Austin Ekeler Launches “Eksperience” App to Revolutionize Fan Engagement

In a time when fans are primarily engaged through social media posts and occasional meet-and-greets, NFL star Austin Ekeler is taking a bold move to transform the game. Ekeler has created his app, Eksperience, to address a significant gap in how athletes connect with their supporters, aiming to make fan interaction more personal, accessible, and meaningful.

Ekeler recently pointed out this gap during an interview on Business Beyond the Game with Eric Jackson, stating, “The void that is there is individual athletes or influential individuals being able to really commercialize their fan engagement and make it easy for them. And what I mean by that is there’s a lot of other industries that pull from our likeness—jerseys, media, trading cards, video games—and they pull it, and sometimes that trickles back to the actual players. But one that hasn’t really been tapped into and it’s really old is fan engagement.”

For Ekeler, traditional methods of fan engagement, such as posing for pictures on the sidelines or attending annual fan meet-and-greets, are outdated and don’t build lasting connections between athletes and their fans. “There’s no one really attacking it in this space in the way it needs to be attacked, which is from the athletes’ perspective of making it as easy as possible,” Ekeler explained.

His vision for Eksperience is to simplify and modernize this interaction, just as brand deals and podcast appearances have become seamless for athletes.

The Eksperience app was created to bring fans closer to their favorite athletes by providing virtual interactions, personalized content, and exclusive experiences previously inaccessible to most fans. Ekeler aims to create a more engaging and interactive fan experience beyond the usual autograph or photo-op, “That’s what experience is, and that’s the deficiency I saw in the market,” Ekeler said, emphasizing the need to adapt fan engagement to the digital age.

Eksperience is much more than just connecting with the biggest names in sports. Ekeler has a great passion for ensuring fans can engage with athletes and teams from all levels, not just those with significant media coverage or major brand deals. He has taken into account his experience as a former player at a small Division 2 school in Gunnison, Colorado, where community support played a crucial role in his development as an athlete. “Back in my Division 2 school, I didn’t have a lot of—there was zero media attention. It was just my town of 4,000 people in tiny Gunnison, Colorado, a student newspaper, a ski town. However, after every single game, we would go to this restaurant, and all the alumni, the former players, and the community that wanted to come would be there,” Ekeler recalled. “My teammates were there too. We were all mingling, and that was a way to support even in a smaller community where it still happens.”

Ekeler aims to recreate that sense of community and connection for athletes and fans through Eksperience, regardless of whether the market is small or the players are famous. “It’s not even about the brand. It’s about the individual, the team, and the supporters of that team. It doesn’t have to be the biggest person; it just has to be someone who wants to connect with you and support either you or the team, which will trickle down to you,” he explained.

By launching Eksperience, Austin Ekeler is satisfying a gap in the marketplace and redefining what it means to be a fan in the digital age. Ekeler is setting the stage for a new era of athlete-fan relationships by enhancing fan engagement to become more personal, accessible, and community-focused.