TeamSnap Expands in Canada with Club and League Management Product for Canadian Sports Organizations, and are the Official Management App of the Atlantic League.
TeamSnap provides sports teams’ proprietary online management software and mobile apps to youth, recreational and competitive sport teams, clubs and leagues enabling technology-driven organization over the web and seamless communication through smartphones and tablets. The Boulder based sports tech company we last spoke with three years ago recently launched a new club and league management tool for Canadian sports leagues and associations as well as partnering with the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) in the United States. The Sports Techie community blog chatted with Ken McDonald, Chief Growth Officer at TeamSnap, about their Biz Dev expansion plans across Canada, the U.S. and internationally. Nearly every sporting activity an organization, team or player undergoes throughout both the season and off-season is complemented by TeamSnap solutions. TeamSnap was recenty ranked by Outside Magazine as One of the Best Places to Work in 2016. There is plenty of Big Mo at TeamSnap.
TeamSnap Developer
Around the world, nearly 15 million coaches, administrators, players and parents save time by using TeamSnap features, approaching 500,000 last month, according to McDonald. Approximately 2,000 sports associations are supported by TeamSnap along with high-level clubs, schools and regional leagues, all adding to the fast-growing user base.
TeamSnap interfaced with 7.2 million games and 800,000 teams covering 83 sports and group types. Around 30 percent are adult teams with the 70 percent of bulk users consisting of youth teams. Parents make up nearly 90 percent of all users but adoption is really all over the board. A key factor says McDonald is how tech savvy a team manager or coach are when measuring user adoption rates. Team Snap Live is used to follow a game, see highlights and get score updates, when that piece is active, engagement skyrockets. Digital device mobile app users average around 40 touches per month.
Many youth coaches are first time volunteers, often looking for a public looking website that can share photos, scores and push content to messaging, manage discussions between the team, offer help with registration, the collection of dues and fees, and advice, as well as manage fundraisers.
McDonald said, “We are now looking forward to making life easier for administrators, commissioners and volunteers who can now focus their energy on league and sport development instead of having to deal with administrative hassles.”
McDonald tells me he’s meet parents astonished with TeamSnap tools because many are still using Google Drive, Excel and even homegrown solutions to make ends meet. This fact provides the company optimism for growth because what they offer is something simple in the QuickBooks mode.
The industry is evolving quickly; I used to work in the space in Bellevue, Washington for Count Me years ago and have watched the market mature. American media companies are branching into the sports management domain with SI Play and NBC SportsEngine platforms.
TeamSnap Named by Outside Magazine as One of the Best Places to Work
Outside Magazine has named the company No. 6 on its 100 Best Places to Work 2016 list. The Top 100 companies in America that raise the standards for work-life balance, company culture and employee benefits are ranked. This is the second consecutive year TeamSnap has been recognized by Outside; in 2015, TeamSnap was ranked No. 16 on the prestigious list.
TeamSnap is adding employees right now with 85 currently employed in total. McDonald says geographically the company spans across many states, Puerto Rico and has an overseas European presence in Croatia in order to cover different time zones around the world. They take pride in hiring the best people with a rewarding corporate culture.
TeamSnap for Clubs & Leagues: All The Tools You Need
Clubs and Leagues Launch
TeamSnap for Clubs & Leagues provides Canadian sports associations with all of the tools needed to save time, attract new players and run their program, including online registration, website development, roster management, event scheduling and established communication tools. TeamSnap Website Builder allows commissioners, administrators the tools to create a custom website design for any device.
“Canadians are incredibly engaged and passionate about sport and team participation with a huge network of committed associations and clubs,” said McDonald.
The TeamSnap for Clubs and Leagues product complements the more than 2.5 million Canadian users already using the TeamSnap app concentrated mostly on a large amount of minor hockey and soccer clubs and leagues. Because paying for ice rink time is rather expensive, communicating the details of last-minute practice locations and times on TeamSnap delivered to mobile devices is an important reason why business is brink up north.
McDonald said, “Canada has 8 times the user penetration compared to the US.” These metrics were mostly compiled of just teams until recently, with little activity at the club or league levels. National and provincial governing bodies are slow to jump on board however the grassroots driven initiative by TeamSnap targeting clubs and leagues for the new product is well underway. The new solution was rolled out and there are many satisfied users already at Leaside Minor Hockey, Oakville Minor Lacrosse Association and Edmonton’s Southwest United Sports Club.
McDonald added, “Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto currently ranked by TeamSnap as having the largest per capita adoption rate by TeamSnap global users.”
The iPhone and iPad app are available in English, French and Spanish, while Android and Web are available in English only.
TeamSnap for Clubs & Leagues is available for Canadian sports groups across all different sports and participation levels, from competitive minor hockey clubs and adult softball leagues to provincial governing bodies.
Features in the TeamSnap for Clubs & Leagues in Canada include:
- Website Builder: Professional and functional website development optimized for Canadian domains.
- Standings and Live Score Tracking: In-game stats and live scoring.
- Registration: Free organization-level registration that makes it easy for families to pay online and submit paperwork, including any specific provincial regulations.
- Communication: Efficient and impactful communications with the whole organization or just certain subsets, like parents or coaches.
- Scheduling: Easy-to-generate schedules for games and tournaments.
- Rostering: Create balanced teams for maximum efficiency and fun
Family Survey Data
A TeamSnap survey of family’s uncovered a number of benefits sports provides including, helping kids with communication skills, interpersonal skills and help with school. McDonald told CTV News around 20 percent of families are paying an average $2,500 or more for sport activities, while nearly 20 percent of families spend 9 hours or more on youth sports.
The parents surveyed generally felt sports were worth the time and money.
McDonald also shared the notion that sports need to be the right fit for kids to avoid burnout. What they consistently see are kids pushed by parents and coaches into elite levels of sport when recreational competition and more friendly type games are preferred by the child.
The Cost of Youth Sports with TeamSnap’s Ken McDonald on CTV News
ALBP Official Online Team Management Service
The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and TeamSnap have partnered to enable all clubs, coaches and players to use the software to manage their schedules throughout the season. The independent professional baseball league and TeamSnap will cross-promote each other via marketing, communication and digital team administration service campaigns aimed to showcase how these pros save time communicating with their team.
TeamSnap is highlighting the business arrangement with a new digital platform initiative on YouTube, Facebook and other social networks.
TeamSnap is the Official Team Management App of the ALPB
Sports Techie, besides the campaign targeting clubs, leagues and associations in Canada, TeamSnap is making a push into video. I told McDonald about the shutdown of Vine by Twitter to his surprise mostly due to lack of monetization.
While their solutions do not integrate directly with YouTube, Facebook Live or Instagram, functionality does work across the social platforms. I asked him whether SnapChat and specifically millennial end users would be worth the integration investment. At this present time, there are no plans to integrate with any social media channels however messaging into a platform and receiving through email, alerts and text messages are operational, as well as the option to drop messages into other platforms and messaging tools.
I follow the content created by TeamSnap nearly daily. McDonald told me their content is helpful but not a core competency. He did however tell SportsCaster Magazine about a major company commitment to creating compelling content designed to make a difference to their users. All original content and strategy is created by a team of expert media creators and freelance contributors focused on the latest local, national and worldwide, trends and issues, such as concussions, hobbies and coaching tips.
The Dunwoody high school boy’s lacrosse team where I was the community coach last spring was a TeamSnap user. The out-of-pocket costs associated with playing varsity lax in Georgia exceeded $1,000 when the price of gear such as helmets, sticks and pads are all factored into team dues. While the board of directors, coaching staff and players used the software all season to moderate success, our program were definitely not considered super users.
If you are considering streamlining your team, league or association with sports management software, now is a good time to find out more about TeamSnap since their future does indeed looks bright in Canada, America and around the globe.
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