On Friday, the TFS Stage at the Thinking Football Summit hosted the panel discussion "Offering the Best Fan Experience: Creating Great Sporting Events." The panel featured Guy-Laurent Epstein, UEFA's Marketing Director, João Medeiros Cardoso, General Manager of the Commercial League, and Melissa Lawton, Chief Content Officer of SailGP.

Guy-Laurent Epstein discussed the fan experience at Euro 2024, focusing on the event’s celebratory atmosphere. “Euro 2024 was a landmark event in Europe, a real party for those who attended, with an incredible atmosphere. We need to ensure that fans have an excellent experience, from buying their tickets to leaving the stadium after the game, and also consider those watching from home or on social media. It's a 360-degree approach—from services to ticketing and shopping. We must guarantee that both on and off the pitch, the event is attended in the best possible way,” he said. Epstein also highlighted the new UEFA Champions League format.

“We’ll see some incredible matches in this revamped Champions League. Four of the last five finals will be repeated in this stage, something that hasn't been possible under previous formats. There are now more games, and each team will face eight different opponents, which adds excitement. With the league table format, standings will shift after each round, bringing fresh energy to the competition. We've considered the fans' and commercial partners' perspectives, and I’m confident this Champions League season will surpass expectations,” Epstein added.

João Medeiros Cardoso spoke about the changes made to the Allianz CUP, particularly with the introduction of the Final Four model. “We transformed the format and commercial approach with the Final Four, which was later replicated in events like the UEFA Nations League. We created a week-long event in one city, blending football with other entertainment industries - music, marathons, comedy shows, and social responsibility programs. This broadened our audience beyond just football fans. I often tell club marketing directors that while we’re on the right track, we still communicate primarily with our core audience. They’ll always follow their teams, but we need to engage differently with younger people, who don’t consume football in the same way,” he noted.

Melissa Lawton, representing SailGP, an international sailing competition featuring high-tech boats, explained how technology is enhancing the broadcast of their events. “We developed LifeLine, which creates an augmented reality field, showing which boat is ahead, how fast they’re moving, and the ideal route. The goal was to make sailing more accessible to viewers, even those without prior knowledge of the sport. We’ve incorporated Oracle data to generate automated graphics, and now, with AI, we create scenarios and have more cameras on the course with fewer people operating them. The system also identifies the athletes on the boats, allowing us to follow them closely throughout the race,” Lawton explained.