Live Sports Signage for Social Distancing Fans

Ideas to adapt team spirit and sponsorships to the changing ways we will attend games.

Every day we get closer to stadiums and arenas reopening. MLB owners approved a plan to have baseball back in home stadiums by early July. Big 12 Conference schools expect colleges to be open this fall, a big step toward launching fall sports.

No one knows what the new American fan-scape will look like. But most agree that social distancing will probably be a hard habit for fans to break. Meeting that uncertainty with ingenuity, sports teams, schools, and entertainment agencies are responding with creative solutions like these to support their sponsors and engage fans.

CAMOUFLAGE FOR UNSOLD SEATS

Last month, the Taiwanese baseball team that put 500 robot mannequins dressed as fans in the stands got a lot of attention for their quirky inventiveness. “But are fake fans really better than no fans at all?” asked Yahoo Sports writer Jason Owens.

Vacant stadium seats are bad for optics and can bolster fans’ natural reluctance to jump back into attending live games. But more importantly at a time when every stadium dollar counts, unsold seats are a wasted opportunity to promote team spirit and sponsors. Giant stretch banners and seat covers can create a vision of a full house or be used as an advertising space to offset lost ticket revenue. Durable and fast to install/remove—custom printed and sewn to fit any size—they can also be deployed to prevent in-house spectators from using unassigned seats.

3D FOAM FOCAL POINTS

Taking a cue from pro golf—one of the first non-arena sports expected to return this summer—agencies and promoters are looking for creative points of interests for fans watching on TV. Instead of cutting away to cheering fans, PGA television crews often mix up coverage with interesting scenery and visuals seen along the course.

Foam sculptures, hashtags, 3D logos, and floating foam props now common at golf events can be used as broadcast centerpieces to engage at-home fans of any sport. With advanced foam-sculpting technology, you can turn any idea into an attention-grabbing visual on the course, field, or on the set. Hard-shell coating delivers all-weather durability. Sculptures can be freestanding or floating—Yes, like in a pond—or used as selfie-signs for in-person spectators to show on social media that they were there.

POP-UP FAN ZONES

Assuming authorities will want fans to practice social distancing, is there a way to open team stores and merchandise sales stands without encouraging crowding? And what about food and beverage options for whatever tailgating looks like in the coming months?

Mobile. Spacious. Eye-catchingly cool. Custom shipping containers used for eateries, bars, and pop-up merch shops already had a ton of great things going for them. In this new era when keeping your physical distance from other fans will likely be required, a custom shipping container delivers grab-and-go freedom in the clean, open air for tailgaters looking to buy drinks, snacks, or branded swag.

SIDELINE & FIELD WALL SPONSORSHIPS

In normal times, the LED ribbon boards and towering video screens at NFL stadiums blast team sponsor advertisements to 70,000 eyeballs in attendance, observed CBS Sports writer Jonathan Jones. “But without fans in the stands,” he wondered, “will these advertisements make a sound?

In this unique season, the NFL is considering relaxing advertising rules to deliver more value to sponsors. One in particular is the “40-foot rule,” reported Jones, which says teams cannot have local advertising in the space 40 feet above field level. Dropping advertisers into the heart of the action for TV fans, field walls and padded Sideline Signatures™ also deliver lots of space for established and local sponsors to coexist while also increasing potential revenue for teams at a time they need it most.

In 35 years, Britten has produced innovative signage and promotion solutions for partners in the NFL, MLB, NCAA, NBA, NHL, and NASCAR. To learn more about how they can help your team, call 885-763-8205 or email info@britteninc.com.