Why facilities are moving to OpenSports for drop-in/pickup game management
Read about how Toronto sports facility Ultra Sports moved their drop-in management system to OpenSports
Players are significantly more likely to show up to games at facilities if they have to pay for their spot in advance. Plus, no more collecting cash from individual players — all of the money is deposited directly into your bank account!
“We’re eliminating cash because it causes a lot of chaos — some people show up and don’t have change and it creates a lot of problems. When they sign up and pay online it guarantees how much revenue is coming in. Otherwise, if they don’t show up, its a lost opportunity that somebody else could have taken.” — Yash, Ultra Sports Centre
Case Study: Ultra Sports Centre, Toronto, Canada
Ultra Sports is a multi-sport facility in Toronto that has slots for pickup/drop-in soccer and basketball several days a week. Traditionally offering drop-in sessions via a just-show-up-and-pay-cash-based-system, Ultra Sports wanted a solution that really automates the process of players joining and paying for pickup games so that the staff have to do minimal administrative work, while knowing their games will fill up. Although apprehensive about switching over because a lot of players like paying with cash, they decided to start integrating OpenSports’ RSVP and payment collection system into their drop-in offerings in September 2018.
How to transition from a cash system to OpenSports
1.Create a group, link up your bank account to receive deposits, and post your first event!
2. Invite players from your email list to the group, asking players to “Join our group to receive invites to games, and RSVP to get a spot!”
3. Post upcoming events on your Meetup group, and Facebook group but clearly note that players must join the event through the OpenSports link, in order to secure a spot.
4. Embed the upcoming games widget onto the drop-in/pickup page of your website.
5. Tell players who are used to just showing up with cash, that in order to join the next event they have to join your OpenSports group, where upcoming events will be posted.
6. Post our pre-made posters in your facility, which will contain a link to join your group (we will send you these when you create your group!)
We have really delivered so far on helping Ultra Sports streamline their drop-in process. The staff love that everybody has been coming online and pre-paying and boast about how much easier this makes their lives! They mentioned that OpenSports has eliminated the chaos and issues they had in the past and really appreciate all of the new features that OpenSports continues to build! Because of this success, Ultra Sports is going to expand their drop-in programs so that the players from various sports will have access to the facility in the future.
By having an app and website that are optimized for both app-users and web-users, OpenSports is truly the pickup/drop-in sports solution for your facility. A special thank you to Ultra Sports for all of your continued support.
Don’t hesitate to send us questions! contact@opensports.net :-)