This year, the Tampa Bay Lightning introduced a replica team jersey equipped with a radio frequency chip embedded in the sleeve that fans can scan at stadium stores to receive discounts on refreshments and team merchandise for all season ticket holders. The promotion has worked -- it helped spur a nearly twofold increase in season ticket sales this year.
According to Brad Lott, the team's executive vice president of service and operations, the unique innovation -- believed to be the first of its kind in the sporting world -- was spurred by lagging season-long fan support in an area of the U.S. known for attracting migrants from other parts of the country.
"Initially we just wanted to give all season ticket holders a jersey," Lott says, adding that the home team's colors would sometimes be outnumbered by visiting teams' jerseys. "Then that morphed into the idea of a chip."
Season ticket sales have boomed from some 6,000 last year to about 11,000 this year, Lott says.
The chip isn't the only difference in the exclusive new jerseys -- the Lightning also added a patch identifying wearers as "Season Ticket Members" and gave their most loyal fans the option to personalize the backs of their jerseys with custom names and numbers.
"Fans already feel more like a part of the organization," Lott says. "Now at home games we have our bowl filled up with about 70% Lightning jerseys."
Shane Edgar, a Lightning season ticket holder for 16 years, is one of those fans proudly sporting the exclusive shirt to Tampa Bay games. He said the microchip and personalized jerseys have enhanced a sense of unity among fans.
"Initially there was a little more in the way of head-nods," says Edgar, a 56-year-old real estate agent originally from Toronto. "And we were all looking to see who and what each other were supporting and what cause we would all put on the back of our jerseys."
When Edgar and other season ticket holders scan the quarter-sized chip embedded in their jerseys' right sleeve, they receive a 25% discount on all concessions and 35% on all merchandise purchased at the arena. Each chip also has a unique ID, allowing the team to track who buys what, which Lott says will allow the team to analyze the most effective future deals and promotions. And Lott says there are many more bonuses to come.
"We're already hoping to roll out stored value, where fans who don't want to bring cash to the game can just pay for things using the chip. We're hoping to roll out a new feature each year."
Lott credits Lightning owner Jeff Vinik, a hedge-fund manager who bought the team last year, for infusing the organization with a culture of progressive innovation.
Edgar clearly agrees. The back of his personalized, microchipped jersey reads "Vinik" with the number 1.