When The Going Gets Tough…

It’s easy to be a successful club when the team is on a winning streak. But what about during the lean years when looking at the standings isn’t all that much fun?

…The Tough Invest in A Long-Term Community Outreach Strategy.

The most successful clubs in the world don’t rely on winning streaks to fill seats or to keep eyeballs glued to the screen. They invest in strategic community outreach efforts to build real, lasting relationships – relationships that can span generations – between fans and the club. And just like in any strong relationship, when the going gets tough, fans don’t abandon ship.

After all, imagine if a team directly helped your community with a badly needed upgrade of your son’s local baseball field? Or if a team helped cover some hockey equipment costs despite your parents’ tough economic situation. If you experienced this altruism, how likely is it you’d become a fan? If that team had a real, human impact on the well-being of your community, would you drop them because ‘they didn’t make the playoffs’? Unlikely. You would stick with that team through good times and bad.

Supercharged Fundraising

The rise of sports technology has opened up some very interesting models that allow pro clubs to ramp up their community investment efforts and build greater fan loyalty. One traditional PR method is to fundraise at games and publicly give that money to a well-deserving, local cause. Sometimes it’s a local youth association to help offset costs or a charity that helps those in need.

For example, a tactic that’s well-entrenched in the NHL and rapidly gaining acceptance in the MLB, NBA, NFL, MLS and NCAA are 50/50 raffles – also known as split-the-pot draws. Pointstreak’s electronic 50/50 system, for example, has been shown to increase raffle sales by an average of 225%. A remarkable number – compared to the paper 50/50 method – that starts to make sense when you realize that the real-time jackpot tally on the Jumbotron fuels greater fan participation and that you gain precious selling time (by eliminating the need to stop sales and count up tickets).

The effectiveness of automated raffling in the big leagues is clear:

• The Vancouver Canucks launched their 2014/2015 season with an astounding home opening jackpot of $121K
• The Orlando Magic increased per game raffles by 509%
• The Cincinnati Reds increased proceeds by 182%, helping to fund the building of a brand new Reds Urban Youth Academy
• Central Michigan University increased raffle sales by 360%, helping to fund CMU Athletics
• The 2013 CFL Grey Cup jackpot hit an amazing half a million dollars and set off a media frenzy

Saving The Day

A new and intriguing model being pioneered by tech company Pointstreak in partnership with NHL clubs Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and the Arizona Coyotes is a strategy known as “White Knight”. In this model, a pro club underwrites the cost of Pointstreak’s league management solutions and provides these services to local grassroots youth associations free of charge. Solutions include websites, online registration and payment engines, scores and statistics. All useful tools that allows cash-strapped leagues and busy volunteers take advantage of the streamlining effects of modern technology while providing kids and parents with team organizing tools and cool content, such as scores, etc.

In return, the club gets a unique and  – compared to traditional advertising such as billboards or print ads – cost-effective marketing opportunity. Pointstreak’s solutions used by the grassroots organization becomes completely branded by the club with an array of digital touch points, from a branded website, to mobile apps,  email communications and so on.

Next time you’re looking at the cost of a billboard off a downtown highway, ask yourself, “Could this be better used to directly help our community AND built out a digital connection to our fan base?”.

Team Work

These two strategies – fundraising and White Knight – really make sense when you combine the two in a self-reinforcing model. Supercharged fundraising through a proven model like Pointstreak 5050 generates the funds that then help to pay for Pointstreak’s league management solutions. It’s a true win-win: Grassroots get free, time-saving technology to improve their lives and their kids’ sports experience; your club gets a financially sustainable, deep connection with the local community most likely to support your team over the long-term (regardless of what the standings say).

If your organization is interested in learning more, please contact a Pointstreak executive or get in touch with our business development team.

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ABOUT POINTSTREAK SPORTS TECHNOLOGIES

Pointstreak Sports Technologies Inc.’s mission is to provide innovative technologies to enhance the experience of the global sports community.

Specialized for the needs of sports organizations such as leagues, teams, associations and governing bodies, Pointstreak’s solutions streamline operations and improve the experience of sports participants, fans and media. Pointstreak has three broad divisions: League & Team Management Solutions (brands: Pointstreak Stats – real-time league statistics system; Pointstreak Registration – online registration system; Pointstreak Sites – website content management system; Pointstreak Stream – a live & on-demand sports video streaming service), Electronic Raffle System (brand: Pointstreak 5050) and Athlete Performance, Development & Promotion (brand: Pointstreak Performance).

More information about Pointstreak Sports Technologies Inc. can be found at www.pointstreak.com, through the product information website www.pointstreaksolutions.com andthrough the corporation information site.

Connect with Pointstreak on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ , YouTube and our company blog.

ABOUT POINTSTREAK 5050

Pointstreak 5050, a division of Pointstreak Sports Technologies Inc., is an electronic raffle software system that drives consumer participation in raffle events while providing accountability to the raffle process.  The Pointstreak 5050 system electronically captures every transaction while providing updated real-time raffle information to display devices located throughout the venue. Tickets are sold to fans through fixed touch-screen terminals and mobile devices, creating an effortless data collection system providing faster sales transaction, longer selling periods, accountability and substantial increases in average raffle proceeds. Pointstreak 5050 boasts some of sports’ best brands as clients, with partners across the sports landscape including MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA, MLS, NLL & CFL as well as several NASCAR events, PGA tournaments and NCAA institutions.

For more information, visit www.pointstreak5050.com.

Connect with Pointstreak 5050 on Facebook & Twitter and sign up for our monthly newsletter ‘The Ticket’.