Elior Champ Rugby, the second tier of English men's rugby, has signed a multi-year agreement with TicketCo to become the official ticketing platform for the entire league. The partnership will bring every club onto a single platform, creating one centralised fan data source for the league, with one shared goal: more fans through the gates and more revenue for every club. It is the first league-wide ticketing deal of its kind in the UK.
For Champ Rugby, this now means every ticket sold, at every ground, will feed a single centralised data source held by the league and shared with its clubs, giving each of them evidence of a growing, engaged and commercially valuable fanbase. For the first time, a UK professional league will see its supporters through one lens.
As the fastest-growing sports ticketing platform across the United Kingdom and Ireland, TicketCo combines advanced, mobile-first ticketing technology with powerful data and marketing tools that put the fan at the heart of every decision. Central to that vision is a simple principle: clubs should run their own fan ecosystem, owning their data outright and using it to understand, engage and grow their supporter base, rather than handing it to a third party and hoping for the best.
The partnership is designed around one measure of success: fuller grounds and stronger balance sheets for every club in the league. Clubs will be able to reach lapsed and occasional supporters with targeted campaigns, convert one-off buyers into members, price matches more intelligently and grow secondary revenue through hospitality, food and beverage and retail. League-wide campaigns, cross-club offers and flexible membership and subscription models will help bring new audiences into the game, while every club, large or small, benefits from insight that would be out of reach on its own.
The league’s collective data also gives Champ Rugby a powerful, evidence-based story to take to sponsors and broadcasters about the size and value of its audience, creating new commercial value that flows back to the clubs.
Simon Gillham, Chair of Champ Rugby Board, said: “Following a successful 25-26 season, awareness and attendance is growing in Champ Rugby, and for the first time, all our fan data will sit in one place, providing us with the opportunity to understand our supporters as one league.
We have big ambitions over the next few years, and we wanted a partner with the technology and experience to match. TicketCo tick those boxes and we’re looking forward to working with them.”
Clare Kenny, Chief Commercial Officer and Board Member at TicketCo, added: “Most leagues talk about growing the game. Champ Rugby has done something about it. Bringing an entire league onto one platform, with one centralised source of fan data, is a first in the UK, and it is a statement of intent.
“Ticketing is no longer just about getting people through the turnstile. It is the richest source of insight a sport has about its fans, and the most direct lever a club has on its revenue. Yet most of that insight sits in silos, club by club, and is never joined up. Centralising it across a whole league gives every club access to the kind of data and tools usually reserved for the biggest names in sport.
“We will measure this partnership in full stands and healthier club finances, not in tickets processed. Our success is tied to the clubs’ success, and we’re proud to be building it together with Champ Rugby.”
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