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The way fans decide where to spend their money has fundamentally changed—and many sports teams are still marketing like it hasn’t. In this episode, Jeremy Neisser breaks down the post-COVID “experience shift” and explains why fans are choosing experiences over products, convenience, and even price. By studying how restaurants reinvented themselves after COVID, Jeremy shows sports marketers how to drive urgency, attention, and ticket sales by turning games into moments worth sharing.

Key Topics Covered

How consumer behavior shifted dramatically after COVID—and why it didn’t “go back to normal”
The rise of the experience economy and why experiential spending has exploded since 2019
Why restaurants leaned into the weird, the wacky, and the visually shareable
What “the experience is the marketing” actually means for sports teams
How social media now directly influences purchasing decisions, not just awareness
Why Millennials and Gen Z choose events based on what they see online
How attention and urgency outperform discounts and promotions
What every game needs to have to stand out in a crowded entertainment market

Timestamps

00:00 – The post-COVID landscape and the experience shift
02:35 – Why restaurants are the best case study for sports marketers
05:45 – The experience economy and why attention beats paid media
08:33 – Social media as a buying decision, not a branding tool
11:51 – What sports teams should steal from restaurant marketing
13:30 – Selling moments instead of schedules and discounts
15:51 – Final takeaway: how experiences create urgency and revenue

Links mentioned:

Forbes – Experience Economy Growth Post-COVID
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jefffromm/2023/11/09/gen-z-and-affluent-consumers-are-re-shaping-the-experience-economy/
Restaurant Dive – Thriving in the Experience Economy
https://www.restaurantdive.com/spons/how-restaurants-can-thrive-in-the-experience-economy/728365/
Restaurant Social Media Statistics (Discovery → Purchase)
https://cropink.com/restaurant-social-media-statistics
Deloitte – Social-First Restaurants & Revenue Growth
https://www.deloittedigital.com/us/en/insights/perspective/social-media-strategies-restaurants.html
Gen Z & Social Food Trends
https://www.fb101.com/why-84-of-gen-z-are-trying-social-media-food-trends-and-what-that-means-for-restaurant-marketing/
Episode 90: How Chili’s Leveraged User-Generated Content to Driv

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