Quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick are key contributors to the year-after-year success of the football New England Patriots. No doubt. But an even greater reason for the Pats’ consistent high performance level is the organization behind it.
Like any great business, the Patriots front office is an avid collector and analyzer of data and metrics. If it can’t be measured, it’s not worth doing, right? Management expert Tom Davenport, in a Super Bowl-eve post on Harvard Business, looks at how the Pats use detailed analytics to to improve what they call total fan experience.
At every home game, for example, twenty to twenty-five people have specific assignments to make quantitative measurements of the stadium food, parking, personnel, bathroom cleanliness, and other factors. The team prides itself not only on scoring the most points ever this season, but also on having the lowest wait time for women’s restrooms in the NFL. External vendors of services are monitored for contract renewal and have incentives to improve their performance. This won’t help them win the Super Bowl, but it helps fill Gillette Stadium every home game.
We respectfully disagree that this program doesn’t help the Pats win games. What funds this business, and any sports franchise, is fannies in the seats. Football game tickets are costly, and the Patriots understand the product extends way beyond the playing field. A better total fan experience — and how long women have to stand in line for the restroom certainly qualifies — means more tickets sold, more revenue generated, and more money available to retain and recruit key talent.
Do you have an unexpected key metric like bathroom wait time that helps your business succeed?
