Every sporting event—whether it’s for your school, a fundraiser, a tournament, your company, or your community—needs a sports event brochure.
Yet, brochures for sports events differ from the average event brochure. For example, sports events often include sponsors, teams or players, coaches or trainers helping run the event, and more. And not every type of brochure works for sports event content.
Whether you’re planning a baseball camp, a golf tournament, a homecoming football game, or a fitness class, here are some tips for creating a successful and eye-catching brochure for sports events.
Tips for Creating a Brochure for Sports Event
Tip 1: Gather Your Sports Event Brochure Content
No matter what type of sports event you’re planning, you’ll need to plan out all the details needed for your event brochure, so you don’t forget anything.
Here are a few things to consider including in your sports event brochure:
Sports event name and description – What type of sports event are you planning for? Is it a sports camp, tournament, marathon, or training session? Make sure to include your event's name and a description of it in your sports event brochure.
Date, time, and location of your sports event – In your sports event brochure, include the date, time, and location it takes place.
Sports event logo – Does your sports event have a logo like say the Olympics, US Open, or The Masters? Make sure to include your logo on at least the front panel of your sports event brochure.
Sponsorship information – If you’re looking for sponsors, then you need to include pricing information, incentive details, and registration information. If you’ve got sponsors already, include your sponsors' logos and any other advertisement details that were promised.
Registration information to attend – If your sports event requires people to sign up (whether to attend to watch or to take part in the event) make sure to include pricing, rules, and details on how to sign up.
Conditions set for participating – Is there an age limit or specific items participants need to bring or wear? Make sure to include these details within your sports event brochure.
Contact information – Whether you’re hosting a summer softball camp for teens or a golf tournament for adults, you need to include contact information for parents and participants in an easy-to-find place within your brochure.
Timeline for sports event – Is there a timetable for specific activities, speeches, awards, or performances? Include these details within your sports event brochure so attendees don’t feel lost or miss anything.
Teams, players, coaches, or trainers? – If you have teams or players participating in your sports event or have coaches or special trainers helping run your event, include their names, a quick description, and an image if it makes sense for your event.
Imagery – Images bring your sports event brochure to life. Always include imagery such as photos of your past event, graphics that align with the type of event you’re planning, or images of participants.
Tip 2: Choose the Right Type of Brochure for Your Sports Event
There are many different types of brochures to choose from and you’ll want to make sure you choose the right type and size for your sports event.
For example, if you have a lot of details to include in your sports event brochure or if it’s a multi-day event, then a larger brochure with more folds would be ideal. For example, an 8.5x14 roll-fold brochure would give you more panels and space to display your information compared to a 5.5x8.5 half-fold brochure.
The most popular types of brochures for sports events include the half-fold, z-fold, trifold, double parallel, and the roll fold brochure. Yet below is an image of each type of brochure for you to get an idea of how your event brochure content could be presented using the many other types:
Tip 3: Use A Sports Event Brochure Template
When getting your sports event brochure design ready for print, it’s helpful to use a design template to ensure your design is the right size, has the right margin space, and has the right bleed.
Margin refers to the area where you should avoid placing any text or images that you want to have seen. It’s recommended that you place all text and images that do not run off the page or onto the next brochure panel, at least 1/8” away from the edge of the page or the brochure fold.
Bleed is the extra area where images, background colors, and other elements should extend so that during the trimming processes, the design continues off the edge of the paper.
Brochure templates have these parameters in place so that all you have to do is follow the guidelines. For sports event brochure templates, the most used templates are listed below for you to download for free. However, if you’re looking for a different brochure size or fold, head over to our full list of brochure templates today.
Tip 4: Organize Your Sports Event Brochure Content Fluidly
No matter what type of brochure you choose, it’s important that the content and design elements flow cohesively from one panel to the next.
For the cover of your event brochure (or front panel), this is where your logo and sports event name need to be. From there you need to figure out what other details should be included on the cover, if any. For example, should the date, time, and location be displayed on the front panel or on a separate panel of its own?
For the other panels of your event brochure, you should organize the text and design elements in a complementing and easy-to-read way. For example, any conditions that are set in place to participate are often near the event timetable and pricing, while contact information is near or on the same panel as the registration form.
When laying out your event brochure content within your sports event brochure design template, pay close attention to negative space. If your brochure design becomes cramped, you need to drop or move content to break sections and details up. This will help make your sports event brochure easy to read and engage with.
Tip 5: Get the Text to Image Ratio Right
To create a successful sports event brochure or sports program, you need to get the text to image ratio right. This means not including too many images or too much text within your design.
Keep descriptions short and only include the essentials when typing out the copy of your sports event brochure. If something needs to be written out in detail, consider laying it out on its own panel or including a QR code to lead viewers to a webpage to learn more.
While images will bring your sports event brochure to life, you need to be careful that you’re not using too many or too few. And you need to make sure they’re dispersed in a balanced way. For example, look at this yoga event brochure example. They have quite a bit of text that they needed to include, so they used images within panels of their own to balance out the text-heavy panels.
Tip 6: Make Your Sports Event Brochure Cover Eye-Catching
The design of your sports event brochure cover needs to stand out and intrigue your audience to unfold it. Like a book, your brochure recipients will judge the cover of your sports event brochure. If it’s boring, crowded, or doesn’t include enough information, they will ignore it.
Use bold and large fonts to highlight the name of your event. Include eye-catching images, and striking design elements to add emphasis to your sports event brochure’s message.
Use this soccer camp brochure for an example of what your sports event brochure could look like. The designer did a great job of laying out the design elements. They even included pricing, the date, and a few conditions to give their audience a sneak peek of what to expect.
Tip 7: Make Your Sports Even Brochure Standout with Color & Contrast
Colors are a powerful tool that helps get a reaction and response. Colors help set the mood of your sports event and give your audience a feel for what your sports event will be like. And color should always be used in your sports event brochure. Use colors that align with your event, brand, and audience, and always use consistent colors throughout your event brochure design.
For example, for every sports event brochure example in this blog, the colors on each panel are consistent with each other. Not a single example strays from the color palette the designer is using. Also, take note that each example also has high contrast making the text and design elements easy to read and the whole design stand out.
Tip 8: Use Sponsors
Using sponsors to help pay for uniforms, banners, food, venues, or even your sports event brochure printing costs is a great opportunity for you to get the most out of your sports event.
You can even create a sports event brochure for potential sponsors with a list of incentives, pricing for each incentive, and a form to register.
Once you have your sponsors, don’t forget to thank them in the brochure you send to your event attendees. This could include a list of your sponsors' logos, quick bios, or a thank you message to all sponsors.
Tip 9: Proofread, Proofread, Proofread!
When creating a brochure for your sports event, make sure to check for typos. For tournaments and other big sporting events, the event brochure is often held onto as a souvenir and the last thing you want for your final printed brochure is to have misspelled names or a misplaced image.
Ask your friend, coworker, and even a stranger to proofread your sports event brochure content to ensure there are no errors before you get it printed.
Tip 10: Find the Right Sports Event Brochure Printer
After you have your sports event brochure design ready to go, it’s time to get it printed.
When looking for a printer, you’ll want to look for a company that offers easy ordering, free design templates, great prices, design services, fast speeds, a variety of brochure options—including many paper types, sizes, folding options, and finishes—and a helpful customer service team that can help you get the best price for your goals.
At Conquest Graphics, we offer all the above and with our brochure product configurator, you can explore all our options and get an instant quote. Plus, our team of experts is available via email, live chat, or phone at 800-707-9903 to help you every step of the way so that your sports event brochures meet your budget and exceed your goals.
