Brand USA Talks Travel: Episode 141 – The Impact of International Sports Tourism to the USA
Giving you exclusive access to the minds of Industry leaders in the special edition of brand USA talks travel recorded live in London brand USA travel week UK and Europe brings together key players in the US UK and European travel industry to discuss Trends challenges Innovations and the opportunity to drive
Future visitation to the United States here’s your host Mark leus destinations across the United States maximize opportunities presented by the rise of sports tourism over the next decade from Mega events like the 2026 FIFA World Cup to the changing demographics to sports fans it all helps
Brand USA has partnered with the NFL in the UK and in Europe to Leverage The Power of the game to drive travel to America according to tourism economics the total impact of the sports tourism sector in the United States is nearly 92 billion dollar in this panel discussion
From travel week you’ll learn how destinations Across America can Max maximize Sports tourism opportunities our panelists include Rena suina partner at level managing director of gen Sport and tedex speaker tourism economics Dave gouger who is the managing director for Europe and Middle East for tourism economics and Ben Martin CEO at
Pitchside sport and entertainment the next voice you’ll hear is our moderator for today’s session recorded live at Travel week Phil Marshall director of production at Sky Sports thank you very much um so much to unpack in a session that I hope appear to many um least of
All myself uh travel to the USA and sports it always feels good to be asked to moderate a winning combination perhaps a good place to start in understanding where the opportunities are to grow visitation associated with sports tourism from Europe is to understand the difference in Attitude to
Sports as an American versus a UK or european Ben can you tell us more about the mindset and fundamental differences with sports fans across the Atlantic I think the reality ity is is that that our sports fans wherever they are they they share that that passion and emotional engagement with whatever it is
They’re following but there there are there are subtle ways that non-americans experience their sport I spent several years um as part of the launch Team for nycfc in the MLS and what we learned and there is that sport was very much a form of entertainment so what what you want
Is that whole experiential side so it’s not just about the moment itself but it’s actually what you’re doing leading up to and what you’re going to do afterwards and I think from a European perspective from a British perspective we look at that with a little bit of
Jealousy we we want that fandom to ex you know to to expand beyond what it was I was lucky enough to work for for Manchester City for for many years and we had seven different types of fan and the whole objective of that was to identify what would move one fan from
Here to here to here and I think very much what we understood was those fans as as en containment there’s always going to be that sort of nucleus of Hardcore fans but when you get to a point where you’re appealing to not just that relatively small sort of nucleus of
Fans but you’ve you’ve got a much broader um cross-section then I think you sort of break out of that hardcore fandom I think also there’s a difference in relationships with the teams and with the federations like if you think about for me if I look at um the NFL right
Commissioner goodle is a household name across the US you don’t necessarily have the same relationship in in Europe with our commissioners or with our with our leaders and that creates a different kind of experience many of the teams that we have in the UK particularly they they’re social clubs they’re social
Endeavors they were working Men’s Clubs back in the day and they’ve expanded to be much more different whereas the US model is very much franchise Le so there’s much more tribalism with college sports in the US than there is perhaps with with that franchise model and we
Look at that with jealousy because I think you know in we talked about switching on ESPN and watching the buildup to college football which starts four five six hours before the game and it’s just in a car park but it’s compelling and you know we have a different experience and a different
Relationship with our sports but I but I think it’s one that we as non-american consumers desperately want to engage with and replicate not to replace not to substitute one for the other but to have some of that Festival experience talking that Festival experience very topically we’ve had the NFL over here in London
For the last few weeks I’m sure some of you may have been there at the weekend it’s obviously over in um Frankfurt Germany as well throughout the Autumn um alongside Mexico these are the three largest markets for NFL internationally um Rowena what benefits do you think um
Exporting us domestic Sports such as the NFL has there’s an obvious one which is obviously catering and appealing to the expats fan um large large proportion of Americans living in Europe and and these countries who who don’t get the opportunity to necessarily fly over for events the whole time so um there’s that
But then there’s also part around rewarding loyalty for for other fans who just who follow these Sports um despite being sort of one steep removed so it’s actually saying okay we’re going to bring the events to you so that you can experience them but I think the real um
Opportunity from from bringing these Sports and these events to non-tradition markets is around capitalizing on the different fans and here in the UK and and a lot of Europe especially Germany we we are what’s called major eventers we we will all turn up to a to a major
Sporting event because we love the atmosphere around it not necessarily because we support that sport um but you know we love going to Olympic stadium and just just buying a ticket and being part of that atmosphere so um there’s a way of capitalizing on that type of fan
And hopefully translating them into to a fan of the sport over time that won’t happen immediately but I think if you can engage them if you can bring them in if you can do some of these things that Ben was talking about that that understand that there’s a difference in
The way that sport is delivered in the US compared to the way we deliver it and consume it here um there’s a real opportunity to engage New fans and and then ultimately bring them over with you as well and and talking that who is the audience Ben watching American Sports
Over here in Europe do these games both at the event an on telly um do they Inspire fans to want to go and catch a game live at a US Stadium I think I think there’s um at the moment you still got a differential between the fans that
That want to engage for curiosity sake and then as a motivator for travel I think it’s probably still a step removed I think what what makes that Journey for the consumer complete is everything that goes with it I remember my my first experience of watching the Knicks play
At the Garden they went 26 points down to the buck and I was like okay this is uh this is kind of a thing but actually everything was going on around before and after still made that experience for me something that was a rewarding motivation for doing that thing I think
As a as a Gateway you know it opens the shop window it gives those those consumers those fans the purpose the reason to do something but I think there’s still that youve got to fill the story around it before you sort of transition that awareness to
Preferencing to to a call to action when I worked in the MLS Don Garber the commissioner at the time he always used to talk about EA Sports being now FC 24 that always used to be the gateway to soccer in the US so there were more people playing that game than there were
Watching MLS but I think what’s happened now over the in the intervening six seven years is that soccer was always there right it just it wasn’t mainstream and now it’s mainstream and now it’s a reason to do something and now it’s that the broadcast rights have helped to to
Foster and recreate and and reinforce that relationship with the fan and that creates the travel that way right people will come to anfield people will go to Old Trafford and they will create a whole itinerary around that what’s not happening yet is the reverse and I think using those moments and particularly
What we saw yesterday capturing the attention of individual fans in their communities in the language that they respond to they’ll build that experience around the moment but let’s flip it and head head State side now head it head over the pond the US already plays host of some major sporting events on the
Annual calendar from Super Bowl to three golfing Majors uh this year the premier league summer series that some of you will have seen and and three Formula 1 races so uh Miami was back in May uh Austin’s this weekend um and Vegas is is next month having worked at the Austin a
Few times the city just lights up fans flock to the streets the barbecues the Longhorns my experience shows this type of fandom is true of any major US sporting event Dave let’s let’s bring you in now can you share some insights around the current value of sports
Tourism in the US and perhaps draw any case studies sort of highlighting significant economic benefits yeah sure well I I think we’ve already heard one of our key starts so that the 94 billion dollar impact of uh Sports across the the US um you know have to throw in a
Few caveats on that one that is a study that we carried out with sports ETA and that is primarily looking at the amateur and participation Sports so that that’s something that is you know just shows the breadth of importance of sports that that is something that their events that
Are hosted in pretty much every city every destination across the US these partition participation events and they attract you know millions of people billions of um spending directly to those cities it’s something that’s you know of huge benefit to those cities that accounts for somewhere between 5
And 10% of all of their travel revenue and there are though overlaps between that and what you see in terms of then the more major events that we’ve been sort of talking about today um you know it is still that’s a centerpiece of a trip but it’s not just the sole purpose
Of that trip you know people come they’ll take part in their event they’ll go and spectate at the event but they build a whole trip around it you know they’re there for several days what they spend at the the stadium at that particular event is less than 10% of
Their overall spending we work with destinations International we’ve produced the event impact calculator that’s a tool that we provided to a lot of different destinations we know it’s something that’s you know a key part of the messaging you know Richmond is a one of the great examples of how they’ve
Used this to then talk to all their key stakeholders show the benefits that come when you get events in town yeah it’s the people but it’s a spending it’s what happen in terms of hotel rates helps them work with the hotels on that you know Green Bay is the other standout
Example that we’ve had that they you know brings huge amounts of people to the city the NFL there um but they were mapping things through uh throughout the pandemic seeing you know the limited numbers of people that they could have in the stadium still bringing some significant economic benefits and that
That’s one other key point that we have seen about travel you know sports related travel is how quickly it rebounded from the pandemic it rebounded a lot more yeah that 92 billion that is the 2021 figure that is rebounding and that’s pretty much back to where we were
In 2019 it came back incredibly quickly people want to travel people want to travel for sports people want to participate people have been missing it right 100% yes hosting Mega events I’m sure you a lot more things that we can uh we can talk about on that but yeah it
It definitely brings a lot of people to events it builds that buzz you know it helps to sell your destination brings people in helps to develop uh infrastructure you can do a lot of things about sort of developing smart infrastructure building Ben stadiums building infrastructure that works for
People on their day-to-day life talking of building infrastructure here’s one sport that is so we there’s so much opportunity on the horizon over the next decade with the Cricket World Cup next year so that’s Miami Dallas New York uh the upcoming FIFA World Cup 26 La 28
Olympics um and two Rugby World Cups at the start of the next decade um these events attract enormous Global viewing audiences as well as Phil stadiums but they also provide great opportunities um to provide significant economic benefits there’s so much to EXP explore Ben what opportunities do you see by importing
These kind of new the newer sporting events to America such as the cricket next year and the rugby I mean this is this is a new audience right these are new communities of people who have a huge passion for their their Sport and they get to experience the US version of
It because again people will they’ll follow the reason to do this is the sport right but actually the experience around around it is why they’re motivated to come to the US to experience it from a cricket perspective right we have the World Cup going on at
The moment in India and it’s kind of an expected experience right you know what you’re going to get what’s really interesting right now is the way that people will engage with the US’s version of a cricket a Cricut festival and I think all of these communities all of these audiences represent new individual
Who will come to EXP experience that what’s most important and and the timing of all of this right now is that you have you know people planning that travel right and and the opportunity to influence that exists now whether it’s Cricket next year whether it’s the
Soccer in in 26 what what you have is the formulation of WhatsApp groups right so people are doing that now they don’t know where they’re going to spend the money but they’re deciding whether they save two or three or £5,000 and that’s the opportunity to to sort of go and not
Force yourself into the conversation but participate as a as a community member and I think that tone of voice is really important there’s there’s lots of examples of that being you know on the on a as a negative perception but I think that those communities are really
Keen to be engaged and they’re really Keen to come and have that experience the three cities sorry for for the cricket there a huge opportunity but what about you know over the Hudson River or or what about just down the road somewhere else so you’ve got the opportunity to you’ve got them they’re
Going to come how do you engage and influence that experiential decisionmaking process as well as right now my friends are deciding how much to save to come to watch the the football so you don’t want to create the environment where you’re telling them you just want to give the opportunity in
A language that they value and in a way that they sort of there’s there’s a connected empathy and that’s what will make the experience and create that repeat visit we know each event attracts also and you look at certain Sports as well as certain audience what are the various
Levers in order to connect with those different groups of fans a statement on this I guess I spent 20 years working with International federations and one of the things that frustrated me the most was how UNG Global we were in our mindsets you know All Sport sports are
Very focused on their core groups and and you know whether it’s cricket being the South Asian demographic or rugby being the Commonwealth it’s brilliant that these events are now going to places like the US you know you’re an important Market it’s really important for these Sports to engage with you on
The flip side I think for the US it’s really important to understand these traditional fans that you that that you’re talking to to Ben’s Point yes it’s really about putting your spin on it you know what does the US do well in sport It’s Entertainment creating that spectacle but equally not marginalizing
The fans that who who you want to engage with you want to bring over as well as those groups um um within the country as well so it’s around getting that balance really right um and then also I think the sort of the Legacy you know you’re
Not just bringing the event here just because you want to showcase the country and um and put your name on the map you actually have a genuine passion to Growing the sport you’re not just going to go back to NFL NBA like there is a genuine passion to grow rugby cricket
And to help to support those fans that Ben is saying who’ve been there all along um but who’ve always had travel with that in mind how integral is the bidding process so the bidding process have changed now massively that um in the past we’d have just had hundreds of
Not hundreds but tens tens of Nations bidding and I think there’s a lot more of a portion around that but equally um as part of these bidding processes there’s a lot more requirements that are things like human rights policy sustainability but also the Legacy piece you know when when these federations are
Entrusting their event to a nation they want to know that this is going to grow Their audience grow their participation but equally um grow their commercial opportunities as well so when you as a a country were bidding for these events that would have all been built into it
So I think it’s really important not to lose sight of that because we do see Olympic stadiums as white elephants that are never used or Sports really having to justify Nations having to justify how the sport is going to develop within that Nation it doesn’t matter if you’ve
Got no history in that it’s what you’re looking to to the Future and I think demonstrating that is is really important just on on on that I think to what ruena was saying around the Legacy there’s an there’s an infrastructure Legacy that this next decade I think is
Presents an opportunity to create a consumer Legacy because it’s about this you’re going to give an audience that exists within the US and a traveling audience that’s going to come and experience it there you’re going to create that connection with them so from a from a community or a consumer Legacy
Point of View you it’s like um you know when if you sort of work in business development it’s harder to win a client to to than to keep a client right you’ve won the client but how are you going to refresh and engage with that consumer base who’s open they are desperately
Wanting to come to America to experience this in a way that they don’t in their home communities and bring it to this come to the market and go wow yeah I’m going back because I love Barbecue in Austin or or I you know I love walking in Boulder or whatever you’ve won the
Client so keeping the client just requires that Legacy of creativity and engagement that you don’t just it’s a mega event brilliant pat on the back move on that there is a there’s a consumer there that wants to be engaged and they will love the way that America does community sport or their Community
Sport and just on bringing Sports to countries I mean we were talking earlier about comparisons Rugby World Cup went to Japan in 2019 so exactly four years ago and from a visitor point of view it was hugely successful from a sort of economic impact Dave yeah AB absolutely
I think that’s you know one of the you know the great success stories that you’ve just mentioned there you know there’s uh when you look at you know a lot of these sort of Mega events you you quite often see that you know you look
At the data in terms of the arrives and you say Well when was this event when did this happen I don’t see the because people sort of stay away it’s getting that message out there that you know you’re open for business you have that capacity if you plan for it
Properly then yeah you get get the people yeah you quite often one of the benefits of sports is that yeah you can generate that excess demand which means you can charge High rates and hotels absolutely love it you see the spikes in the hotel rates even if you don’t see it
Visitation you know Japan was one that got it right you know they had that capacity they were able to serve a lot of normal business but they’re also able to bring a lot of people you know to the destination you know where we’re looking
At um you know us for FIFA yeah this is spread across um yeah lot of different cities us is a big place most obvious comment of the day right there but yeah it is able to accommodate a lot of people you know who can come in have a
Great time you know really benefit have those economic benefits in those host cities and Beyond I think you’ve seg away Prett nicely to FIFA 26 um perhaps a place to start around this the role that FIFA plays and where as a destination do you engage to connect with and reach the fans
Fans have a complicated relationship with FIFA you know FIFA is the governing body of the world’s most popular sport right but there’s not a lot of love so there’s has to be a balance right there has to be FIFA is the reason to come FIFA is the reason to come to to America
To experience the World Cup but it’s not the motivation for doing so so I think what’s important is that the layering yeah making sure that you’re collectively utilizing the rights and assets that you have through that you know that you won through the bidding process that’s incredibly important but
As you saw yesterday with one half of the men Blazers that’s not what engages you right so you need different channels different communities different Pathways to connect with those fans in order to influence their reasons to come like FIFA is an amazing experience the World
Cup is second to none but the fans want to engage with something that feels a little bit more real I mean FIFA’s you know I’m lucky of I’ve worked in soccer all my life but the reality is that the passion the the touch point the engagement that’s with the the team or
With the talent which I know we’ll talk about later but that’s your connection point and making sure that you’re communicating with those fan bases in a language and with a channel for one of the better description that they respond to CU it’s really easy to buy a big
Advert in the the evening standard or whatever but you go to where the fans are where the fans are naturally placed like Sky Sports in the UK um but you go through those those you meet them in in their rooms that’s when you get that sort of that shift in motivation I mean
It is an amazing thing that FIFA creates but it it’s the reason to do something it’s not the motivation to go and do it and talking of that so Arena you’ve worked very closely across the last two tournaments I think um are the key learnings from FIFA 22 more recently the
FIFA Women’s World Cup down in Australia and New Zealand that that you can share so I think the big one um is and to build on to build on Ben’s point is is The Fan Experience so if we look at um qar in particular there was a lot of
Negative press around the event itself going there in the lead up to it when when they announced there was going to be no alcohol I think the communication of that was was poor so you know it wasn’t it wasn’t the actual fact of it it was just that it was suddenly
Everyone was outraged and actually in practice it it really wasn’t an issue and they they dealt with it really well but what they did really well was they made the whole process really simple literally from arrival to traveling to events and getting in and out of
Stadiums isn’t easy you in the US know how to get in and out of stadiums because you have a lot of people in your stadiums contrast that with the Rugby World Cup that’s going on in France at the moment and you know it’s been a disaster um in Marseilles in particular
But but a number of un Stadium getting the fans in and out and and that’s the memory that people take away their memory is uh how easy was it what was my experience um I’m not a fan of Marseilles because it was a disaster for
Me and it was really hard work and I just wanted to get out of there so that whole journey um I think I think is important for players as well but that sort of Journey from from start to finish um is really important because it creates that that U memory another thing
I think is um something you’ll be thinking about now is as you sort of gear up to these events is who you partner partner with it’s really important going back to the point I made before about being authentic and making sure that people believe that you are passionate about looking after their
Sport for those weeks that it’s going to be in your country big thing around the Women’s World Cup was that they um announced visit Saudi as a as a partner it was then drawn back because of the because of the backlash but again it wasn’t a fact of it because actually
What we don’t know is and we don’t hear about is the work that Saudi is doing for women’s football within their Nation but it was just understanding the fan and what that signified to to a largely female demographic so understand those those people and and then just to touch
On the women’s thing I think because there is a women’s workup as well but equally the shape of the fan is changing don’t forget that women are the major Spenders in the household they’re the ones who plan their holidays so when we’re talking about people traveling for these events from countries that are
Much further a field it’s actually them you need to be speaking to you know it’s gone of the days of just groups of men traveling for these events well they they are when countries haven’t done it so well but actually the bigger opportunity is how can you get one
Sports fan to engage his or her partner or their and then T the children how can this become an entire family trip and then that’s how you and then also by the way you create that Fan Experience with that they’ll be coming back over and over
Again sorry like it’s really like a fun point because if you think about those those WhatsApp groups the moment it ticks over from being I would go with my buddies for a long weekend right that that would be the way that we did it but the moment it becomes two weekends or
Three weekends then my wife and my kids they are part of that decision-making process and as Rowena says my wife is very much front and center in the decision-making process there but if we go through that process and we engage in the right way nobody has the right to be
Part of that conversation Manchester United doesn’t have the right to talk to its fans unless the fans invite them into the conversation so it making sure that we’re doing so in a way that’s sympathetic and shares empathy with that Community gives you the opportunity to
Be invited in but you have to be invited you can’t the example with visit Saudi was they arrived and they there and actually you have to build the groundwork you have to sort of build your pathway into that communication and into that engagement otherwise you’ll get a NE negative reaction and that’s
Not exclusive and it’s the storytelling yeah yeah we come back to storytelling we got a little bit about storytelling in a moment I just want to ask around so we talk about the fans we talk about the families talk about more people going to these sporting events within a family
It’s not just the whole cities that benefit though right Dave I think it’s really important there um what can you tell us about that no I think that that’s absolutely you know crucial you know part of this that it is it’s bringing people to a particular City to
An event but they’re not here just for that particular event they do build the whole holiday around it you increasingly bringing family with them um you the recent examples I mentioned you know katar we we look at the the data there it’s like okay where was this uh where
Was this World Cup in kataar in the data you you can just about sort of see it when you go into to the daily numbers on to the arrivals and see it on the spend by contrast you look at what happened in Dubai it was fantastic they had a great
Time from it people were coming in they were going to Dubai staying in Dubai going into cat for the games coming back experiencing it was like a city it sold itself off the World Cup being proximity you know people will go into that region they wanted to see what else the region
Had to offer Dubai being a huge draw so where it comes to say whether it’s a FIFA whether it’s sort of Olympics there’s going to be other nearby cities people are going to be coming for that particular event but there’s opportunities for them to experience something else people will be driving
Across the states in between different states there will be opportunities to stop we don’t know there schedule just yet but yeah once that’s out start putting together these uh itinery start putting together packages cities can then sell themselves off the back of other experiences I think it it goes
Back to that that layering sort of concept no one’s going to go to fifa.com and look for where they should go for barbecue in in Austin or in Jersey that’s your responsibility but it’s not to tell people it’s to to make them aware that this is an opportunity and
This this is how you do that so making sure that the layering is there using people like Roger to make sure that the communities are connecting and understanding what they might do or they might not but that’s that’s okay but no one’s going to go I mean no one’s going
To go to pitchside Sport and entertainment.com and ask the question about where I go for barbecue right it’s about making sure that you’re sharing that information selecting as Rena was saying selecting the right partners that feel natural to that conversation if you do that actually that’s a revenue Genera
An opportunity because you can create this environment where you own the conversation you’ve built the right you’ve engaged with that and now you own that conversation and you can bring your partners into support your development of that owned Community or developed community and there’s obviously other opportunities there i’ say for you know
The the domestic us Sports to pee back on that if you’re there as a sports fan yeah you may be there to watch the football if there’s an NBA game game yeah yeah catch a b game yeah on that I’m going to move to storytelling I said
We’re going to get there um let’s talk about the value of sports content and how this enables reach to an even greater audience as well as how to leverage the network of engaged fans we’re seeing an increasing content produced away from the field uh such as
Fan Focus behind the scenes video um I’m sure many in the room have seen the likes of Welcome to rexam or f1’s drive to survive or perhaps mission to Burnley uh on Sky um what do you see as the benefits from this type of content for
Me it’s um I mean I’m a sports fan I was an athlete I’ve I’ve grown up passionate about sports for me it’s just engaging with those non-traditional sports fans you know the people who won’t sit there and watch 80 or 90 minutes in the UK um
Of a of a game but will actually dip in and out and actually will love the stories behind it you know so many people admit that they weren’t F1 F1 fans before drive surviv but actually the soap opera behind it you know women love soap op it’s not stereotyping
That’s that’s that’s more what they’re passionate about is a soap op behind it and then actually then engaging with the event because you know what I want to see what happens and I want to see these people it’s giving um and actually for talking about F1 it was really powerful
Because for so long they were a figure behind a helmet you couldn’t even see their faces or engage with them and it really brought them to life um and I think that’s for a lot of a lot of these stars who we don’t talk about we don’t
Um we don’t know the stories and I spent a lot of time working in athletics and there are some unbelievable stories about some of these track and field athletes and the hardships and what they’ve gone through and being able to talk about them is actually an an engagement piece and actually means that
People will relate to these people another thing that I mentioned you know we worked in sport very privileged to see what happens behind the scenes you know the television cameras come in into the bowl and into what happens but there’s so much that goes in around that
We sometimes take for granted seeing the athletes in the cor room before they come out what do they do in the days leading up to their performance understanding what it takes to become an athlete it’s not just turning up on the day and running 10 seconds there’s so
Much more behind that and that I think is really how to attract people who aren’t traditional sports fans or engag with that part of it but are much more interested in in the stories behind it yeah now I’ve mentioned Austin already and Ben’s mentioned barbecue three too
Many times um but we’re showing the Austin Grand Prix this weekend right Sky Sports will be using cap content captured around the city around the area within its live programming that that content goes out around the world um can you share your insights about how destinations can use Sports content
Effectively to connect really authentically with fans yeah I mean it’s quite simple right it’s about that narrative it’s about how do we help people connect with what they are consuming and that that might be Talent L as an individual uh and that might be destination Le right because everybody
Watches the Bermuda classic right the golf and you’re thinking wow I quite fancy doing that am I ever likely to do that no because I don’t have the I have the the reason to do it but not the motivation so layering that across all of the things and that includes the
Destination itself personally I’m obsessed with the fact that college football gets hundreds of thousands of people to go and watch an amateur sport right I played rugby and we were lucky if we got five people on the side but that’s straight more than me yeah but
That sort of connect in with the big house right look following March Madness because it goes to Gonzaga where the hell is Gonzaga right but all but I know this I’m now aware of these places so I have the connection and I’m now thinking right
How do I how do I go to one of these places because you’ve given me the the motivation you’ve given me the reason and now we just got to shift it from there to that so again my word of the afternoon seems to be layering but it it
Has to be create the reason encourage the motivation but do it through multi-layer multi Channel engagement using Talent using Mega events and 13 seconds left on the clock it’s all right we’re good we’re good it talks about a whole number of things right so what what key takeaway
Questions in one minute what key takeaway can you or would you like to clarify in order to in order to wrap things up each of you with a with a key takeaway regarding how destinations across the US can really maximize the opportunities the massive opportunities that are across this next decade
Understand why you’re doing this you know it’s it’s not around the commercial opportunity that obviously that that’s a that’s a a side but Al the message is tell the fans you want to learn about them and why they’re passionate about this Sport and like I said before you
Are looking after their sport for them you know tell tell them this and show them that that you care about this that it’s more than that and then then they will come so the beauty of some of these events is the you can plan now you can
Start your plan and you can start your action now that’s one of the great things about sports events compared to some entertainment events you know Taylor Swift’s flying into a lot of different cities getting a lot of buzz but it’s hard to plan and hard to get
Out of your city sports events are things that are much more on your control and you can do that a long time in advance you can plan for it now and absolutely when you’re reaching out to fans think something we’ve all mention here make sure it is with that authentic
Voice let the fans speak amplify that that you know fans come to cities have events they have a great time you know you’ve already mentioned you know Kata didn’t get off to the greatest start but the fans had a great time and let that be known you know share the share the
Fans voice don’t insert yourself in it um yeah I could go onto a down about how Rugby World Cup’s doing it but yeah let’s keep it positive actually I think what Dave said is is is the perfect summary for me it’s about recognizing that none of us have the right to be
Part of the conversation we have to be invited so we have to find the right reasons and the right triggers for that Community to invite us into that and as marketers that’s really really valuable because that creates that Legacy becomes an engagement with that fan or that community and that’s the mega event
Whatever it might be that gives you the reason to have the conversation but your opportunity is to create that engaged Legacy that means that people will come and then they’ll return and then they’ll share the share the valuable experience Ro was talking about Marseilles this is the opportunity to create the positive
Legacy of all of of what you’ve already won I’m jumping in here just to introduce an audience question that’s hard to hear from the stage the question is about the rising participation of women as sports fans the question asked by the audience member concerns how Sports organizations might continue
Appealing to this demographic we talked about we have the 100 Cricket event in in the UK the IPL all of these events well IPL is a brilliant example in India which is the Indian Premier League cricket that was a very very male um consumer base and sometimes women would
Engage because of the husbands as it was there um but then actually with the IPL suddenly they brought Hollywood into this they brought sorry well Bollywood they brought the glamour around that and suddenly actually now the numbers are showing exactly the women in their own
Right fans I was in Mumbai in May and it was amazing to see these groups of women there dressed up cheering for their team which would never have happened in the past so that whole piece around the ancillary content is really important because people who who say that they’re
Not a sports fan don’t actually like because they think a sports fan is someone who sits there and watches an entire game understands the rules and perhaps if you haven’t played a sport it’s difficult to to have that connection but actually being a sports fan is so much more it’s you know the
Entertainment piece you know I I go to the Super Bowl because of the halftime show you know it’s I don’t need to necessarily be going because of the event or engaging with it and I think it’s focusing on that and and the stories behind that that has really seen
This massive shift I think there’s also that when I started working in Premier League football so Manchester United when I started work there they didn’t have a women’s team when I moved to Man City we did but it but it felt like it was yeah we’re going to do the women’s
We’re going to do the women’s game as well right because it was a a a necessary thing to do because somebody was going to demand it or you didn’t want to be embarrassed by answering the question negatively women’s sport now across the board whether and and England
Has an amazing women’s rugby team right the red roses women’s sport now is the reason right that it is its own reason and the community isn’t isn’t the same yeah it’s the barrier to entry is much more accessible it’s it’s not you know if I I’d much rather take my kids
To Man City women than than the other side because it’s a more the quality is amazing the fandom is is much more accessible and welcoming it’s become its own reason now and I think that my wife she’s not a sports fan right but that’s fine she doesn’t have to be but if you
Find if if there’s now that opportunity to be your own sports fan that’s what we have to the responsibility to go and deliver thank you very much to uh our fabulous panel and um we look forward to seeing um many of you sporting event in the US
Over the next decade thank you thank you and in closing out this session on Sports tourism the panelists urge US cities to start planning now for big events highlight the power of fan voices and storytelling and encourage content creators to bring diverse communities to the conversation through empathy and
Shared passion for sports and that’s it for today’s episode more coming from travel week UK Europe 2023 I’m Mark lpus thanks for listening this episode was produced by Asher mirovich than karaoke and Casey damra special thanks to Alexis Adon and Phil Dickerson engineering by Brian Watkins if you enjoyed this live from
Travel week UK and Europe episode please share it with your friends in the travel industry safe travels and
Live From Travel Week:
Phil Marshall from Sky Sports speaks with Rowena Samarasinhe, Dave Goodger & Ben Martin about the best to ways to position sports to drive visitation to America. The panel discusses creating a blend of memorable experiences that includes sporting events, authentic storytelling around sports, and the growth of international sports tourism.
Dave Goodger is Managing Director, Europe and Middle East at Tourism Economics. Ben Martin is CEO, Pitchside Sport and Entertainment. Rowena Samarasinhe is Partner at LEVEL, Managing Director at GENSport, and a TEDx Speaker.
The episode was recorded live at Brand USA Travel Week UK & Europe.