A great earner for the club!

This can be a great way of raising awareness of the club at the local university/college. Joint marketing can make the day a real success and with the social side of university life an excellent money spinner.

Fundraising Opportunity - Newcastle vs Northumbria Uni T20 match

NCC have a partnership agreement in place with Newcastle University, our 2's, 3's and juniors use their ground when Jesmond is in alternative use, and many of their players play for us in term time. In previous years we have played a Uni v Club fixture to celebrate this, and this was always well attended. The 2 universities enjoy a fierce rivalry in Newcastle, so it seemed logical to pit the 2 sides together in a T20.
The benefits to the club seemed obvious; we are based in Jesmond, where the vast majority of the students in the city reside and by allowing both teams to play on the pitch we figured the event would be better attended.

The club are relatively experienced in hosting T20 due to the league competition, which is played on Friday nights with music and coloured clothes etc. We usually market these games to our student base and have often had over 500 people in the ground. The 2 uni sides were approached and were extremely keen, and a date post exam time was agreed.

To be fair to the 2 uni sides, they marketed the event alongside us in a vigorous manner. The best way to reach students is on Facebook we find. Simply create an Event, and invite a few students, who invite their mates. We also put posters up in the local area/businesses. 2 competing official 'after parties' were also set up in a couple of nightclubs in Newcastle!!

A further idea occurred when I suggested we charge admission. This was met with doubt, as we've never done this before. I suggested £1, as even the tightest students couldn't possibly object to a £1! I figured a 500 attendance would give the club £500, so it was pretty much money for nothing.

Both bars were opened and staffed, and the 'door' was augmented by volunteers. The DJ was in place and the music was on. All we needed now was some spectators....

Almost 1200 people turned up to watch this match. This was fantastic for the club but presented a few logistical problems. Initially, the 2 bars are simply not set up to cope with
that many people. Volunteers were drafted in to help! Bar waiting times were substantial and at more than one point we ran out of jugs to serve Pimms in, but the staff got through it.

The game itself was actually a poor game, with Newcastle triumphing comfortably. In just 3 hours the bar(s) had done sales of £4700, as well as £1100 on the door. This was comfortably the most lucrative night in the history of Newcastle CC, and it was a great way to introduce students to the club. All in all highly satisfactory.

Summary:

Cost - we provided Umpires (volunteers), a DJ and system (volunteer & borrowed) and opened 2 bars and a BBQ. No hard costs at all.

Income - approximately £6000 in bar sales and entrance fees

Pros - As well as the income, it gave the club the opportunity to showcase its facilities to a drinking market in the local area. It also attracted interest from local press.

Cons - Very few. The tidy up is a bit of an effort, and the bar works at about 200% capacity for 3 hours. 1100 drunken students on the ground can bring its own problems, but aside from 1 or 2 (regrettably male) streakers there were no issues.