NEW YORK ? An executive from the Cleveland Cavaliers said that by using mobile, the team has tapped into its fanbase and engages users with content that places them in the games.

The executives spoke at the ?Sports Meets Mobile ? How the Cleveland Cavaliers are Engaging Consumers in Live Venue and Beyond? session and talked about how the NBA team?s mobile strategy has been driving users to mobile platforms through multiple points of communication. They also talked about the constantly changing industry and the struggle of finding ways to keep interacting with on-the-go sports fans.

Mobile fans
The Cleveland Cavaliers first noticed a need to push to use mobile during the 2007 to 2008 season.

?During the season, we noticed our fans? habits changing, and they expressed a desire to take the experiences from the basketball games with them on their mobile devices,? said Jeff Ryznar, director of strategic marketing for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland, OH.

After realizing their fans wanted more from their sports experiences, the Cleveland Cavaliers started their first SMS program, ?The Rise Up and Cheer? program, where users downloaded exclusive content from games, contests and mobile texts alerts.

During a 40-day period, 8,000 people enrolled in the program and brought in 1,800 new Web site subscribers.

In addition to ?The Rise Up and Cheer? campaign, the Cleveland Cavaliers have also used mobile with their products to give users exclusive content.

For example, the sports team produces a yearly calendar that uses QR codes. Each month, users can scan a QR code to get behind-the-scenes content from the calendar?s photo shoot.

?Our fans want to know about the players, the statistics and want to be involved in the game as much as possible,? Mr. Ryznar said. ?Each of our fans has an ownership in the team and are fully immersed in the games.?

In the game
Going forward, the Cleveland Cavaliers? main goal with mobile is to keep the fans and stick with them through mobile innovations.

?From ticket and concession buying trends to collecting data on how fans watch and listen to games, we need to understand our fans and our demographic to get them the content they want,? Mr. Ryznar said.

Mr. Ryznar also points to the team?s consistently high attendance rates as proof that the mobile campaigns are working to engage with fans.