Sustainable Fan Travel and the Business of Live Sport

What sporting organisations can actually do

For many sporting organisations, one of the biggest contributors to an event’s environmental footprint happens before fans even reach the gate. According to SEA, fan and spectator travel can account for 70–90% of the carbon footprint associated with an event or venue.

But is fan travel just a carbon question? How people get to and from sport shapes the whole event experience, from congestion, accessibility, and transport capacity to fan satisfaction, local community impact, and operational costs.

The panel will explore how sporting organisations can better understand and measure how their fans travel, and why fan travel deserves a place in sustainability and event planning from the outset. It will look at the role of travel demand management in reducing congestion and environmental impact, and how data, technology, and multimodal travel planning can help fans make lower-carbon choices.

The discussion will also cover why communication and fan engagement are so important to influencing travel decisions, and how partnerships between sport, venues, transport providers, and governments can turn good intentions into delivery.

Alex Townshend joins the panel for ‘Ģ����ý.’, bringing a travel demand management perspective on how personalised, event-specific travel information helps fans plan ahead, and how better fan travel can create operational, reputational, and commercial value.

Whether you’re already measuring Scope 3 emissions or just starting to ask how your organisation can influence fan travel, the session offers practical ideas and examples to take back to your team.

Date: Thursday 8 October 2026
Time:

• 18:00 – 19:30 AEDT (Melbourne and Sydney)
• 17:00 – 18:30 AEST (Brisbane)
• 15:00 – 16:30 AWST (Perth)
• 08:00 – 09:30 BST (UK)

Session: Shared Ground Webinar 3: Sustainable Fan Travel and the Business of Live Sport
Location: Online
Cost: Free to attend

Speakers:

• Adam Cheyne, Sports Environment Alliance
• Jon Foley, Director, In the Round
• Hattie Park, Sustainability Lead, The All England Lawn Tennis Club
• Matt Crawcour, Head of Championships Development, The All England Lawn Tennis Club
• Alex Townshend, Head of Environmental and Socio-economic Impact, ‘Ģ����ý.’

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‘Ģ����ý.’ attending the GSIC Summit 2026 – Valencia, Spain

Organised by the , the summit takes place at Complejo Las Naves, home to the GSIC Testing Lab Valencia. The programme includes keynotes, panel discussions, interactive workshops, innovation showcases and the Groundbreakers Pitch Sessions, with speakers from organisations including FIFA, LALIGA, the Valencia Marathon, Hamburger SV, D.C. United and the USTA.

Across every sport, organisations face similar challenges: engaging fans in new ways, improving operations and growing sustainably. For clubs, leagues and major events, the journey to and from the venue is a key part of that experience, shaping how fans arrive, how crowds are managed and the environmental impact of every match day.

Date: Wednesday 7 – Thursday 8 October 2026
Location: Complejo Las Naves (La Mutant and La Harinera), Valencia, Spain

(Photo: MARCA)

Meet the Team

Ready, Set… Where?

How Better Planning Transforms the Participant Experience Before Race Day

This session brings together a series of presentations on the products, resources and solutions helping race organisers deliver a better experience for runners.

A runner’s experience begins long before the start line. Yet participants are often expected to navigate unfamiliar cities, road closures, different waves and multiple start areas using generic pre-event briefings and static travel information.

This presentation will explore how race organisers can help runners and spectators visualise and plan their individual race day before leaving home. Tabita will show how personalised pre-event planning can reduce uncertainty, improve arrivals, support crowd management and introduce lower-carbon travel choices at the point when participants make their decisions.

Drawing on major running events, Tabita will share innovation being developed with London Marathon Events to support the changing scale and complexity of mass participation events. She will also explore how oversubscribed races can use ballots as an earlier opportunity to influence travel behaviour as with UTMB Boost for the Worlds Series Finals in Chamonix.

The session will uncover an exciting and largely untapped space between participant communications, operational planning and the physical race-day experience, helping organisers improve delivery while letting participants focus on their performance.

Date & Time: Saturday 7 November 2026 | 17:15 – 18:00
Session: Products, Resources and Solutions for Runners and Race Organisers
Location: Porto-Gaia, Portugal

Moderator:

Mina Smiljanić, Moderator of ERBC2026

Speakers:

• Veroljub Zmijanac, Race Director and Founder, HYBRIDS & Schneider Electric Serbia Business Run & Walk
• Tania Branzanic, International Sports Presenter and Brand Ambassador, Compos Sport Events
• Shoaib Nizami, CEO, Passu & Sports in Pakistan
• Tabita Bobs, Sustainable Travel Consultant, ‘Ģ����ý.’

Meet the Team

Plan Your Travel and Learn More

Plan your travel to Porto-Gaia and learn more about the event below.

(Credit: Paradise City Festival Travel Assistant, 2025 /Facebook)

Event-specific travel planning

Late-night events can create transport demand that does not align with transport provision. Without clear information, attendees may be uncertain whether viable transport options exist once events finish.

YST allows event organisers and transport partners to configure bespoke late-night transport services directly into the journey planner, alongside existing public transport networks. This enables users to plan return journeys in advance and receive timely reminders, such as notifications to leave in time for the last train.

At Paradise City Festival 2025 in Belgium, the platform integrated specially commissioned night trains into the festival travel assistant. Attendees could plan and secure their return journeys ahead of time, providing reassurance that transport options would be available after the event. The night trains subsequently sold out, demonstrating strong engagement with the travel assistant.

Measurable Modal Shift

The trial delivered a measurable impact across audience travel behaviour.

Engagement with the Travel Assistant increased by more than 150% compared to the same period the previous year. More importantly, data showed a clear shift toward more sustainable modes of transport:

• Public transport journeys increased from 24% to 38.3%.
• Cycling journeys rose from 2% to 5%.
• Private car use reduced to 15.7% of planned trips.

Post-event surveys supported these findings, with around 50% of respondents reporting public transport as their chosen mode. These results highlight how data-led insight can support more effective travel demand management while enhancing the overall visitor experience.

Real-Time Carbon Reduction

The project also demonstrated how integrated travel solutions can deliver measurable environmental outcomes.

During the trial, the average carbon footprint per planned journey was approximately 4 kg CO₂e, significantly lower than the YST platform average of around 10 kg CO₂e. This provided Birmingham Hippodrome with a clear, evidence-based view of impact, enabling more robust sustainability reporting and informed decision-making.

For venues, this level of insight brings confidence and accountability to an area that has historically been difficult to quantify.

Panels and keynotes

Leading industry voices on how travel is transforming visitor experience for major events – streamlining delivery, reducing emissions, and unlocking revenue

Breakout sessions

Facilitated small group discussions to share what’s working, where the challenges are and what the live events sector needs to focus to move the dial

YST Service Desk & Partners

Meet the YST product team and selected supply chain partners, each with a dedicated presence, ready to discuss requirements and explore opportunities

Networking

An opportunity to swap notes on best practice with industry leaders and supply chain partners throughout the day, with drinks and networking to close

The Venue

Arboretum is an independent members’ club just off Trafalgar Square in Central London, founded with environmental consciousness at its core. A space built around sustainability, community and forward-thinking people — which is exactly why we chose it.

Arboretum, 2A Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0HF
Nearest tube: Leicester Square (0.1 mi)

Plan your journey to Ģ����ý. Live

We would not be doing our job if we did not make it easy to plan your trip in advance. Use the Ģ����ý. Live Travel Assistant below to find the best route to Arboretum.

Why We’re There

The YST team is heading to EarthFest to take part in the conversation, not just observe it. Across two days in King’s Cross, London, EarthFest brings together industry professionals, policy makers, government representatives, innovators and thought leaders for high level discussions, workshops and networking on the future of sustainability.

We’re attending to be part of that exchange, listening, contributing where we can, and connecting with others shaping the future of sustainable travel and sustainable event delivery across major events, sport, music and live entertainment. With EarthFest forming part of London Climate Action Week, it’s exactly the kind of moment we want to be part of.

If you’re attending the Future of Music & Entertainment Summit or the Future of Sustainable Sport Summit, we’d love to connect.

Date: Wednesday, June 24, 2026 to Thursday, June 25, 2026
Location: King’s Cross, London

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• Future of Music & Entertainment Summit
• Future of Sustainable Sport Summit

Learn More About the Event:

Transforming the Fan Experience with Personalised Travel Plans

How Integrated Multimodal Low-carbon Mobility is Streamlining Destination, Venue, & Event Access & Driving Live Event Sector Growth

The panel session will showcase best practice travel demand management techniques using major event case studies from Europe and America. LJ Nassivera (New York Mets), Nadia Woodman (San Francisco Giants), European client, (e.g. London Marathon Events or The R&A) and Chris Thomspon (Ģ����ý.) will talk candidly about what works and what doesn’t when in come to executing best-in-class TDM. Alongside streamlining, operational delivery, safety and security, we’ll cover how to sell TDM to internal stakeholders.

Date & Time: Monday, July 27th | 2:20 PM – 3:20 PM
Room: Rapid Exchange

Moderator:

• Chris Thompson, Ģ����ý.

Speakers:

• LJ Nassivera, Vice President, Transportation Strategies, New York Mets
• Nadia Woodmansee, Senior Transportation Manager, San Francisco Giants

Meet the Team

Learn More About the Conference

YST Speaking at the Webinar

The fan experience starts long before kick-off. ‘Ģ����ý.’ enables sports organisations to influence fan behaviour before they arrive, delivering personalised door to door travel plans from the moment a ticket is purchased. Plans that reflect event-day reality: road closures, shuttle buses, dedicated drop-off points, accessible routes and last-mile options, not generic mapping tools.

Drawing on real-world case studies including The R&A’s AIG Women’s Open in 2025 at Royal Porthcawl, Wales, the session will explore how Ģ����ý�ý.’ software helps organisations:

• Deliver personalised low-carbon travel plans across all transport modes – nothing for fans to download or install
• Engage fans throughout the build-up to an event, influencing how they choose to travel
• Increase revenues through partner integrations, affiliate links and context-aware content at the point of travel planning
• Give operations and safety teams early visibility of fan travel intentions and arrival patterns
• Reduce the carbon footprint of visitor travel – typically the largest part of an event’s environmental impact
• Capture rich travel behaviour data to support ESG reporting and inform future planning

With case studies spanning major championships and events across the UK and beyond, the session will explore what best practice looks like and what it could mean for Welsh sport.

The session will include a 15 minute Q&A, giving attendees the opportunity to explore how the platform could work for their sport, event or venue.

Wednesday 22 July | 12:00 to 13:00 
Online Event

Speakers:

• Alex Townshend – Head of Environmental and Socio-Economic Impact, ‘Ģ����ý.’
• Thomas Sharp – Commercial Manager, Welsh Sports Association

Join the Session

Analytics: Access Routes Chart

It’s always been possible to see how people are travelling. Now it’s possible to see exactly where they’re heading once they arrive.

The dashboard now shows which specific access routes audiences are planning to use, which car park, which entrance, which drop-off zone.

For venues and events managing multiple access points, this is genuinely useful. Where to put signage, where to allocate staff, where the pinch points might be.

Less guesswork, better decisions.

Understanding Dashboard Data

The dashboard shows modal split percentages and carbon figures. But what do those numbers actually mean in practice?

Tom Yiangou, Client Development Manager, has written a guide on making dashboard data as valuable as possible, covering how to set realistic modal shift targets, compare events against national travel averages, measure which communications increase engagement, and turn data into carbon reduction evidence for sustainability reports.

Growing the Team and Looking Ahead

We’re pleased to welcome Hannah George to the ‘Ģ����ý.’ team as Client Development Manager, joining Emma Gibbons and Tom Yiangou in Client Development. Hannah brings a background in sustainability strategy for live events and music venues.

The YST team now spans the UK, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, USA and Australia, and this quarter has been a busy one, with the team out on the road attending and speaking at industry events, visiting clients and experiencing events first-hand. As we move into the second half of the year, schedules are looking full for all the right reasons, with a packed calendar of client events, deployments and industry moments ahead.

Different cities, different time zones, same ambition.

Transforming the Fan Experience with Personalised Travel Plans

The YST team will be hosting a panel session exploring how integrated multimodal low-carbon mobility is streamlining destination, venue and event access while driving live event sector growth.

Getting fans to and from major events efficiently is one of the most persistent challenges in event delivery. This session examines how personalised, data-driven travel planning is being used to reduce congestion, improve the fan journey and cut the environmental footprint of major events, with examples from across sport and endurance events.

Date & Time: Tuesday 30 June 2026 | 14:25 – 15:05
Location: Ground Floor, Auditorium — The Olympic Museum, Lausanne

Chair:

• Chris Thompson, Chief Executive Officer, You.Smart.Thing.

Speakers:

• Isabella Burczak, Cycling for All & Sustainability Manager, Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)
• LJ Nassivera, VP Transportation, New York Mets
• Sam Dils, Technology Coordinator, be•at

Meet the Team

Plan Your Travel and Learn More

Plan your travel to Lausanne and learn more about the event below.

(Image: Getty Images)

It’s Not Just a Race Day – It’s a Destination

Here’s what racecourse event organisers already know but perhaps underestimate: a significant proportion of their visitors don’t just come for the racing. They come and they stay. Around a third of Cheltenham festival visitors arrive at least a day before the event [6] and stay on afterwards. Attendees sleep in local accommodation, eat in local restaurants, spend money in local shops. The racecourse is the anchor, but the destination is the whole region.

This is destination tourism in live action, and it creates a powerful argument for a different kind of partnership. When a racecourse works collaboratively with local councils, transport operators, hotels, and local businesses to create a seamless, integrated visitor journey, everyone wins, more people come, more people stay, and more people come back.

The challenge (and the opportunity) is coordination. Getting all those stakeholders on the same page to better understand how visitors are travelling, where the pinch points are, and what would make the journey better. That’s exactly what the YST platform helps event organisers to do.

The London Marathon Events Parallel: What Running Figured Out

London Marathon Events (LME) has demonstrated how major sporting events can use travel planning and visitor experience management to enhance the participant and spectator experience, as well as an event’s environmental sustainability credentials – a key consideration for stakeholders, such as host destination residents, local councils and event organisers. Coordinated bespoke shuttle-bus services, pre-event travel information directly from the LME comms team, and tailored multi-modal travel planning don’t just reduce congestion, they reduce emissions, stress, and they make a first-time visitor feel like a welcome guest.

Horse racing has an even richer engagement opportunity. The social fabric of race days, from the fashion to the tradition and shared excitement means visitors want to be part of something, from the moment they consider attending, through the build-up, en route travel, to the journey back home, and sharing their experience post-event.

(Image: London Marathon Events)

Redefining Race Day

Horse racing faces a few reputational challenges, often countered through state-of-the-art animal welfare standards and a regulatory framework that has helped shape responsible betting policy. An aging fanbase, however, means that the sport cannot rely on tradition alone to recruit the next generation of racegoers. Gen Z, a sustainability-aware generation that racecourses are eager to attract, is increasingly drawn to events that show clear environmental and social responsibility.

As a Gen Z myself, my first exposure to horse racing wasn’t through my lifelong passion for the sport, but instead, it was a day out with friends tied to a social occasion and live music. Concerts at the races are fantastic at drawing in younger crowds who might not otherwise attend a sporting event, combining live sport with the atmosphere of a festival. This is ‘sportainment’, and it’s quietly reshaping what race day looks and feels like.

The commercial logic makes sense: a broader, more diverse audience means more tickets sold, stronger sponsorship value, and a long-term fanbase. But along with this comes a transport dimension that is rarely discussed yet is just as important. When entertainment spans across the event day or people stay for a concert after the last race, peak travel demand is spread across a longer window. That easing of the egress spike is not just a smoother experience for racegoers, but it also reduces pressure on roads, rail services and shuttle infrastructure, lowering the cost and complexity of transport operations for the organsier. Done well, sportainment doesn’t just sell more tickets, it addresses event egress bottlenecks, reduces peak demand and eases pressure on infrastructure.

The Racecourse Association has noted that 40% of racing fans are women, which is twice the average across other sports. Audience diversification is already happening. The opportunity to serve new audiences better, from the moment they decide to come along to the moment they get home, is what will define the future of the sport.

What Better Looks Like:

Imagine a racegoer who buys their ticket and immediately receives a personalised low-carbon travel plan from the exact location they’re coming from. They book their train and reserve their shuttle bus from the station via the officially recommended and integrated services. On the morning of the race, they receive a push notification confirming their transport is set and letting them know which gate to use for their specific ticket type. On the way home, they know exactly which gate to depart from, and the event organiser is able to look at the data, and manage a departure system that has people moving smoothly in line with their itinerary, rather than facing frustrating queues as they try to get away.

The racegoer doesn’t just have a better day and a better mood; they tell people about it, they come back next year, and most importantly, they bring someone new.

(Image: Holiday Ireland Tours)

The Role of YST:

Ģ����ý�ý.’ is a travel demand management platform designed specifically for challenges like this. We work with event organisers, venues, and destinations to shape how visitors travel to and from events, optimising people flow to improve both operational efficiency and commercial performance. By tailoring routes and integrating bespoke transport services not typically surfaced in standard journey planners, we help deliver smoother, more sustainable visitor journeys. In doing so, we also capture business-critical visitor behaviour and experience data that is otherwise lost to third-party platforms.

For horse racing event organisers that means:

• Pre-event travel planning tools tailored for racegoers that help visitors understand each journey option and nudge them towards the lowest-carbon route
• Operational insight and demand forecasting, giving racecourses the data they need to optimise transport, crowd flow, accessibility, and revenues
• Sustainability reporting that enables racecourses to evidence progress towards environmental commitments and strengthens reputation with stakeholders
• Real time communication that keeps racegoers informed about delays, shuttle capacity, road congestion, and wayfinding to reduce stress and improve the overall visitor experience.

By positioning their YST powered ‘travel assistant’ service as a new channel for sponsorship and revenue – racecourses can promote hospitality upgrades, transport partners, accommodation partners and more at the exact moment of consideration.

Above: Travel assistant deployments showing personalised travel plans with sustainable options, enhanced 3D maps, parking areas, and gate-specific wayfinding.

Joining the Conversation on Public-Private Collaboration

Alex Townshend, Head of Environmental and Socio-economic Impact at ‘Ģ����ý.’, will be joining a panel session exploring how public and private sector organisations can work together to deliver integrated, seamless transport solutions.

Drawing on real-world deployments and case studies, the session will explore how partnerships between transport authorities, technology providers and operators can accelerate the delivery of user-centred, sustainable mobility.

Date & Time: Thursday 11 June 2026 | 12:05 – 13:00
Location: The Clayton Hotel, Glasgow

Chair: Rachael Murphy, Strategy Manager, SEStran

Panellists:

• Jorgen Pedersen, Chief Operating Officer, Gooii TX
• Justin Southcombe, Commercial Director, Hitachi Rail
• Alex Townshend, Head of Environmental and Socio-Economic Impact, Ģ����ý.
• Geert Vanbeveren, CSO Growth Markets, Siemens Mobility

Meet the Team

Learn More About the Event

To explore the full programme and find out more about the MaaS Scotland Annual Conference, visit the official MaaS Scotland website.

Hosting a Panel on Sustainable Travel in Sport

‘Ģ����ý.’ will be joining a panel session exploring how sport can tackle one of its biggest sustainability challenges: visitor travel emissions. Drawing on real-world case studies from across the sports sector, the session will explore practical approaches to reducing transport-related carbon footprints while improving fan experience and operational efficiency.

The BASIS Conference 2026 will explore critical themes including:
The UK’s energy transition and what it means for sport. Climate resilience and adaptation strategies. Innovation in sustainable sport delivery. Travel and transport emissions reduction. Collaborative approaches to achieving net zero.

Session: Sustainable Travel and Transport for Professional Sport

Date & Time: Thursday 4th June 2026, 9:45 – 10:45
Location: Exchange Room 5, Manchester Central

Speakers:

• Chris Thompson, CEO, Ģ����ý.
• Helen Hughes, Sustainability Manager, Newcastle United FC
• Steve Gilholme, Head of Events | Customer and Growth, Transport for Greater Manchester

Meet the Team

Make your journey to the BASIS Sustainable Sport Conference simpler and more sustainable.

Learn More About the Event

To explore the full programme and find out more about the BASIS Sustainable Sport Conference, visit the official BASIS website.

YST Speaking at the Webinar

Alex Townshend, our Head of Environmental and Socio-Economic Impact, will be speaking alongside the team and Kevin Mackay, Sustainability Manager at

Alex will be presenting findings from our latest case study with DF Concerts & Events, showing how audience travel planning delivered measurable behaviour change across 38,000 journeys at Glasgow and Edinburgh Summer Sessions. The case study demonstrates what’s possible when travel is treated as a core part of event delivery rather than an afterthought.

What You’ll Learn

The webinar covers practical approaches to event travel data collection and reduction:

• Data and reduction insights: Updated tools and resources to measure, manage, and reduce travel emissions from audiences and contractors.
• Funding ecosystem restoration: How events can channel audience donations directly to environmental partners, and how companies can offset carbon emissions through tax-deductible donations supporting verified, nature-led sustainability strategies.
• Industry-wide impact: How to support the campaign to raise £1 million for nature by the end of 2026.
• Your questions answered: Bring your travel data gathering challenges — the session includes live Q&A with experts.

Date: Thursday 23 April 2026
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm BST (1:00pm – 2:00pm CEST)
Location: Online (Zoom)

Speakers:

• Alex Townshend – Head of Environmental and Socio-Economic Impact, ‘Ģ����ý.’
• Kevin Mackay – Sustainability Manager, DF Concerts & Events
• onboard:earth team

Join the Session

Business development and sales

•  Build, manage, and close a robust pipeline of net-new opportunities across MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, MLS,college sports, live entertainment, and major event venues.
• Target and win complex, multi-stakeholder deals with C‑suite, VP, and Director-level buyers (e.g.,Ticketing, Operations, Fan Experience, Transportation, Sustainability).
• Lead the full sales cycle from prospecting, outbound campaigns, and first meetings through proposal, solution design, negotiation, and contract execution.
• Consistently meet and exceed quarterly and annual contract and revenue goals.

Go-to-market and strategy

•  Localize and execute YST’s North American go‑to‑market plan, including target accounts, verticals, and partner channels.
•  Use YST’s MLB club relationships as referenceable case studies to drive league-level and multi-club conversations.
•  Provide structured feedback to UK product and leadership teams on US market needs, competitive landscape, and pricing expectations.
•  Represent YST at key US conferences, league meetings, and industry events to raise brand visibility and generate high-quality leads.

Account and partner development

• Land and expand: grow contract value through cross-sell and upsell with clubs, venues, and destination partners after initial wins.
• Develop strategic partnerships (e.g., ticketing platforms, mobility providers, fan engagement and venue-tech vendors) to create integrated, “better together” solutions and co‑sell opportunities.
• Ensure a smooth handoff to YST’s Client Development team, while staying engaged as executive sponsor for key North American accounts.

Forecasting, process, and collaboration

• Maintain accurate, up-to-date forecasts and deal hygiene in CRM; communicate clearly on pipeline health, risks, and upside.
• Work closely with marketing to refine messaging, campaigns, and content for the US audience, with clear value propositions and ROI stories.
• Collaborate with product and operations to shape commercially viable solutions and proposals that meet US customer requirements.

Emma Gibbons Speaking at the Webinar

Emma Gibbons, Head of Client Development at Ģ����ý�ý.’, will join the discussion alongside , sharing insights from the Belfast case study.
The conversation will highlight how sustainable messaging and travel planning approaches have been used to influence visitor behaviour and shift mindsets.

Attendees will gain insights into:

• Practical strategies for managing visitor movement in destination
• Insights into how sustainable transport planning can enhance visitor experiences and reduce environmental impact
• The role of technology in creating efficient and eco-friendly transport solutions that capture and respond to visitor travel data
• Inspiration from Belfast’s success story to apply to their own destinations

Date: Thursday, 16 April
Time: 10 am (UK)

Speakers:

• Emma Gibbons, Head of Client Development, Ģ����ý
• Gavin McKenna, Head of Marketing, Visit Belfast

Moderator:

• Amanda Lee, Senior Marketing Manager, Simpleview, a Granicus Company

Join the Session