Product Development Brings Sporting Events to Fans Digitally and Incorporates Methods for Funding Programs
PrestoSports, the leading all-in-one sports technology platform in college athletics, has announced several new solution enhancements to support schools as they prepare for their Fall sports season. With the uncertainty of the Fall season, schools and conferences are identifying ways to extend live game experience where the fans get together in the same physical space, to an omnipresent digital space in which fans engage regardless of where they are.
With over a decade focused on supporting schools and conferences as they’ve expanded their athletic programming to new digital touchpoints, PrestoSports has the experience and existing technology that brings the excitement of sporting events to the fans when they can’t be at the game, opportunities for interactions between the student-athletes, coaches, and fans, through digital channels, and methods for funding programs when traditional revenue activities are halted. Checkout this infographic to see how the PrestoSports Game Plan can get you ready for fall 2020.
Watching the Action
As schools weigh in-game attendance, they can offer viewing alternatives by bringing the excitement of live play calling, multi-camera tracking, and picture-in-picture shots when streaming live sporting events with their enhanced version of StretchCast. When the Fall season begins, schools can accommodate those fans who choose to engage at a safe distance with live PPV streaming, or offer access to exciting archived footage with on-demand PPV in the off-season.
Programs can shift from the traditional static website to an interactive portal with a new embeddable player that can highlight coach interviews, Top 10 sports moments, or messages and challenges from the student-athletes. Students and fans can access the inside track by streaming or accessing on-demand, the same workouts the student-athletes are doing in their off-season. In addition, PrestoSports completed its integration with StatBroadcast, which provides significant improvements for game stats from every major stats provider. With improved system performance and efficiencies, coaches can also extend their recruitment efforts online by developing a virtual recruitment office on their athletic website and celebrate signing day with embedded videos and social channels on that page.
”Our team has been hard at coming up with innovative ways to engage your fans, keep them informed, and continue moving forward. Game plans have to fit the situation, which is exactly what these plays do – they’re the tools to position you for success.” - Keith Womack, President, PrestoSports
Building and Sharing the Excitement
PrestoSports also released its integration with infographic partner, ScoreShots. Teams can create custom infographics for each new signee to promote on social media, tagging their school and local publications. They can highlight and socialize information their fans care about, on the channels they frequent, by leveraging infographics to highlight in-game stats, and during the off-season, highlight fun off-campus athletic stats, like push-up parties and other workout challenges with the student-athletes.
Stay Connected
In addition, PrestoSports also launched their FrontRowX Mobile App with partner FromNowOn. Programs can now drive two-way interaction between the school and fans by issuing challenges and running competitions through the promotion and notification functionality in the FrontRowX Mobile App. Fans can show their support and be rewarded for their engagement by signing up and following their favorite teams, checking into games using broad geofencing parameters, even when they’re virtual, and responding to offers and earning points through the rewards platform. Fans can also submit real-time commentary, feedback, and messages for student-athletes and coaches.
“We really admire what Keith and the PrestoSports team have built, and also their vision for where they can expand to meet the growing needs around fan engagement in college athletics,” - From Now On, CEO, Sue Thaden
Get Creative with Sponsorships and Drive Revenue
Finally, athletic programs can compensate for lost ticket revenue by optimizing their digital advertising real estate with a clearer understanding of impressions and return through the improved Google Analytics capabilities. With PrestoSports solutions and integrated partner, From Now On, schools can plan advertising around their individual funding goals on their website, mobile app, and streaming pre-roll. Enhanced targeting, content creation, and performance analytics allow athletic departments to fund their programs while connecting their fans to the content and offers that are most relevant to them.
There is a lot that is unclear about the Fall sports season, therefore, the former live game experience must now be replicated into different sorts of audio-visual content and interactions that allow the fan experience to be longer, more frequent, and have an increasingly higher reach. There is a need to provide continuous opportunities for fans to be part of their teams’ daily life like never before. With the right solutions in place, programs can create a fan-team relationship that surpasses the boundaries of the game itself.
.png)
PrestoSports
PrestoSports is a software-as-a-service company providing technology to colleges and conference offices. Backed by Battery Ventures, PrestoSports delivers solutions for building athletic brands, igniting fans, and funding sports programs. Battery Ventures formed its sports division in 2017 which included the acquisitions of PrestoSports, Stretch Internet, and Black Diamond (SIDHelp). PrestoSports is committed to delivering customers a more expansive suite of software solutions to help them nurture and grow their tight-knit communities of members, fans, athletes, and coaches.
Clubessential Holdings LLC
Clubessential Holdings is a Battery Ventures company, fulfilling their global mission of investing in and creating cutting-edge, category-defining businesses by providing a full suite of membership and club management Software as a Service solutions to private clubs, health & fitness clubs, military organizations, municipalities, and college athletic programs. Across four brands – Clubessential, ClubReady, PrestoSports, and Vermont Systems – the company offers a variety of forward-thinking technology and services which help more than 8,000 customers attract, engage, and retain club and community members and fans for life. For more information, visit the following websites: Clubessential http://www.clubessential.com; ClubReady http://www.clubready.com; PrestoSports http://www.prestosports.com; Vermont Systems: http://www.vermontsystems.com.