Sports Residencies Present Opportunity to Connect with Fans, Attract Partners

Sports Residencies Present Opportunity to Connect with Fans, Attract Partners

The Harlem Globetrotters recently announced sports’ first residency.

The barnstorming franchise will play 16 basketball games over 10 days in August at the American Dream in East Rutherford, New Jersey (Aug. 16-25). ‘The Harlem Globetrotters Experience’ will also include a series of fan-engagement activations (think: skills clinics, meet and greets) that give those attending a chance to develop deeper connections to the near century-old brand.

“Think of it like a Comic-Con style fan-fast,” Keith Dawkins (president, Harlem Globetrotters and Herschend Entertainment Studios) said. “A place where fans of the Harlem Globetrotters can fan out, buy merchandise and consumer products, engage with their favorite stars, and consume the content they want in an immersive and controlled environment surrounded by other passionate fans.” 

The residency will give the Globetrotters a new touchpoint to connect with existing and future consumers of its IP. There is seemingly ‘great opportunity’ and ‘merit’ in more traditional sports organizations following suit and establishing similar events during the own offseasons.

“Being able to hunker down in one out-of-market location for an extended period [allows] fans in the region to have a ‘run’ with their favorite team and to develop a deep love for them,” Dawkins said.

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Historically speaking, the Globetrotters have been a touring business (think: North America, Latin America). 

“We engage fans in one unique market and then we go on to the next,” Dawkins said.

That isn’t changing.

But the organization’s leadership recognizes the model has its limits.

“There’s a cap to how many people you can have at each tour stop. So, there's a cap to how much revenue you can make,” Dawkins said. And “the Globetrotters missed a generation of fans because they weren’t engaging with them down all the different pathways that the audience lives.”

The residency gives the organization another platform to reach fans.

Being in a single location for multiple days also enables the Globetrotters to experiment with how it delivers the game product, to ‘play around’ with IP usage, and engage consumers in a different way than it does on tour. 

“You can create an experience no different than some of the tentpole events seen in other industries, whether it's a car show or Comic-Con,” Dawkins said.

The hope is that the multi-day experience results in fans developing deeper connections to the Globetrotters brand. But the residency should also enable the organization to deliver additional value to its existing retail, licensing, sponsorship, and content partners.

“There are a lot of things we can do differently, or extended, for them just because we’re in one critical location for a longer period of time,” Dawkins said.

The Globetrotters will use a series of metrics to evaluate the residency’s success, including the number of fans that attend, the revenue it generates, and the fans’ desire to engage with interactive activations.

“This format is like honey that attracts new business partners too,” Dawkins noted.

It remains to be seen if there are enough fans of the Globetrotters’ product to validate a residency, or if there is an appetite amongst them to engage with the exhibition more than once (as seen in in the music industry).

Remember, this model has never been attempted before within sports.

It’s hard to say exactly why that is the case. One would think if a regions’ favorite team or league came to town fans would turn out.

On some level, it’s likely a byproduct of inertia. But now that the world is increasingly viewing sports as more than just the game —as entertainment— it has seemingly become an obvious channel for rights owners to use to engage fans during the offseason.

“The walk from the bus to the locker room is the new fashion runway. You see collaborations with all types of fashion brands and athletes…You see collaborations with music stars who all want to be in the sports business,” Dawkins said. 

Internal expectations for the residency are high. There have already been discussions about doing similar stays in cities across the globe (think: U.S., Australia, South America, Europe).

“We have a 100th anniversary coming up, so the possibilities and potential [if successful], revenue and otherwise, are significant, Dawkins said.

But even in a worst-case scenario, Globetrotters leadership views the 10-day stint as a worthwhile experiment that will improve its existing tours moving forward. 

While there may be complexities that need to be worked through before a more traditional sports property can announce a residency (think: territory restrictions at a team level), the idea has potential and should be explored.

“Any organization with a big addressable fan base has an opportunity to think differently in terms of how it offers its product to consumers,” Dawkins said.

That goes for pro sports properties, as well as those at the college level.

In fact, one could argue a residency or offseason fan-fest event might be more realistic for a college team to pull off; particularly in the NIL era (think: UGA football in Atlanta).

Fan-centric events require the biggest stars’ participation. And it’s hard to imagine highly paid pro athletes, at least those across the big four leagues, agreeing to donate their time or the properties being able to make it worth their financial while.

“You need to put your best foot forward to make this work,” Dawkins said.

The Globetrotters are trying. Rights owners across the landscape should be paying attention to how it goes.

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