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For many of you, whether you’re an events rights holder or operate a sports venue, this is your Christmas season—it’s your busiest, most frantic time of the year as schools let out and summer sports organizations kick into high event gear. You’ll be working on multi-session, multi-day tournaments and won’t be able to catch your breath until the last champion is crowned. So this is a good time to remind all of us, in between cursing the rain, the broken popcorn maker and the late t-shirt delivery, why we do what we do in sports, especially youth sports. Earlier this year, Fortune Magazine published an article, “Here’s Why Women Who Play Sports Are More Successful” by Beth Brooke-Marciniak, global vice chair of public policy at EY. A study by Michigan State University’s Institute for the Study of Youth Sports confirms what we all know—about 70% of children in the U.S drop out of organized sports before age 13. We’...

If, as they say, everything is bigger in Texas, well this should fit nicely. A high school in Texas has plans to build a $62.8 million football stadium, and it’s not alone in its plans for bigger and better facilities. The Dallas Morning News reports that the school board in McKinney, Texas, outside of Dallas, this month approved a $220 million bond proposal for the district, including the construction of a 12,000 seat, $62.8 million football stadium. Now, McKinney isn’t the first to do this. In fact, the Katy, Texas, Independent School District has proposed a 12,000 seat facility that is expected to cost anywhere from $58 million to $61 million. And the Allen Independent School District, just 10 miles from McKinney, opened an 18,000 seat, $60 million stadium in 2012. For its opening game, the home team had 22,000 fans show up. “I think McKinney needs it,” said Tim Carroll, director of public information for the Allen school district. Carroll says a lar...

Check out our line-up of best practices and event webinars below and reserve your spot today! Financing Sport Tourism & Recreation Assets, Part II Best Practices Webinar Wednesday, May 25, 2016 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. ET Presented by Don Schumacher Register Now! Join NASC Executive Director, Don Schumacher, CSEE as he presents a follow up to the Financing Sport Tourism session that was presented in Grand Rapids, MI during the 24th NASC Symposium. During this webinar, Don will discuss proven methods, critical elements, and insight to demystify the financing process for new sports venues. This is a webinar for those with an interest in new project development and those desiring to broaden their knowledge related to project finance. There will be time at the end of the webinar for questions. If you are unable to join us on the 25th, you can download the recording from the webinar archives page on www.SportsCommissions.org. NASC Economic Impact Calculator Best Practices Webinar Wednesday...

An interesting website, www.changingthegameproject.com, posted an interesting article recently called “How Adults Take the Joy out of Sports (And How We Can Fix It).” The article opens with a youngster playing soccer, almost frozen on the field as his coach is instructing him to do one thing, and his dad is yelling at him to do another. Not knowing which way to turn, the player does nothing. We’ve talked before about how kids often lose the joy of playing sports, and parents can be to blame for that. The article states that many kids quit when the enjoyment, one of three key components along with autonomy and motivation, is gone. The article also talks about a great example of what it’s like for a team to play with joy. Look no farther than the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors, who seemingly play with childlike enthusiasm and pure happiness. That joy translates into a record win streak and, very likely, another title this season. So how do a...

For Indianapolis, a city known for its upcoming Indianapolis 500, often referred to as “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” it may have seemed a bit out of context when Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard talked in 2013 about having cricket as a viable sport for Indy. But out of that talk grew a nearly $6 million project to create a complex that would hold the event on the city's far east side. Out of that came the Indianapolis World Sports Park, a 40-acre former city park that turned into an international sports complex capable of holding local, regional, national and international cricket, rugby, lacrosse and hurling events. So, the logical question might be—why cricket? At the time of the original announcement, Mayor Ballard said the city was confident developments like these will help Indianapolis attract businesses from India and other parts of the globe where these sports are popular. “This is our commitment to international sports,” he sai...

We continue our Featured Benefit for the month of April with a blog post on Models and Samples. Who has time to re-invent the wheel?  Our collection of models and samples, used by real destinations, event organizers, and industry partners, is designed to generate ideas and save you time. Feel free to adapt to your needs or adopt it as is! Below is a list of the models & samples we currently have available. ·        Bid Scoresheet Template  ·        Bylaws  ·        Event RFPs  ·        Facility Specification Guide  ·        Facility Survey Questionnaires  ·        Internship Descriptions  ·        Job Descriptions  ·     ...

Check out our line-up of best practices and event webinars below and reserve your spot today! Asian Basketball Championships of North America Event Webinar Sponsored by MGM Resorts International Tuesday, April 26, 2016 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. ET Presented by Mike Mon Register Now!   Join Mike Mon from Asian Basketball Championships of North America as he shares information on what he looks for in a host city and what it takes to host their events. Asian Basketball Championships of North America is currently accepting bids for 2017, 2018 and 2019. There will be time at the end of the presentation for questions. If you are unable to join us on the 26th, remember you can download the webinar recording from our Webinar Archives (login required). Ways to Ensure a High Return on your NASC Membership Investment Best Practices Webinar Tuesday, April 28, 2016 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. ET Presented by Elizabeth Young Register Now!   Elizabeth Young, Director of Me...

You have some excellent leads and RFPs that you received during your appointments and while networking at the Symposium.  Now the work really starts.  Here are some ideas on what to do next.  We are in a relationship business.  Follow-up by mail, email or with a phone call to the people that you met at the Symposium and even those with whom you were interested in meeting but were unable to connect due to scheduling issues.  Reach out to your community to get your local partners, facilities and sports experts involved in the RFP evaluation and bid process.  Review the RFPs or information that you received and investigate if the event is a match for your community AND for the event planner.  Make sure that the event will be a win for both you and the rights holder.  There are sporting events and meetings that will work for all communities.  Not all events will be a match for you and the planner.  It is best not to pursue an event where yo...

What a week it was in Grand Rapids! We want to thank everyone who attended the 24th NASC Sports Event Symposium. We had a blast and we hope you did too, but we also hope you took something (or many somethings) away from your meetings and networking during the week that will help you now that you’re back in the office. We learned lots during our week in Grand Rapids, including:    You love our educational components. We heard time and time again that you appreciate the educational opportunities that NASC offers, not just at meetings (like the CSEE program) but links and contacts that are available 24/7 on the NASC website. We hope more of you can take advantage of any and all of our opportunities to learn from each other. You recommend NASC to your friends who aren’t members (yet). As NASC membership grows, we’re always looking for ways to reach those who are in the sports tourism business, but who aren’t members of NASC. You told us that you...

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN (April 7, 2015) – The National Association of Sports Commissions (NASC), the governing body of the $9.45 billion sport tourism industry, celebrated the industry and its leadership at its 24th annual symposium held here this week.  More than 900 members and events rights holders attended this week’s NASC Symposium to elect new NASC leadership, honor members with national awards and participate in dozens of continuing education programs led by industry leadership. “As the only non-profit industry association offering an annual meeting for serious-minded sport tourism professionals, we enjoyed a week of educational programs to share best practices in the industry as well as honoring those doing great work in our member communities,” said Don Schumacher, CSEE, executive director of the NASC. “In future years, our members will have the opportunity to visit three terrific American cities in Sacramento, Minneapolis and San Diego a...