EDP Opnion piece....

How Norwich City can lean into American match day experience

I suppose it is time to address the elephant in the room.
The past week for Norwich City has certainly been one for the ages and has got all kinds of feathers rustled.
For many fans it unquestionably will feel like an unnerving, unsettling end of an era and one they no doubt hoped would never end.

I am, of course, talking about the announcement of a major revamp of Carrow Road which will see thousands of season ticket holders moved from their seats.

Wait, did you think I was on about something else?
There's no doubt whatsoever that this will clearly be unsettling for a lot of fans, for reasons just a few years ago the club earned deserved praise for in its suicide prevention video.

The importance of those tenuous relationships you build with those around you at the football can not be understated.

They may seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, you may not even know their names, but the bonds you build from those familiar match day bonds is something truly unique to football.

But equally, Carrow Road redevelopment is something we've all clamoured for endlessly and as the saying goes, you can't make omelettes without breaking eggs.
Clearly though, the club could have been far more transparent about its plans and held wider consultation with supporters before opening the egg box.

There's no real way of telling just where things are going with this and what the long term impact will be on the "match day experience" to coin an Americanism that seems to be infiltrating our shores.

All the noise is that this Carrow Road shake-up has been very much driven by our new owners, who seem to be looking to sprinkle a few stars and stripes onto NR1.
Club officials have also admitted much of the motivation is looking to squeeze greater revenue out of supporters, something I personally don't actually object enormously too.

Plenty of people have match day rituals which sees them take in lunch or drinks before games somewhere in the city.

If they're going to be spending that money anyway, why shouldn't the club try to find ways of trousering some of that instead?

It seems a bit of a contradiction to me when supporters criticise football clubs for attempting to make money - when chances are these are the same people that will cry blue murder when the same clubs are reluctant to spend it.
So, rather than joining the flurry of people looking to shoot down the ideas, I've thought of a few ways we can lean further into this way of thinking, with some Transatlantic inspiration.

Capture the experience

When it comes to efforts to squeeze every last penny from visitors, is there anywhere that does it better than theme parks?

Whether it's Disneyland, Alton Towers or our very own Pleasurewood Hills, there's very little in theme parks that aren't turned into souvenirs.
One of the big earners here is rollercoaster reaction photos, those classic shots of gurning faces and grins at the end of a big drop.

Now imagine this - a camera is trained one every individual seat. Then after the game, you just need to pop into the club shop, give your seat and the minute, and Robert is your father's brother.

A certain age group of fan seem to be more concerned with filming their reactions for TikTok or wherever anyway, so we should be cashing in on that.
Bring your pet - what could go wrong?

One of my favourite ever news stories "went viral" in September 2023 and centred around the 'pets day' at a Philadelphia Phillies baseball game.
Fan Joie Henney was utterly mystified when he wasn't allowed to bring in his emotional support alligator to watch the game.

But clearly others were able to take their pets in, which makes total sense and would just create such a fantastic and not at all problematic atmosphere at all.
Think of the opportunities doing this could create, though? No, I can't either...

Sales pitches everywhere

One of the ideas being floated is bespoke areas of the ground where concession offers can be geared at specific demographics.

Credit where it's due, this does make sense.
But here's where tricks are being missed - there are plenty of areas in the ground where things aren't being sold, despite money being there for the making.

I base this only on television, but it seems America does this better than anywhere else.
Hot dog sellers roaming the terraces, cheerleaders with t-shirt cannons, people hurling packets of peanuts.
Then there's the loos - if nightclubs can have people flogging stuff in the toilets, why shouldn't football grounds?
Embrace virtual reality

I'll confess, I used technology myself to assist with this column. I committed the cardinal sin of asking AI for some suggestions of things you can see in American sports venues that aren't prevalent here.

One of them truly baffled me - interactive fan zones with virtual reality games.
This puts me onto an even better idea - why not give fans the opportunity to embrace virtual reality during the match?

For a clearly nominal fee, fans could grab a VR headset and watch the game with extra angles, close-ups, replays, all from the comfort of their seat.

And better still, the headsets could show different games - ones where we actually win. Imagine the impact that would have on mood and atmosphere?

All jokes aside, at the end of the day there is only one thing that never fails to improve atmosphere: watching winning football.

Posted By: DrDublin on October 9th 2025 at 08:16:33

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