by Terry Matthews-Lombardo, CMP
Six tips for good sportsmanship between planners and sports facilities.
F
irst time at the ballpark? You’re not alone. Most planners, while meticu- lous at searching and selecting the perfect hotels for their meetings, have little or no experience in dealing with sports venues. And rest assured that there are as many types to choose from as there were hotels that received your last RFP; and just like those hotels, venues hosting sporting events come in all dif- ferent shapes and sizes. So, if you’re new to this ‘playing fi eld’ (excuse the pun - we just couldn’t resist), here’s a primer of tips to get you started:
1. Be patient but diligent in searching for the people with answers. This may sound elementary, but sports venues can have multiple entities behind them,
and often they’re run by government agencies that can have many layers. Al- low extra time for this process as you begin your search and don’t even bother to start negotiations until you get to the source. In “hotel terms” you wouldn’t ask someone at the front desk about meeting specs; the same goes for sports venues and all the different people/companies that manage them. Addition- ally, if you’re dealing with a smaller local fi eld or venue, your contact people may not have a lot of experience in renting out the facility, thus the need for even more patience!
2. Insurance and liability are critical and can be costly issues. You may have got- ten approval for your dates and negotiated a decent price, but don’t open the
champagne bottles yet. Sometimes the deal killers can be the requested values of insurance riders. Lesson learned? People who don’t usually play a lot of sports tend to suffer more injuries!
3. In most facilities, everything is priced a la carte. Extra costs that can add sig- nifi cant pricing to your total package include security, clean up, use of house
sound systems, fi eld lights, the need for EMT’s standing by (trust us on this one) and so much more. Also make sure you know exactly what areas you have the right to use in your pricing structure, i.e. does it include bathroom facilities? Locker rooms? Parking lots? Again, this might sound ridiculous until you pull up with your busses full of people who have no access to bathrooms or have bathrooms with no toilet paper.
4. Print no signage before it’s time. Just imagine arriving at your venue with a big sign saying “Pepsi®
is Proud to Sponsor Us!” and being unable to hang the darn 34 MIDWEST MEETINGS SUMMER 2013
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