Week 5: The Bidding Process

One of the main foci's here at the commission is to research and bid on regional and national amateur sporting events. Tacoma is not in the market to bid for international events or large "major" events like FIFA World Cup and the Olympics because we do not have the facilities or hotel space to host such an event. What we focus on are smaller regional events like state championships and regional qualifiers for sports like karate and fencing. In order to bring those events here, our sales staff (Jon, Tim, and Demetrius) put together packets called "bids".

 

 

Each event promoter or national association requires a bid when multiple cities are striving to host the same event. Tacoma may compete with Phoenix AZ, Richmond VA, and Sacramento all for host the same event. In order to sway an event promoter to bring their event to our city, we draft a "bid" which entails the specific criteria,benefits, and financial backings that will portray why they should select Tacoma as their host city.

 

 

First we must meet the tournament evaluation criteria to even be considered for an event. These include location considerations (access to hotel, airport, transportation, restaurants), venue considerations (weather, appropriate space), and personnel considerations (volunteers referees, medical, PR). If the Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Commission can find the right venue and location that meet the needs of the event promoter, then we go ahead and create a bid.

 

 

Within the bid we put our history is promoting similar events, suggested venue information, community information, personnel information, and any other additional financial backings the host city may offer to "sweeten the deal". Once the bid is submitted the event promoter will potentially request a site visit. If they come to the host city they will tour the suggested venue, walk through several hotel options, and will be wined and dined by the bidding organization.

 

Fingers crossed....... we hope they choose us!!

Currently the Tacoma Sports Commission boasts over 28 events. Not all of these were received by completing the bidding process however several required it. Currently our sales team is trying to create a strong pipeline of continuous business and are bidding for several events that won't occur for another 3 to 5 years from now.

 

 

Until we have more hotel rooms and better facilities we are limited in what we can do. Our market is different than that of Seattle's Commission or even Spokane's. We continue to look for appropriate events that fit our city. It is our hope that one day we will have the means to bid on even larger events that increase the total of Direct Spending and overall economic impact in Pierce County.

Week 4: Creating a "Strategic Plan"

The Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Commission is entering an new phase of business. For the longest time the Sports Commission was a two man show ran by the Executive Director Tim Waer and the Assistant Executive Director Jon Graef. With a recent influx in money, the commission has had to put on their thinking caps and decide what direction they want to take this organization. Whereas before the commission was solely focused on sustaining the events that they had received from their predecessors, now they are looking for bigger and better events to bid on. With all the potential in the world and the financial resources to completing extensive projects, the commission has turned to Dr. Lowell "Duke" Kuehn an expert in organizational development and strategic planning.

Duke's job has been to organize the commission's thoughts and ideas into a strategic plan that will serve as the blueprint for many years to come. So far as a staff we have met with him twice. Just like in the course MGT 622 Strategic Management Duke is running us through a series of exercises that directly parallel the "strategy-making/ strategy-executing process" discussed in our text book entitled "Crafting and Executing Strategy". These meetings have helped the commission define our mission and vision. Duke has emphasized that the organization that does not have a well defined mission does not have a direction. The Sports commission does have a mission; a rather large one at that. in fact these meetings have unveiled to us that in years past we have not been meeting the mission in it's entirety and that now we finally have the capacity to reach every component of it.

Part of the mission we ARE meeting: To promote Tacoma-Pierce County, Washington as a destination for major amateur sporting events.

Part of the mission we are NOT meeting: Assist in the development of amateur athletic programs throughout the region.

From here we discussed creating a stronger more succinct vision, a business plan, and have begun to draft a strategic plan. We are going to begin setting goals and will be creating flow diagrams of all our different work systems. There are so many integral steps in trying to lay out a succinct quality strategic plan that it is going to take months before this plan even takes shape. For now we will continue to meet twice a month and will begin molding the organization into a strong mission driven force that will ultimately optimize it's maximum potential. What an exciting process to be a part of!

Week 3: The Hotel Reception

On September 28th I attended the Commission's annual Hotel Reception. This year it was held at a local spot called Cheers Bar and Grill Downtown. There were three types of guests at this reception; the Tacoma Sports Commission staff, the major executives of the WIAA (Washington Interscholastic Activities Association), and the General Mangers and Marketing Directors for all the local hoteliers. We provided dinner, dessert, games, drink tickets, door prizes, and swag galore! We gave out Seahawks tickets, rounds of golf, autographed baseballs, jackets, gift-cards and more! The purpose of this annual event is two-fold.

The first thing the Commission is trying to accomplish is to thank all the local hoteliers for working with the Commission in 2011 while also inadvertently encouraging them to be oh-so-generous when we begin asking for our free 2012 hotel rooms. The reason we work to get an allotment of free comped nights at our local hotels is because when we are bidding on an event we like to add in as many perks and additional goodies to help pitch our case. Ex: When asking USA gymnastics to come to Tacoma it doesn't hurt to offer free hotel nights, flights, complementary meals, and more. In order to provide these additional benefits it is imperative that we have a surplus of free hotel night-stays at our fingertips.

The other reason the Sports Commission holds this event is to thank the WIAA for picking Pierce County (aka us) as their destination for many of their high school state championships. Tacoma hosts approximately 8 high school state championships annually. These are huge economic drivers that bring money from other parts of the state into Pierce County. In fact, our largest event that generates approximately 3.8 million dollars in direct spending is the WIAA Wrestling State Championships known as the WIAA Mat Classic.

Overall the experience was eye-opening. I was able to network with local hoteliers and WIAA Executives and Athletic Directors. I was able to experience an event based on schmoozing and sales. It was a prime example of how the I-help-you, you-help-me type of business works. I must say, the Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Commission knows how to throw a party and collect and distribute swag when necessary.