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What Makes a Great Sports Events Partner?
A specialist sports events partner should be able to manage the complete guest experience around a major sporting event, from accreditation, travel and accommodation to ground transport, VIP services, hospitality and on-site delivery.
For global brands, sponsorship of a major sporting event creates an opportunity to build relationships, reward clients and employees, engage partners and create memorable experiences. But behind that experience sits a complex operation.
Hundreds of guests may be arriving from different countries. Hotel availability can be extremely limited. Accreditation and ticket allocations have strict deadlines. VIPs require personalised support, while schedules, transport conditions and event requirements can change at short notice.
The right sports events partner brings those moving parts together, giving the sponsorship team one experienced point of coordination and allowing guests to focus on the experience rather than the logistics.
Manage accreditation from beginning to end
Accreditation is one of the most important parts of delivering a major sports sponsorship programme.
Different guests may require different levels of access, while organisers often impose strict processes, deadlines and information requirements. Managing this manually across hundreds of attendees can quickly become complicated.
A sports events partner should be able to coordinate the full accreditation process, including:
- Collecting accurate guest information
- Managing submission deadlines
- Allocating tickets and hospitality access
- Tracking accreditation status
- Managing guest changes
- Distributing information clearly
- Coordinating with event organisers and rights holders
ATPI has extensive experience managing these requirements around major sporting events. Across its long-running work supporting official UEFA partners, the team manages guest assignments, hospitality access, accreditation processes and ticket distribution while ensuring requirements are followed.
For a Sponsorship Manager, that means less time chasing individual details and greater confidence that the right guests have the right access when they arrive.
Understand the host city before guests arrive
Every major sporting event creates a different logistical challenge.
Airports, hotel capacity, stadium access, traffic restrictions, security zones and hospitality locations all vary from one destination to another. A model that worked successfully in London may need to look completely different in Paris, Istanbul or another host city.
That makes destination research an essential part of planning.
A specialist team should understand:
- Which airports guests will use
- Where suitable hotels are located
- Journey times between key locations
- Venue and hospitality access points
- Local transport infrastructure
- Traffic and security restrictions
- Appropriate arrival and departure patterns
- Local suppliers and operational partners
ATPI’s Events teams begin analysing host destinations well before guests travel, looking at everything from hotel inventory and airport capacity to transportation routes, security zones and stadium access.
This local knowledge then informs the complete guest journey rather than leaving individual suppliers to operate in isolation.
Secure accommodation when availability is under pressure
Hotel availability can become one of the greatest challenges around a major sporting event.
Sponsors, teams, governing bodies, media organisations, officials and supporters are all competing for inventory, often years before the event takes place.
Simply searching online once the guest list is confirmed may be too late.
An experienced sports events partner can use established hotel relationships, purchasing power and destination knowledge to identify suitable accommodation and negotiate inventory well in advance.
That capability becomes particularly valuable when a city appears to be fully booked.
For the UEFA Champions League Final in London, ATPI supported Just Eat Takeaway.com with a programme involving numerous VIPs and partners. Despite extremely high demand, ATPI’s network helped secure accommodation that met the sponsor’s requirements while the wider team managed travel, transfers, accreditation and the guest experience.
ATPI’s specialist Hotel Desk also supports complex group accommodation requirements and has experience responding when major event destinations change at short notice.
Give VIPs, sponsors and media the right level of service
The people attending a sponsorship programme are rarely a standard travel group.
They may include:
- Senior clients and executives
- Commercial partners
- Competition winners
- Influencers and creators
- Media representatives
- Broadcasters
- Employees
- VIP guests
Each group can have different expectations and operational requirements.
A senior executive may require a private airport transfer and highly flexible itinerary. A media team may be working around production schedules and carrying specialist equipment. An invited client may need guidance throughout an unfamiliar destination.
High-touch service can include meet-and-greet, personalised itineraries, dedicated contacts, executive transportation, premium accommodation and real-time support when plans change.
During Paris 2024, ATPI supported athletes and sporting organisations alongside sponsors and hospitality guests, while also managing domestic travel and logistics for media, officials and support staff. ATPI additionally delivered 15 hospitality programmes across 18 days for On Location.
That breadth of experience matters because major sports sponsorship programmes increasingly sit at the intersection of travel, events, hospitality and media.
Connect travel with the hospitality experience
For the guest, the sporting event is only one part of the overall experience.
The journey may begin with an invitation and continue through flights, hotel stays, welcome events, destination experiences, hospitality programmes, the sporting event itself and the journey home.
A specialist partner should be able to connect these stages rather than treating them as individual transactions.
ATPI has designed and delivered sports hospitality programmes around major events including UEFA Champions League Finals and the Olympic Games. Its work for Heineken around a Champions League Final included international travel, accommodation, destination experiences, dedicated transportation and match-day hospitality for 1,200 guests.
This is where sports travel and event expertise come together.
The objective is not simply to get guests to the match. It is to create an experience that reflects the sponsor’s brand and makes their investment in the event more meaningful.
Combine experienced people with reliable technology
Technology is essential when hundreds of guests, bookings, hotel rooms, transfers and programme details need to be coordinated.
But technology alone does not deliver a successful sports event.
The strongest model combines a central source of reliable information with experienced people who know how to use it and what to do when circumstances change.
ATPI EventsHub brings registrations, travel logistics, guest communications and real-time information together within one platform. Organisers can manage flights, hotels, transfers and inventory while maintaining visibility over the guest programme.
Behind that technology sit event specialists who can troubleshoot problems, coordinate suppliers and respond on the ground.
That human expertise becomes especially important in high-pressure sporting environments where disruption can have an immediate effect on the guest experience.
ATPI teams have worked across the UEFA Champions League Finals, Olympic Games and major sports competitions, building an understanding of the pressure, safety requirements and expectations surrounding major sporting events.
What should you look for in a sports events partner?
For a major sponsorship programme, a sports events partner should be able to provide:
- End-to-end accreditation and ticket management
- Detailed host-city and destination planning
- International travel and group logistics
- Access to suitable accommodation in high-demand destinations
- Ground transportation and airport operations
- VIP, sponsor and media travel management
- Bespoke hospitality programme design
- On-site event support
- Integrated guest and travel technology
- Experienced specialists able to respond when plans change
Most importantly, these services should operate as one connected programme.
Creating confidence behind the experience
Major sponsorship programmes are designed to create moments guests remember.
The logistics behind those moments should be almost invisible.
Flights arrive when they need to. Guests know where to go. Hotels are ready. Accreditation works. Transfers appear at the right time and support is available when circumstances change.
Delivering that simplicity requires considerable work behind the scenes.
By combining specialist people, destination knowledge, supplier relationships and technology, an experienced sports travel and events partner can take ownership of that complexity and give Sponsorship Managers confidence that their guests, their programme and ultimately their brand are in safe hands.
