Blog · Board and management reporting · Sports
The ten commercial KPIs a sports club, league or rights holder should run on, each with its formula, the export it comes from and what it tells you: delivery ratio per partner, renewal value against delivered value, renewal timing, inventory utilisation per fixture, hospitality yield per partner, asset fit per partner, partner concentration, conversion from season ticket to hospitality, partner contact recency, and unsold inventory value. Also the three measures most commercial teams miss, the figures to drop, the identities, and who owns what.
A rights holder sells a partner a list of rights and a block of hospitality, a season at a time. The measures that matter compare what was sold with what was delivered and what was used, because that comparison is what the partner brings to the renewal meeting.
| # | Measure | Formula | Export | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Delivery ratio per partner | Contracted rights delivered and evidenced ÷ rights contracted, to date, against the season's expected pace | Contracts; delivery log | Partners being under-delivered |
| 2 | Renewal value against delivered value | Proposed renewal fee against the value of rights delivered and used this term | Contracts; delivery log; rate card | Renewals priced above what the partner received |
| 3 | Renewal timing | Days before expiry at signature, per partner; partners unsigned inside 90 days | Contracts | Reluctant renewals |
| 4 | Inventory utilisation per fixture | Inventory sold and delivered ÷ available, by asset type and fixture | Inventory register; delivery log | Assets nobody sells; fixtures that under-sell |
| 5 | Hospitality yield per partner | Seats used ÷ seats held, per partner per fixture; revenue per seat available | Hospitality and ticketing systems | Packages that will be cut |
| 6 | Asset fit per partner | Assets used or activated ÷ assets held, by type | Delivery log; activation records | Rights bought and never activated |
| 7 | Partner concentration | Top five partners' share of commercial revenue; largest partner | Contracts; ledger | Dependence on one or two deals |
| 8 | Season ticket to hospitality conversion | Members and season ticket holders with a business link who bought hospitality ÷ such members; never-asked list | Ticketing; CRM | Buyers already in the building |
| 9 | Partner contact recency | Value of partners with a decision-maker contact within cadence ÷ total value | CRM; contracts | Relationships managed only at the day-to-day level |
| 10 | Unsold inventory value | Rate card value of unsold assets, by type, for remaining fixtures | Inventory register; rate card | What is left to sell, and how fast it expires |
Every one of these is computed per account, per partnership manager and partner, and in total, and every one carries an identity that must hold before the table is shown.
Delivery ratio. Contracts are detailed and the delivery log, if any, is a spreadsheet nobody reconciles to them.
Hospitality used against held. Attendance data exists in ticketing and is rarely read by partner.
Renewal timing. Renewal is reported as signed or not. How late it was signed is forgotten.
A partner pays $400,000 a season for a package including 24 social posts, four player appearances and 30 hospitality places a fixture. With three quarters of the season played, 11 posts and one appearance have been delivered: a delivery ratio of 43 percent on those rights against 75 expected. Hospitality use averages 17 of 30. Last season it signed nineteen days before expiry. The renewal proposal is for $430,000.
Number of partners. Value, delivery and renewal by partner.
Impressions and reach, alone. Partners ask what was delivered against the contract.
Hospitality sold. Used against held is the renewal signal.
| Table | Must hold |
|---|---|
| Delivery | Rights contracted = delivered + scheduled + at risk + undeliverable |
| Inventory | Available = sold + unsold + withheld, per fixture |
| Hospitality | Seats held = used + unused, per partner per fixture |
| Renewals | Partners due = renewed + lost + in negotiation |
A table whose identity fails is a table with a row missing or counted twice. It is not shown until it is fixed.
| Measure | Owner | Reviewed |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery ratio; hospitality yield | Partnership managers; head of partnerships | Monthly, fixture by fixture |
| Inventory utilisation; unsold value | Commercial director; sales | Monthly |
| Renewal timing; renewal value against delivered; contact recency | Commercial director | Quarterly, monthly in the final half |
| Concentration; asset fit; member conversion | Commercial director; chief executive | Twice a season |
A measure with no owner is a metric, not a KPI; see KPI versus metric versus measure.
Ten measures from the contracts, a delivery log, ticketing and the inventory register. Sold against delivered against used: that comparison decides every renewal. Covirage computes all of them from the exports clubs and rights holders already produce, files only, with the definitions stated and the identities checked. See Covirage for sports organisations.
Each partnership contract lists rights: board minutes, social posts, player appearances, hospitality places, content pieces. The delivery ratio is rights delivered and evidenced over rights contracted, per partner, through the season. A partner at 70 percent in March cannot be brought to 100 by May, and will say so at renewal. Tracked monthly, it can be fixed.
A partner holding forty hospitality seats a fixture and filling twenty-two is paying for value it does not take. At renewal it will cut the package to what it uses, or question the whole deal. Seats used against seats held, per partner per fixture, shows the conversation coming and allows the package to be reshaped first.
Partners who renew early are satisfied. Those who sign in the last weeks, or after the season starts, have usually been negotiating down. Days before expiry at signature, per partner, against delivery ratio and usage, shows the pattern and gives next season's at-risk list in time to act.