Dundee United Football Club

“Our collaboration with Future Ticketing has been about much more than just transitioning to online booking. We carefully considered our renewal and recognized how the company’s technology has provided valuable opportunities for data collection, allowing us to better understand and meet the needs of our fans. Enhancing and streamlining our supporters’ experience has been a key focus, and we are excited for the future steps in our partnership with Future Ticketing.”

Dundee United Football Club, a prominent entity in Scottish professional football, boasts a rich history and a strong following. Based in the city of Dundee, the club plays its home games at Tannadice Park, which has a capacity of over 14,223 fans. Known affectionately as “The Terrors” or “The Tangerines,” the club’s supporters are famously referred to as “Arabs.”

Challenge
In 2019, Dundee United embarked on a transformative digital journey. The club lacked an online ticketing system and had limited understanding of its general match attendees. This knowledge gap hindered the club’s ability to engage effectively with its fanbase. The club sought to gain insights into their customers, including demographics and travel habits, to better plan for future generations of fans. Additionally, they needed a unified system capable of managing various membership types with specific access controls and a secure solution for fan entry and exit.

Solution
Future Ticketing played a pivotal role in advancing Dundee United’s digital capabilities. Through a state-of-the-art open API, the club integrated their ticketing system with multiple partner systems, including Bleep PLC for Epos solutions and MTC Digital for their website. These integrations enabled the consolidation of data across retail and ticketing channels, providing a comprehensive view of customer interactions both online and in the stadium. Notably, the API integration with MTC’s online shop allowed for a seamless shopping experience, combining retail and ticket purchases in a single transaction.

Dundee United’s transition to digital ticketing was marked by remarkable success, particularly in converting traditional ticket purchasers to the online platform. A key milestone was the sell-out of a derby match against Dundee in less than 24 hours, with digital sales soaring from 34% to 83%. The flexibility of the Season Ticket function, offering features like auto-renewal and tier access rights, has been instrumental in managing the club’s customer base.

The partnership’s success was solidified when Dundee United renewed their contract with Future Ticketing in 2024. The collaboration has been central to the club’s efforts to enhance fan engagement. Future Ticketing’s development of the Digital Ticketing App (DTA) further empowered supporters, offering greater control over their ticketing experience, a feature warmly received by fans.