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A new opinion poll of football clubs, sponsors, agencies and other bodies that looked at a variety of commercial challenges within the sport has concluded that fans need to be treated more like paying consumers and that their continued loyalty shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Soccerex in association with sports marketing agency NSP Sport polled the views of over 100 senior figures from within the European football industry. The analysis by SKOPOS market insight showed that over 80% of all respondents felt understanding and monetising fan behaviour was important as the credit crunch continues to bite into consumer spending.

One respondent that asked to remain anonymous said: “Today’s fans are already more like traditional consumers than ‘supporters’. If the price isn’t right or the product not good enough, they’ll walk.”

A key driver for the re-thinking in the way clubs treat their fans is rooted in the level of uncertainty they feel about the security of sponsorship revenues over the next five years.

Seventy one percent of clubs surveyed in the Soccerex/NSP Sport poll said they expected to experience a high turnover of sponsors although the view from non-club respondents was slightly less pessimistic with 66% predicting a high turnover of sponsors over the same period as a result of the current economic climate.

The findings - which suggest that clubs need to work harder at delivering better value to their customers rather than just focusing on servicing the needs of their sponsors - comes on the heels of a critical report by the All Party Parliamentary Football Group that’s urged clubs to break free from the legacy of debt-leveraging in order to secure their long-term future on a more financially sustainable basis.

Commenting on the poll’s findings, Peter Gandolfi, director, Soccerex, says: “As the football world continues to evolve in response to new commercial challenges, the importance of treating fans as consumers is now at the top of their agenda. And it is interesting the industry recognises the need for clubs to be more creative in marketing to their fan bases in the current economic climate.”

Ardi Kolah, director of NSP Sport observes: “The nature of fans’ purchasing behaviour and their loyalty to clubs is changing and much more value is expected to be delivered to them in return for their loyalty. In the past, clubs could get away with hikes in the price of an annual season ticket or replica kit but now they can’t afford to alienate or lose these highly valuable customer segments.”

Paul Barber, Executive Director, Tottenham Hotspur FC, commented: “Fans are the life blood of any club and their loyalty should never be taken for granted. Although their commitment begins at an early age and is usually lifelong, fans must still be recognised as customers of the Club and should be treated as such. More than ever in this economic climate, we need to listen to our fans on a regular basis to ensure we continue to understand their expectations off the pitch as well as on it”.

Today, 900 decision makers from the world of football converge at Wembley Stadium for the Soccerex London Forum 2009 to discuss these and other important commercial and management issues that face football clubs and the football industry as a whole, around the world.

Dr Geoff Walters from the Department of Management at Birbeck College concludes:

“The Soccerex/NSP Sport poll is a useful barometer of how the football industry sees itself at the moment.

“The tendency for the richest clubs in the Premier League to dominate the economics of football leads to difficulties in creating a sustainable business model for the future of the sport, particularly for clubs in the Football League.

“The good news is that clubs at all levels have a unique opportunity to focus their sales and marketing activities towards their fans and this provides the best way forward in securing future earnings on a long-term basis outside of the reliance on factors like broadcasting revenue that are outside their control.”