Your CRM Database Is Rotting (And What to Do About It)
Reading time:
8 mins
Most football clubs treat gift cards as a small add-on in the merchandise shop.
Stefan Nehls takes a very different view.
In this conversation, we explore how gift cards can become a strategic financial and commercial lever. From generating upfront liquidity to acquiring new fans, the potential goes far beyond retail.
Clubs like Hansa Rostock already show what’s possible when this is approached systematically. The interview breaks down what needs to change for that shift to happen.
Most clubs underestimate gift cards because they view them as a product rather than a financial mechanism.
Placed in the merchandise shop, they behave like an add-on.But when treated strategically, gift cards become a tool to generate Financial Float — upfront liquidity before any service is delivered.
The real blind spot is structural:there is usually no ownership at C-level, no defined KPI, and no cross-functional execution across ticketing, merchandise, hospitality, and digital products.
As a result, clubs optimize individual revenue streams —but miss the much bigger opportunity:
turning fan demand into predictable, pre-paid liquidity.
When executed properly, the financial impact can be significant.For many clubs, it can realistically reach a level equivalent to the value of a second jersey sponsor — without adding inventory, risk, or operational complexity.
That’s why most clubs stay below 1% of revenue,while top performers move towards 5–10% and treat it as a strategic asset.
In most cases, gift cards have existed for years — but at a very low operational level.
They sit in the merchandise shop, run quietly in the background, and never receive real attention from the C-level. As a result, they are not treated as a financial instrument, but simply as another product.
At the same time, the organization is fragmented:
Merchandise handles retail
Ticketing handles access
Membership handles loyalty
Each operates within its own silo.
What’s missing is a clear, top-down framework — typically driven by Finance or the executive level — that aligns all these value streams towards one goal:
generating Financial Float
Because here’s the key insight:
Each individual stream may look small on its own.But when combined, they create a relevant and scalable liquidity flow.
The difference between a basic setup and a high-performing system is therefore not technology —it’s ownership, structure, and cross-functional execution.
This dynamic is exactly where the real power of gift cards lies.
When a fan buys a gift card, they are not just making a purchase —they are actively introducing the club to someone else.
👉 In other words: fans create new fans.
With a well-designed gift card system, this becomes scalable:
Loyal supporters become ambassadors
Ambassadors become a distributed acquisition channel
And the club reaches people it would never reach through traditional marketing
A gifted experience — whether it’s merchandise, a matchday, or a special event —is often the first meaningful touchpoint for a new fan.
From there, clubs can:
capture new customer data
re-engage recipients with targeted offers
and gradually integrate them into the club’s ecosystem
The key shift is this:
At scale, this creates a powerful flywheel:
Fans bring in new fans.Fans reactivate dormant fans.Fans extend the club’s reach into entirely new audiences.
That’s why, when executed properly, gift card systems are not a side product —they are one of the most effective and underutilized growth levers in sports.
This conversation highlights one of those topics that is hiding in plain sight.
Every club knows gift cards. Every club has them. And almost every club underestimates them.
The reason is simple: they are framed as a product.
Once you start looking at them as a financial mechanism, the entire perspective changes.
The concept Stefan Nehls introduces is Financial Float.
Upfront liquidity generated before any service is delivered.
This is not new in other industries. Airlines, retail, and digital platforms have been using similar mechanisms for years. But in football, this way of thinking is still not widely adopted.
What makes this particularly interesting is the scale of the opportunity.
Most clubs operate below 1% of revenue from gift cards. Top performers move towards 5–10%. That is not a marginal improvement. Rather a structural shift.
Stefan mentions that, at scale, this can reach the equivalent of a second jersey sponsor.
Without additional inventory. Without production risk. Without major operational complexity.
That should immediately get the attention of any commercial or finance leader.
The second important point is not about technology. It is about structure.
This is where many initiatives fail.
Gift cards already exist in most clubs. The difference between a low-impact setup and a high-performing system is not the tool. It is ownership.
In most organizations:
Merchandise runs retail
Ticketing runs access
Membership runs loyalty
Each optimizes its own area.
But no one owns the bigger system.
This leads to fragmentation. And fragmentation kills leverage.
The insight here is very aligned with broader CRM and RevOps thinking:
Value is not created in isolated streams. It is created when those streams are connected.
Gift cards sit exactly at that intersection.
They connect:
Ticketing
Merchandise
Hospitality
Membership
Digital products
When aligned under a clear financial objective, they create a scalable liquidity flow.
This is where the example of Hansa Rostock becomes particularly relevant.
They moved beyond the “add-on product” mindset and treated gift cards as a structured system. That shift is what unlocks results.
It is not about selling more gift cards in the shop.
It is about designing a mechanism that captures demand across multiple touchpoints and converts it into predictable, pre-paid revenue.
The third aspect, which is often overlooked, is the acquisition dynamic.
Gift cards are rarely bought for oneself.
They are gifted.
This creates a powerful mechanism that most clubs do not fully leverage.
A fan introduces the club to someone new.
That is fundamentally different from traditional marketing.
It is trust-based. It is personal. And it reaches people the club would not reach otherwise.
If designed correctly, this becomes a scalable acquisition channel.
From a CRM perspective, this is highly valuable.
It allows clubs to:
Capture new data
Create new touchpoints
Re-engage recipients
And integrate them into the broader fan ecosystem
This creates a flywheel effect:
Fans bring in new fans
Fans reactivate dormant fans
Fans extend the reach of the club
And importantly, this happens organically.
When you connect all three dimensions:
Financial Float
Cross-functional structure
Fan acquisition
You start to see why this is not a small optimization topic.
It is a strategic lever.
For clubs thinking about revenue growth, cash flow optimization, fan engagement, and CRM, this fits directly into the bigger picture.
It is not about selling gift cards.
It is about designing systems that:
Generate liquidity
Connect revenue streams
And turn fans into growth drivers
That is why this topic is so interesting.
Because the infrastructure already exists.
The question is whether clubs are willing to rethink how they use it.
