Toadvine Blog

Everyone loves to see their name in lights and your sporting facility may be just the place for them to do that. Advertisers and sponsors deserve a special spot of prominence at your facility and Toadvine Enterprises can help you honor those important people and businesses. 

You can give dedicated sponsors and important donors that guaranteed exposure by offering them their choice of advertising opportunities around your school sporting facility. Ad space is available on signs, stadium seating, score boards, and numerous spots throughout your school and will help generate opportunities for schools to offset the cost of new equipment and installation. Not only will the aesthetic appeal of the banners and signs generate visual appeal, they will also generate revenue for schools looking to boost their athletic dollars. Most of the time, the space used for the advertisement is space that would go unused without the dedicated sponsorship. 

Here are the top 10 places within a school sports facility that a school can utilize visually appealing advertising to generate funds for their athletic department.

1. Colosseum Chairs – Instead of a number on the seat, place the donor name on the seat for special recognition.
2. VIP Seating – Select a special section to be recognized for special donors or groups and increase their game day comfort with unique additions like arm rests and special seat backs.
3. Banner Rail – Utilize unused space on your colosseum with the touch of a remote and roll up or down the special message of your sponsor.
4. AdMesh Banners – Vinyl coated, weather resistant banners are perfect for capturing the attention of outdoor sports fans.
5. Concourse Banners – Capture the attention of pedestrians with concourse banners as they walk around the perimeter of your facility. 
6. Grandstand Banners – Take advantage of any unused space with banners that honor and promote your advertisers.
7. Vertical Banners – As patrons walk to and from the concession stand and the restrooms, these vertical banners will catch their attention.
8. Field Level Ads – As the most visible position on a field, utilize the sidelines, fences and walls at eye level to become the focal point of your grandstand, field or arena. 
9. Loge Boxes – Give advertisers a special place to pamper guests in a place specially designated and enhanced for their game viewing pleasure.  
10. Aisle and Stair Risers – Every person attending a game must ascend a set of stairs to get to their seat, capitalize on this fact by placing your sponsors name in bold colors for everyone to see.

Think you can't afford stadium seating? Consider the amount of advertising dollars you could generate from donors and sponsors that will actually see their name in lights at every game they attend. Most of these themes can be incorporated into existing facilities, but if you would like to explore the opportunity of generating more advertising dollars in conjunction with installing stadium seating, contact us for more ideas on how we can assist you.

In the a new era where college programs are shuffling from conference to conference, why is the SEC conference so strong and stable? Money isn’t the only factor, but in a recent article from OTB, they shared that SEC dominance in football began in 2005-2006 when two schools ranked in the top 10 of revenue generating programs; Florida and Georgia. By 2010 that number grew to five out of the top 10; Florida, LSU, Auburn, Tennessee, and Alabama. OTB reported, “Nine SEC schools generated more money in ’10-11 than the ACC’s No. 1 revenue-producer, Florida State.” That is an impressive stat, however, it doesn’t all come down to revenue.

What about the wins? The Business Insider wrote a few days ago, “The SEC has won six BCS championships in a row. And a look at the USA Today preseason top 25 poll shows us that the coaches don’t think that is going to change anytime soon.”

Football is clearly a strong suit for the SEC conference, but what about the other sports that can fly under the radar? Rant Sports reported, “In the six years since the SEC captured its first BCS National Title, the conference has won 33 national titles. As a matter of fact, the SEC has won titles in every sport offered by the NCAA – except volleyball.” Thirty-three is an awfully large number of national championships.

Why are they so dominant? They have recruited some amazing talent in every sport and have some tremendous coaches. That is certainly a huge factor. How do they do they acquire such tremendous coaches? That is where the conversation comes full circle and we talk about money again. A key to the SEC’s success is their ability to leverage TV and viewership. The SEC was able to generate $1,066,935,731 in a annual revenue. That is number one in college sports conferences. We know championships are won and not bought, but we know Calipari didn’t go to Kentucky because he liked the food better than Memphis. The key to any program, at any level, is to develop new ways to generate more revenue to hire the best coaches who can recruit the best talent and retain them.

Your facilities need to be improving, your programs need to be improving, and you can not stay where you are or you will be left with more of the same.

Look at the high school sports programs that attract the best talent around the country. What do 99% of them have in common? Answer: a great sports facility. There is much more to a great sports facility than just attracting great talent. An overlooked benefit is your program’s ability to keep the most talented athletes in your community. Parents of the most talented middle school athletes often move to districts where their children have the best opportunities for coaching, development, and potentially college recruiting.

When the “top ten” lists come out every preseason for your state, you can guarantee that the programs on those lists have premium facilities. The other factor that may pull some of the top athletes away is not another school, but a “club league” that draws more exposure than even the top-performing high schools. An article from AthleticBusiness.com says, “Popular club sports such as basketball, swimming, volleyball, hockey, and soccer that target players of slightly above-average ability all the way up to elite status may provide stronger competition.” If the competition is higher than that of the state's high schools, that tells you where the college recruiters will look first.

Beyond just adding to your facility with the latest and best products, what can be done to help retain talent? Dialoguing with your community well, and often, about where your program is headed and what the plans are for the near future is a great way of keeping the parents of the younger and older athletes engaged in the programs of their local high school. When the athletic director is a natural leader, and knows how to network, a newsletter is a great way to get people to buy into the dream and the vision. Once you have a base of followers, turn those followers into marketers. Have contests to see who can generate the most Facebook likes for your high school’s sport social page or who can sign up the most subscribers for the newsletter. This does not have to be an overwhelming “to-do” where you send out vision statements every month. Make it simple, and tell people where you are and where you are headed. You may be surprised how far this will get you.

MaxPreps just came out with Kentucky’s top 10 most consistent high school football programs. There are no surprises of who made the list, but who has the programs that will shine in 2012? Impressively, Trinity is ranked #12 preseason for the country. Congratulations to them on that accomplishment.

The top 10 according to MaxPreps.com:

(not all the same divisions)

1. Trinity (Louisville)
2. St. Xavier (Louisville)
3. Highlands (Fort Thomas)
4. Male (Louisville)
5. Bowling Green
6. DuPont Manual (Louisville)
7. Lexington Catholic
8. Covington Catholic (Park Hills)
9. Scott County (Georgetown)
10. Bell County (Pineville)

Our congratulations to these awesome high school athletic programs on making MaxPrep’s top 10 list of most consistent high school football programs in the state. Coming into the 2012 fall season we are excited to see what teams will rise to the top and if there will be any Cinderellas in the mix. What is consistent, across the board, for these top-performing programs is great facilities and equipment. Terrence Mann of Field of Dreams said it best, “If you build they will come.” People will come, and so will the players. The best facilities are strong selling points for attracting the best talent.

As we are entering August, start dreaming about your program and how you can eventually find your name among those on the top 10 lists MaxPrep is putting out. Call us and schedule a time we can show you all the new and exciting products we are carrying.