Your guest teams come to play soccer because that is why they attend your soccer tournament. Higher quality teams who play good soccer with lots of points is what attracts soccer teams to your soccer tournament.
Soccer. Soccer. Soccer.
What if all of that is not true?
What? That is the way it’s always been. We play soccer. Our soccer people play soccer. Our DOCs play, live and sleep soccer. We are a soccer tournament, so we must focus on the soccer.
I’ve seen soccer purists rip good soccer tournaments apart, mostly because they believe a soccer tournament is all about soccer, that the other stuff is just fluff.
They are wrong.
- Soccer tournaments are a mini-family vacation.
- Soccer tournaments are a diversion from the everyday.
- Soccer tournaments are social gatherings.
- Soccer tournaments are fun, festival-style entertainment.
- Soccer tournaments are fashion brands.
But what soccer tournaments are not is a soccer event.
It surprises a lot of people when I tell them I’m not all that passionate about soccer or technology. What?? TourneyCentral is a soccer technology company? How could you not live and breathe the nuance of pairings and soccer stats, how this team should be seeded higher because they play in this league or they are state cup champions or….. How could you not live and breathe the tech and app development and Apple vs Android and specs and ….
Don’t get me wrong, I care about soccer and tech; I understand soccer through and through. I also understand technology because we use both to bring about the best soccer tournament production software anywhere. But if TourneyCentral was a soccer technology company, we would be doing a disservice to the people who need us the most; those who need a diversion from the everyday.
Our advice: Start looking at your soccer tournament as a fashion brand. Why do your guest teams want to be a part of who you are? Why do they “wear” your event? Consider they can get soccer anywhere — all day, every day — so what about your event makes it special?
Your soccer tournament should be a New York Fashion Week, not just another trip to Walmart for a pack of white undershirts. Figure this out and start producing an event that breaks out of the mould. Both on the field and in the digital space.
TourneyCentral is a media and event management company. Your soccer tournament is a fashion brand.