Cardiff Devils and Vindico Arena

“Our experience with Future Ticketing has revolutionised our business. The system is easy to learn and simple enough for anyone to be able to pick it up with some basic training. Most importantly, our customers love it because it is simple, easy and it works.”

“We are all big advocates of FT and happy to endorse their system and their support service. I cannot see us ever changing ticketing systems.”

Todd Kelman, Managing Director

The Cardiff Devils is a Welsh ice hockey team playing in the UK’s professional Elite Ice Hockey League, sometimes referred to as the British Elite League.

Founded in 1986, the Cardiff Devils were a dominant force in the early years of the professional era winning seven league titles in this period. Acquired by a consortium of Canadian businessmen in 2014, the Devils have since won two League Championships, three Erhardt Conference titles, two Challenge Cups and consecutive Playoff titles.

The Cardiff Devils play home ages at Vindico Arena, located in Cardiff’s International Sports Village in Cardiff Bay to sell-out crowds.

Challenge

In 2017, as part of its modernisation programme, the Devils looked for a new ticketing system that could resolve two key priorities:

Modernising the customer journey, both online and in-person
Increase automation that could reduce manual ticket sales work for the club’s ticketing team.

Solution

Working closely with the Cardiff Devils’ team, Future Ticketing provided an online seating plan for the 3,100 seater capacity stadium. The plan accommodated allocated seating for the club’s season ticket holders, the general public, hospitality seats and away fans. In addition, fans could purchase numerous types of season ticket packages (which included discounts and merchandise options) based on the area they were seated in.

Value-added

Always eager to grow and avail of new opportunities, Cardiff Devils has continuously adopted new features and revenue streams available through the Future Ticketing dashboard which is updated with multiple new innovations each year. One example is the use of Puck Sponsorship as an upselling item on the customer journey, where fans can purchase a meet and greet with their preferred Devils’ player.

Fan engagement to grow and retain its audience is a key requirement of the Cardiff Devils, with a study from Sports Direct placing the club’s fans as the 6th most engaged customer base across all professional sports in the UK. The data opportunities to Cardiff Devils, enabled by Future Ticketing’s software and API, has seen the club convert avid fans to season ticket holders as demand has grown and as games continue to sell out weekly.

Future Ticketing’s success in partnering with the Devils for ice hockey has led to it now also providing services for the Vindico Arena’s wider range of activities around ice skating. Users can avail of daily skating, training sessions, penguin support for beginners or advanced learn-to-skate tuition classes.

In a 2023 Study by SportsDirect, Cardiff Devils became the 6th in the UK’s Most Loved Sports Teams behind Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City and West Ham with the Most Engaged Fans at 96%.

The online purchasing capability has led to repeat purchase patterns and an increase of spend per head once at the arena through amenities and upselling in the customer journey. The arena also hosts a Friday night disco and generates additional revenue through Gift Vouchers and Group Bookings all made easy online for customers.