Summary: From fan feedback to data-driven decisions in the sports business

Date: 21.04.2026
Keynote speaker: Marius Johnen (Head of Analytics & Strategic Projects, Eintracht Frankfurt)
Moderation: Florian Müller
Topic focus: Transformation of market research, real-time insights and fan centricity.

Brief description of the session

Marius Johnen gave exclusive insights into the data transformation at Eintracht Frankfurt. The case impressively shows the path from a pure “gut feeling culture” to a systematic, centrally controlled insights structure. The focus is not on the sheer volume of data, but on the ability to translate feedback in real time (e.g. immediately after the final whistle) into operational and strategic decisions for merchandising, ticketing and content planning.

Key Takeaways

💡 Centralization beats silos

In the past, market research at Eintracht was decentralized and often organized “ad hoc”. The introduction of a centralized tool (fan experience tool) eliminated data islands. Today, all insights flow together in one structure, which enables a consistent view of fan needs.

💡 Real-time feedback as a strategic lever

The biggest benefit is the speed: surveys are automatically played out directly after the stadium visit or after interactions. The results are often available within minutes and flow directly into the “post-match reports” instead of ending up in a dusty PDF weeks later.

💡 From “gut feeling” to data legitimization

At Eintracht, data serves as an “objective referee”. When topics such as merchandising prices or catering quality are discussed internally, the insights of 10,000+ fans provide the necessary factual basis to objectify discussions and secure strategic directions for the management.

💡 Efficiency through automation & AI

Marius emphasized how much effort has been reduced through automation. Where days used to be invested in creating questionnaires and evaluations, today standard templates and AI support (e.g. when evaluating open text responses/sentiment analyses) enable results “at the touch of a button”.

💡 Data democratization

Insights are not just for the analytics team. Dashboards and regular reports are used to transfer the data to the individual departments (marketing, sales, communication) so that every “focal point” works on the basis of the same facts.

Learnings for our community (Next-Gen Insights)

1. structure before tool: The success at Eintracht was not achieved by the tool alone, but by defining clear processes for how data is collected and (above all) who receives it for decision-making and when.

2. the time factor: In our dynamic world, last month’s insight is often worthless. We need to build systems that enable “streaming insights” in order to manage proactively rather than reactively.

3. connectivity: Marius has shown that insights are only valuable if they speak the language of the recipient (e.g. concrete suggestions for optimizing the stadium experience instead of complex statistical tables).