We’re here, and we want to help. We know the past five months have been detrimental to the sports landscape, across the country, not just in Durham. While we’ve been working hand in hand with the events that were scheduled to take place during these past few months, we felt now is the time to connect with all of our event stakeholders and encourage you to spread this message throughout your sports channels. The Durham Sports Commission (DSC) is still here and we want to help.
As a reminder, our mission is to create economic and social impact by leading the community’s efforts to attract, support, and promote youth, amateur, collegiate, and professional sporting and recreational events. The DSC also seeks to maximize the potential of Durham’s sports facilities and venues while providing leadership and guidance to the public and private sectors on the development of athletic facilities and programs that will positively benefit the quality of life of the citizens of Durham. Here are a few ways in which we work towards those goals:
- Grants and Sponsorships: As always, the DSC’s mission is to create economic and social impact through sports. One of the ways we do that is with grants and sponsorships for event owners who want to host events in Durham. These grant dollars can be used in a variety of ways. During this pandemic crisis, we know these dollars can be of even more use. Does your event need to increase the budget to account for face coverings and hand sanitizer? Has your budget been cut due to a lack of membership dues? We’d like to help. Our goal is to do everything we can to keep these events in Durham and continue building a strong and active sports culture.
- Prioritizing and Promoting Diversity: We aim to promote and prioritize diversity and improve access to all in local events. Therefore, we want to help you make your event more accessible. Here’s how we can help:
- Marketing your event to diverse audiences
- Funding assistance to break down barriers for access
- Consult with other local organizations to foster engaging partnerships
- Added value to events: When working with event planners, one of our priorities is to identify how can we make your event bigger and better. This will look different for each event and we’d encourage you to schedule a planning meeting with our team! Some general ways in which we can help raise awareness and impact of your event include:
- Welcome bags and gifts for attendees & coaches
- Event signage
- Staff meal assistance
- Hotel room block assistance
- Event marketing
- Connection with community partners
- Pandemic specific assistance and guideline guidance: As the thought leader for sports in Durham, we’ve done our best to stay abreast of the most current guidelines and restrictions for local sporting events. We’d be happy to brainstorm and consult with you when your event is in the planning stages and provide our assistance.
- Safety and cleanliness suggestions
- Funding assistance to cover the cost of sanitation
- Consultation and Planning Assistance: We are ALWAYS here to be a sounding board for your event. Our staff takes pride in being the experts on hosting sporting events and would love to assist you early in the planning stages to make your event the most efficient and exciting event possible.
All in all, this is meant to be a simple reminder that we’re still here and ready to assist. The sports landscape may look different but the Durham Sports Commission is working to help bring it back here in Durham. Please contact us with any questions or if we can be of any assistance.
