An Insider's Guide to Managing Sports Events

An Insider's Guide to Managing Sporting Events uses examples from real-life events of all types and sizes to simplify the event planning process. Author Jerry Solomon draws on his 20 years of experience in sport marketing and event production to provide strategies and tactics that can be used to make your event a success.

This practical handbook is a step-by-step guide through the event planning and implementation process starting with the earliest stages of event design and concluding with the post-event follow-up. An Insider's Guide to Managing Sporting Events explains in detail how to develop a budget, secure athletes and sponsors, sell tickets, and negotiate a television contract. The in-depth explanations will help improve the profitability of your event.

An Insider's Guide to Managing Sporting Events also uses hands-on learning methods. It includes checklists to reinforce the steps learned during each stage of planning and sample contracts and timelines that can be tailored for any sporting or entertainment event. These features result in cost, time, and energy savings for you.

Chapter 1 gets the event planning process started by helping you define the type of event you want to create and identify the marketplace in which the event will operate. It also addresses the steps for gaining approval from various governing bodies.

Chapter 2 explains the crucial process of creating a budget and determining cash flow sources and schedules.

Chapter 3 discusses the importance of picking the right site for the event.

Chapter 4 offers creative and practical ways of attracting quality sponsors.

Chapter 5 explains how to market the event to bring in fans and how to keep them happy once they're at the event. This chapter also discusses how to develop important revenue sources such as concessions and souvenirs.

Chapter 6 addresses the needs of the athletes and explains how to attract big names to your event. This chapter includes detailed information on drawing up athlete contracts, and it explains the obligations of the performers and the event directors.

Chapter 7 explains the intricacies of television coverage for sporting events and provides examples of contract language from actual documents.

Chapter 8 details the implementation of the event itself, from hiring staff to overseeing operations on the day of the event to the ever-important follow-up once the event is over.

An Insider's Guide to Managing Sporting Events is a practical, hands-on guide that is essential for event planners and sport management students looking to produce events that bring back spectators, sponsors, athletes, and television year after year. This handbook sheds light on the sporting event planning process for new or future event organizers, and it takes the planning process to the next level for those with experience in the field. If you are in the field of sport marketing or management, this invaluable reference belongs on your bookshelf.

Jerry Solomon is president and CEO of StarGames, a sport and entertainment company located outside of Boston, Massachusetts. He is an adjunct professor of sport management at the University of New Hampshire and is the former president of ProServ, Inc.

Mr. Solomon has 20 years of experience in creating, planning, and managing sporting events, including events on the ATP tennis tour, LPGA golf tour, and AVP beach volleyball tour. He has also developed popular properties in swimming, figure skating, and golf. His clients have included tennis stars Ivan Lendl and Michael Chang, swimmer Janet Evans, gymnast Shannon Miller, volleyball icon Karch Kiraly, and figure skater Nancy Kerrigan.

He was named among the 100 Most Influential People in Sports by The Sporting News in 1994 and among the 25 Most Powerful People in Figure Skating by Figure Skating Magazine in 1997. Mr. Solomon lives in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, and enjoys spending time with his family, going to movies, and playing golf.