© Sergio Estrada | 2018 Sep 16
Below is a press release sent out by the 49ers on Monday. According to The Athletic, due to the changes, “the team is raising the average season ticket price 13 percent next season, the first increase since the team’s first campaign in the Santa Clara stadium in 2014. That comes to an extra $20 per game, or $200 for the eight regular-season and two preseason games comprising a season ticket.”
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SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The San Francisco 49ers are continuing the organization’s focus on fan satisfaction at Levi’s Stadium by becoming the first sports team to include food and beverage items as a benefit for its full Season Ticket Member base. The industry-shifting Member Inclusive Menu will debut with the 2020 season and include more than 15 of the most popular food and non-alcoholic beverage items available at 49ers games. The 49ers are working with hospitality partner Levy and its technology and analytics company E15 Group to curate the menu and fan experience.
Building on five years of previous innovations implemented to make the Levi’s Stadium experience the most fan-friendly in professional sports, the Member Inclusive Menu will simplify the concession experience for Members. This new benefit will only be available to the 49ers Season Ticket Members and their guests. Single game and secondary market ticket buyers will continue to purchase food and beverages on an à la carte basis.
“The development of our Member Inclusive Menu came from our desire to align thousands of pieces of fan feedback with operations, data, and analytics,” said Al Guido, 49ers President. “Our fan surveys, and those reflecting the entirety of the NFL, show that the food service experience is a key driver of fan satisfaction. That insight helped lead us to this new model as a way to increase value for our Members while providing them with the most seamless concessions experience in all of sports.”
The Member Inclusive Menu will feature the most popular concession items based on fan surveys and in-game purchase patterns. While the full 49ers Member Inclusive Menu will be announced this offseason, below is a sample of the fan favorite items on the menu:
Food: Chicken Tenders, Hot Dogs (Beef and Vegan), Sausages & Hot Links, Nachos (Regular and Loaded), Fries (Regular and Garlic), Pretzels, Popcorn, Peanuts, Candies
Beverages: Pepsi Products, Aquafina Water, Peet’s Coffee, Hot Chocolate
“The idea of ‘inclusive food and beverage’ has the potential to make an enormous impact because it creates value for guests by making it easier for them to access the amenities they want most,” said Andy Lansing, President and CEO of Levy. “We’re going to add value and keep the same great quality and flavor fans have come to expect at Levi’s Stadium. We believe this approach will redefine how we think about serving our fans on gameday.”
“We know attending games is a special experience for our fans. Because of that, we’re focused on continuously improving every aspect of gameday for them,” said Alex Chang, 49ers Chief Marketing Officer. “Through these efforts we hope to create lasting memories for the Faithful and further strengthen their bond with the 49ers.”
In the coming days, 49ers Season Ticket Members will receive additional details about their personal Member Inclusive Menu ticketing plan for the 2020 season. While the 49ers Membership Services team will be undertaking direct outreach to Members to share additional information and answer questions over the coming weeks, the award-winning 49ers business strategy and analytics team will continue surveying Members and their preferences to finalize the complete Member Inclusive Menu prior to the start of next season.
“We are proud to have made over 200 enhancements to Levi’s Stadium over the years based on the hundreds of thousands of touchpoints we have with our fans on an annual basis through surveys and other technologies,” said Moon Javaid, 49ers Vice President of Business Strategy and Analytics. “Our ability to learn their preferences on an ongoing basis has enabled our teams to better account for their preferences to the extent that our fan service now ranks within the top five of the NFL.”
Since moving into Levi’s Stadium in 2014, the 49ers have leveraged technology, data, and analytics to break new ground in countless elements of the gameday experience. The 49ers were among the first teams to deliver mobile-only ticketing and real-time, multi-angle replays to hand-held devices. Levi’s Stadium is the only venue with the capability to simultaneously monitor up to nine core stadium operations functions and get real-time updates on a single dashboard through its Executive Huddle presented by SAP.
“Attending to the needs of our fans is always our top priority at Levi’s Stadium,” said Jim Mercurio, 49ers Vice President of Stadium Operations and Levi’s Stadium General Manager. “We understand the challenge ahead of us given this has never been tried at this scale and/or in a venue this size. We are leveraging our expertise, and that of partners like Levy, as well as industry best practices to design a smooth fan experience. We will continue optimizing that experience over time.”