Beneath the excitement and revelry was a massive management operation
By K Vaitheeswaran
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MORE, MERRIER. Public screenings expand the stadium experience | Photo Credit: Kevin Ng
I landed in Seattle a day before the FIFA World Cup 2026 began. For the next 40 days, the city turned into a giant football stadium. National flags appeared everywhere, strangers speaking different languages vehemently debated offsides over free-flowing beer and communicated perfectly through groans and screams at public screenings in pubs, bars and waterfronts. Beneath the celebrations was a massive management operation startups can learn from.
Lesson #1 is to manage the complete customer journey. For a fan, the experience does not begin with kick-off. It starts while buying the ticket and includes transport, hotels, signage, security, seating, food, water, toilets and the journey home. A gripping match can still leave a negative memory if everything surrounding it is painful — a key reason I have stopped watching cricket at Indian grounds. Startups relentlessly focus on the product but sometimes ignore onboarding, billing, support, cancellation and refunds. Customers do not experience departments. They experience the full company.
Lesson #2 is to communicate early. Large crowds can become restless and difficult when people do not know where to go. Clear signs in multiple languages, timely announcements at public transportation hubs, and volunteers carrying helpful signs prevent uncertainty from becoming chaos. Businesses frequently communicate only after something has gone wrong. By then, the customer is angry, the support team is apologising and the social media posts have driven away hundreds of new wary customers. Good communication is about providing it before someone needs to ask for it.
Lesson #3 is to empower frontline employees. At large events, a central control room cannot solve every problem. Success depends on security personnel, transport workers and volunteers making quick decisions on the ground. Similarly, the employee speaking to the customer must have enough authority to resolve a problem. “I will check with my supervisor” may be organisationally correct, but it is not reassuring.
Lesson #4 is to distribute demand. Not everyone can enter the stadium because of limited capacity and affordability. Yet, public screenings, waterfront events, fan zones, bars and restaurants allowed several thousands more to participate and be part of the football carnival. Basically, the organisers expanded the experience without expanding the stadium. Startups facing capacity constraints should ask a similar question: Can demand be redirected across time slots, channels, locations or service levels? Sometimes the answer to congestion is not more capacity but improved distribution.
Lesson #5. And finally, always have a contingency plan. During the final, at a large public screening bursting with raucous fans, an Argentine supporter sitting beside us wore a Messi jersey and spent two hours screaming advice at Argentina and abusing Spain. After Spain won, he quietly pulled a Yamal jersey from his bag, changed shirts and enthusiastically joined the celebrating Spanish fans. We were flabbergasted. This “die-hard” Argentina supporter had carried a complete post-match contingency kit.
Managers must be more loyal than him but they can learn from his preparedness. Markets change, competitors surprise you, and even the best made plans can come unstuck. So, have conviction in your strategy, but always keep a Plan B in the bag.
(The writer is a serial entrepreneur and best-selling author of the book ‘Failing to Succeed’; posts on X @vaitheek)
Published on August 3, 2026
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