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Found unfinished notes last night from a project I was looking into 2 years ago "50 ways to improve the League of Ireland for Media, Fans, Clubs and league officials. Starting later today I am going to highlight 5 a day for the next ten days. Please like and retweet this thread!
1/50 LOI Journalism Awards: The league is lucky to have many strong journalists, podcasters, and reporters. These people often work independently during their own time with little to no support. They do this out of love for the league and their dedication should be credited more.
2/50 Player Mental Health Events: The length of a football career is a short one, pressure to succeed is high and very often the players are subject to abuse which impacts their mental health. Mental health events should be run by former players like Brian Lenihan for players
3/50 Mural Walks: Every club should have club murals dedicated to the club which fans see as they walk to the game. This would help create an atmosphere for fans as they’re making there way to each match. There are so many talented artists, graphic designers and mural painters.
4/50 Free Tickets for Schools: It is very rare that a league of Ireland match sells out. Clubs when fans return should be looking to increase attendances by regularly offering tickets to primary schools across the country. This could play a huge role in increasing attendances.
5/50 Selling Old Stadia parts to fans: Like the Yankees did before in baseball https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/sports/baseball/13stadium.html LOI teams who do work on their stadia like @bfcdublin in Dalymount should sell pieces of old stadia to fans as a way of connecting with them but also raising funds for the club
6/50 LOI Stories: Clubs should partake in a a stories initiative spending a day of every week a particular story in their history, with interviews, match reports or other type of themed content for fans on their social media accounts.
7/50 Gear and Ball testing partnerships: I recall @stevehendo07 talking in an interview the struggles teams have getting equipment. I believe clubs should target equipment companies in to work in tandem to test products for them before they go to market helping both parties.
8/50 Instagram Player Takeovers: Clubs should have their players doing Instagram takeovers more on their social media channels. If they can build up connections with younger fans they’re more likely to recognise them in the future and support the league.
9/50 Birthday Club Content: Clubs who have fans contact information and details should use this to their advantage. On their birthdays for example they should email them an individualised discount code and even a video of their favourite player wishing them happy birthday.
10/50 LOI 5 A Side Competition: Clubs once a year could pick 5/7 players for competition between clubs. This could be done on a casual basis more fun and any money earned could be donated to a charity of the organisers choosing every year!
11/50 Season Ticket Payment Plans: Clubs should offer then option of fans to purchase season tickets out in payment plans. This would encourage people with cash flow problems especially considering the impact COVID 19 will have on people’s purchasing power.
12/50 More College Societies: if you’re a college student and a fan of the LOI, you should consider setting up a society. This would help you meet like minded people and would afford your club the opportunity to have new fans attending their games.
13/50 LOI Fantasy Football: If everyone on Twitter got together i truly believe there’s the knowledge and expertise to get something going for the league inexpensively. If this was created it would help familiarise people with all the players and add interest to all games.
14/50 LOI @buff_egan: Buff Egan has done a phenomenal job of broadcasting and advertising niche elements of the hurling game and people’s knowledge and interest is all the better for it. If the league had a similar character it would do wonders for the league.
15/50 Extend Soccer Republic: Soccer Republic is a great resource for fans to catch up on the leagues matches. However the show has untapped potential, a huge help to the show would be extending it for a further 30 minutes and dedicating all that time for the First Division.
16/50 Identify Club Culture/Competitive edge: Every club has their own strengths and weaknesses brought on by location, income and other factors. Clubs should not be trying to compete against other clubs at what they do well instead should look for their own competitive edge.
17/50 LOI Weekend Ticket: Clubs should incentivise fans to attend both their mens and women’s matches on the same weekend. This could be done by holding home double-headers or by advertising that one ticket will grant you entry to both matches. The best ideas are usually simple
18/50 Player Personal Branding: Players should actively try and work on their personal brand and image. Setting themselves apart by making videos, journalism, charity work etc. This would help leverage the players bargaining in any negotiations also bringing in extra income.
19/50 Branding LOI Play-offs: The league should actively promote and broadcasting of the play-offs in the league. Learning from others sports particularly in America. There is no reason why they can catch more attention with some branding tweaks.
20/50 Volunteer of the year: LOI clubs are hugely reliant on the huge amount of effort volunteers put in across the country for free. The FAI have to recognise this more and their annual awards should have an award for Volunteer of the year where each club nominate one person.
21/50 Embrace E-Sports: LOI clubs should enter the e-sports world as it is a huge growth area. A move to partaking in this sport could be a crucial new source of revenue for clubs while also being a method of attracting a new demographic of fans to their club.
22/50 LOI Club Twitch accounts: Twitch is a growing and inexpensive platform which international clubs such as AC Milan and Real Madrid have already adopted. Club dedicated Twitch accounts would work as another place for the club to give fans content e.g. players playing FIFA.
23/50 LOI Betting Show: Recently watched @markhillsports YouTube streams at beginning of lockdown. They were extremely interesting to listen to around the mechanics of what goes into betting and different tips and tricks. I believe there’s a huge market for more of this content.
24/50 Get @DMAC102 involved in the FAI: If the FAI are serious about progress, transparency and improving the Irish game. They should look no further then the help of Darragh MacAnthony Irish born owner of @theposhofficial . His no bullshit style would be extremely refreshing.
25/50 Revive the Connacht Senior League: if we are serious about progression and providing kids with an outlet to play this league needs to be brought back. Brilliant players like Ryan Manning and Aaron Connolly have come from Connacht clubs previously and this can happen again.
26/50 LOI Virtual Stadia Tours: During the pandemic, this would be an excellent way for clubs to connect with fans, particularly the younger generation. The player could be individualised for the person and show the child behind the scenes' content like the dressing rooms.
27/50 LOI Player Meal Day: Clubs could post content every-day with specific players talking about their diet and cheap and easy ways to eat and exercise. This would be excellent for both younger fans but even older fans who could learn more about healthy eating.
28/50 Rolling Stadia Sponsor Contracts: As an extra source of revenue clubs should look at offering out naming rights of their stadia and infrastructure on rolling yearly contracts. The club could pick a brand which signifies their identity as a club for example.
29/50 Club Podcasts: There are dozens of excellent podcasts on LOI content. However, if clubs began to offer their own podcasts to fans, It would act as another way of promoting the club, they could even invite existing podcasters on to the show, improving engagement.
30/50 Invisible Disability Awareness 1/4: As a child, for 5/6 years I loved playing the game. However, due to my dyspraxia, I was never very good at it. Despite this, I attended every training session and match. But I quickly became very disheartened with the game I loved.
2/4 This was because I often saw kids who never attended training play ahead of me I would estimate I played a maximum of 90 minutes in all my years playing. I am not looking for participation medals far from it. However, there are hundredths probably thousands across the country
3/4 Like me who never got any sort of chance to actually play games and improve! I was never going to have a career and that's ok most people don't anyway but my passion for the game turned sour with how young people are treated at grassroots.
4/4 I love this game, and because of my treatment like many others, I am no longer involved at any local club. Maybe I would be if I had been treated better? Who knows? But I have a passion and some sort of aptitude for this game and because of my treatment I am not involved
31/50 Kid Experience Packages: Clubs could offer match day experiences to children either for children from a charity or for a cost. This could include reading the team sheet, entering the dressing room before games, sitting on the dugout for the game and being a mascot.
32/50 Give Season Ticket Holders content early: if clubs want to incentivise season ticket sales they should give members content early announce signings to them 30 minutes early, give them the chance to attend press conferences or training sessions etc.
33/50 LOI Vintage Jersey Tour: This could be carried out by the FAI where vintage jerseys from all current and former clubs go on tour to clubs and stadia across the country during match days would add to the match experience of attendees and would please a niche market.
34/50 Upload Historical Matches: Clubs should upload previous historical matches onto their YouTube channels or even steam them as a premiere event and market that. @CorkCityFC have done this previously, The Jungle View is also a great channel https://youtube.com/c/thejungleview
35/50 LOI Player Database: A project I’ve tried before. A club should look at creating a LOI player database of basic info, interviews and highlights. While it would be initially a huge amount of work, I believe this could be a huge competitive advantage in transfer market.
36/50 Regionalised 3rd Tier: NFL hybrid model where teams continue in their regional leagues. 3rd Division features top 4 teams each region in a min-league where the winner qualifies them for a semi. The winner has the option of playing bottom 1st division team for promotion.
37/50 Making Stadia More Efficient: Stadiums are wholly costly and inefficient being used maybe 20 times a year. During the off-season, clubs should rent out any amenities like stadia, office space etc as an extra source of revenue e.g. stadiums being used for concerts.
38/50 NFL Style Combine: This could be used by the PFA in a multitude of ways. Out of contract players could be used for entertainment, awareness, money or a variety of ways combined players from other codes could even be invited to show off the high-level many LOI athletes
39/50 Green Initiatives: LOI clubs should take inspiration from some of @FGRFC_Official initiatives. This could be hugely beneficial for clubs on a promotional and financial perspective e.g. could partner with Junk Kouture and encourage fans etc to used waste to create art
40/50 Normalise Marquee Players Coming home: It should become more normalised that players toward the end of their careers like Seamus Coleman, Matt Doherty and James McClean. The star-quality of these would increase quality and attendances in the league.
41/50 Spread 38 week contracts across 52 weeks: This would be a major statement of intent for clubs, allowing clubs to supplement players income on the off-season creating more financial stability also allow clubs to ask players to do extra marketing or coaching on off-season
42/50 External Investment: External investment from China and the US should be actively pursued in clubs economic strategies. LOI clubs should leverage their USP as a very easy way for investors to get a club into Europe and the accruing benefits from that.
43/50 Sell Game Rights: To put it short television coverage of the league and particularly the first division is dire. Watch LOI was as a welcome initiative but more should be done to sell the rights of these games to countries across the globe to increase coverage and interest.
44/50 LOI Player Coaching Initiative: The FAI should run workshops for existing players on teaching them the fundamentals of coaching and the like. This would help the league retain knowledge and quality coaches in the future.
45/50 Club Anthem CD: Clubs should create a club anthem cd with all official chants and music. This could be an extra source of revenue for clubs while also increasing the potential scope of more people becoming familiarised with the clubs music whom otherwise may not be
46/50 Club Drones: While the league is lucky to have some fantastic photographers like @mickoshea100 and @DougMinihane it would be great if clubs had drones to create their own footage and to capture the atmosphere during big games whether it be in Europe or a Derby etc
47/50 Moneyball: Clubs should embrace moneyball making decision-making within their operations following a data led approach in everything they do. Huge progress could be made by clubs in recruitment and other areas by spending the same amount or even less then they usually do.
48/50 Influencer Marketing: Influencers don’t get enough credit they often organically generate huge followings through their creativity. Clubs could invite local influencers to a match for free in the hope they’d broadcast the match to a new market who otherwise wouldnt see it.
49/50 All Ireland League: An all Ireland league would help create more sustainable and profitable league which could help move the league to a professional model. I believe an all Ireland league implemented correctly could see a league of similar quality to the SPL or better.
50/50 College and Club Partnerships: @UCDAFC provide an excellent resource for players to get an education while pursue career football. @CorkCityFC have a similar partnership with @UCC. Here are a list of potential partnerships clubs could pursue
