With Arenametrix Ecosystem Talks, Arenametrix is launching a new interview format dedicated to the people and companies shaping the future of audience engagement across sports, culture and entertainment.

The aim is to open the conversation with complementary players in the market — from ticketing and fan engagement to gamification, digital consulting, sponsorship activation and audience experience — and explore how technology, data and partnerships can help organisations create more value for their audiences.

For this first edition, Baptiste Sauvanaud, Sport Marketing Lead & Partnership Enablement at Arenametrix, spoke with David Tavares Pansbo, founder of Playmakers, about a challenge many sports clubs know well: they collect more fan data than ever, but still struggle to turn it into consistent engagement, commercial value and long-term fan relationships.

Based in Copenhagen, David has spent more than ten years in senior commercial and leadership roles across SaaS, data and sportstech. He is also a European Sponsorship Awards judge, a lecturer at the Don’t Forget Your Tickets Academy, and an advisory board member at Volleyball Danmark.

With Playmakers, his positioning is clear: the company acts as a Fan Journey Operator for sports clubs and leagues. It helps clubs connect fan data across systems, build segments and journeys, and run always-on campaigns that grow matchday, membership, merchandise and sponsorship value.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Many clubs collect fan data, but still struggle to activate it. Where does the problem usually start?

Baptiste Sauvanaud, Arenametrix:
Many clubs collect valuable fan data, sometimes without fully realising what they already have. From your perspective, what is the biggest barrier to turning that data into consistent activation?

David Pansbo, Playmakers:
I think clubs often overcomplicate the data side of things.

Everyone in the market talks about how difficult it is to collect data, how important it is, and how clubs should work with it. But when we look at it practically, clubs are already doing many things that generate useful information. They sell tickets, they communicate on social media, they may send emails, they sell merchandise.

So, for me, the starting point is simple: look at the data you already have. And very often, that means starting with ticketing.

If a club only sells one generic ticket type, it becomes difficult to understand who is actually coming to the stadium and what kind of experience they may expect. Ideally, you want to know who buys a family ticket, who buys a student ticket, who buys a youth ticket, and so on. The price does not even have to be different. What matters is that the club starts creating meaningful signals.

Because the same person can be on different fan journeys. If I go to a game with friends, maybe I want a social matchday experience. If I go with my children, I need different information. I want to know where the facilities are, what family areas are available, what kind of food and beverage options make sense. It is not the same journey.

That is why I often say that clubs have the data. They just need to figure out how to look at it.

Why is ticketing such an important starting point?

Baptiste Sauvanaud, Arenametrix:
Ticketing often appears as the first structured source of fan data. Why do you see it as such an important entry point?

David Pansbo, Playmakers:
Because ticketing tells you who buys, what they buy, when they buy and who they go with. That is the base layer.

Once you understand that, you can start connecting the dots. If the club has good point-of-sale data inside the stadium, then you can also understand what people are buying on matchday. If that is connected to a simple email client, you can start creating more relevant communication.

For example, when someone scans their ticket, the club can welcome them to the game and send information that fits their context. If they usually attend with children, the information should not be the same as for someone attending with friends. The idea is simple on paper, but it is difficult in practice because many elements need to work together.

That is why clubs often cannot do it alone. It is not just about having a ticketing system, a CRM, an app or an email tool. It is about making sure those systems can support a journey that makes sense for the fan.

Is the challenge mainly technological, or organisational?

Baptiste Sauvanaud, Arenametrix:
This connects to another important question. Beyond technology, is the real challenge more about having the right people, skills and internal organisation to activate fan data effectively?

David Pansbo, Playmakers:
Yes, absolutely. I think that is one of the biggest issues.

The fan journey is something everyone contributes to, but in many clubs no one really owns it. You have people working on sponsorship, ticketing, social media, merchandise or email. But often there is no one whose role is to sit down, look at the data and make sure it turns into campaigns that resonate with fans.

When we started Playmakers, we were more focused on implementing CDPs and helping clubs use their data in the right way. But we realised that even if clubs had the right tools, they often did not have the bandwidth to use them properly. They were doing too many things already.

So we shifted. Instead of starting with a big tool-first approach, we focus on understanding what data is already there, building a process around it, and activating it step by step. Maybe at some point the club will need a specific tool. But first, they need to understand how to activate what they already have.

For me, this is not only a technology issue. It is a question of ownership, skills and execution.

What does Playmakers mean by “always-on campaigns”?

Baptiste Sauvanaud, Arenametrix:
One expression that appears often in Playmakers’ positioning is “always-on campaigns”. What does that mean in practice for a sports club?

David Pansbo, Playmakers:
Initially, when we talked about always-on, it was about the idea that clubs always have a reason to communicate.

In sport, there is always something happening: a new game, a new player, a special fixture, a family event, something around the stadium, something after the match. It is different from ecommerce, where if you look at a pair of shoes and do not buy it, you may not want to receive 25 emails about it. In sport, the relationship is alive throughout the season.

Many clubs we work with have email open rates above 50%, sometimes even higher. Retail brands would love to have that kind of engagement. But the opportunity is not just to send more messages. The opportunity is to create automated flows that run throughout the season.

For a first-time visitor, the journey might begin with a welcome message before the match, helping them understand what to expect and how to make the most of their stadium experience. For a returning fan, the same logic can support more targeted communication: a reminder after an abandoned checkout, a thank-you message after attending, or a timely invitation when their attendance pattern suggests they may be ready to consider a season ticket.

We have identified many possible flows, but clubs should not start with everything. They should probably start with three, four or five core journeys, make sure the data is right, review them regularly, and build from there.

The point is that once these journeys are set up, they keep creating value. They bring in revenue even when the club is not actively launching a new campaign every time.

How does this change the way clubs think about fan value?

Baptiste Sauvanaud, Arenametrix:
You also talk about fan value. How do you define it?

David Pansbo, Playmakers:
Fan value works both ways.
For the club, there is obviously monetary value: tickets, memberships, merchandise, food and beverage, sponsorship value. But for the fan, value is about quality time with the club. If the club is not relevant to the fan, the fan will move away. But at the same time, the club also needs to generate revenue.

What I find interesting is that fan value changes over time. When you are a student, you might go to many games but spend less. When you start working, you may have less time, but maybe you prefer bigger games or away trips. When you have young children, you may stop attending for a while. Then, when your children are older, you may start bringing them to games.

So seasonal fan value can go up and down. But the fan can still be relevant. The club should understand where that person is in their journey and communicate accordingly.

Over time, lifetime fan value can be tremendous. If you can bring people into the journey and keep the relationship relevant, the value over 20 years can be very significant.

How can fan data create more value for sponsors?

Baptiste Sauvanaud, Arenametrix:
Fan data is also becoming an important topic for sponsorship. How do you see the connection between audience knowledge and sponsorship value?

David Pansbo, Playmakers:
if the fan data piece is in place, clubs can start building sponsorships that are more relevant to the fans.

That is important because the media landscape is fragmented. Even when clubs have good broadcast exposure, it is harder than before to know exactly who is watching, who is engaging and how campaigns perform. For sponsors, that creates uncertainty.

But if a club knows who attends the stadium, who interacts with its emails, who engages with its content and what kinds of audiences it can activate, then that data becomes a foundation for marketing and sponsorship.

The clubs that have this in place will be better positioned to work with sponsors. They can move beyond one-off sponsorship exposure and build more relevant partnerships. Everybody wins: the sponsor reaches the right audience, the club creates more value, and fans receive offers or experiences that make more sense for them.

I think clubs will be forced to understand their fans better, because otherwise they will miss out on revenue.

Will AI solve the activation problem for clubs?

Baptiste Sauvanaud, Arenametrix:
AI, personalisation and automation are major topics in sport marketing and sportstech. What do you think will change the way clubs work over the next three to five years?

David Pansbo, Playmakers:
AI can be very positive. It can help clubs become more efficient, create better campaigns and push technology providers to deliver faster. But I do not think the problem for clubs has ever been the lack of tools. There are already many tools.

The problem is that it is difficult to build good technology, difficult to buy the right technology, and then difficult to use it properly when there are not enough people.

AI may bring even more tools into clubs, but there will still be the same number of hands. If a club does not have a plan, the right people and the right structure, it can create more complexity instead of solving the problem.

So yes, AI can help if it is done right. But someone still needs to understand the use case, connect it to the fan journey and make sure it brings value. In sport, I do not think everything can be fully standardised. There is always something happening, always something new to react to.

If you had one practical piece of advice for sports clubs, what would it be?

Baptiste Sauvanaud, Arenametrix:
If you had one piece of advice to give to a sports club that wants to become better at activating fan data, what would it be?

David Pansbo, Playmakers:
I would actually give two connected pieces of advice.
The first is to look at the setup of the commercial team and ask: who owns the fan journey? Clubs may have targets for ticket sales, season tickets, merchandise, sponsorship and database growth, but who is actually responsible for turning those targets into fan-focused campaigns?

If no one owns that, clubs will often keep doing what they did last year. They may have ambitious goals, but they will not know which campaigns will help them reach the next level.

The second is to look at ticketing. If clubs are not working with fan data yet, start there. If the only ticket categories are adults and children, that is probably not enough. Clubs should be able to distinguish between families, students, youth, seniors or other relevant groups.

It does not matter if the prices are the same. What matters is that the club understands the types of people coming in. It becomes much easier to communicate properly, sell more effectively and build better fan journeys.