Category: Feature Story

Feature Story — SportsTravel — News, Insight and Analysis for the Sports-Event Industry

TEAMS2020

TEAMS ’20: A Virtual Sports-Industry
Conference Unlike Any Other

For the first time in its 22-year history, Northstar Meetings Group’s annual TEAMS Conference & Expo was held online. But the four-day conference, which took place October 19–22, was no ordinary virtual event. Instead, an entirely immersive experience was created to transport more than 700 attendees to Houston, where the gathering originally had been scheduled […]

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MLS Orlando3
Portland's Diego Valeri takes a corner kick during the MLS is Back Tournament at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida. In the background are a series of massive blue screens that the league used for broadcasts to show virtual fan parties and sponsor logos during the tournament.

Case Study: How Major League Soccer
Has Pulled Off Its 25th Season

Major League Soccer began in 1996 with 10 teams. Now in its 25th season, the league has 26 teams as Inter Miami — with world superstar David Beckham as owner — and Nashville SC debuted as the newest expansion franchises. The league was planning a season unlike any other in 2020 to celebrate its silver anniversary, […]

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Rose Bowl Football
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

So, What Happens to College Football’s Bowl Season?

Last year’s college football season was historic — the 150th anniversary of the sport became a season-long celebration culminating with one of the modern era’s most dominant teams ever, LSU, crushing Clemson to win the College Football Playoff championship game. This year’s season will be perhaps even more historic … and not for celebratory reasons. […]

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WestHamKissimee
Youths take a shot on goal during a pregame activation at London Stadium in 2019 before a game between hosts West Ham United and Manchester City. Experience Kissimmee is the Official Destination Partner of West Ham United. (Photo by James Griffiths/West Ham United via Getty Images)

How Florida Became a Presence in the Premier League

The Premier League is the most-watched sports league in the world, broadcast to over 200 countries each season. With more than $11 billion in global media rights agreements each year, its growth the past three decades is the envy of every league or sports organization in the world. Being able to partner with a Premier […]

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Charleston Classic – November 16, 2018
The Purdue Boilermakers face the Davidson Wildcats during the 2018 Charleston Classic. (Photo by Eric Lars Bakke / ESPN Images)

Early-Season College Basketball Tournaments Wait for NCAA’s Decision

Last year’s college basketball season ended with a COVID-induced thud and no championship to speak of. Like every other sport on the collegiate landscape, basketball spent the summer full of uncertainty. And as its scheduled start date for practices loom, a sport that bridges both the fall and winter seasons — finishing in the spring […]

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LLWS Curacao Japan Baseball
Fans watch a 2019 Little League World Series tournament game in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Tom E. Puskar)

Study: $45 Billion Spent in 2019 on Sports-Related Travel

A landmark new study conducted by the Sports Events and Tourism Association shows that travel to amateur and collegiate sports events in 2019 accounted for $45.1 billion in spending in the United States, an increase of over 5 percent from the previous year. In addition, that spending generated $103.3 billion in direct, indirect and induced […]

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Jackalope_Samedi_YannRoy_2018_097
Photo: Courtesy of Jackalope

Micro Events and Web Episodes:
How One Event Organizer Repositioned His Business

Twenty years ago, Micah Desforges launched Ripper Skateboards, a project that began as a passion play of sorts for the Montreal native who was a skateboarder and action sports enthusiast. Over the course of a decade, the brand grew in popularity, generating a social media following that still boasts nearly 70,000 followers on Facebook even though […]

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HoustonSkyline_Dusk7

TEAMS ’20 Virtual from Houston Will Connect
the Global Sports-Event Industry

Northstar Meetings Group has announced that the TEAMS ’20 Conference & Expo—the world’s largest gathering of sports-event organizers—will be an all-digital “Virtual from Houston” experience that connects event organizers, destinations and sports-industry thought leaders from across the United States and around the globe. Participants in the immersive online experience from October 19–22 will include the […]

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APTOPIX Iowa Michigan Football
In college towns across the country, the potential loss of football games will have a significant economic impact. Photo: Tony Ding/AP Images

College Football Towns Prepare to Call an Audible

Before you celebrate a touchdown with your friends and go crazy high-fiving strangers who feel like friends in that moment, you start with the tailgate party hours before kickoff with snacks, all sorts of food on the grill and a football flying through the air. Postgame usually means a drink downtown at a packed sports […]

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AAU Junior National Volleyball Championships
AAU held its Junior Nationals Volleyball Championships this summer, but indoor events during the winter will pose new challenges for event organizers. Photo: AAU

Case Study: How AAU Hosted an Indoor
Tournament for 10,000 People

In a typical year, the AAU Junior National Volleyball Championships will attract more than 45,000 athletes to two of the largest venues in Orlando, Florida — the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and the Orange County Convention Center — making it one of the largest youth sports events in the country. But 2020 is […]

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