Webinar: Trends in Sports-Related Travel

This webinar took place February 6, 2025, and is available on demand:

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Webinar Description:

In this SportsTravel Webinar, hear from leaders across the sports-events industry on the trends your organization needs to be aware of in the coming year. Topics will include event management, event bidding, housing outlooks, hotel trends, needs of sports event organizers and the destination/event organizer relationship.

Participants:

Brian Gainor
Founder and CEO
Gainor Sports

Brian Gainor is the founder and CEO of Gainor Sports, a leading sponsorship consulting and sports marketing advisory practice specializing in helping teams, leagues, cities, and organizations worldwide drive revenue growth, fan engagement and meaningful impact. With two decades of experience, he has advised over 200 professional sports teams, leagues, cities, brands, and attractions across the globe, delivering innovative sponsorship and business strategies that fuel long-term success. His diverse portfolio of partners includes Cirque du Soleil, Chelsea FC, the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, the Las Vegas Raiders, the New York Mets, Space Center Houston, Cricket Australia’s Big Bash League, the Green Bay Packers, FELD Entertainment, the NCAA, and Ronald McDonald House Charities, among many others. Before launching Gainor Sports, he served as vice president of innovation at Legends and 4FRONT, as well as director of global sports and entertainment Consulting at GMR Marketing, where he shaped sponsorship and business strategies for leading brands such as XFINITY, Hershey’s, Lowe’s, and The Hartford.

Melany Hugo
Director of Sports and Entertainment
IHG Hotels & Resorts

Melany Hugo has dedicated over 17 years to IHG Hotels & Resorts, where she has held various roles on-property before transitioning to the IHG Corporate Office. For seven years, she served as the regional director of sales and marketing on the Americas Commercial and Revenue Management Team. Currently, she leads the sports and entertainment team for the Americas Region within IHG’s Global Sales Organization. Passionate about the unifying power of sports and entertainment, Melany believes these sectors foster community, shared experiences, and common ground. She’s witnessed firsthand the vital role that the sports segment plays in the success of the hotel industry.
 

Heidi Weber
Director of Operations
The Open Championship Series

Heidi Weber is the director of operations for The Open Championship Series/ASWC and the owner of Revolution Events & Celebrity Cheer and Dance Championships. These companies produce youth cheerleading and dance events across the United States. She retired in 2017 from a long-term coaching career that lasted 17 years. Her coaching experience spans the cheerleading industry including choreography, all-star, school, rec and college cheerleading squads. She has an MBA and is a federally recognized and certified Women in Business owner. Apart from her spirit industry companies, she also owns businesses that include a children’s salon, embroidery shop, sports apparel, and ad system/efficiency consulting. Her strengths include event producing, branding, marketing, system efficiency, customer service training and leadership/management development.

Moderator:
Matt Traub
Managing Editor
SportsTravel

Matt Traub is the managing editor for SportsTravel, focusing on the magazine’s content, digital and social media strategies. Before joining SportsTravel in 2019, he worked in sports departments at several newspapers across the United States, most recently as the assistant sports editor at the Salt Lake Tribune. Under his leadership, the organization grew digital audience around the region’s most-loved topics: the Olympics, the Utah Jazz and college football. He also was in charge of sports departments at newspapers in New York, Pennsylvania and South Carolina that were repeatedly recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors as a Top 10 section nationally with coverage of everything from the Little League World Series to Southeastern Conference football.
 

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