WELCOME TO THE TURNSTILE
This week, weāre diving into the "Data Desert" at Indian Wells, where record-breaking crowds are somehow met with rows of empty seats. This paradox is a perfect example of our POV at Equipe: if your data sources don't talk to each other, youāre essentially flying blind, and likely to encounter suboptimal outcomes.
Around Equipe, weāre officially welcoming the University of South Carolina to the team and showcasing our new AI Audience Builder with a demo video. Check it out below.
- Aaron
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š¾ FULL GROUNDS AND EMPTY SEATS
SYMPTOMS OF A DATA DESERT AT INDIAN WELLS
The 2026 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells is currently breaking records, drawing a staggering 312,000+ fans in its first week alone. But beneath the "Tennis Paradise" surface, a friction-filled fan experience is emerging that highlights a challenge felt by every major event, team, and league in the industry today.
Despite record-breaking attendance, tournament organizers are facing significant pushback over new ticketing policies. Stadium 2, which used to be accessible via a grounds pass, is now a fully reserved venue. The result? While the grounds are "teeming" and general admission courts are oversubscribed, high-profile night sessions in Stadium 2 have been seen nearly empty because those who bought the seats aren't showing up, and grounds-pass holders aren't allowed in to fill them.
Our POV: A Foundation Problem
At Equipe, we don't see this as a "scheduling error" or a "policy failure" unique to tennisāitās a symptom of the Data Foundation Layer not keeping up with the Increasingly complex landscape. This is a challenge felt across the board: when your ticketing data doesn't talk to your real-time venue entry data, you lose the ability to make "live" decisions.
Siloed Systems: Most organizations have ticketing data in one bucket and gate/concession data in another, making it impossible to see the "full story" of a fan's journey in real-time.
The Yield Gap: When gameday is your primary engine, maximizing the yield of every seat isn't just a goalāitās a necessity for survival.
Data Ownership: Without owning a unified, accurate, and authoritative data foundation, teams are forced to rely on "static" policies rather than dynamic, data-driven adjustments that could fill those empty seats.
The takeaway isn't that Indian Wells got it wrong; it's that the entire industry is at an inflection point that is being felt by every team, sport, and event.
The teams that win the next decade won't just have the best facilities; theyāll have the best-organized data foundations to power hyper-personalized, high-utility fan experiences.
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š”PRODUCT HIGHLIGHT
AI AUDIENCE BUILDER
In most athletic departments, a simple question can spark a multi-day ordeal. If a CRO needs to know which fans are trending toward a major gift, they typically have to file a formal ticket with the data team. By the time that CSV actually hits their inbox 48 hours later, the opportunity has already cooled off.
We call this the āIntelligence Gap,ā and at Equipe, we just closed it.
The real value of unifying your data into Golden Records isn't just having a cleaner databaseāitās the ability to understand exactly what your customers are doing in real time. With our latest updates to Customizable Actions, you can stop asking for reports and start having a direct conversation with your data.
With Equipe, you can instantly answer high-stakes questions like:
- Retention Risk: Which 100-level season ticket holders haven't scanned into a single game this season?ā
- Development Opportunities: Who are the $5k+ donors that attended every home basketball game but haven't been touched by a development officer?
- Targeted Revenue: Where are the baseball ticket holders who also bought $200+ in merch and live within 50 miles of campus for a targeted flash sale?
Equipe empowers your frontline staff to build these precise audiences in less than ten minutes, without ever waiting on a data analyst.
Check out the demo video here:
š¢ FROM EQUIPE HQ
WELCOME TO THE TEAM, SOUTH CAROLINA!š
We are incredibly excited to officially announce that the University of South Carolina has joined our initial cohort of forward-thinking partners. The Gamecocks are now utilizing Equipe to bridge the gap between fragmented data silos and a unified, actionable fan identity.
In the high-stakes environment of the SEC, the University of South Carolina recognized that "dirty data" was a barrier to growth. By implementing our platform, they are moving from broad-reach marketing to a world of hyper-personalized, high-utility fan experiences.
Dan Stahl, Chief Revenue & Data Officer at The Gamecock Club, highlighted why this partnership is a game-changer:
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"We chose Equipe because their platform allows us to stop playing defense with siloed data. It gives our team the power to build precise audiences and understand our fans in unrivaled depth, ensuring every interaction we have is personal and high-utility."
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South Carolina joins the University of Texas at Austin as part of our early cohort seeing incredible value in activating their data through Equipe. Whether it's connecting ticketing, merchandise, or donation data, the Gamecocks are now equipped with a "Golden Record" for every fan, ensuring their front office operates as efficiently as their team performs on gameday.
šļø WHAT ELSE WE'RE READING
BAM, BOTS, AND BASKETBALL BUSINESS
Miami of Ohio is turning their historic season into a masterclass in long-term ticket strategy (even after a tough loss to the Minutemen). On the court, Bam Adebayo was on fire with 83 points, the second-most in NBA history. And in the most "2026" story yet, a Ukrainian Paralympian actually used ChatGPT as a coach and psychologist to help him reach the podium for a silver medal.
