Does your coach know about travel sponsorship?
Let’s talk sponsorship.
We all know it’s tough to get sponsorship $$$
A company may give you a discount on their product and in exchange your team or organization name will include this company as well.
In-kind sponsorship is something like Company X donating a full team set of batting gloves to your team. You need to gloves anyway, and they are hoping to get more exposure to other teams and players.
Cash sponsorships are almost always the toughest. This is where a company gives money to your team or organization in hopes of gaining more exposure for their own company. Outside of logos on uniforms or team banners, that company is going to want to see a valuable way to expose their company to more potential customers.
But what about something you are already doing, already spending money on.
Are you getting your travel sponsorship?
6 months ago I had an epiphany. Ok that might be a bit of an extreme way to describe this, but stick with me here for a minute.
For years we’ve been the official accommodations sponsor for a number of D1 and NAIA programs. We’ve returned a ton of money back to these schools as sponsorship, and have seen athletic departments grow and upgrade uniforms and facilities, take more recruiting trips, anything they can do to help improve their team’s chance of winning.
This is where my career started at Sport-Travel, and I’ve worked with all different types of teams and coaches, working with all budgets and booking all different brands of hotels.
Personally, I’ve directly been responsible for six-figure multiples in sponsorship money delivered to our collegiate partners.
That’s a lot of money!
And then of course your mind starts to wander, what would I do with that money?
There are the obvious choices, bills, mortgage, kids’ college funds.
My wife certainly wouldn’t let me spend it on anything irresponsible. Although a hot new bat might just help me take the batting title in my men’s over 30 league.
What could I do to make a real impact?
My wife owns a Competitive Cheer Team. I see every day how her gym directly impacts the lives of hundreds of young girls and boys every day.
This is just one gym or organization of thousands across the country making real differences in the lives of our youth every day.
Confidence, self-esteem, teamwork, responsibility, hard work, and dedication are just a small list of positive impacts youth sports have on these young athletes.
These are all traits I’d like to think I learned as a young baseball player growing up, and traits I would like to pass on to my children as well.
So how can I multiply my effort and make an even greater impact in youth sports?
That’s when it hit me. The amount of travel expenses that youth teams are spending can become extreme.
Tournament fees, multiple uniforms, meals, hotel rooms, gas money, spectator fees…where does it end?
I think overwhelmingly we can agree that as parents and coaches we will do anything we can to help keep our kids in these sports, and that they have the opportunity to attend these tournaments and get to experience the chance to play in different cities, states or even countries.
And that’s when it hit me. While I will work my butt off to make sure my kids can attend whatever sporting event they’d like, it doesn’t mean I’m pulling endless stacks of money out of my pockets. Wherever I can try to save a little bit I’m definitely going to try.
So how can Sean, at Sport-Travel, help these teams with some of these costs?
Very simple really. I want to take the same model we are using for our D1 programs, and give money back to the youth organizations, the non-profits, the grassroots teams built from the ground up, all for the love of the game.
You are already travelling for tournaments, showcases or exposure games. A lot of the time you’ll end up needing a hotel. And that’s where I can help. That’s where my expertise can help make a difference in youth sports.
Instead of calling a hotel to book your rooms, let me do that for you. We book hundreds of thousands of room nights each year, and negotiate with hotels every single day to get your team the lowest possible group rate. We love doing it, and we’re very good at it.
The process is rather simple. You request all the details of where you need to go, how long you’ll be staying, how many families or athletes are travelling, and anything else that is important for your trip. Then we take over. You’ll have a company with almost two decades of negotiating history behind you. You’ll have the buying power of thousands of teams across every major hotel brand. You’ll have the support of a company who is sponsoring teams, organizations and tournaments of all size because it is our mission to support youth sports at every possible level, not just the top D1 programs.
But best of all…you’ll have me. Sean Sinclair at Sport-Travel.
I actually LOVE what I do, and it’s inspiring to be in a position to make a real impact on organizations across the country, no matter the size.
I love working with the teams and our partner hotels, trying to find the best fit for each team. I will search endlessly to find the perfect hotel for your team and families. Breakfast included? Need a pool? Like to stay close to a mall or certain attraction? No problem! That’s what we do every single day, and no matter how hard you try, we’ve likely seen your strange or unusual travel requests already so don’t be shy.
Really though…please send me your tough to find, impossible or unique hotel requests. I love the challenge and being able to help teams no matter their circumstances leaves me smiling every single day.
Here is the best part, as backwards as it may seem to some, after all this work on our part, I’m going to send you a sponsorship check at the end of the season.
Really?….yes you read that right.
I’m going to hustle for your team until we find the best hotels for every trip we can, and I’m going to give YOU money to do it.
Here are a few real examples of teams we are working with:
- A team we have worked with for a while now receives an annual sponsorship over $2000, and in 2018 we gave them $2,730.
- A brand new baseball team we just started working with is projected to receive $1,625 from us in 2019.
I’ll remind you that this sponsorship stems from your team or organization doing nothing above and beyond what you’re already doing. In fact you’re doing less as you no longer have to search for your own hotels. You are already travelling to these tournaments. You are staying in a hotel already. Why shouldn’t you get a sponsorship because of this?
Sound too good to be true? I hope not, because it’s real and it’s how every major NCAA program receives their travel sponsorship.
I know how to cut my grass. It’s not incredibly difficult. It does take time out of my day and to be honest I’d rather be spending time with my family doing something enjoyable. Heck I’d probably even pay a neighborhood kid to do it just to get that extra time. If a professional landscaping company knocks on my door and hands me $20 to cut my own grass, I’m not even blinking twice, I’m taking that money and playing catch with my kids.
So ask yourself, would you rather spend the extra time coaching the kids, spending time with your family, taking them out for ice cream, or figuring out which hotel has the better breakfast.
Still a little unsure?
I get it, you’ve been booking hotels for years, you want to make sure your families are comfortable, should you switch it up?
Let me say again, our services do not, and WILL NEVER cost you any money.
Let’s try this.
I’ll look into one single trip. That’s it.
I’ll find some options, show your our process, the next step is up to you.
Book it or don’t.
If you’re not into it, do your own thing, no hard feelings.
Sponsorship is tough to get.
Travel sponsorship is NOT.
Ready to go?
Let Sport-Travel crush a home run for you.
If you’ve made it this far down the page we’ve covered a lot of questions, but you might still have more. I’m available to chat anytime. Contact me below whatever is easiest for you and we can talk about your team and your travel plans.
By phone: 1-800-304-6346 ext 338
By email: [email protected]