Truly Incentivizing Players to Enter Tournaments

Fiend at Court Unplugged

People respond to incentives that are placed before them. It is a part of human nature. Anyone who is intent on building participation in tennis tournaments should periodically invest time to brainstorm potential ways incentivize players to enter more tournaments. Today I am sharing the results from my own brainstorming session on this topic.

The following list is the complete set of ideas that I came up in 10 minutes. I set a timer for that duration to constrain the exercise. (For the sake of transparency, the descriptions were added after the timer had expired.)

• Discounts for Early Tournament Entries. Christina Colwell responded to Friday’s post with a suggestion that discounts could be offered for early registration. The “Early Bird” mechanism is frequently used in event registration for industry conferences. Early entries increase overall participation.
• Loyalty Awards. Players who enter tournaments could accrue points to exchange for USTA Swag or other merchandise. This would work even better if there was an exclusive “Tournament Tough” logo/branding that can only be obtained through this mechanism. If this was implemented at the Section level, then the points could be redeemed for USTA Sectional branded items.
• Tournament Amenities. The most popular adult tournaments in my Section feature a player party with free beer. Additionally, those events build relationships and a sense of community that builds the ecosystem.
• Unique Amenities. There is a team tennis tournament in Louisiana that attracts a lot of out of area tournament dues to the fact that the player party is a Crawfish Boil. That’s kicking it up a notch!
• Clinics/Drills. Setting aside a court as the draws start to dwindle on the last day of an event for instructional clinic or drop in drill might ease the sting of losing out before the final day. I particularly like this idea for National (Level 1, 2, and 3) tournaments.
• Side Events. I dislike shortened format for matches that matter. By definition that is all tournament tennis. I would, however, be willing to compete in a tie-break tens tournament the evening before the tournament officially begins. I’d even play short court games. No Pickleball. Please.
• Seminars/Q&A Sessions. Tournaments are an opportunity for presentations from USTA leadership or question and answer sessions. Tournament players need to feel like they have a voice and are being heard. “Listening” events from National, Sectional, or CTA leadership would likely be well received.
• Swag/Unique Swag. When a tournament has a really nice T shirt, players tend to wear it. A lot. Those T shirts promote tournament play in general as well as the individual tournament. The “Masters” in the Texas Section has a custom towel made each year for participants. Those towels are highly coveted.
• Media Attention. Tournament organizers should reach out to the local media before, during, and after tournaments for publicity in the tournament. Chances are there are prospective or former players in the community that would re-engage with tennis if they realized people were competing close to home. A tournament organizer might have to ghost write copy for the newspaper, but the publicity is worth it.
• Action Photography. Engaging a photographer to take action shots of players for free download and distribution provides opportunities players to share their tennis play on social media. (Shout out to Pushkar Chhajed a player in my local section who frequently posts a bunch of action shots as a hobby.)
• Social Media Photo Ops. Backdrops and props that encourage players to take pictures and post them on social media can be an incentive for players to return to the event the following year. The photos themselves are advertising for next year.
• Prize Money. This is offered at a few senior age-group open tournaments. I think that it could also be used effectively to incentivize open age group play for the younger age group open players as well.
• Quality Awards/Unique Awards. Most adults have outgrown cheap plastic trophies. Quality items with a utilitarian purpose are great. The Trophy Husband uses a stainless steel tumbler from the (now defunct) Fort Worth Major Zone with great regularity. Custom glassware is also nice. The Level 2 Westwood Senior Championships awards a distinctive pottery every year that is highly valued.
• Rankings Points. Obviously this mechanism is already in place, but it is included here for the sake of completeness.
• Access to Exclusive Events. The Texas Masters is an end of season championship tournament with only 8 slots in each division. That creates exclusivity and competition for the opportunity to play. The Masters scarcity mechanism is an incentive that encourages players to play all the other tournaments. It is the same effect that (I think) the USTA was going for with NTRP Nationals.
• Digital Badges. Social media has convinced me that people value digital badges associated with their profile. The USTA player profile could be augmented with these digital trophies representing tournament participation achievements. This would include maintaining some record of “streaks.”

There you have it. A quick list of things to try generated in very little time. I am sure that the list is far from complete.

What did I miss?