Riverhounds Digital Strategy
The Pittsburgh Riverhounds are a soccer team located in Pittsburgh, PA. Their stadium is just outside the downtown city area, called Highmark Stadium. This stadium showcases great soccer, along with a beautiful view of the city. Those two factors are exactly what the focal point of the Riverhounds digital strategy should be.
Before I explain a proposed digital strategy for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds even further, background information on the team is certainly necessary. This season, they are currently 2-1-4, sitting firmly in the middle of the pack. They were established in 1999, and since then, they have had some successful seasons. They have made the playoffs in their league 14 times. Among those appearances, four of those have resulted in trips to the semifinals. However, they have not been able to break through and make the final. While that certainly is a tough pill to swallow, it isn’t like the league is easy. Playing in a league like the USL Championship is difficult, and there are a lot of good teams to go up against. Competitiveness is something soccer fans like to see, and it goes in hand with my first point.
Having good competition is important to sports fans. Having a game between two teams that are completely different in terms of skill level makes for a disappointing viewing experience. Hinckley and Bosworth Sport and Health Alliance further validate this point.
“Having a competitive side to it, makes it a challenge, and teaches people to strive to be better, to learn to deal with disappointment, to feel pride in being part of a team. It also teaches from a young age fair play and that there is a process to improving and that with hard work and dedication people will improve.”
For example, I’m sure the Eagles-Chiefs Super Bowl this past February wasn’t very entertaining for fans of the sport. Unless you were a fan of the Eagles, chances are that you left that matchup with a sour taste in your mouth. But, in soccer, it is extremely rare for games to be that bad. Blowouts are hard to come by.
The Riverhounds never lost a game by more than two goals in the 2024 campaign, and it goes to show how competitive and good they are. They won two games by four goals or more, but that is it. For the record, they played over 30 games that year.
To end their season, they lost to the Charleston Battery on November 2nd. The Battery were the 2023 champions, so it was an honorable loss. They were shutout 1-0, and it was exciting to see the Riverhounds leave it all out on the line to try and save their season.
Now, seeing all this success and competitiveness, why not capitalize on it if you are the Riverhounds. Focusing on the league at whole and flexing its strength can pay dividends. It will attract fans to the league and to your team, but also it makes you look good with the league offices. That might earn you a couple extra national TV games going forward, and that always does well to bring in extra revenue and fans.
It is also worth talking about the team they still have today. This is a team that has had continued success. They have qualified for the league playoffs every season since the end of the 2017 season. They have great players returning this season like Robbie Mertz and Daniel Griffin. Advertising those guys can play into your favor with soccer fans in the area that have heard their name over the last year.
The clincher to bring fans into the stadium has to be the view. The view of the city is what some call the “chef’s kiss.” The Riverhounds do sprinkle in this factor on their website already, which is a good start of course. THe account manager tab for season ticket holders is a view of the stadium, and a beautiful picture at that. It encourages fans to keep their tickets. But in the interest of finding new fans in the Pittsburgh area, they should be putting these pictures under single game tickets. To their credit, they do have a Highmark Stadium information tab on the site. Furthermore, there are pictures showing off that skyline.
These two factors also should be on local ads. If you have instagram and spend a decent amount of time on the app, you would know that ads show up pretty often for different local businesses. Living in Pittsburgh, I have seen ads about upcoming games for the Riverhounds. The next time I see an ad, I would like to see some players showcased with the view of the city in the background. The Pittsburgh skyline is iconic, use it to your advantage.
Sources:
https://www.riverhounds.com/media-guide/
https://www.espn.com/soccer/team/_/id/17827
https://www.riverhounds.com/highmark-stadium/
Staff, R. (2024, November 8). Defeat in Charleston ends hounds’ season. Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC. https://www.riverhounds.com/news/2024/11/02/defeat-charleston-playoff-markanich/
The importance of competition in Sport. Hinckley & Bosworth Sport and Health Alliance -. (n.d.). https://www.activehb.org.uk/the-importance-of-competition-in#:~:text=Having%20a%20competitive%20side%20to,and%20dedication%20people%20will%20improve.