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- Brought digital properties in-house for total control, innovation, and scalability
- Transformed a technology-driven strategy into a bold, design-first roadmap
- Elevated direct-to-consumer features, creating deeper connections and global fan loyalty
- Supercharged fan engagement globally, with experiences built to resonate across cultures and regions
- Built a future-proof design system, empowering internal teams to innovate with ease
- Inspired leadership to make a game-changing investment in a new internal design practice
OVERVIEW
Reinventing a digital ecosystem for a growing global audience
When you’re one of the most iconic sports organizations in the world, your fans deserve nothing less than a stellar digital experience. But with third-party providers managing digital properties, the experience was falling short. Innovation stalled, and the disconnect with fans grew—especially internationally.
That’s where Grand Studio came in. The mission: take back control, redefine fan engagement, and create a digital ecosystem ready to compete on the global stage.
CHALLENGEFrom fragmented platforms to a unified, fan-first vision
Years of decision-making based on technology infrastructure and various third-party management left our client boxed into outdated systems. Fan experiences lacked the excitement and personalization they craved. In addition, the experience didn’t feel seamless to them. Meanwhile, global audiences were hungry for something better—but the platforms weren’t delivering to their expectations.
The hurdles were clear:
- Fragmented control limited innovation and flexibility
- Technology-based mindsets often sidelined the needs of fans
- Global fans felt underserved, leading to missed opportunities for engagement
- A lack of scalable design systems left teams scrambling for consistency and quality
The solution required a total rethink—and bold moves to make it happen.
APPROACHBold moves, big changes, and real results
Grand Studio partnered with the organization to drive a sweeping transformation. Every group from marketing to technology were involved in big picture decision-making. Every decision focused on one shared vision: delivering experiences that fans craved.
- Aligned strategy with fan needs: through deep user research and dynamic stakeholder workshops, we uncovered what fans truly wanted and built a bold, user-first north star vision to guide the digital transformation.
- Redesigned digital experiences for impact: we created intuitive, globally resonant platforms that put fans in the driver’s seat, offering thoughtful personalization, seamless accessibility, and amping up the excitement of live-game features.
- Built a foundation for the future: a centralized design library and guidelines ensured every experience was cohesive, scalable, and ready for internal teams to hit the ground running
- Changed the culture: by proving the value of a design-first strategy, we secured leadership buy-in for a major investment in a new internal design practice, embedding design thinking as a core driver of the organization’s success
RESULTS
A new era for digital fan engagement
The transformation didn’t just deliver for all parties involved—it set the standard for what fan-first digital innovation looks like.
- Proved the value of bringing digital operations in-house, enabling faster innovation and greater adaptability.
- Elevated digital platforms with a user-first strategy, ensuring every decision served a variety of global fan needs.
- Enhanced direct-to-consumer features that built deeper, more personal fan connections and continued to build new revenue streams.
- Boosted global fan engagement, driving measurable gains in satisfaction and loyalty.
- Empowered internal teams with a scalable design system to maintain excellence long-term.
- Secured leadership buy-in for internal design, ensuring innovation and design excellence are here to stay.
This wasn’t just a digital transformation—it was a cultural shift. The result? A global fan experience as dynamic and exciting as the game itself.
Our app objectively performs far better than the old version: every important product performance metric has been improved. Users love the new product.
Not only have we heard in public venues like app store reviews that the product looks and works better, but some users even clamored for us to turn our attention to other features in the app.
