From cutting costs to streamlining scheduling, the right technology can save time, boost revenue and deliver events kids and families love.
It’s no accident when a youth sports tournament can offer exciting matchups, smooth schedules and extras that made the weekend fun. To deliver these events, organizers juggle hundreds of details: rosters, payments, referees/umpires and more.
The stakes keep rising. Youth sports is a booming market. Valued at $50 billion in 2024, the industry is projected to reach $114 billion by 2032.
That growth brings opportunity and pressure. Soaring costs, labor shortages and fragmented technology make it harder to provide the seamless experience families expect. Get it wrong and event owners risk no-shows, frustrated parents and teams that don’t return.
To address these challenges, many organizers rely on tournament management software. These solutions tackle the toughest parts of the job and organize details to enhance the experience for coaches, athletes and families.
This article shares five ways technology helps you save time, control costs and deliver tournaments that stand out in today’s competitive market.
1. Offset Rising Costs
Event costs are climbing across the board, for venues, officials and travel.
According to the Aspen Institute, families are spending 46 percent more on youth sports since 2019, averaging $1,016 on their child’s primary sport in 2024. For organizers, higher costs mean tighter margins. For families, they mean tough choices about whether to participate.
The good news is that event owners do not have to cover costs by raising fees. Tournament management software makes it easy to boost registration by offering specials like multi-event discounts, payment plans and waitlists to keep divisions full.
Many organizers use these platforms to create new revenue streams. Online storefronts provide a place to sell extras, including event apparel, tickets and parking passes. Built-in reservation websites help cover expenses via hotel rebates. Some solutions also let event owners and rights holders sell sponsorships and advertising within event communications and high-traffic webpages.
These platforms provide proven results. For example, Tampa Bay, Florida-based Global Sports Alliance projects 25 percent growth in registrations during its first year after upgrading its youth sports management software.
GSA tournament director Bobby Mondoux, explains, “Technology helps us achieve our goal of delivering a positive, top-tier sports experience that’s affordable to families.”
What event owners can learn from this:
Increase signups with early-bird or bundle promotions.
Diversify with merch and ticketing sales.
Offset facility and staffing costs with hotel rebates.
Use care. Excessive rebates can backfire with families already stretched thin.
2. Rocket Efficiency
Organizers often juggle five or more apps plus spreadsheets, phone calls and email chains.
This approach wastes time, creates errors and frustrates families. Payments get missed and schedule updates don’t reach parents, causing chaos on game day.
All-in-one solutions solve these issues by putting everything on a single platform, allowing participants to use one login and one dashboard.
These solutions link registration, payments, scheduling, rosters, communication and housing. When coaches sign up, rosters, waivers and payment info flow into the system. They also provide flexibility such as the ability to add a player and create updated rosters in real time. If game times are changed, families get updates instantly on their phones.
For AC Sports, efficiency and growth work together. The Pittsburgh-based tournament organizer traded a half-dozen standalone apps for an all-in-one platform. This switch streamlined operations and paved the way for the company’s 43 percent growth in events over the past five years.
Efficiency gains mean cost savings, too. In the past, there have been tournament operators who couldn’t manage more than two tournaments per weekend; running more would significantly increase staffing costs.
After moving to tournament software, they could manage six or more events each weekend with the same size staff. One operator reported a $145,000 savings in staffing costs their first year after switching to all-in-one tournament software.
What event owners can learn from this:
Reduce busywork by consolidating event technology on one platform.
Leverage automation to catch errors.
Remember that a good tech partner guides you through setup and training, so your staff isn’t left to figure it out alone.
3. Keep Everyone Up to Date
Poor communication is one of the quickest ways to lose customer trust. Families and teams like to be kept in the loop. One missed schedule update or one failure to notify families about a rain delay can lead to forfeits and damage to an event’s reputation.
A 2024 survey by the Aspen Institute revealed 57 percent of parents say better communication would improve their youth sports experience.
Integrated communications make life easier by synching with scheduling software. Change a game time and coaches, parents and referees can see it instantly on their phones and the event website.
“The technology has helped us grow,” says Matt DeSantis, CEO, AC Sports. “Everything coaches and parents need is available in one place. That level of organization builds your reputation. We now provide better experiences and get more referrals through positive word of mouth.”
Advanced systems also segment audiences, making it possible to send a reminder only to coaches or to shoot a text about a lightning storm delay just to the affected divisions and avoid worrying other teams.
What event owners can learn from this:
Tie communications to sports scheduling software and automate updates.
Segment audiences to avoid overwhelming families with unnecessary alerts.
Makes apps and websites the single source of truth for updates, rules and FAQs.
4. Build Fair, Conflict-Free Schedules
Scheduling ranks high on tournament directors’ list of top challenges.
Frustration caused by double-booked fields, kids forced to play without enough rest or too many hours between games will all be remembered by parents. Successful organizers rely on next-level sports scheduling software with drag-and-drop whiteboards, conflict checkers and hundreds of bracket templates. Using the right software allows event owners to publish final schedules to their websites and apps so families can access them instantly.
Advanced scheduling tools shine on game day. They update brackets in real time as teams enter scores. Parents can follow on their phones instead of relying on coaches for updates or crowding around printouts taped to a wall. The transparency fosters trust and keeps the focus on games, not logistics.
In short: The right scheduling software cuts hours of admin work, reduces stress and delivers fairer, safer events.
What event owners can learn from this:
Publish schedules early (ideally a week before the event).
Use conflict checkers to prevent double bookings.
Save real time updates for weather and emergencies to avoid overwhelming families.
5. Show Economic Impact
Data analytics: The best tournaments use it. The biggest clubs use it. Fast-growing independents use it. It accomplishes three powerful things: Data proves the event’s economic impact and saves time and resources. It also reveals opportunities for improvement.
For example, housing analytics reveal how many hotel room nights an event generates. It proves the return on investment CVBs value when deciding which tournaments to host.
Data-rich registration dashboards highlight which divisions fill fastest, helping event owners adjust pricing or add brackets. Post-event surveys give families and coaches a voice, pinpointing areas for improvement, such as clearer communications, enhanced destination amenities or smoother hotel check-ins. Successful organizers turn these insights into action.
The payoff is significant: better tournaments, happier families and more sustainable growth.
What event owners can learn from this:
Prove impact with housing analytics to strengthen bids.
Use registration data to forecast demand.
Conduct post-event surveys that capture feedback for your next event.
Focus on metrics that matter, like event registration, housing performance and customer feedback.
Conclusion
Running youth sports programs is complicated. Rising costs, limited staff, fragmented tools and higher parent expectations put pressure on organizers.
The right tournament management software turns challenges into opportunities. By leveraging technology, event owners and rights holders can offset costs, streamline workflows, improve communication, simplify scheduling and uncover customer insights.
Event owners and rights holder will find they can boost efficiency, increase revenue and deliver youth sports experience families love.
Technology isn’t just about lightening the workload. It’s about building sustainable, scalable tournaments that stand out in today’s crowded market. SDM
i www.businessresearchinsights.com/
market-reports/youth-sports-market-117644?utm_source=chatgpt.com
ii ibid
iii https://projectplay.org/news/2025/2/24/project-play-survey-family-spending-on-youth-sports-rises-46-over-five-years?utm_source=chatgpt.com
iv www.aspeninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/National-Youth-Sports-Parent-Survey-FINAL.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com
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