Cutting deals in a down economy

Soccer teams are out there foraging for soccer tournament deals. They are using the down economy to leverage acceptance of their lessor teams into more elite tournaments. Some of using the promise of attendance to get hotel comp deals for their coaches, special scheduling considerations and lots of other perks. Do you do it?

Whether or not you cave in depends on how strong your brand is and why you are holding your soccer tournament. If you have consistently provided an elite experience for teams, delivering on your promise of great competitions and college coach exposure, you are probably not hurting for teams. In fact, you may be doing better than most years as teams are trimming tournaments in favor the higher quality ones. For the teams looking to leverage a “deal” with you, that is more or less a delusion on their part.

If you are holding a tournament to raise money, you will probably take the teams with the hope of filling your bracket and not falling apart before the economy gets better.

Our advice: Always plan for down years. That means holding back some cash for years where you may not attract as many teams due to the economy. Caving in to team demands when they have the upper hand in a recession is almost never a good idea because:

• you then set the true value of your soccer tournament and
• there will be no reciprocal loyalty. Teams that are always looking for a good deal on price almost never care about your brand and will not do anything for you long-term to help build your event.

While it may be painful in the short term to decline team enticements for them to come to your event, learn from this and begin applying some solid brand-building principles for the next time a recession comes around. Only then will you ensure your place on their list of “must attend” soccer tournaments.

And, if you feel you must work with teams, make sure there is a win-win arrangement coming in or you will find yourself on the losing end of any deal you cut.