New Data

Those that have worked with us know that we are a VERY data driven organization. Our team at HUG is (honestly) voracious about using data to benchmark things. On most projects we use four or more data sources to determine where a destination or sports organization sits. That is before we put our collective 100-plus years of sports tourism experience in play.

Every so often, the data sources we lean on add a new feature. This week was just such a time. One of the data sources we use regularly comes from the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI). ESRI measures a million things. The elements we use from ESRI are sports participation related. ESRI indexes whatever activity you are asking about across the whole country. 100 is the baseline that basically says, in whatever activity you are asking ESRI about, one hundred is the average for that activity for the entire country. If you index above 100, that means your destination is that much more likely to participate in that action than the rest of the USA. Any number below 100, you are that much less likely to participate in that activity.

When we are working with destinations (CVBs, DMOs, sports commissions, cities, counties) we are looking for index numbers in sporting activities that index at 110 or more in the five hour drive radius and beyond. Why that radius? Those are likely overnight hotel stays. People inside of two hours may or may not buy a hotel room. Told you we are pretty aggressive with this data thing.

ESRI recently added a new measurement feature. The new activity is "Attended/Coached a Youth Sports Event" in the past year. Before you read on, take a moment and ask yourself which states are most likely to rank high in this activity and which do you think will index low. Write down the top five and bottom five in your mind. Below are the somewhat surprising answers….

The top five states in attended/coached a youth sports event according to ESRI are:

• New Hampshire -- 112

• Iowa -- 111

• Idaho -- 110

• Maine -- 110

• Minnesota -- 110

So basically, New Hampshire residents are 12% more likely to attend or coach at a youth sporting event than the rest of the United States. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t have any of these five states on my list before I saw this data.

Okay, now the bottom five…..

• DC -- 79

• New York -- 89

• California -- 90

• New Mexico -- 94

• Florida -- 96

Anyone have California or Florida on their bottom five bingo card? I didn’t think so.

So what does all this mean? Good question…..

Data on lower performing states could mean that those areas are at risk of having less volunteer coaches and declining participation rates for youth in sports. Higher indexing states are likely fertile ground for youth sports programs to flourish. In addition, this type of data could be extrapolated to indicate where the referee/umpire shortage trend in our country could get worse than it already is.

Data doesn’t lie. Lean on it. Use the sources you have to make informed strategic decisions. While data is rarely perfect, using it is better than playing the guessing game.