Is your to-do list looking a bit lengthy? We get it—there are a lot of tasks on the plate of the athletic administration. You can’t possibly be responsible for completing all the tasks that need to be done to prepare for every event. That’s why you have to start using a game-day checklist. If you don’t already have one, starting a checklist will not only help you delegate tasks but will also ensure you have a smooth event that is run efficiently and keep fans coming back for more.
What is a Game Day Checklist?
A game day checklist is a list of tasks that must be completed before any event within your facility. This includes everything from scheduling games to preparing merchandise or restocking the snack shop. At ScoreVision, we break down our recommended checklist into five categories: critical game operations & logistics, media production, technical testing, facility maintenance, and sales & ticketing.
Critical Game Operations & Logistics
The first step for any sporting event or activity is to begin coordinating critical items that must be included to make the event a success. Here are the questions you must ask to begin forming this portion of the list:
- What is the event?
- Where will it be hosted?
- When will it take place?
- Who is involved?
- And how will it be done?
By asking questions, you may deduct what you need to get started. For example, you may need to start by creating a schedule or requesting a schedule from your District Activities Director. Next, you will likely need to have someone update the calendar on your website, and then import that schedule into the ScoreVision Cloud. Lastly, you may ask coaches to provide that schedule to the parents and athletes.
Once you’ve run through the series of tasks you know must be completed, it’s time for you to begin shaping the event by deciding what level of experience you’d like for fans to have and what tasks will be involved to make it run smoothly.
Media Production
If you’re planning to provide a rich experience with videos, animations, and advertising, then this section needs to be included in your checklist. Media production can be a daunting task for many athletic programs. It includes photography, videography, graphic design, video editing, animation, broadcasting, game scripts, and other tasks that integrate into the overall production of the game. You may also look at adding in important tasks like posting on social media or designing updated backgrounds for your scoreboard. Whatever the case may be, you get to choose how in-depth you need to go to provide teams with enough direction.
When it comes to in-venue game day content for an LED scoreboard, ScoreVision separates media production into two categories—Automated Media Sequences and On-Demand Media Collections & Playlists.
Automated Media Sequences include announcements, advertisements, and “Brand Wrappers” (personalized background for the scoreboard). They are a dynamic part of the game day experience and can be critical when looking for an opportunity to introduce new revenue streams to your program.
On-Demand Media Collections & Playlists includes an extra layer of content that’s more about elevating the experience and engaging fans. Examples of these would include hype clips, player animations, sport-specific animations like “Touch Down!” or “3-Pointer!”, and other fun things like half-time games. This media is not a requirement, but it is a way to keep fans involved and excited throughout the game.
These two categories include a vast breakdown of the items needed to not only create content but also maintain the acquisition of new footage and relevant images to sustain well-executed content creation for the next event. You can view this breakdown by downloading our checklist template.
As previously stated, this section of the checklist can often be the most overwhelming for those who are new to game day production and content creation. That’s why ScoreVision strongly recommends you get both students and staff involved in creating this content through a digital media class or after-school program. ScoreVision provides all customers with resources like ScoreVision Academy where you can discover ways to integrate learning labs and tasks into your lesson plans.
Technical Testing
Technical testing includes a handful of set-up and equipment testing including turning on your scoreboards, testing any audio equipment including sound systems and microphones, any light show software you may use, and any other equipment pertinent to your game day experience. It’s important you not only turn things on but legitimately test them.
For the scoreboard itself, ScoreVision recommends our customers not only turn the board on, but practice switching to different layouts, keeping score, starting and stopping the clock, and playing a quick animation or hype video. This allows you to ensure there are no technical issues — like creating an illegible advertisement or a slow network connection when playing a video.
For those of you who are not ScoreVision customers, you should still be turning on equipment, running a mock game day, and ensuring everything works properly. We recommend this be completed a few times before the event—one week before the start of any season, two days before the event itself, and the morning of. While you wrap up testing, make sure you also charge all devices and place chargers in areas that can be easily accessible on the day of the event. ScoreVision provides game-time support to its customers. In the event an issue does arise, our support team will be on standby ready to assist you both quickly and effectively.
Sales & Ticketing
While one individual or team is working on testing equipment, another team may be working to restock the merchandise store or prepare your choice of ticketing systems. As you are well aware, there are many options for ticketing and sales platforms. It’s important before the game you take a quick inventory, place orders, and also charge devices, and ensure everything is accurate within your point-of-purchase or transactional platform. If you’re using a ticket scanner, make sure the devices are prepared for the game and provide basic instructions to volunteers and staff who may be assisting you with these tasks.
Facility Maintenance
The last of the categories on your checklist is perhaps the most overlooked and yet vital set of tasks to ensure your fans and athletes have a wonderful experience—facility maintenance. This category should include tasks like restocking the bathrooms, cleaning the locker rooms, setting up the bleachers, ensuring the bleachers are clean, and even field and court management. These aspects of the experience may require you to work with your custodial staff or other team members to ensure they are done before the game. Maintenance is a big part of the preparation that is ongoing throughout the season.
Assigning Roles & Responsibilities
One of the reasons it’s great to have a game day checklist is because of the amount of coordination and organization that is required to complete all of these tasks. Having a checklist enables you to assign them to individuals who are responsible for different areas of the experience. In many cases, these checklists also include “hand-offs” or the transferring of information that is required for another team to get their task done. An example of this would be the importance of entering critical game information like the schedule for the season, along with team and roster information. Once this information is known, there must be a transfer of knowledge from the administration to the media production team. This transfer of knowledge at ScoreVision is easily accomplished with the ScoreVision Cloud and is accessible from anywhere at any time.
Creating a Game Day Checklist is an important step in the overall administration of hosting sporting events. These lists will ensure your event runs smoothly and enable others to have direction without constant oversight. Our advice to you is to take advantage of the template we’ve already started and modify it for your needs. These checklists may change based on the event, and they may need tweaking based on how the event runs. The important thing is you stay proactive and continue to think through the preparation that’s required to make sure your fans and your athletes have an experience they won’t forget.
