The growth in soccer participation across North America is remarkable. Recently I conducted an informal survey with clubs across Canada: the annual growth ranged averaged over 10%, with the highest being 20%. Not surprisingly, many clubs and leagues are facing growing pains: administrator workload is increasing, club and league management is becoming more complex, field availability is limited, and the demands of the players and parents are increasing. If your club or league is facing this situation, you will want to read on.

Presumably the goal for any soccer fanatic is to see the continued growth of the sport. I believe that the key to achieving this goal is progressive club/league management. Many clubs and leagues only work towards maintaining their organizations – trying to run things at least as well as the previous season. Progressive club/league management shifts the focus to looking forward and improving the organization.

There are three key factors to consider:

1. Degree of Technology Implementation.
2. Volunteer vs. Paid Administration.
3. Marketing your club or league.

Due to the size of this topic, this article will focus on how to prepare your club or league for decisions that must be made before implementing progressive club/league management. Subsequent articles will identify ways in which to implement.

First, let’s consider a critical fact: Soccer club management is becoming big business. For example, a club that runs an indoor and outdoor season and has 1,500 players will likely have a budget exceeding $300,000. Many clubs today are much bigger than this, ranging from 1,500 to over 8,000 players with budgets as high as $2 million. Prudent management of budgets of this magnitude is essential to continued growth.

Going back to the business analogy that I outlined in my last article, I pose the following question: As either a customer (player) or a supplier (coach, referee, sponsor, etc), how would you expect a business with revenues of $300,000 to $2 million to operate?

But won’t paid administration and more technology increase player fees?

This is a common concern of many clubs and leagues. The goal of progressive club/league management is actually the opposite. If properly implemented, it reduces costs to players and improves the level of service that they receive.

Currently, there is a wide array of ways in which clubs management themselves – ranging from a purely volunteer administrative team to several full-time, paid administrators. On the technology side, clubs and leagues range from purely paper-based administration to customized software applications. There are benefits and drawbacks to these two ends of the club/league management spectrum. Drawing on the input from administrators from both ends of the spectrum, I have come to the conclusion that the time has come for many clubs to develop a strategic outline that maps out where they want to be in the future.

Before you move to make any decisions, it is important to understand where you are at today and where you want to go in the future. To do this, complete the following three steps:

1. Identify your Current Costs: When identifying the cost of operations, I encourage clubs and leagues to include time as a part of the cost. Although volunteer time is free to your organization, your volunteers value their time and that should be recognized! For this reason, I recommend attaching a figure of $10/hour for volunteers and $20/hour for paid administrators when calculating total costs.

Consider the following types of questions: What is the total cost of registration? Scheduling? Tracking game scores and standings? Planning cups and tournaments? Updating your website? What else do administrators do? What percentage of your budgets is spent on administration?

I encourage you to be meticulous in this analysis.

2. Identify your Sources of Revenue

The primary source of revenue for most clubs and leagues is player fees. This is the easy money. But what other sources of revenue does your club have? Fundraising? Sponsors? Merchandising? Other?

These different sources of revenue should be broken out as percentages of your total revenue. This will help you gain an understanding of where your strengths and weaknesses currently lie.

3. Define the Level of Service your Club/League Desires to Offer

Is your club/league striving to be a low-cost provider or a full-service experience? A Ford Festiva and a Mercedes-Benz will both get you from your home to your soccer match, but the degree of comfort and the time it takes you can be very different. The same applies to club/league management. It is important to define the level of service you seek to offer your members.

Take some time to brainstorm the goals of your organization. Here are some ideas to consider:

• Regular office hours
• Can players contact the office (i.e. will someone answer the phone?)
• Convenience of registration
• Level of communication (e.g. how do players find out about game changes/standings/player stats)
• A club house for team parties/fundraisers
• Promotions/Discounts for club members for merchandise
• Rewards for suppliers (not necessarily monetary): coaches, volunteers, sponsors, etc.
• Coach training programs
• Prizes for winning teams
• A current website
• Much more…

Progressive Club/League Management: Where do we go from here?

Now you have an understanding of where your club/league is at today and where you want to be in the future. Upcoming issues will outline advice on how to implement a plan that will help you progress towards your goals. In the end, everyone that comes into contact with your league will have a better experience.