Sports programs are essential for any sporting event. Often, teams will do a season program with possible inserts for team rosters and other individual information. Since our sports careers don’t last forever, high school and college game day programs as souvenirs will keep the memories alive for years to come.

The key to creating a successful sports program is to think like a fan – what would they want to know? It’s easy to fill with information that an organizer wants attendees to know, but this may not always be relevant to fans. When sports fans attend a game, they often don’t just want to watch it – they want to become involved. Here’s what you need to keep in mind when designing your sports program.

Use High-Resolution Photos

Fans, parents and family want to see pictures and they don’t necessarily want their program to be crowded with text. Keep it short and sweet, with relevant information about the game or team.

A good resolution for photos in your program is 300 dpi. While most images displayed on a computer screen have a resolution of 72 dpi and 96 dpi and may look good on your monitor, anything below 300 dpi will print pixelated.

Important, Relevant Pages

We don’t want you to miss any important game information in your sports program, so we came up with a list of important pages you want to be sure to add. If you need help getting started with your design, we offer free downloadable templates and an online design tool to help you out!

• Table of Contents
• Schedule of Upcoming Games
• Nightly Promotions
• Varsity/Junior Varsity Team Photos
  
• Full Roster (individual players with name, picture, number and position)
• Meet the Manager/Coach/Coaching Staff
  • Photos and a letter from each
• “Meet the Seniors” Page
• Booster Club, Cheerleading and Mascot Information
• Action pictures (from previous games, practices and pep rallies)
• Information Pages
• Thank You Page
• List of Advertisers

Filler Pages

If you have empty pages throughout and aren’t sure what to fill them with, using filler pages is a great option! Filler pages can contain any relevant information, school records, rules for the game, statistics, previous game scores and an autograph page. Ocean View added the “Football 101” pages shown below to let fans know what’s going on on the field.

Local Advertising

Asking for sponsors can be an easy way to get involved in the community and for the community to give back to its schools and sports organizations. When a local business donates to your program, they are not only helping you, but they are utilizing cheap advertising and brand awareness. You can even ask the parents and families if they’d like to recognize their athlete with a personal program ad! Though you should absolutely consider using the team or players for physical fundraisers like a car wash, not contacting families and local businesses means missing out on community involvement and a lot of free money for your team.

If you touch on all these points, we are sure your sports program printing will be a success! Whether you designing a program for football, baseball, basketball, soccer, tennis, wrestling, swimming, volleyball, cheerleading, track & field, or more, we can handle your printing needs. Just head to printingcenterusa.com or give us a call at 800-995-1555 to get started!