Levante becomes the first team in LaLiga, Spain’s top division, to allow payments via Bizum. Club fans will be able to buy tickets or team products through the Spanish payment platform. For now, the project will focus on the online channel and is not yet considered an option for game days.
“The user experience improves, as it is a quick and secure process, without the need to enter the card number or save it on the computer”, explained Carlos Bau, responsible for the ticket office and commercial operation of the stadium.
The LaLiga club analyzed the percentage of online ticket sales and found that it represented 90%. In 2019-2020, the last season without a pandemic, the team earned 1.25 million euros from ticket sales and subscriptions. Merchandising, in turn, contributed €886,000 in 2020-2021. The sum of box office and merchandising represents 3.6% of the club’s revenue.
After this analysis, the entity decided to sign an agreement with the payment platform and thus add a new tool to facilitate and speed up the purchase process for fans. A collaboration between the parties that, on the other hand, is not new. Bizum had already been a sponsor of the Ciutat Festival that takes place in Ciutat de València, the Levante stadium.
On the other hand, the Spanish company highlights that “there is no solution that allows electronic payments with the same speed, ease of use and security as Bizum. It is essential to offer new forms of payment adapted to these devices”, stated Alicia Fernández, mobile payment company business development.
“I think football clubs have realized the importance of user experience, not just when they’re on the pitch, but throughout the entire purchase process,” Bau added.
Levante’s 2021/2022 season budget
After ending the previous season with losses of 17.4 million euros, Levante are confident of increasing their business this 2021-2022 season. In the budget, the club entrusted this increase in profitability to the gains from transfers, key to earning 10.4 million euros.
In addition to selling players, the club planned to reach 65.9 million euros in additional business, with a new television record: 53.3 million euros. In addition, the team expected to break a record in sponsorship and publicity, with which it intends to return to 8.2 million, 8.6% more.
In this sense, the club managed to overcome the forced departure of its main sponsor, Betway, due to the Government’s actions to veto partnerships with bookmakers. The Gedesco brand came to occupy the main space in the Spanish team’s uniform.
In addition, it reopened the doors of its stadium to the public, with which it intends to earn 3.3 million euros from subscribers and partners, more than ever before. In sports expenses, Levante’s forecasts were adjusted by 9%, to 39.7 million euros; as well as amortizations, which must have dropped to 9.7 million.
In order to improve the shopping experience of its fans, the club understands that the present and the future pass through the implementation of payments by fingerprint.
Javier Echaleku, a marketing and sales expert, points out that along with the Bizum payment option, clubs “should implement a fingerprint payment system” because it would facilitate transactions. “It allows saving the card in the purchase process, the data on the web and activating it when the user wants to buy tickets or merchandising”, he concluded.
