Profiting from Sports Travel

January 13, 2010 By: Michael Browne, Joe Pike Travel Agent

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For agents looking to tap into this niche, the right connections are critical

 

NASCAR is by far the country’s biggest spectator sport, with crowds of 100,000 and more attending single events

With two of the biggest events in international sports being held this year—the FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver—travel agents are working overtime to snare tickets and accommodations for their sports-crazed clients. U.S. visitors make up the number-one market for both these events, outside of the host countries themselves, and agents are dealing with the challenges of sold-out room blocks, complicated schedules and the bureaucracy of purchasing event tickets through the host organizations and the operators they’ve appointed.

For some agents, however, this is nothing new. Sports travel is their specialty and they’ve learned the ins and outs of finding the best available seats, most convenient accommodations and the best flights to some far-flung destinations. While the World Cup and the Olympics happen only every four years, these agents keep themselves busy with a host of major annual sporting events such as the Super Bowl, Kentucky Derby, Indy 500 and so on, as well as ongoing team sports packages covering the major sports leagues (NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL) and college sports.

 

Visitors to Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby have the options of value-based packages, all the way up to seats in “Millionaire’s Row”

The important thing for agents to remember about sports travel is that it’s a year-round profit center. “For us, it starts with college football bowl season in January,” says Andre Gower, Virtuoso specialist at North Carolina-based Premiere Sports Travel. (In fact, Gower was onsite in Pasadena for the Rose Bowl Parade and game when we spoke.)  “Then you have the Pro Bowl, Super Bowl and head right into the NASCAR season in February with the Daytona 500 and Las Vegas 400.”

Those two NASCAR events are Premiere’s biggest package accounts after college and pro football, with groups of 1,500 to 2,000 attending each. NASCAR, with 36 separate events throughout the year attracting more than 100,000 people each, is the nation’s number-one spectator sport by far and Gower estimates that 75 to 80 percent of those who buy travel packages for NASCAR do it through Premiere.

On it goes throughout the year, with the NCAA’s March Madness, the Masters, Triple Crown horse racing, Major League Baseball, the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, U.S. Open Golf and then back into the NFL and college football seasons (not to mention the NBA and NHL). Premiere Sports Travel has pre-set packages for all these events on its website, but Gower emphasizes that agents can customize any of these to fit the special needs of their clients, from value-based to high-end luxury.

 

Alumni and fans from all over the country cheer their team at Clemson’s Memorial Stadium

Take the Masters, for example. “We have a number of products to fit different clients, with three different hotel packages, including The Partridge Inn in Augusta for high-end clients,” he says.

“But we also offer private-home packages, where your clients can enjoy full kitchens or stocked bars in homes that can accommodate groups from two to eight people. We can even provide chefs for these clients.”

The Kentucky Derby is another of Premiere’s most-requested events during the year. Not only is horse racing’s biggest championship a draw for clients and groups, but Gower admits “it’s the most fun for us to work, too.”  In addition to accommodations at a choice of three hotels in Louisville—including the Galt House, the Derby hotel—the tour operator can offer such extras as horse farm and distillery tours, “Dawn at the Downs” pre-race workout sessions and seating options at Churchill Downs “from grandstand to Millionaire’s Row.”

On average, Premiere books about 700 people to the Masters and 750 to the Kentucky Derby each year.

Also targeting high-end clients and groups is New York-based Inside Sports & Entertainment Group, which, according to senior vice president Matt Haines, describes its primary client base as  “wealthy individuals, incentive groups and groups from Fortune 500 companies. I would say about 50 percent of our business is group travel.” Haines adds that he expects to see the sports-travel business grow, and is working more and more with agents to create custom packages for their luxury clients. “One of our wealthy clients attended seven events in one weekend all planned by us, and traveled in helicopter, private jet and limo from one to the other,” Haines recalls.

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