The city of San Jose might be hosting millions for its sporting events, but it also recognises its residents are its most loyal fans. For that, they're providing rewards…
25, March 2026: Sports teams have long used apps, loyalty points, and interactive content to transform casual supporters into devoted fans. Now San Jose is asking: what if a city did the same for its residents?
Ahead of an unprecedented year that will see the city host NCAA March Madness and welcoming all visitors to the Bay Area for the World Cup Games - the San Jose Sports Authority (SJSA) has partnered with fan engagement platform Monterosa to launch what is believed to be the first city-wide digital engagement and loyalty programme of its kind in the US.
Rather than treating 2026's major events as something that happens to San Jose, the programme is designed to make residents active participants. A dedicated app will serve as a central hub for interactive experiences across all events - quizzes, predictions, polls, and trivia - unified within a single platform to sustain engagement throughout the year.
The programme leverages the technology and knowledge to create a first of its kind fan engagement experience. Monterosa's Loyalty Layer will allow participants to earn points for participation, with challenges designed to activate neighbourhoods, schools, and community groups. The goal: transform passive spectators into stakeholders with a sense of ownership over the city's landmark sporting year.
It's a notable departure from how host cities have traditionally approached mega-events, where success is typically measured in ticket sales and hotel bookings rather than community involvement.
The Monterosa Platform has a proven track record delivering fan engagement at scale for major sports properties. The partnership will see the company provide strategic guidance throughout the year's events, adapting Experiences for each competition while maintaining a unified participation journey for residents.
"San Jose is treating residents the way the best sports organisations treat their fans, as the core community, not an afterthought,” said Jason McGilloway, Head of Fan Engagement at Monterosa. “Our job is to make it easy and fun to get involved across the whole year. If we do this right, 2026 won’t just be big moments for visitors. It will be a year the people of San Jose feel they owned."
“San Jose is redefining what it means to host major sporting events by putting our community at the center of the experience,” said John Poch, Executive Director of the San Jose Sports Authority. “Through the Game On app, developed in partnership with Monterosa, we’re transforming a historic lineup of events - including the Super Bowl LX Opening Night, NCAA Men's Basketball Regionals, six FIFA World Cup matches, the USA Table Tennis National Championships, CrossFit Games, Slam Jose 3on3 Basketball and the Rock-n-Roll 5K,10K & Half Marathon - into a year-long, interactive journey. This platform empowers residents and visitors alike to engage, compete, and celebrate together, ensuring SJ26 is not just a series of events, but a shared civic experience that unites our entire community.”
The app can be downloaded today and is available on IOS and Android
About Monterosa
Monterosa is a pioneering technology company providing fan engagement solutions to sport and media organisations. Monterosa / Interaction Cloud is an award-winning SaaS platform designed to gamify digital products quickly. In doing so, product teams make their Direct-to-consumer offerings more sticky and increase conversion rates to sign-up.
The platform caters to sports leagues, teams, broadcasters, betting operators and brands. Organizations can uniquely curate modules, apps and plug-ins that distribute to teams, partners and publishers in multiple skins and languages. By syndicating Experiences, they retain quality control and co-ownership of first-party data. Customers include Premier League, ITV, Fanatics, England Rugby and other global sports and entertainment brands.
For more information visit: https://www.monterosa.co/
About the San Jose Sports Authority
The San Jose Sports Authority is a non-profit organization whose mission is to increase the City of San Jose’s economic development, visibility, and civic pride through sports. Serving as the City's sports commission since its inception in 1991, the Sports Authority has provided leadership and support to attract and host hundreds of sporting events in San Jose and the South Bay. The Sports Authority also supports and operates community, youth and amateur sports programs, including the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame, REACH Youth Scholarship Program and the Dwight Clark Legacy Series. To learn more, visit www.sjsa.org.
