John David and Sports ETA are helping rights holders overcome challenges
SPG
Prior to coming on board as the new president and CEO of Sports ETA, you spent 25 years at BMX, which is commendable. What do you think about your experience that has best prepared you for this new chapter?
John David
I think there were two things. One is USA BMX is an association with 70,000 members. Those principles of what you need to do in order to organize events and run the most successful association that you can were fundamental to our success.
The other thing is, during my tenure, we opened this amazing headquarters and infrastructure in Tulsa. I was living in Phoenix, and we hired 10 new staff members and onboarded them remotely. I don’t know that I fully appreciated it the time, but our team at ETA is mostly remote and those times in Tulsa helping that team be as successful as they could be really helped me to be ready to manage and run a remote team.
SPG
You didn’t accept this role with blinders on and had the benefit of onboarding through the spring, but what’s different about the role than what you anticipated going in?
John David
For the most part, things have been pretty parallel with what I anticipated. I’ve been very impressed with the commitment and the dedication of the staff. Having served on the board for almost 12 years, I knew that they were committed, but when I tell you that they care, I mean they want this association to be outstanding. That goes from the staff to all of our subcontractors that help us make things happen.
Also, just the passion and the engagement from the industry. I don’t know if I anticipated it to be as terrific as it has been. I have received so many notes of support. I think the message we keep sending out that this is your association has been heard loud and clear. That there’s so much support is encouraging.
I think so much of our membership—they believe in what we do, they believe in their destination, they believe in their sport. And for me, I’m doing my absolute best to be the shepherd of that passion and to showcase that with our membership.
SPG
You have a unique perspective because you’ve orchestrated major events before. Do you have any specific goals for increasing membership of rights holders & governing bodies? Any specific programming on the horizon for them?
John David
I like to believe one of my strengths coming in was the fact that I was a rights holder and I think it really helps me in a couple of ways. First and foremost, we own and operate five events, which are a significant part of our budget. Having that opportunity to work with our team to deeply analyze those events and maximize them is priority number one. Our VP of Operations, Janis Breedlove, is a phenomenal event professional, so working through that hand in hand with her has been terrific.
But one of the things I will tell you that I’ve discovered as I’ve taken on this role is that many of our rights holders need assistance and guidance. You’ll laugh at this—we are legitimately cold calling. We’re reaching out to events and associations that are not members of the association. I’m coming in and saying, “Hey, I’ve got 25 years in this, let’s work hand in hand, let me teach you the crazy lessons that I learned over the years.” From an event perspective, if we can help our rights holders, we can raise the entire bar of the association.
We’re going to start by growing our rights holder membership, that’s going to be a primary foundation of what and who we’re going to be.
SPG
Where are you seeing the growth in the industry? Are there any issues rising to the surface?
John David
In general, we’re seeing growth everywhere coming out of the pandemic. Sports like pickleball are off the charts, but many others have seen growth as well. Some of our partners are experiencing outstanding growth in their events, and that’s part of the conversation as well; how do we maintain that? How do we ensure that this is not a bubble?
At the same time, what’s intriguing is that we’re seeing the highest ADR we’ve ever seen. Our participants are paying those prices and we’ve never seen this type of participation. But what is this tipping point? How do we keep succeeding? So that support is here, participation is at a high level, and from an educational standpoint we will keep helping them to ride that high.
As an association, one of our strengths is education. We educate our destination marketing organizations, our industry partners and our rights holders, so that’s really what we’re focused on. At our 2023 4S Summit in El Paso we’re diving deep into how to maintain your current event level that you’re at.
SPG
Just as Don Schumacher did great things for the association, Al Kidd came in and was the right person at the right time. What’s are some of the best things that you inherited from previous regimes?
John David
I have such a unique perspective because I was a board member through the process. I’ve got these great memories of working with Don and the team at that time as well. To your point, 100 percent, Al was absolutely the perfect guy at the perfect time and I respect what he has done. Al’s business acumen is unquestionably some of the best in the industry. He did a phenomenal job of establishing the four pillars—education, advocacy, resources and networking—of establishing an unbelievably sound structure within our accounting processes and just with the way in which the business operates.
I feel so incredibly lucky because that foundation is strong. I have this privilege of going step by step through the processes and finding improvements. In some cases, the pendulum swung and we’re pulling it back to center. In other cases, it’s perfect. I’ll give you a great example: we had shifted from our committee structure to our community structure, and the pendulum swung a little far. At our recent board retreat we pulled it back to the center and said, “Hey, we’re going to do some things to connect. We’re going to have staff a little bit more involved than what they were.” The result is that we’re going to create a new role we call community connectors where individuals are focused on making sure that those communities are functioning to maximize engagement.
SPG
A few big facilities that have come online are not doing well financially. Are we reaching a saturation point with facility development in certain sports?
John David
It’s so interesting because we’ve never seen this level of outside capital come in and make these types of investments. When you add the raw facility development from a municipal perspective, we haven’t seen things of this scale and size before. But are we there yet? No, I don’t think we are. Look at the needs of some of these tournaments like pickleball. I was talking to USA Pickleball CEO Mike Nealy earlier, and they need 24 pickleball courts for an upcoming event. How many venues have 24 pickleball courts?
I think some of these issues where we’ve seen struggles is no one knows the norm for a new mega facility. Naturally, you’re going to have some come in that have underestimated what the revenue is going to be, and you’re going have some that come in and overestimate. They’ll find that balance point.
We’re also seeing some unique aspects of facility development in the pairing of beautiful parks and recreation facilities with sports tourism. From an association standpoint, we’re being proactive with the National Recreation and Parks Association. I had a great meeting with their CEO, trying to build a collaboration where we can support our parks and recreation partners. We’ve got unbelievable examples within our space.
I feel terrific about facility development, and where we’re seeing that outside of infusion of capital that’s coming in is only going to be better for our sports, our teams, our destinations and our families.
SPG
It’s encouraging that you’re taking up that challenge with parks and recs. The other side of the facility spectrum is these beautiful university facilities. While some DMOs and sports commissions have great relationships with universities, others really struggle. Is that a battle best fought on the local level, or are there things that the association can do to help your members?
John David
Without a doubt there are. When you look at it from a long-term perspective, the deeper that we can dive into that pool, the more we can help our destinations and our rights holders partner up with universities to develop world class facilities that can also be used for sports tourism. By doing so, we’re going to be better as an industry.
SPG
There are a lot of new people entering the field which, on the one hand, is great, but we’ve got to train these folks up. ETA created the Sports Tourism Learning Institute. What role should that play for people entering the industry? Could you provide an assessment of where you are with that platform?
John David
I couldn’t be more excited about the Sports Tourism Learning Institute. We’ve got incredible online content that will get you up to speed and how you can interact and exchange and grow your business and bring sports tourism specifically to your area. You’re going to see an immense focus on that.
At our 2023 Symposium in Kansas City, almost a quarter of the participants were brand new to the industry, so you’re going to see a very renewed effort on behalf of the Association in how we engage with new members. We’re bringing back our beloved mentoring program, where every new member is paired up with a seasoned professional who’s going to be your trusted partner.
You’re going to see that focus at the events we organize and in the educational opportunities that we provide. I’m working hand in hand, especially with the rights holders, to encourage them to ask questions.
I encourage people to call me if they have a challenge or are dealing with something they’re unsure about. I will literally teach you everything that I’ve ever learned, and it’ll cost you nothing. I want to be that type of mentor for the industry and share the lessons. Sports tourism and Sports ETA changed my life, and it changed the trajectory of USA BMX as well. I want to have that opportunity to share and teach others so that they can have the same unbelievably positive and passionate experience I’ve had.
