Letter from Birmingham: TEAMS Europe, Aston Villa and DreamHack Confirm the Power of Sports

 

During hundreds of trips in the name of sports-related travel over the past 18 years, it’s rare that I’ve been gone more than a week at a time, let alone two weeks.

But after a recent fortnight in England in and around Birmingham and London for our TEAMS Europe conference with industry leaders, two professional soccer matches with colleagues, and the massive DreamHack esports convention with my son, the time away only confirmed the strength of sports-related travel and the power of relationships and memories to advance the industry to even greater heights.

We know the power of sports from the work we do daily in SportsTravel and at our live events including our flagship TEAMS Conference, our EsportsTravel Summit (celebrating its 10th edition in June) and now TEAMS Europe, which just celebrated its fifth edition. We launched the latter event to introduce our brand of business development to a European audience of sports (scratch that…) sport event organizers and the destinations, venues and suppliers looking to partner on events. But it has grown to become much more.

Sports as a Destination Builder

This was the first time the event was staged as a standalone conference not attached to another Northstar or sports-industry event, a testament to how the market has responded to our approach to relationship building. Our location at the Belfry Resort — the only golf course to have hosted the Ryder Cup four times — was also a fitting host for a conference that has found its footing.

Destinations from the United States were with us in force as they, too, have found what we have discovered over the past five years: that the universe of sports-related travel professionals is becoming more international as the industry expands in exciting ways.

Our opening discussion with GSIQ researcher Eva Stewart, World Athletics thought-leader Alessio Punzi and Pennsylvania Sports Chair Danielle Vincenti set the international tone and is indicative of what I discuss when I speak to travel industry professionals about the power of sports. Eva’s research is groundbreaking in determining why international fans are traveling for sports and their impressions of destinations once they travel. According to GSIQ, roughly 80 percent of people who travel somewhere for sports leave with a greater perception of the destination, a desire to tell their friends about the benefits of the destination, and a willingness to return.

After having just spent two weeks at TEAMS Europe and at DreamHack in Birmingham — a destination I had never visited but would absolutely visit again — I can personally attest to that sentiment. And not just because the city surprisingly had the best pancakes I’ve ever had. But more on that in a minute.

Paper Airplanes and the Premier League

My impression of Birmingham and the special nature of sports was reinforced by our success at TEAMS Europe, where the 100 event organizers with us included representatives from international federations, professional soccer clubs, youth sports, enduring racing and esports — and everything in between.

But you didn’t have to be at our event to know that sports events in Birmingham — and the people behind them — are special.

Based on my extended stay there, I can tell you the power of sports to unite families and friends is universal. Our TEAMS Europe opening night was held at Villa Park — the home to Premier League stalwarts Aston Villa that opened in 1897. After the conference, the club treated me, my colleague Pete Cirello and an invited guest to experience a UEFA Europa League match against the French team Lille at the 42,000-seat stadium. It was my first time seeing a match with a Premier League team (even if it wasn’t technically a Premier League matchup), and the atmosphere was thrilling.

But my biggest memory of the game? That would be the two young brothers and their dad in front of us. The older kid, maybe 9, was already a soccer expert, standing up to give it to the referee for every call against Aston Villa. But his younger brother, maybe 7, spent the first half having his dad turn large placards that were part of a pre-game visual stunt into enormous paper airplanes that were so thick they were really more like missiles. That kid stood up to fire those airplanes as far as he could, not quite reaching the pitch, but definitely hitting the back of several fans’ heads, much to his dad’s snickering delight and his brother’s dismay.

The world’s most polite security guard came by to put a stop to it after a few takeoffs, gently advising the kid that he might “hit someone in the eye if they turned around and how would that make you feel?” The kid agreed to stop while his dad winked his ignorance as an accomplice and the brother seemed relieved to focus on the game. (Side note: I can’t imagine a security guard at any American professional game being so passive in his suggestion that it’s time to stop throwing paper missiles toward the field of play or at other fans.)

Nonetheless, we were watching family memories in motion, as inappropriate as they may have been. I would have stopped my son’s efforts if the tables were reversed, but the knowing snickers of this father and son were enough to convince anyone that sports are where memories are made — whatever those memories may be.

A few days later, SportsTravel Managing Editor Ted Keith and I were in London and watched Fulham play in their smaller 30,000-seat Craven Cottage in London against Burnley (finally, a real Premier League match!). We were seated in the last row behind a group of young Italian men who had clearly traveled together and were enjoying the experience, and adjacent to an elderly husband with his wife who muttered the Fulham cheer (“Come on Fulham!”) with a snarky emphasis on the “Come on” whenever Fulham lost the ball. That tone suggested she was invested a deep, personal way — even seated in the last row.

This was soccer in a neighborhood stadium that had as much charm as any venue I’ve ever attended. (And yes, there is an actual cottage in the corner of the stadium, something you’re unlikely to see at an NFL game.)

A Chance on the Big Stage

But it’s not just traditional sports that have the power to evoke passion as I learned on a return trip up to Birmingham a few days later.

After a week of personal time in London with my brother-in-law and nephew from Colorado who had never traveled overseas, along with my well-traveled 16-year-old son, I found myself back in Birmingham.

My son and I took the two-hour train ride back to attend DreamHack, the world’s largest gaming convention, organized by esports giant ESL FACEIT Group. We were among an estimated 50,000 video game and esports enthusiasts who took in an event that is much more than a festival of gaming. The event included some high-end professional qualifiers for games like “Call of Duty” and the F1 Sim Racing Series in temporary arenas built in the city’s National Exhibition Centre. But for casual gamers like my son (and I), there were also tons of interactive opportunities in the expo to play video games, or listen to panels or talks from influencers, many of whom we didn’t know but who clearly had followings.

My son and I enjoyed competing in “Overcooked 2,” one our favorite (and most stressful) games, where you team up to assemble and serve dishes in a bizarre restaurant setting that only throws obstacles in your way. Competing as the “Brum Boys” as a nod to the host city, we finished third, despite using a keyboard to play instead of our regular console controllers. Afterward, I enjoyed watching my son try some racing simulators and play some of his other favorite games.

And in an unexpected twist, we loved watching a demonstration of “Just Dance” with an influencer who has mastered every move in every song. When she invited people up to try their hand (and feet) at other songs, my son shocked me by jumping on stage to give it a shot. He was great. Before I knew it, I was up there as well at his urging with some others to attempt Katy Perry’s “Fireworks.” There is video footage of this, but I’m not ready for the public shaming of sharing that with our dear readers, even if I was willing to subject myself to complete strangers that day. We laughed the rest of day about our performances.

A New Esports Venue Rises

Near the end of the day, we stumbled across a booth for the British Esports Federation, the national governing body, where I ran into Joel Lavery, a veteran executive in traditional sports who is advising the upstart esports body on their efforts and who was a big help in our efforts to bring TEAMS Europe to Birmingham this year. He introduced me to Senior Vice President Dave Martin, who showed me plans for a new esports area in Sunderland that is under construction and will be complete this summer. It will be a prime example of the next generation of venues as the esports industry continues to chart its course.

Based on the plans I saw for that venue, and the throngs of fans that submerged on Birmingham for DreamHack, it’s clear that esports will continue to play an important role in the larger sports events industry in years to come.

In fact, walking around with thousands of esports and gaming enthusiasts at DreamHack, it underscored the important role our own EsportsTravel Summit plays when we bring it to the Cincinnati region June 23–25. For 10 years now, our event has aimed to be a resource for this community to build its in-person event infrastructure. What happened in Birmingham was no fluke — esports are here to stay.

And like that dad and son at the Aston Villa game, our time at DreamHack produced lasting memories for me and my son — one that will be rekindled any time we might randomly hear “Fireworks.”

Pancakes and More

All these experiences over two weeks are indicative of what the sports-event industry is all about. Our industry is creating a lifetime of memories in ways many other forms of travel cannot. And the experience of traveling is part of the fun.

Oh, about those pancakes. If you ever find yourself at the Grand Hotel in downtown Birmingham, I can’t recommend them enough. They were billed as “American pancakes,” whatever that might mean. I don’t generally eat a lot of pancakes but when I saw someone else order them, they looked legit so I gave it a shot. Turns out they were the best I’ve ever had. Sometimes you have to go all the way to another country to find the best surprises.

On the train ride back to the airport to return home after two weeks away, it dawned on me what I had experienced over that time. Our TEAMS Europe reaffirmed the power that relationship-building can deliver for the industry. My time attending traditional sports events with colleagues underscored the power that sports has to create lasting memories. And my time at the world’s largest esports convention with my son confirmed that there remain new and innovative ways to think about sports events.

Above all, it confirmed the special bond sports events bring not just for host cities, but for families and friends that travel to experience those events as well.

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Jason Gewirtz is vice president and managing director of the Northstar Meetings Group Sports Division and the publisher of SportsTravel.