Sporting Events Around the UK This Summer That Aren't the Olympics

So much attention has been paid to the Olympics. Of course, it's a great honour to host such a major sporting event, but, unfortunately, not all of us can afford tickets and a trip to overpriced London during the July to August games period. Thankfully, sports is high on the agenda in many other British cities this summer too. So if you're looking for an active holiday destination for yourself, family and friends, consider some alternative options.

Brighton

Brighton will be a hive of physical activity this summer. From June 23rd to July 8th TAKEPART festival offers a jam packed programme of sporting events for all ages. Just some activities you could be taking part in are the massive Zumba scheduled to take place in Preston Park on 23rd June, karate, healthwalks, sailing, street dance and many, many more.

Paddle Round the Pier returns to Brigton this year too. It's known as Europe's largest annual free beach festival and takes place July 7-8. Any proceeds raised go to charity. Events include paddling, surf and sailing competitions, as well as land-based sports such as skate and BMX racing.

Leeds

If you're seeking a sports-related adrenaline rush, Leeds is a good place to go. On Sunday 17th June you could be taking part in the Mencap Abseil Challenge. The charity event will see brave participants abseiling an incredible 30 metres down the side of the city's central Met Carnegie. The speed of your descent is up to you... Any money you raise will go to the good cause of supporting over 250 families with a learning disability in the Leeds area per week.

Leeds will welcome the Olympic flame by hosting the Leeds Loves Sport festival from June 18th to July 1st. The calendar of events includes some of the city's largest law firms competing in corporate games, sports centres offering free swimming sessions, and organised park runs.

Toddlers can do sport too! June 20th will see The Barnardo's Big Toddle held at Temple Newsom House and Park. The short, sponsored walk saw almost 500,000 toddlers take part last year. Organisers expect more this year. It promises to be a great sight to see! All money raised will go to local Barnardo's charity projects.

Bristol

Bristol locals and visitors are in for a summer of fitness. One of the year's biggest sports initiatives is the 46 ping pong tables to be distributed throughout the city's parks and public spaces on June 29. The Ping! Bristol tables will be available for a month, free to use, and coaches will be on hand to teach beginners how to play, and give tips to more advanced players.

The first month of summer will also see the return of the Ritchey Bristol Bikefest 2012 that kicks off on the Ashton Court trails on June 9th. On day one participants get to show off their fitness levels during the 12 hour team/solo endurance race, while on day two there's a 'mere' 6 hour team/solo event, and 3 hour-long novice event.

Looking to flex those muscles even more? Check into a Bristol city hotel with a gym on site.

Harvey McEwan writes to offer information and advice on a variety of areas, from technology to holiday destinations. Read through Harvey's other articles here to find out more.

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CrowdSeats Wants to Make Sporting Events Affordable For Every One

CrowdSeats is a Los Angeles based start-up that has combined the last minute deal and daily deal models to offer 50-90% off on sporting events. Launching in August of last year, they have recently expanded to Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Dallas. Below, is an interview I had with Co-Founder Justin Cener about CrowdSeats business model and how they are changing the way sporting inventory is sold.

When Did CrowdSeats begin?

The development process was from May to August of 2011. I am huge sports fan and I had been following the whole daily deal model knowing that a lot of sports team had inventory that was going unsold. I figured it was a perfect combination of last-minute ticket sales that companies offer combined with the daily deal model. We launched in August of last year in Los Angeles, expanded to New York and this April we entered into four more markets.

Yeah, I'm in Dallas. I just got one of those emails?

Yeah we just added Dallas about a month ago, so we will be offering deals to go see the Texas Rangers for the rest of the summer.

Do yo have a locals sales team helping you?

Our founding team is our sales force - we've connected with most professional teams in North America to work out some last-minute deals with their ticket inventory. We also work with ticket exchanges which puts us in contact with some of the largest ticket brokers in the country. So we get our inventory from a combination of teams and brokers.

What type of deals are you offering?

We try to curate a good game each week. No nose bleeds or crappy sections. We try to give our customers a good game that gonna give you he best bang for your buck, which means a great view and a great deal in terms of pricing. Last Friday we did a Nicks VS Heats Playoff game and tonight were doing the Chicago Bulls Vs The 76?ers.

Obviously we do a lot of baseball games so we try to get rivalries with a lot of history and division match ups. It's been a great experience so far because people love being able to watch live sports at a reasonable price.

Do you plan on getting into concerts in the future?

Yes, but we do think that's gonna come up a little later on down the line. For now we will be focusing on sports for the next 9 to 12 months. I think that will be an easy transition once we have the user base for sports it will transfer well into other events like concerts, golf, bowling and other participation sports.

How has the customer response been so far?

The response has been exclusively positive, because they have been able to attend more sporting events without having to pay a fortune. We have gotten a lot of feedback from families. Just last week, I received an email from a family of six thanking us because otherwise they wouldn't have been able to afford the game without CrowdSeats. Teams love it as well because it's giving them the opportunity to generate revenue on perishable inventory.

How early in advance to you send out the deals?

'On average it's about 7 to 10 days before the event. In some cases it's absolutely last-minute like the Bulls deal which we just sent out a few hours ago and the game is tonight! So, it kind of varies depending on our partner.

What are some specific challenges that you have faced since launching?

I think it's just getting the word out. It's a concept that all sports fans embrace once they hear about it but it's making a large amount of them aware that we actually exist.

How do major daily deal companies like Groupon or Living Social affect the way you do business?

The biggest difference between us and a company like Groupon you have to deal with getting offers for stuff like restaurants, massages and skydiving. It's really un-targeted, but if you are a sports fanatic and you sign up for CrowdSeats you know you're gonna get sports offer every time.

Kelland L. Drumgoole
CEO of http://www.sosoactive.com/

Seasoned music industry veteran focusing on evangelizing music innovation and disruptive technologies within the digital music space.

http://www.twitter.com/sosoactive

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