Category: Sports Planning Guide Features

When they think of sponsorship, a lot of folks immediately think of sports. And why not? After all, sponsorship is no more at home than at a stadium, ballpark or arena. And just like sports, sponsorship is indeed a contact sport!

For those of you who have been at selling sponsorship for any length of time, you know exactly what I mean. And for those of you just starting out – don’t worry, you’ll discover this soon enough. Because your success is going to be directly related to how often and how well you make contact with your prospects.

SPG has scoured thousands of events across major disciplines of athletic competitions to compile 20 major events worth watching. Some of them were chosen because of their size, like Schwan’s USA Cup Soccer Tournament that hosts 1,178 teams from 19 countries. Others because of their geographical scope, like the 3,000-mile (bike) Race Across America or the Spokane Hoopfest that repurposes the downtown into basketball courts.

On September 13, 2017, the 130th International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session will convene in Lima, Peru, where the IOC will announce the host of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. It’s also where the winning city will assume a global leadership role in advancing the practice of responsible sports.

Uttered around the world as part of a great sports tradition, those two words reverberate across stadiums, parks, backyards and blacktops.

They’re also part of the fabric of the growing $9.45 billion business of sports tourism, where games of the future are also a pastime.

Every sports tournament is different, which means there’s no magic formula for how to market one. Even experienced organizers and destinations struggle to find the right strategies that will get tickets sold and bodies in seats. It’s easy to fall back on traditional methods, keeping fingers crossed that enough of the same thing will continue to work.