet, this is the episode that explains what's actually stopping you.
Register for the upcoming July 23 webinar: REGISTER

KEY TOPICS COVERED
- Why "we know we should be doing this" is the most common response from teams — and the real reason they never start
- How to tell the difference between an email problem and a systems problem (and why it matters for your results)
- The weekly email workflow that feels productive but keeps you stuck in the same loop all season
- Why sending everyone the same blast wastes the fan data you already have on purchases, promo nights, and spend
- The Bluey Night example: how generic messaging makes loyal fans feel unseen and stop paying attention
- Why personalization stalls — it's not that teams don't believe in it, it's that it feels overwhelming
- The critical distinction between campaigns and systems, and why great email marketing is built on systems
- How fans actually experience your team (as a night out, not a campaign) and what that means for your marketing
- What should happen after every open, click, purchase, attendance, and no-show
- The one question to ask this week that reveals whether you have a system or just a send button
- How teams are automating their way into more ticket revenue without adding nights and weekends

TIMESTAMPS
[0:00] — The ice cream shop analogy: why knowing your customer means nothing if you market to everyone the same
[2:05] — Connecting back to Episode 171 on lifecycle marketing and reframing the real issue as a systems problem
[3:00] — The repetitive weekly email workflow that feels like progress but keeps teams stuck
[3:53] — You already have the data: who buys premium, who brings kids, who waits until the last minute
[4:50] — The Bluey Night example — what generic messaging feels like from the fan's side
[5:41] — Why this is a systems issue, not a copywriting or creative one
[7:02] — Campaigns vs. systems: the difference between good and great email marketing
[8:27] — Why systems keep running while campaigns end and require someone to remember
[9:26] — The central takeaway: the email isn't finished when you hit send
[10:24] — Building follow-up experiences after every fan interaction
[11:50] — The question to sit with this week: after someone buys a ticket, what happens next?
[12:16] — The upcoming webinar on automating more ticket revenue with the tools you already have
[13:13] — Closing: leave a rating or review to help other ticket sellers find the show

CALL TO ACTION
If this episode has you asking "where do I even start?" — register for the upcoming webinar. Jeremy walks through the framework for building automated journeys, triggers, and priorities using the tools your team already has, with examples from teams that built these systems without working nights and weekends. Link in the show notes.
Links mentioned: 
Episode 171
Episode Webpage

QUOTE PULLS
"It's not an email problem. It's a systems problem." — Jeremy Neisser

"Most sports teams know exactly who their fans are and what they like. They just don't market like it." — Jeremy Neisser

"Campaigns end. Systems keep running. Campaigns require someone to remember — systems remember for you." — Jeremy Neisser

"The email isn't finished when you hit send. It's finished when it changes what your fan does next." — Jeremy Neisser

"The best marketing organizations don't think about sending emails. They think about building experiences." — Jeremy Neisser

Revelocity Sports
Sports Marketing Machine on LinkedIn
Sports Marketing Machine on Instagram
Book a call with Jeremy from Sports Marketing Machine