In-stadium fantasy for hotdogs and beer

My Minor League offers a state of the art stadium experience connecting fans more intimately to the events on the field.

Fans draft a personal team of players upon entering the park. Offensive performance translates to coins which are redeemable throughout the stadium.

MY ROLE:

Stakeholder interviews Experience Strategy UX/UI Prototyping Presentation

THE CHALLENGE:

Baseball games are long and the average attention span is shrinking. Minor League teams have trouble keeping fans in their seats for more than a few innings resulting in missed concessions and merchandise sales.

THE OPPORTUNITY:

Fantasy sports have proven successful at incentivizing fans to tune in to games they otherwise have no interest in. Introducing a fantasy component to the in-stadium experience may offer fans reasons stay for more innings and, therefore, spend more on merchandise and concessions.

THE SOLUTION

My Minor League offers daily fantasy competitions and an arcade style currency to increase fan engagement and concessions spend. Fans draft players from both dugouts and earn points for their performance. Successful managers have their names broadcast over the loudspeaker, displayed on the scoreboard, and earn coins to spend throughout the stadium.

My Minor

League App

Rewarding fans through player performance

When a player hits a single, they earn their 'owners' a point. When they hit a double, they earn their 'owners' two points and so on.

Daily Fantasy

Notifications

Push notifications remind owners when a player is on deck, so they never miss a moment to celebrate.

Socializing the stadium-wide competition

Social Competition

Owners with the most points have their names broadcast throughout the stadium and celebrated on social media.

Badges & Trophies

Winners of home series earn points and trophies to add to their collection encouraging more frequent trips to the park.

Increasing spend through contained currency

MiLB Rewards

Points translate to MiLB Coins which are charged to an account. The currency can be used to buy hot dogs, beer, and cotton candy. Late inning promotions are advertised through the app.

DESIGN PROCESS

DISCOVERY

STAKEHOLDER INTERVIEWS

We met with the management staff for the Richmond Flying Squirrels, the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants., which offered us a glimpse into the business end of the ballpark.

STADIUM VISIT

We then bought general admission tickets to a Friday night game and documented the existing fan experience. We noted key friction points ranging from finding cash for parking, to sitting through long stretches of scoreless baseball. Additionally, we observed the attendance demographics to get a sense of when unique sub-audiences left the stadium and why.

Key Insights:

Without a stake in either team, most fans receive few moments to authentically celebrate.

Fans view Minor League parks as a social venue and, being highly influenced by group dynamics, will gauge the group's interest level to determine when its time to leave.

Fans pay for concessions when they believe they are staying for another inning or two even if there is a better alternative outside the stadium.

STRATEGY

SEGMENTATION STUDY

We identified three unique segments of fans: Socialites, Home Team Faithful, and Adults with Children. Socialites were attending games in great numbers but leaving by the 6th or 7th inning.

1. Socialites: The stadium offers these fans a space to socialize and the game itself comes secondary. Beer is their concession purchase of choice and their spend and length of stay are determined by group dynamics.

2. Home Team Faithful: Few and far between, these fans brand themselves with team apparel, and while they are more likely to stay for nine innings, they are the least likely to purchase concessions.

3. Adults with children: An adult or two accompany a group of children to the ballpark and spend a great deal on concessions as a way to quell their antsy crew. They typically leave early when "enough is enough".

PERSONAS

Personas helped us design around core values and preferences that influence a Socialite's behavior. Ultimately Socialites choose to leave games after gauging low levels of energy and interest from their friends.

IDEATION

WHITEBOARDING

Using the persona as a guide, we brainstormed ways in which we could integrate the social experience with events on the field to increase engagement. Fans used their phones often throughout the game, so we wanted to take advantage of the existing behavior.

DESIGN

SKETCH MOCKUPS

I created assets in Sketch and settled on a set of UI guidelines.

FEEDBACK

CLIENT PITCH

Representatives from the Flying Squirrels front office met us at the stadium to hear our proposal. They were thrilled by our research and insights but were predictably skeptical of the costs of building the application. They believed the audience segmentation was spot on and asked for our research.

DESIGN OBJECTIVE

Design an in-stadium experience that rewards fans for staying longer by integrating the social atmosphere with the events on the field.

PROTOTYPE

With the green light, I transferred assets to Principle to prototype the app for our pitch to the Flying Squirrels staff.

WIREFRAMES + ARCHITECTURE

We sketched rough wireframes before creating ones with greater levels of fidelity. The information architecture of the app helped us prioritize which user flow to prototype.