Chapter 4 Open Innovation in Sports Management – The Case of the FIFA Museum in Zurich, Switzerland

The FIFA Museum in Zurich is a division of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and has been opened in 2016 with the aspiration to become one of the key attractions, both in Zurich as well as in the association football context. As with many tourist attractions, staying on top of the game is a challenge. Unlike other museums, the FIFA Museum took an open innovation approach in developing their concept, especially for those parts that deal with visitor interactions. With the goal of being not only a football museum, but also an attractive and leading event location in Switzerland, event ideas were collected using a crowdsourcing approach, managed through a platform run by ATIZO. Through this community, the museum could design attractive event concepts, succeeded to increase visitor engagement and built a loyal base of innovators and future guests. This chapter describes the crowdsourcing methodology applied by the FIFA Museum, critically examines the process, advantages, and disadvantages of the methodology chosen, and concludes by giving recommendations for similar cases. The particular focus lies on the application of the crowdsourcing method in areas where a strong fan community can be involved in the development process, such as, e.g., in the association football context.