By Marlon Villa
Offering a platform that financially supports student athletes, the Long Beach State men’s basketball team are the first to form a partnership with NextFan monetizing their names, image and likeness.
From videos interviewing the players with fun questions, NextFan through fan experiences aims to create engagement within the fanbase.
Tech entrepreneur Mark Roah started this company in fall and was able to get a lot of access from men’s basketball coach Dan Monson.
“He wanted us to succeed so his players could profit from their position as college athletes,” Roah said.
02/25/2023 – Long Beach, Calif: LBSU men’s basketball sophomore guard, Tone Hunter, plays on-ball defense against CSUN’s Ethan Igbanugo inside the Gold Mine. Photo credit: Naoki Gima
Going forward, Roah and Monson see this as a potential way to help keep the best players and also help attract additional quality players going forward to the basketball team.
QR codes passed around on game day, which direct the fans to links with player profiles, is another one of the ways NextFan looks to interact with fans.
Among the opportunities for fans to engage in the game is opportunities for them to play NBA2k online and do a shoot-around with the players after the game.
Selling autographed basketballs and big ticket items donated from boosters has allowed NextFan to raise money that is spread within the team.
Although there’s a small percentage that goes to the company, the majority of the money that is raised goes directly to the players for personal use.
One of the large ticket items donated from a booster was from OCR aviation who donated a flight and flew some boosters to an away game.
“The reality is that being a college athlete is a full time job,” Roah said. “The goal for the coaching staff and the school was to integrate our products and our offerings with the team to help the team be more competitive and to keep these players happy.”
Other donations have included the Long Beach grand prix that donated some tickets to staff.
Currently the partnership with NextFan and LBSU has focused on the men’s basketball team in an attempt for them to figure out how things work.
02/25/2023 – Long Beach, Calif: LBSU men’s basketball sophomore guard, Tone Hunter, transferred from Garden City CC and looks to make an impact this postseason for the Beach. Photo credit: Naoki Gima
However Roah has a deal with the athletic department where he bought a sponsorship that grants him the rights to work with all the teams at the school for the year.
“We’re trying to figure out what the fans want. We are currently making changes to NextFan and in March we’re gonna be rolling out our NextFan 2.0,” Roah said. “When we relaunch in March, we hope to help other teams at Long Beach State and beyond.
“It’s been hard to get them (fans) to engage, we’ve had more success working with boosters.”
A priority with NextFan 2.0 is improving the fan engagement.
With NextFan 2.0 being the updated version, it will look to be more streamlined and open to more events.
