• by Karl Greenberg , March 6, 2012

Marketers, and professional sports leagues have a challenge when it comes to fans. They want them to pay attention to the game, but they are also increasing the degree of interactions during they game on the fans' digital devices. And fans really like those apps, games, feeds, what have you. 

According to a new national survey commissioned by Motricity that focuses on sports fans and how they use their mobile devices, 79% of sports fans have used their device for watching or following sports this past year. Of them, 55% track game scores using their devices; 87% check on a sports during an "inappropriate" time, e.g., when they are in a meeting or on, say, a date.

Also according to the survey, about 50% have gone to the restroom in order to check the score. Somewhat more use their mobile devices to check sports scores and events during a dinner event. Also, nearly a third of sports fans who use mobile devices to keep checks on stats will double task at entertainment events, including movies, concerts and the like, in total disregard of pre-show reminders. Remarkably, very nearly 20% of cads confess to having checked scores during a date. And even worse for the fate of their souls in the hereafter, about 14% confess (no pun intended) to having checked a score while at church.

Not surprisingly, around 42% of sports fans with a propensity for mobile engagement have checked up on their favorite team while at work, and more than a third (32%)are repeat offenders who frequently fake their finger-tapping to check a score.

The survey also found a result that should be problematic for team owners who want to keep fans at live games engaged in no small part to add the crowd energy to the TV broadcast: the app that sports fans most want is one that will give them the ability to view the game from an individual player’s helmet (60% of respondents said as much); nearly as many (58%) want audio feeds from both sidelines to stream through their sports app. These fans would obviously not be cheering at the right times, won't be doing the wave, and -- for marketers -- are probably not going to be terribly engaged in on-field branding.