Outdoor Sporting Venues in London

Everyone likes a sports event, and whether it’s indoors or outdoors, you’re sure to get a good crowd of people attending to cheer on their favourites. When you are organising something that’s to be outside however, it always comes with its own unique set of issues that simply aren’t a problem if everyone is indoors. It’s all good fun however, and really, what’s a football match without a bit of rain anyway? Here we have a few tips to help you get started with organising your next outdoor sports event:

Step 1: Find a Venue

The local park really isn’t an option if you are hosting an official competition or sporting event. You’re going to need a space that has all of the right certifications, the right amount of space, and also has access to everything else a stadium provides. This includes things like good changing rooms, seats for fans, and even a place for everyone to go and enjoy a catered dinner afterwards. Outdoor sports event venues for hire in London are popular choices for a whole rage of different activities, particularly things such as music concerts. So, if you’re looking to hire one for an actual sporting event, it should really be a walk in the park.

Step 2: Have a Rain Plan

No one likes to think about it, but if you are organising a sports event outdoors, then you need to have a rain plan. Of course, most sports can carry on to a certain extent in the wet weather, if anything it’s somethings the default for training in. Yet there still comes a time when things need to be called off. Knowing when this is, who will be calling the shots, and having a plan for if this does happen are all essential. A good course of action is to get everyone in the dry and see if things clear up after a time. If not, have another date already booked provisionally in the calendar in case the whole thing has to be cancelled. No one likes to travel for a cancelled event, so make sure and still feed everyone if that was the original plan. The weather can’t be helped, so everyone will understand.

Step 3: Look for Sponsors

If order to afford everything that a large outdoor sporting event needs, you’re going to need some sponsors under your belt. They will help you to advertise your event, sell tickets, and provide you with the much-needed cash required for branding and venue hire. Sponsors from the local community are great for helping to foster relationships, and they will already be well known by those attending. While you’ll have to adhere to their sponsorship conditions, this shouldn’t be too difficult. What is difficult is trying to organise an event like this without a sponsor helping you out.

Step 4: Hire Your Staff

You’ll need a lot of staff for an outdoor sporting event, so it’s advised to get on the ball early when it comes to getting them all organised and ready. You’ll need security at the entrance to check bags, staff to take tickets and usher people to seats, help with the different teams and competitors around, and much more. Volunteers are a great resource that you should utilise to its fullest extent, but don’t forget that you need people in charge of them and to train them in what they need to do. First aid personnel will also need to be hired as well as administrators to keep everything running. After all, while you might be the main organiser, you can’t be expected to do everything on your own. Finally, you’ll need officials and referees for the day. Without these, your whole sporting event won’t be counted as official by anyone.

Step 5: Marketing

Once you have the basics covered, it’s time to get marketing. Reach out to all the local sports clubs and venues and ask them to display your poster or share your event on social media. Getting schools involved is also great for promoting purposes as well. You need to start marketing early and with fervour in order to get the word spread far and wide. Social media is of course your friend here and having a competition where people can win tickets will help the promotion train along nicely. Don’t, however, disregard the local media. Newspapers and radio are great at promoting events, and more people still read their local paper than you might think. Promoting something like a sports event happening locally is sure to be something they’ll want to get involved in.

Step 6: Prizes

It’s not a competition without prizes, so you’ll need to ensure that you have medals for everyone competing as well as something special for the top spots. It’s a great idea to be able to give out a goody bag of branded material to everyone involved and your sponsor should be able to help you to do that. Everyone loves some freebies and it’s important that those who have come along are made to feel welcomed and special. It’s also a good idea to make sure that you have a photographer on board to take action shots as well as pictures of everyone together. Not only will this be something that participants can look back on, it will also be great post-event marketing material to use.

Hosting an outdoor sports event is a big ask for anyone, which is why you’ll need a team of people behind you. Of course, the rewards speak for themselves, being able to get an audience in to celebrate human achievement at any level is good for the participants and fans alike. While there might be a lot to do, once you’ve found the perfect outdoor sporting venue, you’ll be halfway to a successful event before you know it.

What is an outdoor sporting venue?

Outdoor sporting venues can play host to a wide range of sporting events and other occasions. Defined as an outdoor space that can facilitate a vast range of sports, a sporting venue is an open space that is either publicly or privately owned. Common outdoor sports venues includes track and field stadiums, football stadiums, outdoor swimming pools, outdoor arenas, tennis courts, squash courts, and more.

What type of events can you host at an outdoor sporting venue?

London is home to many fantastic outdoor sporting venues that play host to some of the world’s most iconic sporting events. In fact, the city’s yearly sporting calendar is usually jam packed with football, tennis, swimming, rugby, rowing, and much more. However, it’s not just sporting events that can take advantage of London’s world class outdoor sporting venues. A whole host of other events can be hosted in them too, including: • Graduations • Team building days • Music concerts • Corporate events • Entertainment • Business gatherings • Talent shows

What to consider when choosing a sporting venue for your event?

Before choosing a suitable sporting venue for your event, it’s important that you take into consideration a number of different factors. After all, you don’t want issues such as limited visibility or overcrowding to ruin your event, right? With this in mind, when searching for the perfect outdoor sporting venue for your event, you should think about the following: Capacity – can the venue accommodate the size of your audience? Location – is the venue accessible to your guests? Parking – is there accessible parking available? Facilities – what facilities does the venue offer? Layout and Design – is the layout and design of the venue suitable? Accessibility – is the venue accessible?

What is the largest outdoor sporting venue in the UK?

London is home to the largest sporting venue in the UK – Wembley Stadium. With a 90,000 capacity, Wembley stadium hosts a wide range of different events including football, sporting events, concerts, gigs, boxing, and more.

Why choosing the correct venue is important?

Venue selection is absolutely vital to the success of your event and it’s important that you do your research into the suitability of the event you are looking at. This means thinking carefully about the impact the venue’s location, accessibility, facilities, credibility and status will have on your event.