How are your swim meets working for you financially? Most swim clubs around the country are lucky to have volunteers giving up their time to support their clubs during meets and beyond. But, let’s be honest, successful swim meets should also generate revenue for your club to help the club grow and prosper. Here are our top ideas to help you make your next meet a financial success.
Maximising Your Swim Meet Fundraising Efforts
Consider turning your swim meet into a fundraiser. Families and friends of club members will be at your venue for a few hours, cheering for their favorite athletes. Their main purpose is to support that person – and the club. Holding a silent auction or raffling off donated goods provides guests with another focal point between races. You’ll find that most spectators will happily spend a few dollars to support the club this way. Those small donations can quickly add up to substantial income for your swim club.
How to Generate More Income for Your Swim Club
Aside from fundraising, there are several other opportunities to generate revenue that your club should try.
Get the Most Out of Concessions at Your Swim Meets
Spectators spend hours at swim meets, and they’re bound to become hungry, thirsty, or at least feel peckish. That’s why having concessions is a must. But are you maximizing the revenue generated from those?
If the club is organizing concessions internally, make sure to take advantage of special offers during your food shopping. You may even be able to take advantage of food donations through local retailers or members of the clubs which will help decrease costs. It’s also important to consider your prices. How do they compare to other meets? Don’t lose out by underselling.
If your club is working with external caterers, build a long-term relationship that is mutually beneficial and allows both partners to maximize benefits.
Finding Donors, Ads, and Sponsors for Swim Meets
Asking local businesses for donations or sponsorship, and offering advertising opportunities can generate significant revenue for your swim meets.
The key to doing this successfully is to create a fair sponsorship or advertising program. For example, your sponsorship program needs to ensure that sponsors committing to the same amount of support receive the same amount of exposure. The same goes for advertising deals.
Selling Apparel and Other Merchandise
Swim meets offer perfect opportunities to maximize your club’s income from the sales of apparel and other merchandise. Most family members and friends love a commemorative t-shirt or baseball cap as a souvenir.
Get creative and consider not only offering standard merchandise but also limited edition goods that are available at meets only or personalised items for that specific athlete.
Attracting Third-party Vendors
Attracting third-party vendors to your swim meets may be easier than you think. Start by making a list of businesses that may be interested in connecting with your audience.
Swimwear brands or local sports stores are obvious options, but you could also consider nutrition experts, local gyms, and other brands. Allowing these businesses to rent some of the space at the meet location not only generates revenue on the day. It could also attract new members to your club.
Utilising Video Scoreboard Advertising for Swim Club Profits
Finally, let’s talk about scoreboard advertising.
Scoreboards are the one location that everyone at your swim meet will be paying attention to. No matter whether they’re a coach, competitor, family member, or spectator, you can guarantee that people are paying attention to the scoreboard. Consequently, scoreboard advertising space should be among your prime advertising products to generate profits for the future of your club.
Generating consistent revenue from swim meets requires a degree of forward planning and attention to detail in the execution. Taking this strategic approach will help your club raise more funds than ever before, allowing the club to flourish and improving your meets at the same time.