New Dimension of Fan Engagement: The Visiting Fan

In Australia, successes of special feature rounds like the AFL Gather Round or NRL Magic Round highlight this shift. These events combine sports, entertainment and tourism to create an experience that encourages fans to travel. International codes playing in neutral venues are increasingly becoming future highlights, further demonstrating how leagues are turning single games into global events. This includes the NFL’s Global Markets Program, aiming to build brand awareness and fandom beyond the US, attracting new audiences and bringing international fans (truly) closer to the game.

Las Vegas as a sport event destination

Las Vegas is a long-established travel destination. In its more recent history, having located several sports franchises to the city, Las Vegas’ sports teams cater not only to the home crowd but also deliver a premium experience for visiting fans.

From the moment a visiting fan arrives in the city, every touchpoint – accommodation, entertainment, hospitality and match-day experience – is crafted to make them want to return, regardless of whether their team wins or loses.

Las Vegas has strategically positioned itself as a global entertainment and sports hub, hosting major league teams in the NFL, NHL and WNBA, as well as marquee events such as Formula 1 and UFC. The city’s infrastructure includes state-of-the-art venues, extensive accommodation options, and world-class hospitality offerings all working together to enhance every aspect of the fan experience. For visiting fans, the city’s accessibility and reputation as a destination mean that attending a game can become part of a broader travel itinerary and have them returning year after year.

In recent years, Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL) has expanded it Premiership kick-off in Las Vegas. A changing fixture ensures that fans of different NRL teams can enjoy the away experience on American soil. Accordingly, offers not only include access to tickets at Allegiant Stadium but extend to hospitality packages including flights, accommodation, access to fan fests and other activities¹.

Festivalisation of sports events beyond the field of play

Hosting major sporting events leverages existing sporting infrastructure and stimulates the visitor economy. To capitalise on this, sports and their host cities are leaning into the ‘festivalisation’ of events, referring to fan zones, hospitality venues and engagement activities reaching well beyond the actual stadium. However, this concept also provides an excellent platform to tap into the innovation ecosystem and engage stakeholders beyond traditional forms of activation.

From making the visiting fan feel welcome by being able to seamlessly transition their home membership perks, for example, ticketing and digital fan experiences are just the starting point. Wayfinding, not only in the ‘foreign’ stadium but also around the event precinct and wider host city can be enhanced through technology. Integrating sponsors, businesses and sportstech innovators, through tech showcases offer another form of engagement beyond the field of play. When done well, festivalisation not only brings the spectacle to the audience in the home city but is a major enticement factor for the away fan to come back.

Festivalisation as an innovation platform

Activations that bring together startups, sports, and corporates provide a unique opportunity to experiment, test and trial emerging technologies in real-world settings. These initiatives create mutual benefits to all stakeholders, while also serving as another compelling feature of the event festival and spectacle.

For startups, they significantly benefit from the opportunity to work on real problems with actual prospects as demonstrated during the Advance Queensland-NRL Magic Round sportstech Innovation Sprint facilitated by ASTN³. Sporting organisations may source novel ideas and solutions through a facilitated, curated process which they otherwise may not have discovered. Corporates can explore solutions that apply or leverage their technology platforms beyond their internal remit.

From fragmented information to fan personalisation

The rise of big data enables a more integrated, personalised fan experience, and the festivalisation of sports allows clubs, leagues, commercial partners and even host cities to build a more comprehensive understanding of their audience. Mapping the end-to-end journey of both the home and away fans and integrating preferences into the offerings of such festivals of sport, provides additional benefits back to these event stakeholders.

Understanding fan preferences, behaviours, and interests beyond the stadium visit, including pre and post-game behaviours, travel preferences, and social interests, allows for tailored engagement and marketing. This leads to the creation of a "golden record" of the fan – a consolidated, single view of a data-driven profile that powers personalised offerings and drives even greater levels of engagement and incentives to return.

ASTN as an innovation intermediary for major events

Australia is entering a transformative period in sport with the 'Green and Gold Runway', a decade of major events including the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, with blockbuster fixtures such as the NBA and NFL arriving on Australian shores. These events are not only significant sporting moments, but also present powerful opportunities to experiment with, implement and validate innovation across the sports ecosystem.

Through its Open Innovation and Market Access initiatives, ASTN is enabling innovation at the intersection of sport, technology and major events. By curating targeted challenges and activations in collaboration with leagues and event organisers, ASTN is helping to bridge the gap between startups and sporting organisations, proving a live, real-world playground to test and trial, all whilst adding to the overall spectacle.

A recent example includes the 2025 NRL Magic Round Sportstech Showcase in Brisbane, where Queensland-founded startups worked with the NRL to validate and pilot technologies across fan experience, athlete health, and digital engagement. These were then showcased at the NRL Magic Round for visiting fans to experience these new and exciting solutions along with seeing their favourite team play.

For government, sport and industry alike, these types of initiatives signal a new frontier where major events become not only spectacles for fans, but platforms for Australian innovation to be launched to the world.

As sports events evolve into multi-dimensional experiences, the visiting fan emerges as a key focus for engagement, economy, and innovation. Festivalised sporting events fuel the visitor economy and build long-term loyalty to sports and cities. They also create powerful opportunities to trial and showcase new technologies that enhance fan engagement and deliver commercial and economic value.

For industry stakeholders, from leagues and teams to startups and host city organisers, the future of sport lies not just in what happens on the field, but in how fans are engaged before, during and long after the last point, lap, siren or whistle.