Thanks again to Melissa Blair, co-founder of SportsHosts for sharing her insights and future plans for the organisation.
If you missed the conversations on the #ama channel, you can read the transcription here including the followup questions from other members.
Q. seancallanan: I'll open the questions @melissakb_sportshosts can you tell us more about what Sports Hosts do and the story so far?
A. @melissakb_sportshosts: SportsHosts (www.sportshosts.com) connects visitors with local fans to experience live sports together.
If you travelling to a new city – you can connect with a local host to enjoy the game with!
If you're a passionate sports fans – you can show off your favourite team, sport and city with new people.
Best part – the connection is completely free – so it's always an authentic and real experience vs. a tour guide
Q. Tod Caflisch: Does Sports Hosts partner with other services like SWIAM (Sports Where I Am) or local sports teams to help enhance the visitors experience?
A. @melissakb_sportshosts: Hi @Tod Caflisch Great question! We definitely partner with major league teams and that's a key part of our revenue model. Currently we have partnerships with Melbourne Football Club, Melbourne City Football Club and Melbourne Stars in Australia with a few others in the works. In the US, we're partnered with the Brooklyn Nets, NYC Football Club and San Francisco Giants.
SWIAM is a great platform and we're having a discussion with them soon. However our offerings are different. The visitors' experience is really enhanced from having the local host. There is no better way to get to know a new city, team or sport than with a local!
Q. joliegee: how are you seeing the next 12 months for SportsHosts?
A. @melissakb_sportshosts: Hi @joliegee Great question! We're are expanding in both in Australia and the US bringing on more teams across the majors cities. We are also in discussion at the league level and would love to start implementing across entire leagues.
This year is also going to be an important one from a product perspective as we work to shift from an MVP version of the product to a more sophisticated experience.
Q. seancallanan: @melissakb_sportshosts is there a particular demographic or geographic region of traveller that is looking for a Sports Hosts experience?
A. @melissakb_sportshosts: Hi @seancallanan – thanks for your question! We have had visitors from over 37 different countries and counting. The visitors tend to skew younger around 18 – 34 and the most popular countries where people come from are Colombia, Brazil, Western Europe, Canada/US and Aus. It tends often to be more of a psychographic vs. demographic – people that are open-minded, accepting, excited to meet new people and enjoy how sport can reflect the cultural experience of a place.
Thanks again to Melissa Blair for taking time in doing the AMA. Connect with Melissa on Twitter @MelissaKBlair, Instagram, LinkedIn and Slack @melissakb_sportshosts.
Find out more about SportsHosts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube
Thanks also to all who participated in the discussions and asked their questions. Watch out for the next Sports Geek Nation AMA.
Want to do the Sports Geek Nation AMA? Please send @seancalalnan or @joliegee a message in Slack.
