Dutch soccer team SC Heerenveen blended COVID seating limitation, fundraising and a Teddy Bear Toss-style promotion into a memorable fundraising effort last week.
Over 15,000 plush bears were seated last Saturday to raise money for a childhood cancer research fund. The team has plenty of empty seats due to COVID restrictions on crowd size.
The team then encouraged fans to buy the bears to raise awareness for kids with cancer in the Netherlands. All 15,000 of the bears were sold in 24 hours, raising nearly $300,000 US. Each teddy bear represented a child affected by cancer.
The effort was a nimble one. They had started back with limited fans in September, but the Dutch government changed COVID guidelines this month creating the opening for the charity effort.
From a pure game ops perspective the effort was highlighted by this playful plush Kiss Cam.
Fantastic.
33. Twee goals in drie minuten. Dat wordt gevierd.#HEEEMM | 2-0 pic.twitter.com/QzVCTJlqFV
— sc Heerenveen (@scHeerenveen) October 24, 2020
Read more on Gameops.com:
- PULSE: Teddy Bear Toss
- October 2018 Podcast – Featuring the Teddy Bear Toss
