Game 7

As we write this week’s Monday Huddle Up, one of the great events in sports is only 24 hours away…..

Game seven.

In pro sports these decisive winner-take-all games don’t come along very often. Especially when we are talking about the NBA Finals. The last game seven prior to Thunder-Pacers on Sunday night was in 2016, when Lebron James led a most improbable comeback to defeat Steph Curry and the Warriors. It was an epic game with an iconic play by Lebron that will live forever in NBA history.

When I was a junior college basketball coach some 30 years ago, we had a practice drill we ran called, you guessed it – Game 7. The drill was 4-on-4 and focused on the defense. We had the team manager put seven points on the scoreboard. Each time the defense got a stop, two points came off the board. They could get an additional one point off if they then took the ball down the court and scored. If the offense scored, those points got ADDED to what was on the scoreboard. The defense had to get the score down to zero to get off the court.

It was a tough drill for sure. We were trying to simulate pressure situations in a live game scenario. This drill was highly popular with our players and really helped us build them up for times when the games really counted. Not surprisingly, our guys did pretty well over those years in tight games. We tried to create that atmosphere every day in practice so they didn’t sweat it when the chips were down.

How does this apply to our industry? Great question. Here you go…..

The Thunder-Pacers game Sunday night will undoubtedly be won by the team that plays the best defensive game. The team that plays together, makes the other side uncomfortable, gets the “50-50” balls, and generally imposes their defensive will on the other side. That team will win game seven and the trophy that comes with it.

On the destination side of the sports tourism industry, playing “defense” is similar to retaining the events you host today. You want to keep those from one year to the next and then add new events on top of the existing ones. You use the existing events as building blocks and foundation for long-term success. If you let events get away, you will be playing from behind in trying to replace those that left for another location. As in most any business, it is easier to keep the partners you have than to always be looking for new ones to replace them.

So how do we play defense and best retain our existing business? One word. Servicing.

Data shows us that sports organizations (destinations) that invest in the servicing side of the events they host, renew those events at a far greater percentage than those that don’t. If you land the business then rely on the event owner to do everything on their own, they will soon go find a different partner that can support them. Event owners want help with volunteers, referee hospitality, transportation, airport signage, you name it. The top hosting destinations in our industry are expert at putting on their “backpacks” and taking care of everything outside the lines on game day. That way the event owner can focus on producing a great championship and ignore all the other noise.

Investing in human capital to provide these servicing elements is sometimes an uphill battle. Seems like organizations want to slim down their staff costs and headcount rather than increase it. In this case, that is a really bad choice. There are over 550 destinations that event organizers can choose from to host their championships. If you don’t provide that backpack support, they will look to someone else that will, and it will happen sooner rather than later.

Game sevens are rare, they are difficult, and they usually produce that wow moment. Tomorrow night, there will be a moment. Someone on that court will make a play that will never be forgotten.

For the community you serve, put your team in position to make that winning play. Invest in them. Arm them with what they need to succeed. As leaders we cannot wait until we lose that tough game (or that event leaves town) to make changes. It’s Game 7, now or never.