Everyone loves their school’s mascot! Even if you attended high school years and years ago, we’re sure you can remember your mascot’s face plastered all across the school – and that’s why branding your gym floor is so important. Not only does branding encourage your students to get excited about home games, but it also creates an atmosphere of support for your team and athletic department.
If you’re wondering how to take advantage of the floor space Sports Floors, Inc. just installed in your school gym, here’s how to brand your gymnasium floor for expert results.
Designing Your Logo
Having a design in mind when your athletic program sets out to brand your court isn’t always necessary, but having some ideas is extremely helpful for the branding process. Teams need to know their colors and have a logo. If you do not have a logo yet, Sports Floors can help design one for you! From there, we can discuss the direction you would like to see your floor go in, and we can supply multiple full-color digital layouts once under contract.
Here at Sports Floors, Inc., we go through as many iterations of the design as it takes to make sure you are totally satisfied with your court branding. If you choose, we’ll even turn over a sampling of finalists to your fans and students so they can vote for their favorite! Contests like these can also help build the excitement for your new floor.
Consider The Following When Creating Your Design
Professional organizations often have style guides and trademarked logos that dictate their branding, and colleges are usually obligated to incorporate a conference logo into their court designs. At the high school level, there is a bit more freedom to go in whatever direction the organization wants. Whatever your needs, Sports Floors, Inc. can help you make a bold statement!
Pay special attention to how your design will be viewed from the stands. A 5,000-square-foot middle school floor needs to have a different design than an arena that will get TV screen time. When working with middle or high school courts, we recommend that you keep your design simple and classic.
Organizations often prefer to take the court design into their own hands. Input and enthusiasm are welcome from a floor’s stakeholders, but even as technology improves, there are still limitations to what designs will work in reality. Design firms may be able to create complicated and intricate drawings, but you’ll need a Sports Floors expert to help you design a logo that we can realistically apply to your gym’s floor.
Adherence to the governing body’s rules for court design is always a big factor in design. All competitive levels accept a quarter-inch-wide shadow line that denotes where the two-inch-wide line is. In high school, you have to have two quarter-inch lines denoting the center circle, whereas, in the NCAA and NBA, you need just one.
Applying the Logo
You should look to re-sand your sports floor at least once every seven to ten years. This is a perfect time to rebrand! Rebranding can be an important part of maintaining an image that resonates with your community. Rebranding ceremonies in the form of a court dedication can serve as an awesome event to bring everyone together and celebrate the team. Rebranding can involve minor changes, such as slight color or design adjustments to modernize your existing logo, or help it to “pop”. They can also represent more major changes, such as a full overhaul of logo, mascot, etc. This could be desirable in the case that you want to update to a more recognizable mascot, for example. Here are some examples of rebranding at the professional level to give you an idea.
Logos are designed using a vector file after which they’re cut into large scale stencils in order to be reproduced. Sports Floors takes pride in the fact that all our logos are hand-painted, and we can use a wide array of custom colors to create your perfect logo.
Sports Floors, Inc. is on the constant lookout for new ways to push the envelope, experimenting with different materials and techniques to achieve new looks, all with safety at the forefront.
Take Your Floor to the Next Level
Designing the basketball court as a branding element is just the beginning. The next step is to integrate the floor into the full fan experience. You can make headlines with a 3-D projection system. This is made possible by selecting a water-based finish that reflects light better than that of an oil-based finish. You can draw even more attention with a court designed to complement your team’s uniforms.
Working With the Cost
Complex court design can be a little pricey. Finding the extra money to afford the labor and resources needed to stain a floor can be a challenge, especially at the high school level, but with the expert advice from Sports Floors, Inc., nothing is impossible.
Careful planning and coordination with our team at Sports Floors, Inc. can ease the cost of branding your floor. The school system or county often pays a portion of the cost of a new floor, so your school won’t absorb the entire cost.
Selling Sponsorships
One way schools are able to raise money is by having sponsors’ logos painted alongside the basketball court. By finding local businesses that need ad space, you can create a mutually-beneficial relationship that helps you pay for your floor’s branding while helping another business sell their service or product.
Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is a good way to go to help offset some of the cost of branding your sports floor. It’s a no-brainer to get behind this type of fundraising because a new gymnasium floor benefits not only the school but also the students playing on it. Parents, community members, and students have a strong reason to back a new floor that benefits everyone!
When setting a fundraising goal, it’s best to start small. Once your supporters see how they are contributing, your crowdfunding will naturally take off from there. You can also take advantage of crowdfunding websites like RallyMe, NLAB, and Sportyfunder, which are all built to specifically support the funding of athletes, teams, and other sports initiatives— like a new gymnasium floor!
Choose Sports Floors, Inc.
Your gym’s floor is the basis of your school spirit. At Sports Floors, Inc., we take pride in the beautiful, quality sports floors we create for schools and organizations across the Mid-South. You can’t stop this women-owned business!
If you’re interested in installing a new athletic floor or you’re looking to spruce up the branding on your existing gym floor, contact our team in Memphis today!