Professional Sports:
•Professional athletes living in your
community need a place to work out
in the off-season. Make your venue
easily accessible to them and manage
the fan interaction for them in the way
they desire.
•Collaborations with the professional
teams in your area can take many
forms, such as social media "links,"
autograph signing sessions, free
memberships for professional athletes
and cheerleaders, ticket trades and
incentives to win tickets, membership
discounts on team tickets, etc. The
key here is to get to know leadership
and marketing staff members of the
pro teams and figure out the right
"win-win" relationship.
Philanthropy:
As a quote junkie, a baseball fan and a
long-time admirer of Maya Angelou, I
was delighted recently to find this quote
of hers: "I've learned that you shouldn't
go through life with a catcher's mitt on
both hands. You need to be able to throw
something back." It is as important for
organizations to give back as it is for the
individual to do so. We who are leaders
of organizations have the power and
responsibility to have our facilities make
a difference in our communities. Here are
some thoughts:
•There are community philanthropic
organizations that serve as umbrella
organizations. I would recommend
that these be among the first you
look at when considering how you
want to "give back." Examples are
United Way and your community
foundation.
•Engage with philanthropic
organizations whose missions
and values most closely align with
yours. For example, organizations
that support youth sports, address
youth obesity issues, are devoted to
promoting healthy families, etc.
•Engagement with philanthropic
organizations often occur organically
with staff members, who may have
a special interest in volunteering
and supporting an organization.
It is a good idea to figure out a
way to support the philanthropic
organizations that staff care about.
It may be as simple as providing
some day passes to your facility for
a silent auction.
And a final thought ... the next time
you do your strategic planning, make
community engagement one of the values.
As representatives of your facility, it is
important for each of your facility's leaders
to be formally engaged.
Joan LeMahieu is a Management Advisor
and General Manager with The Sports
Facilities Advisory. Joan has been the
opening and turnaround manager for
venues ranging from Ford Field (home
of the Detroit Lions) to City Beach, Inc.
(home of two multipurpose sports venues
in the San Francisco Bay Area).
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