Sports ETA Annual Report FY '22

LETTER FROM THE CEO

2022 was an important inflection point in the history of our association. We came off two years of COVID affecting our ability to host live events. As an event-driven revenue organization, a two-year hiatus puts significant pressure on sustainability.

In 2022 we doubled up on staging and expanding our events. The result of staging six events, including two symposiums in 2022, brought our financial resources into the black, providing a portion of the resources necessary to focus beyond 2022 to add more value to our members.

The long overdue membership dues adjustment provided the remaining resources to fuel our future. These increases coupled with the added events were what was needed for the association. A special thank you to all members who supported these initiatives during this challenging period.

2022 unveiled our best-ever State of the Industry report. We were able to measure the 2020 and 2021 impact on the sports events and tourism industry, as well as benchmark against our 2019 study. The resulting data provided impetus to the national awareness of the importance of sports events as the catalyst to the restart of tourism across the US. We are seeing 2022 eclipsing the 2019 performance standards.

I am proud of the extended partnerships we have added. The new research white papers and reports slated for 2023 provide greater value to each and every member. It leaves us excited about our foundation to continue making a difference to you and to the greater good of our industry.

Alan R. Kidd

FROM YOUR CHAIR

Michael Price, Chair 2020-2022, Sports ETA

To say our careers are interesting, fun, unique and any one of a thousand great adjectives may be an incredible understatement. Every day we embark upon a new adventure, not always sure who we may meet, what unforgettable memories our events may create, and often not even aware of the full impact our events have within the region. Everyone I cross paths with and explain what I do often remark, “how cool!” And you know what? They are so very right.

As my time serving as your board chair has ended, I find myself thinking the same, how cool has this been?

Serving our association and this incredible membership is an honor that I will carry with me for the rest of my career. But I must admit, I feel a bit guilty. Guilty that, as it always has, this association continues to give more to me than I can ever give back. I believe that is exactly how our association is supposed to function, the collective is better than the individual. Together over the last 25+ years, we’ve fostered one of the most visible, impactful, and resilient industries in tourism. And while we are all competitive and competitors, we’ve done this by being collaborative and gracious with one another. Two qualities that seem to be increasingly rare these days.

Even as our industry and world fell apart during the early days of the pandemic, our members asked how they could help each other get through this and worked with the association to share all resources available to help ALL continue to move forward. In the face of our industry’s darkest hour, we never lost our desire to be collaborative and gracious. It’s not a surprise, that’s the bedrock of who and what this association and its members are. Like the athletes we serve, our industry is about teamwork. And I hope that never changes. I’m thankful for the opportunity to serve our membership and support the association that’s given so much to each of us.

Yours in sport,

Michael Price, STS, CTA

Executive Director, Greater Lansing Sports Authority Chair, Sports ETA, 2020-2022

Board of Directors and Staff Listing

Officers

Chair: Michael Price, STS, CTA, Executive Director, Greater Lansing Sports Authority

Vice Chair/Chair-Elect: Don Dukemineer, STS, CHSP, Director of Sports Development, Decatur Morgan County Tourism

Secretary: Frank Lett, Senior Associate Executive Director/Director of Sports Marketing, Visit Kingsport

Treasurer: Ray Palmer, President/CEO, Pensacola Sports

Immediate Past Chair: Janis Burke, Chief Executive Officer, Harris CountyHouston Sports Authority

Directors

Ashleigh Bachert, Vice President of Sales, Tulsa Sports Commission Derek Bombeck, Sales Development Manager, Lincoln CVB

John David, COO, USA BMX

Josh Dill, Director of Sports & Events, Visit Frisco Jason Gewirtz, Editor and Publisher/SportsTravel , SportsTravel Magazine

Pete Harvey, Director of Sports Development, Buffalo Niagara Sports Commission Gen Howard, Senior Sales Manager, Louisville Tourism Matt Libber, Executive Director, Maryland SoccerPlex

Brent Nelson, Sr. VP of Business Development, Greater Orlando Sports Commission Clay Partain, STS, Managing Director, Sports Salt Lake Scott Powers, STS, Executive Director, Experience Columbia SC Sports Daniel Rush, CMP, CASE, Vice President of Global Sports and Event Sales, MGM Resorts International

Christine Strong Simmons, Senior Director of Events, USA Taekwondo Marissa Werner, STS, Director of Sports Milwaukee, Sports Milwaukee, Championed by VISIT Milwaukee

Gray Williams, Executive Director, Play Greenville NC

J.D. Wood, Director of Business Development and Events, Dallas Sports Commission

Staff

Alan (Al) R. Kidd, President & CEO

Janis Breedlove, CMP, VP Events & Experiences

Meagan Grau, Director of Member Services and Engagement

Michelle Wessels, Business Services Director

Bonny Bernat, Director of Learning and Development

Rebecca Myles, Sponsorship and Advertising

Jennifer Stoll, Ph.D., STS, Research and Education

Carol Courtney, Special Projects Coordinator

Russ Yurk, Special Projects Coordinator

William Knox, Facilities Program Development

July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022 Annual Report

Since 2018 and each year thereafter, staff prepares an annual value creation document that summarizes member programs and services embarked upon during the fiscal year. It has been our goal to prepare an annual report to demonstrate our stewardship of member’s investment into the Sports Events and Tourism industry. The overview of FY2022 will include operational advancement against our 2020 Vision and the tactical programs that took place over the year. Also included is additional financial information that provides context to the FY22 performance. Thank you for your continued support of staff and our work on your behalf.

Following the established 2020 Vision, our vision, mission, four (4) pillars, and added innovation in key areas of our business assist us in determining the amount of annualized value we create for membership and tracks progress on multi-year larger longitudinal initiatives. By no means is this meant to be the entire body of our work, rather we highlight some of our best from a mighty team of staff and subject matter expert independent contractors.

It is important to travel back three years for a quick snapshot of a well-thought-out operating and survival plan added to a little good fortune to best understand how we put the association into the strong position we currently hold.

As a precursor to COVID, and not knowing it was coming, we made a strategic decision to “staff” high-end independent contractors in many of our operating positions. This enabled us to deliver significant products and services from subject matter experts - at a cost we could afford. The bet was due to the knowledge and experience of our team, we would elevate our content, work, and solutions, which was accomplished. Secondly, prior to COVID, we made a strategic shift to digital program delivery and aggressively pursued online content aggregation. This aggregation built a robust “info center” that was easily expanded once COVID closed our industry down. The virtual content aggregation and ramped-up content produced a new level of revenue for the organization with the first ever virtual business development event and our online educational delivery platform. As a result, our membership and event-based association was able to survive over the two years we could not deliver our main revenue through events. The good fortune came in applying for and receiving two years’ worth of CARES support from the government program. Adding to that

income the excellent results we had with our two virtual SportsBiz XChange events and a number of members taking our online education courses helped bode well for the association. As a result, we only had small losses in 2020 and 2021.

Now moving through 2022, we honored our hosting agreements with Birmingham, AL and Fort Worth, TX by holding two Symposiums in the same fiscal year. We also held two Women’s and Facilities Summits in 2022. The shift to hold the two Symposiums resulted in resetting the 4S Summit, the industry’s premier Sports Events and Tourism Educational and Professional Development Forum to October 2022, which will take place during FY23. The final results of the last three years of solid cash management and our FY22 with multi-Symposiums in one fiscal year have put the association on solid financial footing. We erased the two loss years and showed enough profit in FY22 to flip the balance sheet to positive. The financial statements are included further in this report.

FY22 was not only a year of rebound with our financial position, we significantly added high-level content and industry partners that positioned us primed to create new and innovative membership value. Let’s take a journey through FY22 in the eyes of our 4 Pillars and our innovation.

EDUCATION & CERTIFICATION

We launched our Sports Tourism Learning Institute (STLI), offering online self-paced and self-guided education certificates. In 2020, eight new courses were added with subjects from Innovation to Sports Facility Management, Crisis Communications, and Winning eSports Strategy.

of these courses

Our first pillar is Education. The Sports Tourism Learning Institute completed a number of enhancements to our education pillar during FY2022. We developed a number of improvements to our Learning Management System to continue to make the user experience more simplified. We expanded the features centered on tracking individual performance and added more detailed course descriptions. We identified four new courses to add and have completed the content outline to hit the ground running in FY23. Here are some highlights from FY22.

• First Graduating STS Class (35 individuals)

• Refined STLI user experience

• Added a “special” STS congratulatory session at the 2022 Symposium with our keynote speaker

Andrew Davis

• Produced high-level subject matter expert education at Women’s Summit and Chief Executive Summit

• Added an expanded education program to the Facilities Summit

• Continue quality improvement of in-person content Produced Community driven education during the Symposium to appeal to specific interests

• Produced two (2) successful STS courses with Game On Nation (1 virtual, 1 in-person)

ADVOCACY

In 2020, Sports ETA quickly moved to make sure member communications increased to support the wave of information on COVID-19, event postponements and new health and safety protocols.

Each week, Sports ETA shared Weekly Reading References to keep members up-to-date on the latest COVID-19 challenges and accomplishments within the industry. Each month, Al Kidd shared his “Kidd’s Komments” with industry insights and thought leadership. Each quarter, the Sports ETA Playbook highlighted YOU, our members and industry achievements.

Additionally, Sports ETA researched and published a number of whitepapers under the leadership of Jennifer Stoll, PhD, STS with timely discussions on industry matters such as Tourism Impact Research, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion as well as Legalized Sports Gambling, among others.

Our advocacy work often goes unseen by the general membership as much of it is done for a specific purpose or cause. Advocacy for Sports ETA focuses on three areas:

1. National tourism relevancy and support for the industry at large

2. Support local and national youth sports initiatives to fuel participation

3. Stand by with our Rapid Response team to support our members

Sports ETA was an active industry participant in most of the national tourism work performed by US Travel on behalf of the entire tourism industry. Letters of support for many of their travel initiatives were sent off by our association.

Our Rapid Response team had a number of assignments for specific states of destinations to support key initiatives in their regions.

Our youth sports initiatives will continue to develop as time goes on. We had members attend the Aspen Institute on Youth Sports for us to keep our presence in front of one of the leading youth sports research and national advocacy organizations. We have begun early-stage conversations with leading organizations to consider new and innovative programming. We are excited to share how this develops in FY23.

Here is a list of some of our advocacy work in FY2022:

ADVOCACY

• Wrote numerous letters in support of US Travel tourism initiatives

• Supported Orlando Annual Report for the value of sports tourism

• Signed Equity Diversity and Inclusion pledge for Destinations International

• Advocated for destination support to add pickleball to citywide offerings

• Kidd’s Komments

• Monthly Reading Reference

• Supported Title IX recognition with year-long programming

• Special programming for STS graduates in recognition of their accomplishments

Al Kidd - Speaking Engagements

• Civitas National TID Summit

• Convention, Sports and Entertainment Facilities Conference

• Delaware Tourism Conference

• Destinations International Annual Convention

• Greater Orlando Sports Board Meeting

• Host Cities America 2021

• Media Interviews:

– Sports Planning Guide

Sports Business Journal

Indianapolis Business Journal (multiple occasions)

– SportsTravel

– Business Travel Magazine

– ESPN

• Smart Cities & Sport live in Denmark, November 2021

• Texas CVB organization

• University of Niagara Tourism Department

Dr. Jennifer Stoll - Speaking Engagements

• Civitas National TID Summit

• Convention, Sports and Entertainment Facilities Conference

• Delaware Tourism Conference

• Destinations International Annual Convention

• Destinations International Webinar

• Simpleview Annual Summit

• Spain World Sports Tourism Congress - live in Spain, November 2021

• Travel and Tourism Research Association Marketing Outlook Forum

RESEARCH & RESOURCES

Our goal is to provide our members with advanced metrics for success by developing and aggregating tools to make better business decisions.

NETWORKING

The final of our four pillars is our Networking activities, primarily defined by member engagement through meetings that provide the canvas to share best practices.

NETWORKING - Live events are back!

• Established a unique and consistent marketing positioning message for our events

• Established a theme for all events - THINK BIG!

• Successfully held two (2) Symposiums in a single fiscal year

– Birmingham, AL - October 2021

– Fort Worth, TX - May 2022

• Held two (2) Facilities Summits in one fiscal year during each Symposium - first time in history

• Fort Worth Symposium introduced the first interactive demonstration education stage in the Marketplace

• Chief Executive Summit met with rave reviewsJanuary 2022 in Las Vegas

• Women’s Summit held in Minneapolis in conjunction with Women’s NCAA Final Four

• Exceptionally well-received fresh Marketplace layout at Symposium

• NBA Markets meeting with NBA executives at Symposium

• Hired William Knox to jump-start the Sports Facilities Trade Group

Community Group Engagement

DEI

The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Community will focus on educating, celebrating, and welcoming diversity in the sports event and tourism industry. This community will allow space for members to engage in healthy conversations around DE&I, share best practices, and learn from our peers and subject matter experts. Led by Jerrine Lee, STS, Richmond Region Tourism, Zach Ebarb, HBC Event Services, and Marquez Singleton, Coastal Mississippi.

Industry Partners

From all facets of the sports events and tourism industry, this group meets to discuss and explore the changes in event delivery, what’s here to stay, and how industry suppliers can be primed to provide value for the future of events. Meeting topics vary and always include opportunities for best practices discussions as well as an open dialogue. Led by Hank Pivarnik, STS, Sonesta International, and Suzanne Cecil, STS, HBC Event Services.

L.E.A.D.

The L.E.A.D. Community is continuing its transition of not only focusing on new members to the association but also creating opportunities for industry veterans to benefit from our group. Over the next year, we look forward to finding unique ways to engage the membership and develop emerging leaders within the industry. Future calls will highlight different avenues that not only Sports ETA can provide to further one’s career, but also identify characteristics within oneself to excel in the future. Led by Cole Lacey, Wicomico County Recreation, Parks & Tourism, Hank Pivarnik, STS, Sonesta International, and Don Dukemineer, STS, CHSP, Decatur Morgan County Tourism.

Rights Holders

This group is open to rights holder members only. If that’s you, we encourage you to participate in this community group to discuss trends, challenges, successes, and everything in between! Members also have access to a secured web page dedicated to this community group filled with research, documents, and other important resources. Led by Steven Short, United Soccer Leagues, and John David, USA BMX.

State Association Leaders

This group focuses on the development and longevity of state groups. Member organizations gather to share best practices, ideas, documents/resources, etc. Led by Shannon Sullivan, Team Indiana, William Bloom, Louisiana Office of Tourism.

• Representatives from 32 states, providing a direct line to the CVBs/DMOs/Sports Commissions in those states

• Each state association typically has its own budget and is looking for ways to provide value for their members

• There is the opportunity to do statewide co-ops

• The State Association Leaders of this community are well informed of the opportunities and challenges that their members are facing and could provide feedback on what tools/products would be useful to their stakeholders.

• If one state finds success with a tool or product it is common that other states will be interested in and follow suit (i.e. Playeasy)

• Connections to local and state government

Small to Mid-Market Destinations

Destinations anywhere from small to mid-markets have open and candid conversations on the future of the sports events and tourism industry, including technology, sponsorship, innovation, venues, and more. Led by Frank Lett, Visit Kingsport, Mike Price, Greater Lansing Sports Authority, and Don Dukemineer, STS, CHSP, Decatur Morgan County Tourism.

Women’s

The Sports ETA’s Women’s Community has had an exciting year celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Title IX. This group held working meetings at the Symposium in Birmingham that provided content for the Women’s Summit in Minneapolis that encouraged our members to celebrate this milestone anniversary in their own communities. Led by Linda Logan, Great er Columbus Sports Commission, Kayla Adams, Greensboro Area CVB, and Tonia Whatley, Greater Birmingham CVB.

Young Professionals

This group is for Sports ETA members under 40. Discussion topics include networking, personal and professional development, industry best practices, rising trends and more. Led by Ariana Tyler, STS, Greater Columbus Sports Commission, and Luchie Javelosa, STS, Tempe Tourism Office.

• The Young Professional Community kicked off their first networking happy hour at Sports ETA Symposium in October 2021 in Birmingham, AL

• The Young Professional Community held its annual retreat in Colorado Springs in March 2022; a weekend filled with networking, team building, and planning for the upcoming fiscal year’s programming

• The Young Professional Community hosted another successful networking happy hour at Sports ETA Symposium in May 2022 in Fort Worth, TX and also held an informative session with Cambria Jones (SearchWide Global) on Leveraging LinkedIn and Building Your Personal Brand

• The Young Professional Community will host another round of (bi-monthly) webinars.

• There will be additional social networking opportunities at future conferences for a chance to meet and catch up with your fellow industry YPs

• If interested in joining the Young Professional Community, keep an eye out for applications that will go out in early 2023

Two new community groups were created:

Outdoor Recreation, Parks + Spaces

This group is open to all who are interested in exploring the development of a community group dedicated to the unique trends and challenges faced by members working in facets of outdoor recreation and tourism. Whether running or biking events, fishing or kayaking events, or everything in between.

College Towns

Over the last 2 years, Community Groups have emerged as a valuable asset among Sports ETA’s membership by bringing together a cross-section of members based upon common interests, structures, or segments. This group is open to all who are interested in exploring the development of a community group dedicated to the unique trends and challenges faced by members working in college or university towns, regardless of size.

PARTNERSHIPS

and

Here are some of the areas of partnership progress that took place in FY2022:

Civitas

The agreement encourages collaboration between both organizations to provide new joint research, education, and regular industry content sharing. The partnership focuses on utilizing tourism improvement districts (TIDs) as funding mechanisms for sports-related tourism initiatives and bringing awareness of the importance of sports events in the larger tourism ecosystem.

Quantum Consultancy

Created a partnership to provide the Quantum Event Hosting Landscape Report 2020-2028 to Sports ETA members at a 20% discount. QC provides a detailed State of the Industry review in Europe.

Playeasy

This partnership connects Playeasy’s online marketing, market analysis and lead generation and communications software platform to Sports ETA’s established network of sports destinations, industry partners, and facilities and rights holders. Additionally, Playeasy and Sports ETA will collaborate on future product features and enhancements that create additional value to all stakeholders across the sports events and tourism ecosystem. Sports ETA members receive a substantial discount on the PE Gold Edition Product.

Destinations International

Sports ETA and DI both seek to elevate the transformative impact of travel and tourism. With a shared goal of empowering their organization’s membership with resources to improve individuals, organizations and the communities they serve through educational initiatives, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion programs, speaking engagements, and research. Sports ETA supports the EIC and serves as a distributor of the Sports product for DI.

The partnership between Destinations International and Sports ETA is multi-faceted. I am most excited about our collaboration to study, track and communicate the impact of the Sports Events Tourism industry using our Events Impact Calculator, the industry standard for all DMOs.

– Don Welsh, President & CEO of Destinations International

“We have always held the belief that a strong industry association will lead to a stronger industry overall. It’s one of many reasons we have been proud to support Sports ETA from the beginning. Our support of the vital State of the Industry report and other association programs is designed to ensure that Sports ETA remains a valuable resource to the professionals who dedicate themselves to the important work of sports-related travel.”

– Jason Gewirtz, Vice President, Sports Division, Northstar Meetings Group, Executive Editor and Publisher, SportsTravel

Northstar Meetings Group

Established a five-year agreement with Northstar — the publisher of SportsTravel Magazine and organizers of the TEAMS Conference & Expo and EsportsTravel Summit — Northstar will become the exclusive provider of content related to media and media relations for Sports ETA’s educational programming distributed by the association’s Sports Tourism Learning Institute.

EventConnect

A partnership to provide the first-ever live dashboard for the sports events and tourism industry, known as The Pulse powered by EventConnect. The Pulse is released quarterly to provide vital industry insights for destinations and events rights holders alike to reference as they develop business plans. The Pulse dashboard includes year-over-year data: travel registrations, average night stays in U.S. hotels, average nightly hotel rate, a heat map of the United States where events are held, and the number of events by event type, among other insights.

Ohio University Sports Gambling Education

Sports ETA is offering its members a new education offering in the fast-moving legalized sports betting industry.

The Masters Certificate in Sports Gambling Education, comprising three online courses, will help sports events and tourism leaders understand the landscape of legalized sports gambling and how to best leverage it. Sports ETA members receive a 15% discount on tuition. To learn more about the program, visit the Sports Tourism Learning Institute.

Sports Business Journal

Our partnership allows all Sports ETA members to receive a 10% discount on any / all Sports Business Journal subscriptions. Check out SBJ All Access, which delivers the latest in sports business with breaking news, original reporting, newsletters, multimedia content and virtual event access.

Boxwood

Provides online job board/career center with partner revenue share to Sports ETA.

PartnerShip

Sports ETA members save on domestic and international shipments through the Sports ETA Shipping Program, managed by PartnerShip®. Our members benefit from exclusive discounts of up to 45% with FedEx, and competitive rates with UPS Freight, YRC Freight, XPO, and many other carriers.

Life in the Front Office Podcast

Seven (7) episode podcast series focused on the sports events and tourism Industry.

SafeSport

Sports ETA considers safety in sport and abuse awareness and prevention a priority for all of our member organizations and everyone who plays a role in sport. Our members enjoy a 10% discount on SafeSport training courses.

Threshold 360

A strategic partnership to help enhance marketing programs that increase visibility through the usage of virtual tours in the sports events and tourism industry.

Smart Cities & Sport

Staff will trade conference registrations, and speak at one another’s event(s), Sports ETA will assist in developing educational content for Smart Cities and in return, all Sports ETA members receive a 50% discount on registration costs to attend the annual Smart Cities & Sport event.

Avis and Budget Car Rentals

Sports ETA members receive car rental discounts at both Avis and Budget. Discounts vary based on the time of year with Avis, and members can enjoy savings of up to 25% with Budget.

International Association of Venue Managers

Staff will trade conference registrations. IAVM is interested in supporting the establishment of a Facilities in Sports subgroup. Cross market and engage each other’s membership with education content. Potential to license our LMS.

Groups360 (in progress)

A joint marketing partnership that will look to establish educational programming to hotel and lodging groups staff to better serve the sports events and tourism industry. This partnership may lead to additional STRI products. Groups360 to assist Sports ETA to build a “Lodging Village” presence at the 2023 Sports ETA Symposium.

MPI (in progress)

The partnership is focused on cross marketing memberships and educational content to both organizations. The 18,000 MPI membership has interest in products from our STLI.

Greater Cleveland Sports Commission

ADVERTISING, MARKETING, PROMOTION & SPONSORSHIP

2022 began a more segmented and targeted marketing and sponsorship direction. Rather than just focus on sending information to members to highlight upcoming events, we engaged in the early stages of targeted marketing to promote pillars as well as new association developments. It will help ignite a more consistent promotional and marketing effort that assists the growth of our programs as well as informs members more clearly on the benefits of the work we do.

Here are a few examples of some of our work:

• Brought advertising back in-house from an outside vendor resulting in added revenue for Sports ETA

• Added several new destination and vendor sponsors

• Created many new activations and engagement opportunities to bring value to sponsor activation

• Life in the Front Office Podcast Series: We partnered with Life in the Front Office to bring members a short podcast series on various industry topics. All seven episodes are available below:

EPISODE 1

The Madness of March Madness:

Ryan Vaughn, President, Indy Sports Corp, and Eric Neuburger, Stadium Director, Lucas Oil Stadium. Click here to listen.

EPISODE 2

Hosting An NFL Draft:

David Gilbert, President & CEO, Greater Cleveland Sports Commission and Aubrey Walton, Director, Event Location Strategy & Planning, NFL Events. Click here to listen.

EPISODE 3

Preparing for Tokyo:

Craig Cress, Executive Director, USA Softball, Kate Reisinger, Director of Sports Performance, USA Fencing, and Adam Andrasko, CEO, USA Artistic Swimming. Click here to listen.

EPISODE 4

FIFA World Cup Bid Process:

Jason Siegel, President & Chief Executive Officer, Greater Orlando Sports Commission, Terry Hasseltine, Executive Director, Maryland Sports, Monica Paul, Executive Director, Dallas Sports Commission, and Jackie Reau, Committee Member, 2026 Cincy Local Organizing Committee - FIFA World Cup 2026. Click here to listen.

EPISODE 5

Paralympics Team USA: Julie Dussliere, Chief of Paralympic Sport, United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee and Will Waller, CEO, National Wheelchair Basketball Association. Click here to listen.

EPISODE 6

The National Senior Games 2022 CEO, Marc Riker. Click here to listen.

EPISODE 7

The Future of HIgh School Sports Mark Koski, CMO, NFHS. Click here to listen.

MEMBERSHIP

MEMBERSHIP LISTING

129 Sports LLC / NCAA

2D Sports

360 Sports All American Bowl

3STEP Sports - Lacrosse

3v3 Live National Soccer Tour

5v5 Soccer

Abilene CVB

ADRENALIN Sport Event Research Portal

Adrenaline Sports Management Inc.

Air Race E

Alabama Bass Trail Tournament Series

Albuquerque Sports Commission, A division of Visit Albuquerque

Alexandria/Pineville Area CVB

Alliance Reservations Network

Alliance Sports Travel

Alpharetta CVB

Altitude Event Consulting LLC

Amateur Athletic Union of the United States

Amelia Island CVB

American Cornhole (ACO)

American Football Events USA AllStars

American FootGolf League

American Junior Golf Association Ames CVB

Andromeda Sports Consultants Ltd.

Ann Arbor Sports Commission

Arizona Sports and Entertainment Commission

Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism

Arlington Sports Commission

Ascension Parish Tourism Commission

ASF Foundation, Inc. - Home of the Alabama State Games

Asheville Buncombe Regional Sports Commission

ASM Global

Association of Chief Executives for Sports Athens CVB

Athletes Hospitality

ATL Airport District CVB

Atlanta Braves Atlanta CVB

Atlantic City Sports Commission

Atlantic Coast Sports

Auburn-Opelika Tourism

Augusta Sports Council

Aurora Area CVB

Austin Sports Commission

Babe Ruth League Inc

Baltimore County Office of Tourism & Promotion/TEAM Maryland

Barboursville CVB

Baseball Players Association

BEACH SOCCER WORLD WIDE S.L.

Beaufort Area Sports Council

Beaumont CVB

Beaver County Tourism

Bellingham Whatcom County Tourism

Big BAM

Big Dreams Flag Football

Bismarck-Mandan CVB

Bloomington-Normal Area Sports Commission Bloomington, Minnesota CVB

Boise CVB

Boone Area Sports Commission

Bowling Green Area CVB

Bradenton Area Sports

Brandon Parks and Recreation

Branson Chamber and CVB

Buffalo Niagara Sports Commission

Bullpen Tournaments

Burlington/Alamance County CVB/ Sports Council

Butler County Sports Commission

Butler County Visitors Bureau

BWH Hotel Group

Cabarrus County CVB

Caesars Entertainment

Calgary Sports & Major Events

Can-Am Police-Fire Games Federation

Cape Girardeau CVB

Caswell Sports

Cecil County Tourism, Recreation & Parks/ TEAM Maryland

Cedar Point Sports Center

Cedar Rapids Tourism Office

Cedar Valley Sports Commission

Central Florida’s Polk County Sports Marketing

Charleston Area Sports Commission

Chattanooga Sports Committee

Chester County Conference & Visitors Bureau

Chicago Southland CVB

Chicago Sports Commission

City of Brownwood

City of Bryan Parks & Recreation

City of Chesterfield Parks, Recreation & Arts Department

City of Fredericksburg, Economic Development and Tourism

City of Laredo CVB

City of Longview

City of Myrtle Beach

City of North Myrtle Beach

City of Portland, Texas

City of Rock Hill Parks, Recreation & Tourism

City of Santa Clarita

City of Surprise

Clancy’s Sports Properties, LLC

Clay County / Highlands County, FL Sports Commission

Clermont County Ohio CVB

Cobb Travel & Tourism/Cobb Sports Alliance

Colorado Springs CVB

Columbia County CVB

Columbia County Sports Commission

Columbia Sports Commission

Columbus, GA Sports Council

Combat Sports Concepts

Compete College Station

Compete-Valdosta-Lowndes

Connect Sports

Connecticut Convention & Sports Bureau

Conventions, Sports & Leisure International

Cool Events Inc.

Corpus Christi Sports Commission

Costal Mississippi

Council Bluffs Iowa CVB

Cowart Sports Events

Crappie Expo

Crawford County CVB

CrossFit Games (CrossFit, Inc.)

Crossroads Consulting Services LLC

Crystal Coast Tourism Authority

CSP SFM LLC

Dallas Sports Commission

Dalton, Georgia Sports Commission

David L Lawrence Convention Center

Dayton CVB

Daytona Beach Area CVB

Decatur Morgan County Tourism

DeKalb CVB

Delaware Sports

Denver Sports

Des Moines Area Sports Commission

Destin-Fort Walton Beach Florida

Destination Bryan

Destination DC

Destination Irvine

Destination Missoula

Destination Toledo CVB

Detroit Sports

Discover Albany

Discover Avondale

Discover Central Massachusetts

Discover Davis

Discover Gilbert

Discover Green Bay

Discover Greenwood SC

Discover Kalamazoo

Discover Lancaster

Discover Lehigh Valley Sports

Discover Long Island

Discover Puerto Rico

Discover St. Louis Park

DiscoverShelby

Drone Racing League

Drury Hotels

DS Sports Dublin CVB

DuPage Sports Commission

Durham Sports Commission

Earl Enterprises

Economic Development & Tourism, City of Danville, VA

Edwardsburg Sports Complex

El Paso Sports Commission

Elgin Area CVB

Elite Tournaments

Elizabethtown Sports Park

EnviroEvents, Inc.

EPIC Insurance Brokers & Consultants

(Sports & Entertainment Division)

Epson Tour

Erie Sports Commission

Eugene, Cascades & Coast Sports

EventConnect

EventPipe LLC.

Events DC

Experience Columbia SC Sports

Experience Fayetteville

Experience Florida’s Sports Coast

Experience Kissimmee

Experience Prince George’s County/ TEAM Maryland

Experience Rochester

Experience Scottsdale

Experience Sioux Falls

Explore Asheville CVB

Explore Elk Grove

Explore Sioux City

Fargo-Moorhead Athletic Commission

Fayetteville Area CVB

Finney County CVB

Firecracker Sports

Firefighter Challenge

Fishers of Men National Tournament Trail

Flag Football World Championship Tour

Flint and Genesee CVB

Florence Area Sports Council

Florida Space Coast Office of Tourism

Florida Sports Foundation

Foley Sports Tourism

Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce

Fort Smith CVB

Fort Worth Sports Commission

Fox Cities CVB

Frankfort - Franklin County Tourist and Convention Commission

FRESHJUNKIE Racing

Fresno/Clovis CVB

Gainesville Sports Commission

Galveston Island CVB

Game Day Communications

Gamechangers Consulting

Go Gaston

Golden Gloves of America

Graduate Hotels

Grand Park Sports Campus

Grand Slam Sports Tournaments

Grapevine, Texas CVB

Great Lakes Bay Regional CVB

Great Lakes Sports Commission

Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau

Greater Birmingham CVB

Greater Boston CVB

Greater Burlington CVB

Greater Cleveland Sports Commission

Greater Columbus Sports Commission

Greater Fort Lauderdale Sports Development

Greater Grand Forks CVB

Greater Grand Junction Sports Commission

Greater Johnstown/Cambria County CVB

Greater Kokomo Visitors Bureau

Greater Lansing Sports Authority

Greater Miami CVB

Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation

Greater Orlando Sports Commission

Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance

Greater Saint Charles CVB

Greater Springfield (MA) CVB

Greater Waco Sports Commission

Greater Zion Convention &Tourism Office

Greene County CVB

GreenFields USA

Greensboro Area CVB

Greenville County (SC) Parks, Recreation & Tourism

Group Housing Groups360

Gulf Shores | Orange Beach Sports & Events

Gwinnett Sports Commission

Halpern Travel

Hamilton County Sports Authority

Harris County - Houston Sports Authority

HBC Event Services

Henrico Sports and Entertainment Authority

Heritage Corridor CVB - City of Joliet

Hershey Harrisburg Sports & Events Authority

Hickory Metro CVB

High Point CVB

Highlands Sports Complex

Hilton Worldwide

Hoover Metropolitan Complex - SFM

Hopkinsville-Christian County CVB

Huddle Up Group Consulting

Hunden Strategic Partners, Inc.

Huntsville Sports Commission

Huntsville/Madison County CVB

IMG Academy

Indiana Destination Development Corporation

Indiana Sports Corp

InterContinental Hotels Group

International Senior Softball Association

International Slow Pitch Softball

IRONMAN Group

Irving CVB

Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas Jackson CVB

Jacksonville-Onslow Sports Commission

Janesville Area CVB

JBJ Events

Jefferson City CVB Jefferson CVB

Jems Hospitality

Johnson City CVB

Johnson Consulting, Inc.

Joplin Sports Authority

Junior Sports Association Inc.

Kankakee County CVB

Kansas City Sports Commission

Kansas City, KS CVB

Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference

Kayak Bass Fishing

KBC Hoops

Kearney Visitors Bureau

Kenosha Area CVB

Kentucky Exposition Center/ International Convention Center

Kentucky Lake CVB

Killer ‘B’ Promotions

King Kat Tournaments

La Crosse County CVB

Lackawanna County Visitors Bureau

Lafayette Convention & Visitors Commission

LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce, Inc.

Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana CVB

Lake County, IL CVB

Lake Erie Shores & Islands CVB

Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce & CVB

Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority

Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority

Lee County Sports Development

Legacy Sports Group

Legends Event Center

Lewisville CVB

Lincoln CVB

Little Rock CVB

London-Laurel County Tourist Commission

Loudoun Sports Tourism

Louisiana Northshore CVB

Louisiana Office of Tourism

Louisiana’s River Parishes Tourist Commission

Louisville Sports Commission

Louisville Tourism

Lubbock Sports

Luzerne County CVB

Lynchburg Office of Economic Development and Tourism

Lynn Lewis Foundation - (Women’s Flag Football) -United States Touch & Flag Made Hoops

Madison Area Sports Commission

Main Attraction Recreational Sports LLC

Maine Sports Commission

Major League Fishing

Major League Quidditch

Manhattan CVB

Manitowoc Area CVB

Marshall County Tourism and Sports

Martinsville-Henry County Tourism Division Maryland SoccerPlex

Maryland Sports / TEAM Maryland

MASC/National Sports Center

McCracken County Sports Tourism Commission

McKendree MetroRecPlex

Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation (Charlotte, NC)

Meet Chicago Northwest Convention Bureau

Memphis CVB

MGM Resorts International

Miami County CVB

Miami OK CVB

Mid-Atlantic Amateur Sport Alliance (MAASA)

MIDFLORIDA Event Center

Minneapolis Northwest CVB

MMA Creative / World Food Championships

Mobile Sports Authority

Monroe-West Monroe CVB

Montgomery Chamber CVB

Mooresville CVB

Mount Pleasant Sports & Entertainment Commission

MYHockey Tournaments

Myrtle Beach Area CVB

Naples, Marco Island, Everglades CVB

Nash County Travel and Tourism

Nathan Benderson Park

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics

National Baseball Congress National Beep Baseball Assn.

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)

National Collegiate Boxing Association National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association

National Collegiate Rugby National Collegiate Table Tennis Association National Congress of State Games

National Horseshoe Pitchers Association National Junior College Athletic Association National Senior Games Association National Softball Association

New Orleans & Company NewGen Business Solutions, Inc.

NIRSA

Norman CVB

North Carolina Amateur Sports North Little Rock CVB North Myrtle Beach Chamber/CVB North Platte/Lincoln County Visitors Bureau NTM

Oak Creek Sports Commission

Ocala/Marion County Visitors and Convention Bureau

Ocean Center

Ocean City Department of Tourism/ TEAM Maryland Odessa CVB

Oklahoma City CVB

Olympia & Beyond Sports Commission Omaha CVB

Omaha Sports Commission

Oneida County Tourism OneSpartanburg, Inc Orange County Sports Commission

Orlando North Seminole County Sports Palm Beach County Sports Commission Palm Coast and the Flagler Beaches Panama City Beach CVB, Inc. Pearland CVB

Pellucid Travel

Pensacola Sports

Peoria Area Convention and Visitor Bureau

Perfect Game USA

PHL Sports Congress

Pine Bluff Convention Center

Pinnacle Tourism Strategies

Pinnacle Tourism Strategies

Placer Valley Tourism

Play Greenville NC

Play Tennessee

Playeasy

Pop Warner Little Scholars

Premier Ice Prospects

Premier Soccer Services

Prep Baseball Report

Primetime Events

Pro Am Beach Soccer

Professional Disc Golf Association

Prospects by Sports Illustrated

Publix Sports Park

Punta Gorda/Englewood Beach CVB

Pure Michigan

Pylon 7on7 Football

Quad Cities Sports Commission / Quad Cities CVB

Raconteurs

RDU Sports

Real Racine

Red Roof

Redding Tourism Marketing Group

Reno Tahoe USA

Rentyl Resorts

Rhode Island Sports Commission

Richmond Region Tourism

Ridgeland Tourism Commission

Ripken Baseball

Rising Star Sports Ranch Resort

Riverside Sports Commission

Rochester NY Sports Commission

Rock Hill/York County CVB

Rockford Area CVB

Rocky Mount Event Center

Rocky Top Sports World

Rome Sports/Georgia’s Rome Office of Tourism

Round Rock CVB

Royal Ringball

Ruston Sports Complex

Ruston-Lincoln CVB

Rutherford County CVB

Sacramento Sports Commission

SALEM, Virginia’s Championship City

Salty Sports Society

San Antonio Sports

San Jose Sports Authority

Sand Mountain Park & Amphitheater

Sarpy County Tourism (Metro Omaha)

Saskatoon Sports Tourism

Savannah Sports Council

Scripps National Spelling Bee, Inc.

SearchWide

Seattle Southside Regional Tourism Authority

Seattle Sports Commission

Sedalia CVB

Select Events Basketball

Sevierville CVB

Shreveport-Bossier Sports Commission

Simpleview

Sioux Falls Sports Authority

Snohomish County Sports Commission

Soccer By Design Soccer United Marketing/Major League Soccer

Society for American Baseball Research

SoIN Tourism

Sonburst Communication, Inc

Sonesta International

South Padre Island CVB

South Shore Sports

South Sioux City CVB Spartan Race Spikeball Inc.

SPIRE Institute and Academy Spokane Sports Sport Oregon Sport York

Sport-Travel

Sports Alliance of Greater Akron Sports Destination Management Sports Events & Tourism Association

Sports Force Parks

Sports Hampton Sports Illinois Sports Infrastructure Partners Sports Milwaukee, Championed by VISIT Milwaukee

Sports Minneapolis, Powered by Meet Minneapolis

Sports Nebraska

Sports Planning Guide / Premier Travel Media Sports San Diego Sports Strategies SportsBR

SportsEvents Media Group SportsPITTSBURGH

Sportsplex - Gulfport, MS SportsTravel Magazine

SPORTyler - Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce

Spotz

Springfield (MO) Sports Commission

Springfield, IL CVB

St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra CVB

St. Charles Business Alliance

St. Cloud Area CVB

St. Joseph, Missouri CVB

St. Louis Sports Commission

St. Pete Clearwater Sports & Events

Stafford County

State Basketball Championship

Stay, Play, Made Simple LLC

STAYKER

Stevens Point Area CVB

Stevens Point Area CVB

STR, Inc.

Successful Sporting Events

Sunshine State Games

Superstar Sports Performance Syracuse CVB T°CoolPT, LLC

Talbot County Office of Tourism/ TEAM Maryland

Tampa Bay Sports Commission Tangipahoa Parish CVB

TBK Bank Sports Complex Team Indiana Team San Jose TEAM Solutions Team Travel Source TeamSnap

Tempe Tourism Office Texas A&M Athletics-Special Events Texas Cornhole League

The Bridge Sports Complex

The Collective Best

The Express Conferences

The Greater Columbus Convention Center/ ASM Global

The Happy Valley Adventure Bureau

The Mountain View Event Center

The Sports Facilities Companies

THE Spring Games, LLC

The Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Tournaments

Think Iowa City

Threshold 360

Town of Estes Park, Estes Park Events Complex Travel Desk Inc

Travel Medford Travel Portland Travel Salem

Travel Tacoma - Mt. Rainier; Tourism and Sports

Traveling Teams

Traverse City Tourism

Treasure Coast Sports Commission

Triangle Sports Commission

Tribu Experientiel

Triple Crown Sports

Tulsa Sports Commission

Tupelo CVB

Tuscaloosa Tourism and Sports Twin Cities Gateway

U.S. Futsal

U.S. Quidditch, Inc.

United Flag Football League

United Soccer Leagues

United States Australian Football League

United States Bowling Congress

United States Collegiate Athletic Association

United States Specialty Sports Association

United States Tennis Association

United States Tennis Association Pacific Northwest

US CHEER Productions US Speedskating

US Sports Club Insurance

US Sports Congress, LLC

US Youth Soccer USA Archery USA Artistic Swimming USA Badminton

USA Baseball USA BMX USA Boxing, Inc. USA Curling

USA Cycling USA Diving USA Dodgeball USA Fencing

USA Field Hockey USA Football USA Gymnastics

USA Hockey, Inc.

USA Judo USA Lacrosse USA Masters Games USA Racquetball USA Softball USA Taekwondo USA Triathlon USA Ultimate USA Volleyball

USA Water Polo

USA Weightlifting

Valley Forge Sports

Victoria Parks & Recreation

Victus Advisors

Virginia Amateur Sports

Virginia Beach CVB

Virginia Tourism Corporation/Sports Virginia

Visit Annapolis & Anne Arundel County/ TEAM Maryland

Visit Bakersfield

Visit Baltimore/TEAM Maryland Visit Baton Rouge Visit Beloit Visit Bentonville Visit Billings Visit Binghamton

Visit Bloomington - Hoosier Sports Corporation Visit Canton

Visit Casper

Visit Champaign County Visit Charlotte Visit Cincy Visit Clarksville Visit Corpus Christi Visit Corvallis Visit Dothan Visit Duluth

Visit Eau Claire

Visit El Paso

Visit Enid Visit Evansville Visit Fairfax

Visit Fort Wayne

Visit Franklin, TN - Nashville South Visit Frisco

Visit Garland

Visit Goldsboro

Visit Greater Lima

Visit Greenville SC

Visit Hagerstown/TEAM Maryland

Visit Harford/TEAM Maryland

Visit Howard County/TEAM Maryland

Visit Hutch Visit Indy Visit Jacksonville Visit KC Visit Kingsport

Visit Knoxville Sports Commission Visit Lafayette-West Lafayette Visit Lake Visit Lake Norman Visit Las Cruces

Visit Macon Visit Madisonville Visit Mankato Visit Mansfield

Visit Mesa Visit Mississippi Visit Mobile Visit NC Smokies

Visit Norfolk

Visit North Carolina/Sports NC Visit Oconee SC

Visit Ogden

Visit Oxford Mississippi

Visit Plano

Visit Prince William

Visit Rapid City

Visit Rogers

Visit Saint Paul

Visit Salina-Salina Area Chamber of Commerce Visit Salt Lake

Visit Santa Rosa

Visit Sarasota County

Visit Shawnee

Visit ShelbyKy

Visit South Bend Mishawaka

Visit Stockton Visit Tallahassee Sports Visit Topeka Inc

Visit TRI-CITIES, WA Visit Tri-Valley Visit Tucson Sports Visit Vallejo

Visit Vancouver Washington! Visit Vicksburg

Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge Visit Wichita

Visit Williamsburg

Visit Winston-Salem

Visit Worcester County Maryland (Maryland’s Coast)/TEAM Maryland

VisitHattiesburg

VisitLEX

VM Sports

Warren County CVB

Watertown CVB

West Michigan Sports Commission

West Monroe Sports and Events

Wicomico County Recreation, Parks & Tourism/ TEAM Maryland

Wilmington And Beaches CVB

Wisconsin Dells CVB

Wisconsin Rapids Area CVB

World Breaking Classic

World Table Hockey Association, Inc.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc.

Yakima Valley Sports Commission

Youth Basketball of America

GENERAL OVERVIEW OF FISCAL YEAR ‘22

Financially and operationally, 2022 proved to be the most important year in the history of the association. Sports ETA was coming off two years of COVID operating restrictions with no revenue being derived from in-person events. Those two years built a negative equity of over $250,000 that we needed to significantly reduce as well as show we had the right plan to fully recover in 2023.

How we would perform in 2022 was going to be the bellwether for the future of the association.

The team and membership responded very well in support of our work and first live events. So much so that what could have been a two-year recovery process after our two year COVID loss, ended up being solved in one season of work. It was tough on staff to produce 8 live events during FY22 but the net result was well worth it. Not only did we eliminate previous debt, we ended the year making over $343,000 while turning the Statement of Financial Position (not-for-profit lingo for Balance Sheet) to a positive $65,000.

A solid 2022 gave us the resources to further invest in a number of important operational items in 2023. They include new and improved content for events, additional new education courses for our online catalog, additional investment in research and data collection, efficiency and content enhancements to our website, major improvements to the accounting and financial systems eliminating data entry redundancies, and integration of all reporting systems

into a cohesive full-service financial management capability. A major emphasis for FY22 was to continue to invest time and capital implementing improved member experience at our events.

Our attendance for all events in FY22 were below averages from 2018 and 2019, but were enough to support the previously mentioned growth. The good news of the attendance is that it gives us room to improve registrations to future events.

Membership renewals were strong with the advent of our new dues structure.

It is our goal to further support member communities to grow in size and engagement and that we look to invest in specific programming that is important to those communities. As 2023 unfolds and we hit our financial landmarks, we will review community programming with the community chairs in the second half of 2023.

Actual 99,729.00 2,468,728.95

Financial

to slowly grow

and

and

the first time in the associations history

have a complete set of management reports

P/L YTD and against budget and against previous year, cash flow analysis, accounts

and aging report, membership accrual restructuring

209,590.71 24,814.65 2,275.22 53,909.00 395.00 505,930.68 58.79 19,173.49 0.00 1,664.20 0.00

3,386,269.69

3,386,269.69 1,453,511.17 33,048.52 39,947.25 322,384.59 94,424.83 34,575.95 78,078.09 124.19 632.36 645,251.32 115.40 98,253.63 11,700.00 416.29 48,500.00 4,817.57 56,723.58 0.00 115,437.51 2,203.47

3,040,145.72

346,123.97 8,960.17 $ 8,960.17 8,327.99 $ 8,327.99

632.18

346,756.15

IMPORTANT OPERATIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Highlights

• Conducted thorough website review and recommendations to revamp customer experience and improve navigation (in progress)

• Put significant time and resources against accounting practices and efficiencies for a better user experience and elimination of redundant steps in our accounting work

• Began the process to award host destinations for 2023 and 2024 CE Summit, and 2024 and 2025 4S Summit via RFP and competitive bid process

• Partnered with ConferenceDirect as our hotel contracting agency of record, which has resulted in risk mitigation for hotel contract terms, lower room rates, and increased concessions for each of our events

• Erin Slattery, Website Architect, performed a full information architecture review of SportsETA.org and provided thorough notes, recommendations, and considerations for creating a site that allows for a better user experience.