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How Sports Teams Use SMS Marketing to Strengthen Communication and Engage Fans

Use a preferred channel to keep audiences— players and fans — in the know.

Illustration showing fans in an audience with their hands up, watching football, while some fans at home check their smartphones for updates
February 3, 2025
Kathleen Crampton
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Reading time about 8 min

In sports, the players aren’t the only part of the secret sauce that creates a successful team — loyal fans are another key ingredient. Keeping players and fans informed and engaged is crucial — and SMS marketing for sports teams can help.

 

The Power of SMS in Real-Time Communication with Teams and Fans

SMS is a powerful tool in sports because it facilitates team communication and fan engagement nearly effortlessly. It allows players, coaches, trainers, and managers to send and receive the necessary information, and SMS also reaches fans via their preferred channel. In fact, according to our text message marketing statistics:

  • People ages 18-34 prefer text messaging over other channels.
  • 83% of millennials open text messages within 90 seconds of receiving them.
  • Text messages have an open rate of 98%, compared to 18% for email.

Why is SMS a preferred choice for sports teams? Because it creates instant connections with fan bases and instant communication among team players and key members.

We’ll cover several essential SMS features throughout this article that are geared toward both team use and fan marketing and engagement:

  • SMS short codes
  • Contact segmentation
  • Bulk text
  • Two-way texting
  • MMS Text automation
  • SMS analytics
  • Campaign calendar

Key SMS Services for Sports Teams

SMS marketing for sports teams can be used for the team and its fans. Here’s a quick look at how both end users can benefit from text communication.

 

Communication with the Team

Sports SMS way to use sms to sports players

For coaches, trainers, and managers, communicating important updates with the players and each other is crucial for maintaining an efficient organization. Things like weather delays, player shakeups, venue changes, and more should be conveyed quickly to all the right people. And an SMS marketing platform is the way to do it.

Whether they use one-to-one communication for specific people or mass texting to notify large contact groups of changes, sports teams can utilize SMS effectively for their organization to ensure that everyone receives timely messages.

 

Communication with Fans

Sports SMS way to use sms 1-to-many

For sports fans, following a team can often feel like following a religion. They want real-time updates, game-day alerts, personalized communication paths, and targeted promotions — all of which provide fans with a full-service, comprehensive (and, most importantly, engaging!) experience.

If players get injured, they want to know. If someone scores, they want to know. If a game goes into overtime, they want to know. SMS for game-day updates facilitates this instant communication, even if the fan can’t watch the game.

But fan communication goes beyond game day. Sports teams can also engage with their supporters before and after games, notifying them of schedule changes, upcoming meet-and-greets, and sharing seasonal promotions.

Effective SMS Marketing Strategies for Sports Teams

Sports teams can effectively use SMS marketing strategies to boost engagement and loyalty among fans and enhance team communication.

 

Leverage SMS Short Codes and Keywords to Get New Subscribers

One of sports teams' most crucial SMS marketing strategies is using short codes to draw in more text subscribers. SMS short codes are five-digit textable phone numbers to which people text a special SMS keyword. For example, a team might drive text list sign-ups by marketing “Text DUNK to 55655.”

But it’s important to remember that even the biggest team fanatics might not subscribe to a team text list without an incentive. Opt-in incentives might include offering free merch, entering new subscribers to win free tickets, sharing a discount code for the next game, etc.

Sports text list

 

Segment Your Audience for Targeted Messaging

Implementing contact segmentation into SMS marketing strategies for sports teams is essential. After all, while a team represents a specific region or community, fans might be scattered across regional or state lines.

Their ages, demographics, and interests (like their favorite players) vary wildly, making contact list segmentation key to targeted messaging. Contact segmentation might mean teams group subscribers by these traits and their level of interaction with messages, sending reminders or “We miss you” texts to reignite engagement.

Sports teams can also segment team text subscriber lists so that coaches, managers, trainers, and players are grouped separately to increase the relevancy of messages.

But sometimes, teams want to share updates or messages with an entire text list or multiple contact groups. That’s where mass texting comes into play. An SMS marketing platform enables mass text alerts for sports teams, like team-wide announcements, and bulk text for sports updates so that an entire fan base can stay up-to-date.

 

Personalize SMS Campaigns to Boost Engagement

Whether sports teams send individual or mass texts, personalization is the ticket to keep fans engaged. Teams might personalize SMS messages by using the contact’s first name, mentioning a stat they might be interested in, or referencing past behaviors, like a purchase or game they attended.

Beyond the content of a message, SMS personalization can — and should — involve sending timely reminders, updates, and more based on the contact’s level of engagement with the team, nurturing them along their journey with the team. This strategy keeps the team at the top of their minds and can maintain the emotional connection the fans likely already have.

 

Use SMS for Game-Day Updates and Live Announcements

Game-day updates fuel fan engagement, so why not share alerts and live announcements via text? SMS for game-day updates is one of the best ways to reach contacts because it provides real-time communication — something necessary when fans can’t watch the game live. Sports teams can share player updates, scores, commentary, and more, all straight to fans’ devices.

 

Sports conversational texting

Create an Instant Connection with Two-Way Texting

While sports teams might consider two-way texting an SMS feature specifically designed for customer service, two-way texting also lends itself to communicating with fans. Also called conversational texting, this feature allows fans to ask questions, respond to texts, and get more information, all as a way to enhance engagement and create a more personal connection. Direct interaction delights fans, keeping them loyal to the team and more likely to engage with the brand in the future.

 

Send Post-Game Follow-Ups and Connect Offseason

SMS marketing for sports teams isn’t reserved only for game day — it should be utilized post-game and during the offseason to keep fans engaged. Post-game, sports teams can reveal final stats, share scheduling updates, and share highlight reels or special footage via MMS.

While current-season communication is vital for audience interaction, sports teams must also stay in touch with fans during the off-season. In fact, a Deloitte report notes that 60% of fans feel like a year-round experience with a sports team would keep them more engaged, with 55% sharing that they would be more likely to buy a ticket in the future season. This means that off-season SMS communication matters for teams, whether it’s sharing behind-the-scenes footage, interviews with players, giveaways, or other types of content to keep fans engaged.

Use the Right Tools for SMS Sports Marketing and Team Communication

Whether sending mass texts or individual messages, sports teams should be utilizing text automation and tracking analytics to enhance the efficiency of their marketing and communication strategies and drive engagement.

 

Text Automation

Fan communication via bulk SMS is fueled by text automation, where sports teams can schedule messages about game-day updates, season ticket renewals, event notifications, and more. With scheduled texts to large groups of contacts, sports teams can broaden their reach while also saving crucial time. When pairing mass texting with other automated text features like AI Compose, a powerful tool on the EZ Texting SMS platform, and an SMS campaign calendar, teams can free up time to work on other meaningful tasks while reaching fans at the right times and with the right content.

 

Analytics and Tracking

Sports teams should utilize their SMS platform’s tracking and analytics tools to ensure their text marketing and communication strategies succeed. For example, they can check click-through rates of seasonal promotions or gain insights into what types of messages fans engage with most.

Their ages, demographics, and interests (like their favorite players) vary wildly, making contact list segmentation key to targeted messaging. Contact segmentation might mean teams group subscribers by these traits and their level of interaction with messages, sending reminders or “We miss you” texts to reignite engagement.

Sports teams can also segment team text subscriber lists so that coaches, managers, trainers, and players are grouped separately to increase the relevancy of messages.

Real-time game updates, internal team communication, and targeted messaging are all possible with the right strategies and the best SMS marketing solution. EZ Texting makes SMS marketing for sports teams seamless and scalable. Start a free trial today.

FAQs

The best time to send SMS alerts to fans largely depends on the message type. For example, live game announcements will be sent during a game, while automated reminders or post-game follow-ups won’t necessarily be confined to a specific time frame. Remember to follow federal and state laws regarding messaging “quiet hours.”

SMS can help increase fan attendance at events through seasonal promotions and increased engagement through relevant messaging. Sports teams can boost fan loyalty with targeted messages before and during each season to get more people in seats.

The legal considerations for SMS marketing in sports focus on opt-ins/opt-outs and when messages can be sent. For example, SMS texts for sports teams must gain consent from a contact before adding them to a subscriber list and offer a way to unsubscribe.

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