What if data could put more fans in seats?

Challenge: RSL struggled with disjointed data that made it difficult to optimize ticket sales, marketing campaigns, and sponsorships.

Solution: Domo gives RSL real-time visibility into fan engagement, ticket demand, and sponsorship growth to enable faster, data-driven decisions.

Impact: In the past two years, RSL has broken club records for ticket sales and sponsorship revenue.

REAL SALT LAKE SCORES REVENUE RECORDS WITH DOMO.

As one of the leading clubs in Major League Soccer, Real Salt Lake (RSL) is as focused on building lasting connections with fans as it is on achieving results on the field. With multiple squads under its umbrella—including its pro men’s and women’s teams, minor league affiliate, and youth academy—RSL has cemented itself as the cornerstone of Utah’s vibrant sports scene.

“The mission of our club is to gather our community and create amazing memories,” said John Kimball, president of RSL. “We have such an exciting future with the World Cup coming to the United States in 2026. These next few years are the tipping point for us as a club and a sport. With Domo, we can facilitate the actions we want to take, capture the information that’s important to our fan base, and do what we need to do as a club to set us up for success.”

“In the past two years, we have broken every club record for ticket sales and sponsorships. Domo has been instrumental in tracking and knowing how we’re doing,” said Tyler Gibbons, VP of marketing at RSL.

Working as one team

Before Domo, RSL’s different departments relied on spreadsheets, manual reporting, and gut instinct when making critical decisions about ticket pricing, marketing campaigns, and sponsorship opportunities. Without real-time visibility between departments, RSL struggled to predict ticket sales or understand where to focus its promotion dollars.

“Life before Domo was very difficult,” said Matt Rader, chief ticketing officer at RSL. “We were pulling reports through our ticketing system, compiling them all into spreadsheets, and then trying to identify where we sit.”

“With Domo, we can update data every 15 minutes. People can go into their dashboard and see a real-time report when they need it instead of waiting for someone to send a report once a week. Domo gives us so much more power to reach our goals,” said Brady Ulloa, business intelligence manager at RSL.

“We have a weekly call with ownership, and Domo has been massively influential because it streamlines everything into a more consumable and viewable product. Our ownership has actually said, ‘We love it. It makes sense for us.’ Now that we’re using Domo across multiple departments, we’re all speaking the same language,” said Brook Bingham, VP of business development at RSL.

Beyond being RSL’s data platform of choice, Domo is also one of the club’s key sponsors, creating a true partnership. “Domo became a partner at RSL through people who had experienced its value before, so when they came to RSL, the opportunity was perfect. We love having partnerships with Utah-based companies that align with our mission, not just locally but also nationally and globally. The fact that Domo is here in our backyard means we can support each other in ways that go beyond just business,” Bingham said.

Reaching the right fans

As RSL expanded its reach, it soon discovered that not all soccer fans were the same, requiring different strategies. “There’s two very distinct audiences that love women’s soccer and men’s soccer. We needed data and technology to teach us who we needed to market each club to so we could make each club successful,” said Kimball.

For RSL’s marketing team, understanding the different audiences for each team is critical to driving attendance and keeping fans engaged year-round.

“Domo helps track all the irons we have in the fire. We do a lot of things for each of our teams, both locally and nationally. Being able to track each of those individual campaigns and goals, along with whether or not we are on pace, is incredibly valuable to us,” Gibbons said.

RSL uses real-time analytics to track campaign performance for each team, game, and audience, helping it maximize ad spend. By using ticket data to identify which games are close to selling out and which ones still have extra seats available, RSL can shift spend to games where it will have the most impact on revenue.

“Before Domo, everything was based on my gut,” Gibbons said. “Without Domo, I don’t know if we would have been able to do the numbers we have done in the last two years. It’s been a huge benefit for us as we continue to improve not only how we’re doing on the field, but also within our business practices.”

Driving greater ticket revenue

As the lifeblood of its operations, RSL uses Domo to carefully track its sales of season tickets and individual games, which informs its inventory management, pricing strategy, and demand forecasting.

“Domo helped us understand our season ticket renewal rates and put together a good game plan of what we can expect from a renewal standpoint. It also helps us look at buying habits and trends so we can cater specific experiences for our season ticket holders,” Rader said.

RSL uses Domo to identify which seats are in highest demand from game to game to maximize the revenue of every seat. In addition, RSL uses Domo to increase ticket sales by identifying demand for new types of ticket packages, along with creating custom sales campaigns for specific fan demographics who are more likely to convert. “Once we get a new fan in our database, we utilize Domo to identify them, look at their spending trends, and retarget them so they keep coming back,” Rader said.