WSJ article: SEC and Pac12 studying MLS teams in an effort to improve attendance

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No sports fans are as maniacal as the people who pack Southeastern Conference football stadiums on Saturdays. To call college football their religion may be generous to those who believe in a supreme being.

But not even Southern football fans are sure things to show up to games any more—and their increasingly unpredictable behavior has sent officials from SEC athletic departments searching for ways to win them back.

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In May, a group from Florida's athletic department became one of hundreds of sports teams to visit Sporting Kansas City, the reigning MLS champion, and Sporting Innovations, the team's spinoff consulting firm focused on fan engagement and technology.

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Pac-12 officials also took a trip to Kansas City. They were so impressed that they signed a deal with Sporting Innovations, which is quietly influencing the way college-football teams operate, to help them on fan-related issues. "They know what their soccer fans want," said Pac-12 chief marketing officer Danette Leighton.

This week at SEC Media Days—an event in Hoover, Ala., that unofficially kicked off the season—Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen said that SEC football nuts and European soccer buffs were kindred spirits. But college-football fans and MLS fans have a lot in common, too.

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