SIDELINE STUDY
South Orlando Soccer Club: Labor Day Tournament
Sideline Event Management partnered with South Orlando Soccer Club to build their first tournament offering, the South Orlando Labor Day Cup from scratch in 2018. Learn how we were able to get the tournament off the ground and raise valuable funds for the club’s scholarship program.
Background
South Orlando Soccer Club (SOSC) was established in 2006 to serve the local community in Orlando. The club offers several different programs, including recreational soccer, competitive soccer, and camps, but the club hadn’t ventured into running a tournament.
During the summer before the 2018 season Cris Whittiker, SOSC President, approached Sideline looking for assistance in developing a tournament to generate money for the SOSC scholarship fund.
The Sideline Impact
After several conversations, SOSC and Sideline agreed and built a strategic plan to launch that worked with their club to execute the South Orlando Labor Day Cup. The club was looking to establish an event geared towards local D2 and D3 level teams to compete in, with the outcome to this would be the first-ever tournament run by SOSC.
Sideline developed a strategic plan to get the event of the ground, implementing a number of key initiatives. See a selection below.
sanctioning
Sideline navigated the complex sanctioning process for approval by FYSA and completed all the post-event reporting for the event.
partnerships
Sideline used their relationships with vendors to increase revenues via favorable hotel rates for out of town teams and on-site activations including event t-shirts, action photos, and food trucks.
sales and marketing
Sideline helped SOSC build reciprocal arrangements with out of town clubs to increase and grow participation.
Scheduling
Sideline managed all team registration and communication pre and post-event, worked with a referee assignor and built competitive brackets based on knowledge of the Florida competitive landscape
2018 Numbers
TEAMS
0
GAMES
0
CHAMPIONS
0
Feedback
Whilst we wanted to run an event for a long-time, the current club staff was already stretched to their limits and employing a full-time Events Director wasn’t in the budget. This is when we looked to Sideline Events. SOSC set the dates and reporting to the Board t and hey do all of the rest. No details are missed! Through their hard work we were able to establish an event from nothing and can now rely on this being a major part of our annual competitive and fundraising calendar.
Cris WhittakerSouth Orlando SC President 
“Working with SOSC has been great for Sideline Events. Once we found a date that works for the club we got the ball rolling as quickly as possible. We worked closely with a few select Board Members who Sideline Events provided biweekly reports to, and the Competitive Director to arrange the club’s reciprocal deals. To hit close to 100 teams in year one was a great success and we were delighted to be able to help the club raise much needed funds for their scholarship program."
Chris WaughSideline Events 
2019: Crisis Management
Following the incredibly successful launch of the SOSC Labor Day tournament in 2018, plans quickly started to take shape for the 2019 edition. Sideline Events was able to increase entries to 130 teams, growing the event by 31%! Unfortunately on the eve of the event, the decision was made to cancel due to the advance of Hurricane Dorian.
Sideline managed all communication to teams on the event cancelation and worked with the club to set a new date. Despite having to host the event during the Florida High School season, and therefore not being able to offer U15-U19 divisions, Sideline were able to maintain participation of 91 U9-U14 teams, almost matching the numbers from 2018.