Client
United Football League
Tech stack
Google Cloud
Solution
Data Platform
Service
Data + Analytics
Scoring Big with a Unified Data Platform
The United Football League (UFL) launched as the premier spring football platform, formed by the merging of the XFL and USFL in 2024. With massive amounts of data, the UFL wanted to establish a unified data foundation on Google Cloud to unlock new data + AI use cases, with Datatonic’s new Ticketmaster partnership enabling the UFL to directly access ticketing data to help maximize fan engagement. The UFL worked with Datatonic to create a centralized data repository using BigQuery and Looker to allow the UFL to better understand ticket purchasing patterns and create high value fan audiences for ad buying.
Our impact
- Enabled UFL to optimize its use of marketing data, such as to create high value fan audiences for ad buying
- Built the foundations for key data use cases, including ticketing and revenue reporting and personalization for fan engagement
- Optimized decision-making by reducing the time it takes to get the required data from hours to minutes
The challenge
The UFL has significant amounts of data, relating to ticket sales, revenue reporting, as well as marketing data. The UFL was previously using a SaaS data and intelligence platform to monitor its fans, partnerships and revenue data. However, this data was often siloed and it was difficult to build a cohesive story of customer interactions.
This platform was a black-box system, meaning the data was unable to be accessed or used freely by the UFL. As the UFL wanted more control over their data and what they can do with it, they needed to migrate to a platform that they could manage and own in-house.
The establishment of this unified data foundation would enable two key use cases:
- Ticketing and Revenue Reporting
- Fan Engagement & Personalization
Additionally, the UFL would be able to focus on future use cases, such as:
- Targeted Marketing Campaigns
- In-Stadium Revenue Optimization
- Sponsorship Activation
Our solution
Datatonic worked with the UFL to create a unified data platform, with key data sources including Ticketmaster, Salesforce, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and Live Analytics. Datatonic’s new partnership with Ticketmaster provided unique direct access to ticketing data, enabling the UFL to use it more freely, such as for fan engagement use cases. The project included:
- Data Ingestion and Centralization: Consolidating real data from Ticketmaster, Salesforce, and Live Analytics into BigQuery. In the future, the UFL will be able to ingest more data sources, such as GA4, Yinzcam (app data), on-field game day data, and other sources relevant to the UFL’s operations and fan experience.
- Data Transformation and Enrichment: Cleansing, standardizing, and enriching the data to ensure accuracy and completeness. This supports both the reporting use case in Looker and the CDP use case with Salesforce.
- Data Analysis and Modeling: Implementing Looker to provide reporting interface and natural language interaction with warehoused data. Implementation and Integration: Integrating the models with existing systems, such as Salesforce, to enable marketing teams to easily access the data.
- Monitoring and Optimization: Continuously monitoring the performance of the models and refine them based on feedback and results.
“The United Football League is seeing tremendous benefits since collaborating with Datatonic earlier this year. To be able to access data in a few moments, which in the past would take hours or even days, will significantly benefit the UFL’s fanbase as we identify new ways to engage with them and provide better services and a greater in-arena experience.” – Jeroen van den Bergh, Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Business Intelligence
With data consolidated in BigQuery and Looker, the UFL can now make data-driven decisions across the business, and develop innovative solutions to improve its fans’ experiences.
