In the weeks, months, and even years leading up to a tournament, sports planners and coaches wear every hat imaginable: logistics, customer service, scheduling, venue selection, and so on. The responsibilities can feel never-ending, and with a planning process that has so many moving parts, it’s crucial to keep it as streamlined as possible.
This is where technology can be a game changer. A 2024 study published in the International Journal of Research Publication and Reviews titled “Technology in Sports Event Management” underscores how various technologies have emerged as key drivers of innovation and efficiency in the industry.
“The integration of technology in sports event management has revolutionized the way events are planned, organized, and executed,” the study reports. “From ticketing and crowd management to athlete tracking and fan engagement, advanced technological tools have significantly improved efficiency and enhanced the overall experience for all stakeholders.”
For youth sports planners in particular, this revolution is playing out in real time with specialized platforms designed to assist in several areas of event planning and management. Whether creating game schedules for a soccer tournament or setting up registration for a multisport competition, planners around the country have found that incorporating technology can be pivotal—allowing more time to focus on creating an exceptional experience for athletes and families alike.
Savvy Scheduling
When you’re preparing to host more than 1,000 soccer teams for 2,800-plus games over the course of 10 days, scheduling is one of the most important and complex parts of the process. Such is the case for Clinton LaBeau, sports programs manager for the National Sports Center (NSC) in Blaine, Minnesota, which hosts teams from around the world at the annual Target USA Cup youth soccer tournament.
For more than five years, LaBeau has used GotSport, a sports-management system and scheduling tool employed by several major soccer tournaments across the country. LaBeau explains that when dealing with the magnitude of an event like Target USA Cup, GotSport helps take some weight off planners’ shoulders when it comes to factoring specific details into the scheduling process—including playoffs, game breaks, potential coaching conflicts, and more.
“It provides some of those checks and balances that maybe a human can’t do,” shares LaBeau. “It really helps me be more organized to provide accurate schedules for teams. With such a large campus, it helps put everything in one spot for me to work with.”
Athletes and families can access the platform from both a mobile app and on a web browser and can easily search for the schedules of specific teams and clubs. “Other scheduling platforms are sometimes difficult for users to find exactly who and what they’re looking for,” says LaBeau. “We can help all ages of people. Whether it’s a grandparent or someone from the club, we can point them in the right direction so they can find that information.”
Hotel Bookings
Many tournaments involve coordination of hotel bookings for teams, especially ones on the scale of Target USA Cup that host so many teams at one time. Annie Rydel, sports and recreation registration and ice sports specialist at the NSC, works directly with EventConnect (a tournament-management platform) to ensure all traveling teams have a place to stay.
EventConnect integrates with the NSC’s application programming interface to track which teams have noted they want to stay in a certain hotel upon registration, or if they’re required to stay in a hotel based on their zip code. EventConnect reaches out to these teams, and team managers can create a hotel block based on location, price, and other factors. From there, families can book rooms directly through a link sent out by their team manager. “[EventConnect] might not be from the area [hosting the event], but it has learned to know the area and can definitely help you find the right place,” says Rydel.
EventConnect’s platform also offers a comprehensive suite of other tools for tournament management that the NSC incorporates for some of its small-sided events—in these cases, teams can access registration, scheduling, scores, and hotel bookings all in one dashboard.
While some platforms might be difficult to get in touch with when problems arise, Rydel attests to EventConnect’s reliability and personal touch. “You’re not talking to a robot when you contact support, you’re talking to an actual person who’s there to help you,” she says. “We meet with the team from EventConnect once a week and we work together to make sure all the teams are getting the hotels they need, staying on top of things. They’re all great to work with.”
Registration Success
With over 8,000 athletes competing across more than 60 sporting events annually, the Meijer State Games of Michigan in Grand Rapids is a true multisport showcase—an Olympics-style competition open to athletes of all ages and skill levels. The event is part of the National Congress of State Games, a member organization associated with the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s Affiliate Organizations Council. When you’re managing that kind of scale across both summer and winter seasons, having the right registration system
isn’t just helpful, it’s also essential—and Julie Cullen, director of the Meijer State Games of Michigan, says RaceReach checks all the boxes for registration and ticketing needs. “Every sport is so individualized,” she explains. “RaceReach saw that, and saw the gap in registration platforms that were accessible for multisport organizers such as ourselves.”
Cullen’s team began using RaceReach about three years ago after connecting through another State Games program in North Carolina. The platform, which focused largely on registration for single-sport events in the past, has spent the last few years meeting with various State Games leaders to help craft the ultimate tool for events like the Meijer State Games of Michigan—and today, RaceReach works with over 20 State Games programs across the country.
What the RaceReach team has created is a one-stop shop for organizers, event staff, and attendees. Registration, ticketing, volunteer and sponsor management, communications, and merchandising are all housed on one accessible platform. “I would say it’s the most individualized platform I have ever used,” says Cullen. “They have done a really incredible job at listening to what we need and delivering.”
But even if you’re not preparing for an Olympics-style event, you can still take advantage of all that RaceReach has to offer. “For any sport organizer who’s looking to shop registration, or maybe is building a tournament for the first time, these people are so helpful,” Cullen adds. “I would absolutely recommend them to anyone who runs registration.”
eventconnectsports.com
home.gotsport.com
racereach.com
stategamesofmichigan.com
usacup.org
