Overview
BMO, the bank behind the “Bank of Soccer” platform, set out to own the matchday fan experience at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, home to both LAFC and Angel City FC. Southport Marketing designed, built, and ran the brand’s on-site presence across two connected footprints throughout the 2025 season: a lively Fan Fest of interactive soccer games and a branded Experience Center for entertainment and customer perks. The work brought together experiential marketing, hands-on brand activation, and sports marketing to turn pre-game crowds into engaged BMO supporters, while introducing the new BMO co-branded debit cards for LAFC and Angel City FC to tens of thousands of fans.
The Goal
BMO wanted to grow its “Bank of Soccer” presence in Los Angeles from a single touchpoint into a season-long fan experience that supporters would seek out on every marquee matchday. The objective was to convert heavy foot traffic outside BMO Stadium into real engagement and to position BMO as a supporter-first brand at the center of the pre-game ritual.
The program also had to drive adoption of the newly launched BMO LAFC and Angel City FC co-branded debit cards, building familiarity with the product and its fan benefits without slowing the energy on the ground.
The Experience
Southport built and operated BMO’s full on-site footprint across the 2025 season, running two connected environments that worked together on every matchday. One centered on physical play and friendly competition; the other served as BMO’s home base for entertainment and customer utility.
Fan Fest at Christmas Tree Lane Park
On marquee matchdays, Christmas Tree Lane Park became a fan destination built around physical play and crowd participation, placing BMO at the heart of the pre-game supporter ritual.
The Pannacourt: A fan-favorite return. This custom-built one-on-one court let supporters show off their footwork in high-stakes, king-of-the-hill matchups.
Soccer Skeeball: A tactile, fast-moving game where fans tested their accuracy to win BMO-branded premiums.
Bench Soccer: A quick, social head-to-head game in a unique branded format that kept crowds watching and lines moving.
The BMO Experience Center at Pepsi Plaza
Set in the high-traffic Pepsi Plaza, the BMO Experience Center anchored the brand’s presence with entertainment and everyday utility for supporters and BMO customers alike.
AI Bobblehead Photo Booth: An evolution of our earlier trading-card booth, this experience turned fans into digital bobblehead versions of themselves in the home team’s kit.
Matchday Karaoke: On select matchdays, the Experience Center became a supporter singalong, with fans leading chants and songs to keep the atmosphere at a peak before kickoff.
Customer Perks: BMO customers were invited to claim exclusive giveaways and branded merchandise, rewarding the bank’s existing supporters right on site.
Co-Branded Debit Card Launch
Co-Branded Card Integration: To support the rollout of the BMO LAFC and Angel City FC debit cards, our Los Angeles experiential marketing team integrated branded card assets across both Christmas Tree Lane Park and Pepsi Plaza. Paired with clear messaging about the card’s fan benefits, this visual familiarization positioned the product as an essential part of the matchday toolkit.
Client Name
- BMO (Bank of Montreal), with LAFC and Angel City FC
Event Date
- 2023 – Present
Event Location
- Los Angeles, CA
Services Provided
The Impact
Across the 2025 season, the activation turned casual pre-game foot traffic into sustained, hands-on engagement, and post-activation surveys showed a clear lift in fans viewing BMO as a supporter-first brand thanks to the tangible rewards and energetic on-site presence. 100% of fans who entered Fan Fest and entered the stadium through the North and North-West gates were exposed to the new co-branded card assets.
*Based on activation data across the 2025 season (Christmas Tree Park & Pepsi Plaza combined)
100,000
+
Matchday foot-traffic impressions
10,000
+
Unique fans engaged on-site
15
mins
Average time each fan spent in an activation
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