Four Creative Revenue Strategies for Your Youth Sports Organization

By LeagueApps

February 16, 2022

3min

If you haven’t already, it’s time to figure out how your organization can continue to add value to your organization for your players and their families so you can continue to grow your revenue. We hosted a LeagueApps Learning virtual event to highlight what some of our partners have done to drive engagement through virtual programming, fundraising, and social media. We were joined by panelists Jesse Winter and Ian Hughes. Here’s what we learned from them about how you can leverage the LeagueApps platform to utilize more revenue strategies.

Virtual Training

Virtual training is a great way to keep players engaged physically, mentally, and emotionally at home—while also improving their knowledge of the game.

What they’re doing

Hughes explained that during the early days of the pandemic, Steel Soccer leveraged different technology platforms to develop an integrated virtual training program focused on three key pillars: fitness and technical practice, player development, and continued coach communication. The curriculum was shared with participants weekly via email.

LevelUp LI leaned into social media. Winter said that they been posting “drills of the day” on their social channels and encouraged players to record themselves doing the drills at home—tagging the club and their teammates and friends.

#DrillOfTheDay – @levelup_li

See Instagram ‘#DrillOfTheDay’ highlights from Level Up LI (@levelup_li)

What to know

The Steel team films modules using WebinarJam and hosts them on a platform called Teachable. Through Formsite, coaches can ask questions of players and test to see what they’ve learned. Through the modules, players are assigned tasks to do, which are then reported back to their coaches. Steel’s coaches have sent player evaluation forms and are holding individual conference calls with families using Zoom. They will be holding team meetings to maintain relationships and address tactical, technical, physical, and psychological components. At the end of the week, each player completes an individual log so coaches can see what they’ve been doing.

Fundraising & Donations

Many people are looking for ways to help organizations impacted by the pandemic. Launching a fundraiser or donation campaign is one way to keep your community involved and offer assistance.

What they’re doing

Winter worked with the LeagueApps team to organize a fundraising campaign. Our team helped him develop a digital strategy highlighting the club’s unique value proposition—an essential ingredient to a successful fundraiser. For organizations that may be interested in launching this kind of campaign, here are a few things he suggests: tell your story, tie everything back to your brand mission and purpose, and be transparent about where the funds go.

For more tips about fundraising for your organization, read this.

What to know

It’s simple to use the LeagueApps eCommerce Product tool to launch a donation page. Here’s an example setup of a donation page.

Gift Cards & Credits

What they’re doing

What’s a strategy for handling requests for refunds? We’ve seen many of our partners issuing credits for use towards future programs instead of refunding participants; some have even issued an amount greater than the value of the refund as an act of goodwill. Another tactic to generate new revenue is to launch a Gift Card campaign, where a gift card can be bought and then transitioned into credit to be used in the future.

What to know

You can use LeagueApps to make gift cards available for purchase, designating specific card amounts just like you’d see from a retailer. For example, a family member can purchase a $100 gift card that can then be applied toward future programming.

E-Sports

What they’re doing

Many of our partners have been holding E-sports tournaments, such as NBA 2K or FIFA, as a way to keep players engaged in friendly competition when they’re home. Some partners broadcast their tournaments live on Facebook.

What to know

It’s easy to use LeagueApps to set up an esports tournament registration—just follow the same steps for traditional tournaments. You can include the rules of the tournament and highlight the prize. For youth tournaments, we recommend having players register as free agents. However, for adult tournaments, it’s better to have a captain register for the team.

Were these revenue strategies helpful? Join us tomorrow for a FREE webinar: Generating Creative Revenue Streams for Your Organization.