Sporting activities play a unique role in higher education by promoting students unity on campus, maintaining connections with alumni, and enhancing the overall student experience. In colleges and schools, sporting activities include both indoor and outdoor games. Among them being hockey, volleyball, basketball, crickets, and football. However, various factors distinguish how sporting events are conducted in high schools and universities all over the world. These factors include the costs of budgeting of the venues, selection of participants, the time is taken, stakeholders involved and the objectives of the event, and the bidding process. This paper gives a comparative analysis of the different procedures that are required when it comes to planning for large and small sporting events including their strengths and weaknesses. This analysis will be based on an interview of Paul Emery, a regional sports manager in Boulevard University and Monday Roberts, a Coach and sports manager in St. Peters high school.
Large Sporting Events
According to Paul Emery before creating any sports event, it is essential to institute a team that will be involved in the overall management of the whole event. This team works together in ensuring that the goals for the event fit into the current marketplace. While in most cases the sporting events are usually to promote students unity and to enhance the overall student experience, the annual sporting events the main objective is also to promote awareness of various health issues such as cancer and diabetes. This is important as it makes the event unique attracting sponsors, other spectators apart from students and the media.
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Once the goals of the events are identified, the other important role to investigate whether the event is feasible. In this case, Paul Emery asserts that event feasibility mostly examines the likelihood that the event will go successfully based on the available resources. Examining the feasibility is an important aspect as it helps him determine the budget for the event. Apart from the resources that will be used to run the event, the feasibility analysis also assesses the strengths and weakness of the sporting event. Paul says that it during the feasibility study where the project team can identify the location where the event will be held. The location in most cases is determined by the number of sporting activities that will take place. For instance, if there will be sporting activities such as athletics and football, the team must find a spacious location in which all the events will fit. Besides, the geographic region for the sporting activity must be accessible to everyone attending.
The feasibility study also takes into consideration, where to find the participants of the events ( Munteanu, 2010). In most cases, the participants of the events are selected from various universities and colleges. The best teams from the universities then compete for the prize during the significant/annual sporting event. The equipment that will be used in the competition is also put into consideration. In most cases, the universities participating in the event bring their equipment at the event and what is expensive to buy is leased from other organizations that host such kind of events.
Annual universities sporting events are often considered national because of the crowd they attract. Thus, sometimes one is required to take a proposal to the relevant local authorities for approval. The local authorities ensure that the sporting event has met the regulatory policies that govern sporting activities. These regulatory policies include adding the necessary signage for easier access as well as various emergencies exists in the event of an emergency ( Solberg & Preuss, 2015) . The local authorities based on the proposal will decide as to whether the proposal has met all the requirements.
When organizing the event, Paul Emery notes that a timeline is very crucial during the actual sporting activity and before the sporting activity. Timelines ensure that the team is on track and also tasks are completed successfully. Similarly, it also helps him ensure that all areas have been accounted for and nothing will slip through the tracks. In the sporting event management process, Paul has an event timeline that lists each event planning area as well as the deadline for the events to be completed. For instance, the first five days can be used to secure soccer field. In those five days, the responsible party is listed against the activity and how fast they successfully been able to complete the activities. This kind of information is always put in a spreadsheet for efficiency purposes.
In the interview, Paul says that unlike small events, large sporting events require much upfront planning. As a sporting manager, the goals must be clearly defined to differentiate the event from other sporting events that are also happening in the same locality. The main advantage of this kind of events is that they attract a large group of people which enables the sporting activity to acquire sponsorship and make sales that have the economic impact in the society. Besides, the participants who are mostly the students can get more opportunities to participate in other platforms. However, some challenges come with these events which includes budgeting for the venues as well as the overall sporting event. Sometimes, the event tends to be more costly than what had already been budgeted. Paul Emery says that in some of the sports events he has managed, the costs allocated were overrun which made the whole event a flop. The sponsor for the event did not finance them as they agreed due to incorrect budgets. Regardless, this has been a learning opportunity for him when it comes to sports management.
Small Sporting Events
Monday Roberts is a professional volleyball coach as well as a sports events manager who has worked in the field of sporting for more than 15 years. Unlike Paul Emery, Roberts is only involved in planning for small events at the school level and has never been involved in planning for significant events. According to Roberts, to him, any sporting activity he plans has to achieve some objectives. One the objective is to provide a background and an environment, through which the talents of the participants will be exploited, especially the students. Similarly, the sporting events are carried with the objective of increasing participation among the student and to make learning institutions centers of prosperity through sports development. Due to the nature of the event regarding resources and the number of participants, Roberts says that his events objectives are not organized for charity purposes generating profits for other purposes such as raising money for professional soccer players.
Just like significant sporting activities that involve having a good feasibility plan to ensure that the actual event is successful, a small event also requires a plan ( Munteanu, 2010). The only difference being, whereas, a significant event involves a lot of planning including forming a team to help with the logistics; a small sporting involves just a simple preparation ( Westerbeek, Turner & Ingerson, 2012). In the interview, Roberts notes that he creates a list of the number of people who will be involved in the sporting in the event. In most cases, only one kind of sporting activity is usually played throughout the entire event. Therefore, he identifies that team that will play against each other and briefs them. This is done to make sure that the teams’ practices enough before the actual competition. Choosing the venue is also critical in the planning stage. The venue is always the school’s playing field as most of the participants including the spectators are the students.
Roberts notes that the next stage is creating stunning visuals in the form of flyers that will be used to market the sporting event. He says that a successful sporting event must be enticing to the eye as it is exhilarating to the spirit. He ensures that the attendees are given flyers clearly show the details of the sporting activity including the theme, date, venue and other relevant information. The flyers are often distributed by the students as well as social media platforms to show how the school is relentless when it comes to spotlighting the upcoming event. Since the events are small, finding sponsorship is often not required. However, voluntary sponsors are always welcomed to help defray some of the costs that are involved in organizing the event. Planning supplies of things such as wards, medals, and scorecards are also very crucial to avoid the last minute rush.
Since a small sporting event does not involve complicated procedures such as requiring other stakeholders in every decision that is made in the planning, the manager can design an event that meets the overall needs of all the participants within the shortest time possible. This is regarding the amount of security that will be needed, timing, the appropriate number of volunteers and staff, the snacks required and signage that should be in place. It is essential for the manager to recognize that all events differ in size and the amount of planning, thus the need to make the right decision before executing the plans. The procedure of this kind of events only involves only one type of objective which is exploiting the talents of the student as well as physical development. To most participants, they, therefore, become monotonous due to the fact they are based on only one theme and their regularity. To prevent this kind of notion among the participants, it is essential for sports managers to view sports as a cross-cutting vehicle that will contribute to achieving national development and a healthy society ( Solberg & Preuss, 2015) . Therefore, they should involve different stakeholders such as the neighboring communities.
In conclusion, the paper has delved on the procedures that are involved when it comes to organizing small as well as major sports events. According to the sports managers involved in managing different types and levels of sporting activity, sporting management is not always an easy task. The success of any sporting activity is determined by how much –up fronting the manager has done. This early planning includes choosing the venue, sponsor acquisition, participant recruitment, budget allocation, and marketing strategies. Besides, tools such as timelines management spreadsheets help the manager stay organized throughout the whole planning process and ensuring that all tasks are completed successfully. However, they are some challenges that might occur during the actual event including massive costs overruns. This kind of challenges presents a better learning opportunity for managers.
References
Munteanu, S. M. (2010). Project and Sports Events Management. Review of International Comparative Management , 11 (2), 1307-1311.
Solberg, H. A., & Preuss, H. (2015). Major Sports Events: The Challenge of Budgeting for the Venues. Event Management , 19 (3), 349-363.
Westerbeek, H. M., Turner, P., & Ingerson, L. (2012). Critical success factors in bidding for hallmark sporting events. International Marketing Review , 19 (3), 303-322.
APPENDIX A: SAMPLE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
What is the first step to managing a sporting event?
What is the point of having a mission statement for an event? How does it contribute to an event?
What kind of questions do you consider when creating your feasibility plan for your event?
How do you conduct a feasibility study for a sporting event?
What is the importance of an event planning timeline?
What are the challenges that you face when conducting a plan for an event?
