FanSection Blog

Michigan State smoked Louisville on Sunday 64-52 to reach the Final Four for the fifth time in ten years - the most of any college basketball team during that same time period.  So you would think Spartans fans would be approaching the 2009 Final Four with a ho-hum attitude.  Think again.  Michigan State fans have been the most hungry for merchandise and tickets since the Final Four was set this past weekend.

Joining Michigan State in Detroit next Saturday for the two semifinal games are North Carolina, Connecticut, and Villanova.  With those programs and their respective pedigrees, we were expecting some solid merchandise and ticket sales for the Final Four. So far we haven’t been disappointed, but I’m a bit surprised that Michigan State is leading the pack so dramatically.

So far, State fans have bought 15 times the amount of merchandise as their counterparts, with this tshirt shown here being coming in at #1.  Total merchandise sales have come in at almost $60,000 thus far through March Madness.

On the ticket front, we’re not able to say definitively who’s buying tickets, but we sold over $8,000 worth immediately following the Michigan State-Louisville game.  With the Final Four in the Spartans’ backyard of Detroit, it’s not surprising that State fans will be turning out in droves.

All said and done, we’re pleased with the performance of our merchandising and ticket offers.  We’re still in the process of completing the overall implementation and are happy that we’ve been able to drive over $80,000 simply by announcing offers to our users.  Once we’re able to make merchandise and tickets a formal part of the product, we think that will significantly increase the visibility and performance.  Stay tuned.