With the upcoming release of its highly anticipated sports management platform, Melbourne-based company SportsTG is continuing to provide cutting-edge digital solutions to the amateur and professional sporting industry in Australia. The full-suite service will provide several high-end capabilities, including end-to-end management across membership databases, e-commerce and event coordination.
Newer, smarter sports technology
SportsTG provides digital solutions to the sporting industry, from grassroots club and kids’ sport through to professional events. With digital management of sport growing exponentially, TG Platform was released in May 2017 and is set to become the next generation system for sporting engagement. Functions such as fixtures, competition management and match results can now be organised in one place.
“It’s the next incarnation of what we’ve always done—event registration, event management and competition management, but it’s being done with so many more smarts,” said CEO Glen McGoldrick.
One of these ‘smarts’ includes the new feature of smart fixturing. TG Platform’s innovative technology creates the most efficient fixture for everyone involved, ensuring, for example, that each parent drives the least amount of time and distance to make that fixture happen.
Digital partners of sport
In October 2015, Melbourne-based companies IMG Sports Technology and Fox Sports Pulse merged to create SportsTG. McGoldrick describes this newfound company as the “digital heartbeat of how sport is operated and run”, noting that it has revolutionised the way sport is consumed, accessed and managed in Australia.
Calling Melbourne its home, SportsTG is Australia’s largest digital sports company and one of the top 20 digital publishers in Australia. Clients currently include 35 professional clubs and 26 national sporting organisations such as the AFL, NRL, Athletics Australia, Football Federation Australia and Basketball Australia. Over 64,000 grassroots clubs and 115,000 match results are managed each month on the SportsTG platform
McGoldrick explains: “In Australia, you have a very large industry, albeit fragmented, traditionally being serviced by a cottage industry. What we wanted to do was to create a vehicle that have sufficient critical mass that attracts the investment, to service the industry properly.”
These services include online membership solutions, e-commerce capabilities and event registration. However, the highest traffic area on SportsTG’s database is local competition management – that is, ladders, results and fixtures. This means parents, for instance, can easily see where their child is playing, how many goals they kicked and where the team sits on the ladder in local competitions. In the same way, supporters, players and administrators can access scores, fixtures and stats of every match.
Game Day app success
The upcoming release of the new technology in TG Platform, comes on the back of the successful release and take up of SportsTG’s Game Day app earlier this year.
Downloadable from the Apple App Store or Google Play, Game Day app has more than 5.8 million active users and 64,000 community sporting clubs and associations.
“What people expect now is that they can get their child’s sporting results live on their mobiles, the same way they can get NBA or AFL scores,” explains McGoldrick.
The app allows users to view upcoming fixtures, get directions to your child’s next game as well as the latest scores and league ladders. Parents can also pay for their children’s participation in the competition easily and conveniently.
The app also provides club management capabilities across a user’s favourite sporting teams—ranging from game insights and ladders, through to upcoming fixtures and results.
“The only reason grassroots sport works in this country is because of the huge number of volunteer hours that are rendered up.” Mr McGoldrick said. “What we’re trying to do with Game Day is to make the experience as easy and as efficient as possible.”
Victoria a hotbed of sports-tech development
Although the company has opened other national and international offices, Mr McGoldrick and SportsTG continue to enjoy Melbourne’s rich tech-savvy environment.
“Everyone is so heavily involved [in sport]—being as a fan, a participant, a volunteer—and that connection with sport is part of everyday life in Melbourne. It makes the move into sports-tech a pretty easy progression.”
On June 5th 2017, SportsTG announced it joined forces with US based Blue Star Sports, the largest and fastest growing provider of sports management software to provide a full-service global offering.
“Over the past year, we’ve been focusing our efforts on building the best collection of sports technology companies in the youth sports ecosystem,” said Rob Wechsler, Founder and CEO of Blue Star Sports. “SportsTG fits perfectly with that vision we’ve established here at Blue Star Sports.”
McGoldrick said: “We’re excited to be combining forces with the world leader in grassroots sports technology. Blue Star Sports has shown an absolute willingness to revolutionise the industry and deliver our customers the best possible solution.”
