Manchester City Football Club

For the kick off of the 2003/4 football season, Manchester City FC, playing in the UK Premiership League, moved from Maine Road - a rather modest 34,000 seat stadium to their all new 48,000 capacity City of Manchester Stadium.

Following this move, Manchester City Council called upon the services of ARUP – an engineering consultation company – to advise on the best security system to cope with the new stadium.

Fortress GB was shown to offer higher security levels than other competitors and our Smart Stadium Solution met all market standards whilst offering a robustness that lends itself well to sports arenas.

Having won this competitive tender Fortress set about creating a system that would ensure safe stadium access and security for the increased match day attendance numbers at the City of Manchester Stadium. The result was the first wireless stadium consisting of complete contactless stadium entry, CRM data on every supporter and secure, wireless access to real-time transaction data throughout the stadium.

The Project
Manchester City FC wanted to run a pilot of Fortress’ solution at end of the 2002/2003 season at their then current Maine road stadium. This pilot allowed the club to experience the system at work and gave Fortress the opportunity to understand MCFC’s requirements. With this information, Fortress programmers were able to design a complete solution to meet the particular demands of football clubs.

With a successful pilot underway, attentions turned to the new stadium. To accommodate the size of the stadium and its capacity, a rigid system was needed that would meet the approval of the City Council. However, what started as a security system only, turned into much more.

Having experienced Fortress’ system, MCFC were quick to realise the extensive applications of the solution and opportunities to the club. Why stop at access when the prospect of a complete cashless environment, streamlined steward management and huge CRM data on every fan was also possible?

The Solution
Each City supporter has been issued with one of Fortress’ RF smartcards – their club member card – which is used to book match tickets, enter the stadium with and to make in-stadium purchases.

Each time a card is used the information is stored in a database – building up a picture of each fan’s movements from what transactions were made to the time the fan left the stadium.

Up to 1,200 supporters are now admitted through Man City’s turnstiles per minute. Quicker, safer stadium entry appealed to a whole new fan base and Man City has seen a marked increase in the number of women and children attending matches.

The club now boasts the third highest match day attendance figures in the premiership.

Duncan Martin, Manchester City FC Retail Controller, comments; “Fortress’ Smart Stadium Solution not only helped to increase our fan database by 300% but the additional benefits such as quick and easy ticket booking and stadium entry has ensured that we stand out here in the UK and in Europe.”

Crucially, the introduction of Fortress’ Smart RF cards meant that Man City could create a membership club for their fans. Now, once members have booked to see a game, they simply hold their card against a turnstile reader which recognises their individual details and grants entry to the stadium. This not only reduces the need for paper tickets but also considerably cuts down ticket postal costs to the club. The ease and speed of ticket booking has led to increased attendance for important Cup games as cards can be loaded for a particular match at any point up to kick-off.

Limitless potential for revenue generation
With Fortress’ Smart Stadium Solution, Man City has been able to explore new revenue streams rather than increasing match ticket prices. Simple options such as Fortress’ ticket buy-back scheme for fans unable to attend matches, inability to pass back tickets at the turnstiles and gate-side ticket upgrades for those trying to enter the stadium with concessions have been highly profitable for the club.

All fan information collected in the database can be used to target specific supporters at specific times and can be coupled with the opportunity for fans to accrue loyalty points for purchases made within the stadium such as offering extra points and discounts before the match.

Improved matchday experience for all
Both Manchester City Football Club and its fans are reaping the rewards of Fortress’ stadium solution. Man City fans are enjoying a much improved matchday experience including: easier ticket booking, faster stadium entry and enjoyable rewards for their loyalty to the club. While the club itself runs to its optimum efficiency levels with useful applications such as the steward time and attendance system, ability for new revenue streams, greater understanding of the fans and the ability to market strategically.

The future-proof applications that Fortress’ pre-load onto each smartcard as standard can be activated as and when the club wish to further enhance the solution over time.