Rich Luker: How to foresee the future of sports fans
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Rich Luker: How to foresee the future of sports fans
Rich Luker is a pioneer in the research of sports fans. For a quarter of a century, he has been asking them questions and analysing their answers, first as ESPN Sports Poll now as Luker on Trends.
His views on the future of the industry may be strong but they are based on a vast amount of rich, longitudinal data.
Even before the pandemic, Luker was hammering US sports owners to concentrate on creating meaningful relationships rather than merely transactional ones.
In its wake, he will be beating that drum even louder.
Rich Luker
TOPICS
"In 1988 there was absolutely no systematic research on sports fans in the US"
Why sport fandom was linked with the economy and wealth until 2010
"If you go to your first baseball game before you are five you go to 58% more games per year than if you go to your first game at 14."
The problems of seasonality, looking only at one sport, studying it 'all the way'
Starting ESPN Sports Poll and then buying it out
Measuring free time and the effects of Covid-19
The drastic challenges facing the sports industry before the pandemic
Studying two paradigm shifts in his research
the changing nature of sports media consumption
the invention of the smartphone taking the internet 'off the desk'
Why 2026 was set to be THE critical year as every new adult would now grow up with smartphones
Why these fans will not 'come back' at 35 because they were never there in the first place
The growth of post-war PE in the US and how 'making it fun' created sports
"That was the only real investment in sports fans"
The importance of the bonding experience with your parents (mainly Dad)
Why tattoos are a 'canary in the coalmine' for sports stories
Why no-one is paying attention to community in sports but the lack of it is the biggest threat?
CRM in sports is just 'transactional and transitional'
The lack of research into young children's preferences
"The biggest change is change itself... everything is fluid. Being a human being is the only thing that is constant"
Asking the sports team owners "what they sell?"
Comparing esports with the poker phenomenon
The Luker plan for sports post-Covid - community, young fans, revolutionising the game cast and bringing sports to the fans
Who is the instigator of community?
Signs of hope and worry - finding sports' Anthony Fauci