EventConnect to Support Youth and Amateur Sports Tournament Organizers as Early Registrations Increase in Canada

LONDON, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, EventConnect, the leading software for events and tournament management, announced an increase in the number of youth and amateur sports tournament early registrations in Canada leading into the fall and through the remainder of 2021.

Many tournaments are returning, and teams are not only registering but registering early. EventConnect’s data shows that so far in 2021, Canadian teams are registering for events 127 days before the event start date, compared to 2020, when teams were registering 104 days ahead of the event start date. Meaning there is a renewed confidence in the return of youth sports and willingness for parents and players to travel again. Additional EventConnect data in the Sports ETA The Pulse shows that in the U.S., since February, teams are consistently booking more room reservations per team. People are staying over two-thirds of a day longer than in 2020, with Canada expected to trend in the same direction as the year continues. Additionally, the average lead time on a room reservation is 40.16 days compared to last year at 26.82, showing consumer confidence to travel and confirm their plans now.

With many sporting events cancelled over the past year and a half, EventConnect is supporting tournament organizers and teams with a new policy to enable refunds if required on hotel bookings. Tournament organizers with lower revenue and limited resources after several months of fewer events can utilize the EventConnect no-cost platform that addresses all of the needs for amateur sports event management.

EventConnect is an end-to-end platform that provides a full suite of tournament and sports management services, including registration, messaging, payment solutions, hotel bookings with the guaranteed lowest hotel group rates, and in-depth reporting and data analysis. EventConnect is also launching an industry-first by including more extensive accommodation options covering over 50% of the vacation rental market.

“It has been a tough two years of missed volleyball championships, but we are thankful to have the use of EventConnect, which has been very flexible and helped us with team reimbursements and travel credits,” said Sandra de Graaff, Director, Domestic Competitions, Volleyball Canada. “We look forward to our championships next May, which are the largest in Canada, and the EventConnect platform will be invaluable with their connections and knowledge to coordinate the hotel bookings to save our teams time and money.”

“We are very eager to have hockey tournaments pick up again in the fall since we run some of the largest hockey in Canada,” said James Zitmanis, Director of Weekend Hockey Tournaments. “When we can start scheduling the games again, EventConnect is our one-stop-shop for seamless registrations, hotel booking, team messaging, and data gathering. As we grew as a company, we decided to bring on EventConnect to handle hotel booking and registrations, and they have provided that and so much more; everyone benefits.”

“It is encouraging to see early registrations happening in Canada since there has been pent-up demand for youth and amateur sporting events to return,” said John D’Orsay, CEO at EventConnect. “It's been a busy last few weeks, with lots of positive news we are hearing around Canadian events looking to confirm their dates and the teams eager to register. We are ready to provide a highly scalable solution for tournament directors, organizers and teams to ensure they have the best experience while keeping dollars to drive additional events. Our mission at EventConnect to help lower amateur sports fees with our no-cost event software while enabling transparency for all stakeholders under one platform. We have removed the traditional pain points surrounding amateur group travel.”

About EventConnect

EventConnect is the only event management software in the sports tourism industry that connects thousands of partners on one platform. Working with more than 4,000 events, and 20,000 hotels in over 800 cities across North America, we have built a platform that truly makes everyone’s experience better. EventConnect helps sports organizations reduce time spent on administrative tasks and increase capacity for delivering memorable experiences to all participants. The end-to-end platform is customized for each partner’s needs and is seamless for organizers and participants to use, ensuring that it creates efficiency while increasing value. EventConnect has an average savings of 24% on hotel rates versus the leading booking platforms and has a 99% rate of booking satisfaction and positive experiences.

Learn more at: www.eventconnect.io