Fluid Fans Help Manchester City To ‘Most Innovative Sports Team’ Crown

Manchester City only has a Carabao Cup to show for its troubles in the past year, but a new list has just ranked them as the world’s most innovative sports team.Former ice hockey Olympic gold-medallist Angela Ruggiero’s technology-powered research firm Sports Innovation Lab found the Premier League runners-up to be leading the way when it comes to innovation.European soccer dominates the 25 clubs identified by Ruggiero’s company, which seems surprising as American sports are often considered to have more modern approaches.But as Ruggiero explains, while FIFA might be taking soccer clubs to North America to learn for the gameday experiences, the sport is ahead when it comes to conquering a far more important market: the modern fan.“[In terms of] gameday experience. Yes, I would argue, North America does it extremely well,” she says.“But this is an innovation ranking, not a business ranking [and when it comes to] reaching the ‘new-age’ consumer the [soccer] clubs have decades of experience.PROMOTED“They're already global brands, they have incubator programs [businesses that facilitate the development of start-up firms], paid fan membership groups [and] play in mixed-use environments.”“At first. I was very surprised [the soccer sides did so well]. But the way that we scored this was [about] thinking beyond game day, thinking into the future and building a global enterprise brand.”MORE FOR YOUWWE Extreme Rules 2021 Results: Winners, News And Notes As Roman Reigns Beats The DemonThe World’s Highest-Paid Soccer Players 2021: Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo Reclaims Top Spot From PSG’s Lionel MessiThe Good, Bad And Ugly From The Green Bay Packers’ Win Over The San Francisco 49ersSeeking out new markets and attempting to generate different revenue schemes were key factors that the Innovation Lab used to rank innovation.The use of technology was also considered vital and is another way European soccer leads other sports such as American Football-the NFL had just four teams on the list.Ruggiero says soccer clubs use the internet to not only host content but to gather data on their fans.“You got to know who your fan is if you don't [your rating will be lower] because you're just relying on linear. [We say] ‘don't just serve them on digital, know who they are.’”Forbes BusinessREAD MOREUN “Confident” Of Raising Funds ToRescue Stricken Yemeni Tanker, Averting Huge Spill