Sporting events are laborious, time-intensive occasions that attract high numbers of people who expect to have fun spectating at—or participating in—these events on either a one-time or ongoing basis. These events tend to attract a public notoriety and, as such, must be handled with the utmost of care, knowledge, and experience. In most instances, leaving the day-to-day and critical tasks associated with a sporting event up to a logistics expert not only makes economic sense, but it also allows the event’s owners to focus on more important, core tasks.
Whether it’s a professional baseball game, a sailing regatta, or the Olympic Games, every sporting event requires the right balance of planning, management, execution, tracking, storage, transportation, installation, and recovery/breakdown or all equipment and materials. There are myriad suppliers to orchestrate, athletic activities to manage, spectator venues to set up and break down, food and beverage products to procure…the list goes on. These tasks start months (or even years) before the event takes place, extend right up to and including the event itself, and then last long after the last spectator has gone home.
Six Reasons to Outsource
A professional sporting event is not just about selling a game to fans; it’s about delivering an experience that those fans—and anyone else who is involved—won’t soon forget. Making this happen is getting more and more difficult. There are many moving parts behind the scenes and a lot of different bases to cover in order to ensure that everyone attending the event enjoys the experience. Here are six reasons why a reputable, experienced third-party logistics provider can make a difference at your next event.
- Leverage one-stop-shop logistics services across all projects and tasks. When developing and implementing logistics concepts, logistics providers not only provide the required land, air, and ocean transport services, but they also coordinate worldwide transport, warehouse, and venue logistics. No more leasing costly warehouse space to “stage” the equipment needed for that upcoming event, and no more using multiple carriers and/or freight forwarders to handle land, air, and ocean transport. By outsourcing these and other services to your provider, you’ll be able to focus on what you do best: promoting and running a fantastic event.
- Think out of the box with flexible venue options. When you outsource event logistics, you can hold your event at any conceivable venue—from a show truck to a circus tent, from a trade fair hall to a container village. Because you don’t have to take ownership of a physical facility—or, the warehousing and distribution centers needed to support the event—the sheer variety of event concepts can be easily matched to the logistics requirements associated with them.
- Take advantage of extensive promotional and marketing services. In addition to the standard transport services, your third-party provider can also take charge of managing advertising materials and making forklifts, cranes, or transport staff available. Other offerings in its service portfolio should include supplying crowd barriers and containers of all descriptions and guaranteeing additional supplies during events.
- Resolve to stay within budget. Charged with managing the end-to-end sports management supply chain, your logistics partner can respond quickly to problems and needs, and keep the process flowing smoothly. This, in turn, helps you maintain accuracy and budgetary control, avoid unexpected “surprises,” and maintain flexibility in a logistics-centric business like sporting event management. For best results, look for a provider that has broad and diverse technical resources that cover different areas of expertise (sport, education, travel, transportation, etc.). A good partner will ensure that your money gets the best return, plan and execute the event to suit your needs, and even suggest better/alternate service providers for your event’s specific needs.
- Save precious time and resources. Outsourcing your sporting event management to a competent logistics provider will free up resources to focus on what’s most important. And even if you have resources available, another firm within the supply chain may be able to handle the job more competently—namely due to its supply chain expertise, past experience, and/or economies of scale.
- Share the responsibility of successful event planning. A lot goes into planning, orchestrating, and cleaning up after a major sports event. Why shoulder all of this burden yourself when you could offload some or all of it is to a competent logistics provider? These providers will share the responsibility for event preparation, game-day activities, warehousing and distribution, and post-event breakdown and cleanup—all at a price that fits your budget. A logistics provider will likely have past experience managing various types of event—not just sports. As a result, these firms have acquired skills, knowledge bases, and expertise that your own company may be lacking.
How to Knock Your Next Event Out of the Park
Professional and amateur sporting events have long ceased to be just about the sport itself. Not only are major sporting events planned years beforehand, the programs of events that accompany them are as well. Working with a logistics expert that specializes in major sporting events, and that develops logistics concepts for organizers, hospitality programs, sponsors, suppliers, and media well in advance, you’ll be able to knock your next event right out of the park and keep your athletes and spectators coming back for more.
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