Pre-match entertainment: how to engage fans during the wait

Why pre-match is a key moment for clubs and venues

Pre-match entertainment concentrates a rare opportunity in sports marketing: a captive audience, physically present, in a positive and receptive frame of mind. Unlike traditional digital campaigns where attention has to be won, the spectator in the stands is already there: waiting, available, and looking to be entertained. It is precisely in this window that a large part of the overall matchday experience is decided.

Yet in many stadiums and arenas, this time is still too often filled with generic background music and ticketing announcements. The lack of structured entertainment before kick-off creates boredom, pushes fans to check social media rather than immerse themselves in the club’s world, and lets a considerable commercial and relational opportunity slip away.

Clubs that understood the value of this moment treat it as a scene of the event in its own right, with its own programme, its own objectives and its own performance indicators. Pre-match then becomes an editorial act: you choose what fans see, feel and do during those precious minutes before kick-off.

The best pre-match entertainment strategies

Interactive gamification: quizzes, predictions and votes

Gamification is today the most effective strategy to capture fans’ attention during the wait. Offering a quiz on the club’s history, a prediction on the final score or a vote for the player expected to decide the match immediately creates a dynamic of collective participation. The audience no longer sits through the wait: it plays, anticipates, gets involved. This change of posture is fundamental: an active fan is an engaged fan, and an engaged fan comes back.

The best-performing formats combine light competition and symbolic reward: a leaderboard of the best predictors shown on the big screen, a prize to win on a wheel of fortune, a virtual photo booth in the club’s colours. The possibilities of gamification applied to sport and live entertainment are many and adaptable to each context.

The QR code on the seat: the frictionless trigger

The key to a successful pre-match set-up is accessibility. A 60-year-old fan and a 20-year-old student must be able to take part with the same ease. This is where the QR code placed on the back of the seat or shown on the big screen changes everything: in under 3 seconds, the spectator reaches a personalised landing page in the colours of their club, without downloading any app, without creating an account.

This zero-friction principle is a major differentiator. Set-ups that require prior registration or an app download see their participation rate fall sharply. Conversely, immediate access through a QR code scan generates far higher engagement rates, including among less tech-savvy profiles. This is exactly the model deployed by clubs such as OGC Nice, Stade Français Paris or the Lions de Genève as part of their digital fan engagement strategy.

Entertainment handed to commercial partners

Pre-match is also a showcase for the club’s partners. Building a sponsor into a game, a branded wheel of fortune, a quiz carrying the name of a title partner, a scratch and win in the colours of a local retailer, turns the entertainment into a direct revenue lever. The partner gains visibility with a qualified, attentive audience; the club monetises downtime that until then generated no financial return.

This model of monetisation built into digital entertainment is particularly relevant at a time when clubs seek to diversify their revenue beyond TV rights and ticketing. Advertising modules can also steer fans to the online shop, the bar or the next events, creating a real drive-to-store at the heart of the stadium.

How do you structure a pre-match entertainment programme?

Define a clear editorial sequence

Effective pre-match entertainment is not improvised. It relies on precise sequencing that takes into account how the audience arrives. The first arrivals (30 to 45 minutes before kick-off) are often the most loyal and the most receptive: the right moment for a quiz on the club’s history or a score prediction. As the stands fill, you can raise the intensity with more visual, collective formats: a vote shown in real time on the big screen, an animated countdown, the reveal of a prize draw.

This sequencing must also adapt to the profile of the audience: a top-flight football match in front of 35,000 spectators does not call for the same formats as a second-division rugby game in front of 8,000 people. Personalising the entertainment according to the venue, the competition and even the stakes of the match (derby, qualifier, visit of a big club) is a guarantee of relevance and effectiveness.

Collect data along the way, without breaking the experience

Every interaction with the entertainment modules is an opportunity to collect first party data. In a post-cookie environment where proprietary data has become the most valuable asset of digital marketing, pre-match becomes a privileged collection moment. The spectator gives their opt-in naturally, as part of a game or a vote, without feeling any intrusive step.

This data, email, communication preferences, consumption habits in the venue, directly enriches the club’s CRM to feed loyalty campaigns, season ticket renewal offers or targeted commercial follow-ups. Collecting first party data without forced identification is today the most effective method to maximise the volume and quality of data gathered at a sports event.