When thinking about a club sports organization, the first thing that comes to mind is probably not “small business.” However, that is precisely how directors of these outfits should be thinking about their operation if they are interested in growing and rising above the status quo.
It is no secret that club sports are now a big business. A recent CNBC report, citing a study by the Sports Facilities Advisory, indicated that youth sports – in travel alone – comprised a $7 billion industry. Participation is way up. Forbes notes that somewhere over 35 million children are playing youth sports. The list goes on.
As this has occurred, however, some club organizations have been reluctant to change any of their habits. When thinking of these through the lens of small businesses, however, this is not surprising.
According to Melanie Franke of GoDigitalMarketing.com, this is common. She notes that many small business owners are slow to adapt to new technology because they don’t completely understand how it works or how it will benefit their business (3). Instead of investing the necessary time and effort into learning and understanding the many uses a website could have, some small businesses choose to go without.
This is problematic because newer business and organizations – newer club teams in this case – are adopting the technology and making it the norm. Thus, organizations happy with the status quo are setting themselves up for failure.
