FANS AND FINANCE, WHY FAN BASE IS ONE OF SPORTS BIGGEST BUSINESS CONCERNS

Fans at AFCON, showing grassroots fan engagement

For decades, sport treated fans as a constant. Allegiance was assumed, loyalty inherited, demand guaranteed. That assumption no longer holds. Today, the fan base is one of the most fragile and commercially significant variables in the sports economy.

At the top end, global valuations continue to rise. Media rights are robust. Private capital is still flowing. Yet beneath those headlines sits a quieter risk: long-term fan engagement is becoming harder to secure, more expensive to maintain, and less predictable across generations.

The challenge is structural. Younger audiences consume sport differently. Attendance is less habitual. Loyalty is less tribal. A 90-minute match competes with streaming, gaming, creators and short-form content, all optimised for speed and personalisation. For many under-30s, sport is no longer a default cultural anchor; it is one option in a crowded attention economy.

This shift has direct financial consequences. Matchday revenue depends on repeat attendance. Sponsorship value relies on engaged, measurable audiences. Media rights ultimately reflect confidence in future viewers. If participation and fandom soften at the base, the entire commercial stack becomes more exposed.

Cost pressures compound the issue. Ticket prices, travel and concessions have risen faster than wages in many markets. At the same time, digital platforms have trained audiences to expect free or low-cost access. The result is a widening gap between the cost of being a fan and the perceived value of the experience.

Clubs and leagues are responding, but unevenly. Dynamic pricing, premium experiences and hospitality target high-value fans, often at the expense of accessibility. Direct-to-consumer platforms promise data and control, but fragment audiences and increase production costs. Social media expands reach, yet rarely converts attention into durable loyalty on its own.

From an investor and board perspective, the fan base now sits alongside climate risk, infrastructure resilience and regulatory exposure as a material consideration. It affects forecast stability, brand longevity and exit multiples. A club with a global following but weak local engagement carries a different risk profile to one embedded in its community but lacking scale.

The next phase of sports growth will be shaped less by headline deals and more by whether organisations can rebuild fandom as a long-term relationship rather than a transactional audience. Those that succeed will treat fans not just as consumers, but as participants in the economic model itself. Those that do not may find that financial strength without fan depth is far more brittle than it appears.