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National Gay Flag Football League

LOCAL LEAGUE TOOLKIT


Lessons learned by local gay flag-football leagues

www.ngffl.com

Updated April 28, 2011

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Introduction and Acknowledgement
The National Gay Flag Football League (NGFFL) is committed to bringing our great sport to more lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. We believe the best way to do that is to help enterprising
lovers of flag football around the country establish local leagues, and to help those leagues succeed once
they take root.

Thus we offer this first-ever comprehensive toolkit. Developed by an NGFFL task force comprised of
volunteers who have formed and helped shape some of the most successful gay flag-football leagues in the
country, this toolkit attempts to offer answers to every imaginable question someone might ask. Want to
know how to talk to prospective corporate sponsors? What equipment you need to buy? How to set up a
budget? We’ve got answers, replete with examples from successful leagues around the country.

We’re sure that we have missed a few things. But we’ve thought of a lot. Our great hope is that this
resource can play at least a small role in bringing the great sport of flag football to even more LGBT people.

The NGFFL offers special thanks to the members of its Local League Growth and Development Task Force
for 2011, headed by NGFFL director of outreach (2011-2012) Jared Garduno (Phoenix, AZ). Those members
are Joe Cooper (Denver, CO) and Chris Cormier (Washington, DC).

You have the NGFFL’s deepest gratitude and we welcome your feedback at NGFFLToolkit@gmail.com. Now,
time to gather some people together, spread the word, strap on cleats, and take the field.

Overview
The purpose of this document is to provide lesson learned and resources that can help start or strengthen a
flag football league. Each city and league is different, but there are common elements that will hopefully
make this document useful to those who are using their limited free time to organize a league. You don’t
have to reinvent the wheel.

Starting a flag football league is no small endeavor and will require a lot of time, energy, and commitment.
The rewards if you succeed are well worth the effort. How do you know when you are ready to start a gay
flag football league in your city? You will want to be able to answer yes to most of the following questions:
 Do you have a solid core group of people committed to the idea?
 Collectively, does your group have the time to commit to forming the league now?
 Is this the right time of year to start a league in your city, considering scheduling conflicts with
other leagues, weather, etc.?

As you think this through, we offer this toolkit to help you benefit from those who have learned through
trial and error about how to make a league successful. This document has been organized into the
following sections:
1. Board and internal management: how to form and manage the league to keep everyone working
together in the most effective, compliant, and sustainable way
2. Recruitment and retention: how to identify, recruit, register, and retain players
3. Income and sponsorship: how to get the resources needed to cover the league costs
4. Teams and playing : how to form teams and run the league throughout the season
5. Internal and external communications: how to communicate to players and other audiences.

Each section is broken into three parts – approach (overall strategy), tactics (how to implement your
strategy), and tools (great examples and other real-life and proven resources).

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1. Board and internal management
Approach: The way you want to approach the board and your internal management of the league is to
create stability and reliability as quickly as possible. This includes having someone designated as
the main coordinator of the league (typically the commissioner), an advisory group (typically the
board), agreed-upon chain of command, and defined roles and responsibilities. Think through the
demands you have – fundraising, logistics and equipment, permits, player recruitment, etc. – and
engage people who are dependable and can bring something to the table.

Tactics:
 Board
o Establish a board to serve as the main guidance and governing body for the league. The
success of any league is directly tied to the strength of the board. It can be large or small –
five members or twelve – oftentimes dependent on how large your league is and thus how
much work there is to be divvied up. Board members should bring a variety of talents that
can help you grow and strengthen the league (e.g. legal background, fundraising
experience, design/writing ability, sports training). Most importantly, board members
should be reliable and dedicated enough to carry their weight – which may include 10
hours or more per week of their time. (We’re not kidding.) When forming a league, there
are a few things the board should think through beforehand:
 Do you want your league to be open to all level of players? If so, are you willing to
create an environment where players new to the sport feel welcome?
 Do you want your league to be co-ed? If so, are you planning on reaching out to
the lesbian community in your city during recruitment?
 Is the league going to focus on football only, or will there be a significant social
effort made?
 What will be the league’s relationship to the team that represents the city in the
NGFFL’s Gay Bowl?
 If they are different organizations, will the league compete with the Gay Bowl team
for sponsorships? If so, who has the higher priority in collecting funds?
 Will your league use NGFFL rules or will there be modifications necessary to better
fit your program?
 How will you name your league and advertise the brand i.e. will you specifically
identify as a gay league or use a more generic name?
Once you address these questions and form your board, you will want to schedule regular
meetings. Meetings vary in length and frequency but average about 2hrs every two weeks
– something that can be aided by an agenda and a clear understanding of roles,
responsibilities, and assigned tasks at the end of each meeting. Minutes can be used to
track major decisions, division of work, and, if made public, communicate about the board’s
activities. See resources below.
 Legal / Insurance / Liability
o Your league may start out as a regular pick-up game and become more formal over time.
Early on in this process, you should consider how to ensure that those involved are
protected from lawsuits or penalties. This includes waiver forms for players as well as legal
documents if you decide to formalize the group as a non-profit entity. Fortunately, there
are great examples from other leagues that will provide a starting point for you.

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 Budget / Treasurer
o If you are collecting fees or sponsorships, a budget or spreadsheet can be helpful in
tracking your revenue and expenditures. This will also help you prioritize how you use your
resources in addition to how much you need to raise to cover the costs of running the
league. One member of the board should be designated as the point person (treasurer)
and be responsible for deposits and payments. See below on tips for setting up a bank
account.
 Creating up a nonprofit or legal entity
o Setting up a league can require a good amount of paperwork and resources, especially if
you are going to file for a nonprofit (501(c)(3)) status. Our suggestion is to reach out to the
NGFFL Board for advice and guidance on this.
Tools:
1. Sample board agenda
2. Sample board minutes
3. Sample budget / balance spreadsheet
4. Sample waivers
5. Sample articles of incorporation
6. Sample by-laws

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2. Recruitment, registration, and retention
Approach: Recruitment efforts focus on spreading the word about the league and, more importantly,
getting people committed to play. Key to this is the difference between awareness (hanging up a
flyer at a local bar or coffeehouse) and outreach (walking up to someone and asking them if they
would like sign up to play). This same principle applies to emails once you amass a list. Mass
emails and text messages are great to make people aware, but you have to reach out to people
individually via email or better yet phone to get them committed to play. Your list will help you
once you open registration and you plan to form teams.

Tactics:
 Awareness through ads, articles, and online
o A great way to spread word on your efforts is through your local gay media, arts/culture
papers, local blog sites, or mainstream publications. Depending on your budget, you can
also advertise in your local papers or online. Similarly, you can flyer at local bars or coffee
shops to increase visibility of your efforts.
 Outreach through bars, cafes, etc.
o You should focus your recruitment efforts on those places where you’re most likely to
engage a lot of prospective players. This can take the form of bar crawls where you visit
multiple bars in one night. It’s helpful to figure out the best day and time when you can
reach out to a crowded bar but also be able to have a brief conversation about the league.
You can also visit coffee shops or other popular hangouts. If you call ahead to get approval
from the owner or manager, this can also provide an opportunity to establish a relationship
with a potential league sponsor.
 Outreach to other LGBT sports leagues
o Another great way to spread the word and identify prospective players is through other gay
sports leagues if they exist. You can reach out to the commissioners or captains of another
league and ask them to forward an email to their list or let you come to one of their big
social events. You can offer to do the same for them or co-host a social event to cross-
promote your leagues. This also provides an opportunity to learn of their schedules to
avoid conflicting with their game times. This helps players who may want to play multiple
sports and not have to choose between leagues.
 Diversity
o Depending upon the goals of your league, you may want to address diversity in your
outreach efforts. This could be as simple as making sure that the places you visit are
representative of the community around you. In other words, if you’re going to the same
bars that only attract one segment of the community, then you’re going to have a more
homogenous group. If you reach out to lesbian bars, straight leagues, bear bars, college
intramural teams, military nights, etc, you’re going to reach a broader cross section of
people.
 Registration
o Once you figure out your season start date, you will want to ensure you open registration
far enough in advance to give people time to submit their forms and payment, and then
allow an extra week to hold the draft, announce teams, and allow for a practice or two. A
typical schedule will open registration a month before the first game and then close
registration after two or three weeks. If you’ll be conducting a draft, it’s often helpful to
have players assess their skills in the registration process, as well as sign a waiver form. If
you’ll be charging a registration fee, you can either collect payment via check or online (i.e.
PayPal account – which is often preferred). One person should be responsible for collecting
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all registration forms and payment. If possible, you should explore setting up an online
registration form which can be done through Google Docs to have all of the fields
completed go directly into an online Excel spreadsheet. For more information, please
contact the NGFFL Board and see sample registration form and waiver below.
 Social activity
o Organizing social events before and during the league will help strengthen the sense of
community created. This can be as simple as sending an email with a location and time.
Social events during the registration period can also provide an opportunity to answer
questions prospective players might have. Keep in mind that people may want to play but
are intimidated by the idea or unsure of what the league is about. Some ideas for social
events include football watching parties, game nights, bowling nights, etc. These can also
be combined with fundraisers, such as speed dating events, bachelor auctions, etc.
 Growing the league
o Depending upon the goals and resources you lay out, once your league has had its
inaugural season you may be interested in growing the league. An easy way to do this is to
ask current players to recommend or directly reach out to their friends who may be
interested in playing. Some things to consider are the number of fields you can access, the
number of captains and quarterbacks in the league, and the number of sponsors or
increased costs associated with league expansion.
 Fans
o Everyone loves to be cheered from the sidelines during a game. Consider asking players to
invite their friends/family or having a fan appreciation day where you get a sponsor to buy
drinks for the team with the most number of fans at the games. Attracting fans can also
help spread the word about the league and attract new prospective players for future
seasons.

Tools:
1. Tips for outreach
2. Sample sign-up sheet
3. Sample recruitment spreadsheet
4. Sample recruitment plan
5. Sample outreach stickers
6. Sample outreach posters
7. Sample outreach handouts
8. Sample outreach business cards
9. Sample registration form (and online)

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3. Income and sponsorship
Approach: Your main goal with income and sponsorship is to cover the costs that you have associated with
the league. This could be as simple as covering the cost of buying equipment or as comprehensive
as creating a fundraising plan to cover all costs through sponsorship. No matter what your
approach is, you want to think through all of the costs associated with your league so you avoid
footing the bill all on your own. The main sources for income include: 1) player fees, 2) team /
league sponsorships, 3) fundraising events / opportunities, and 4) merchandise revenue.

Tactics:
 Player Fees
o Fees help cover the costs associated the league and also strengthen the commitment
players have to the league and their teams. The fees that each player will have to pay will
vary based on your costs, but in all likelihood you will not be able to cover all of your costs
through player fees alone. You should compare what other leagues in your area charge so
you don’t under- or over-estimate fees. Some leagues charge $25 and others charge $90
for the season, depending on the costs associated with fields (i.e. those with lights tend to
cost a lot more). Some leagues offer a multi-season discount or offer a lowered fee to
those in need. Often you can offer a lower fee to incentivize early registration (i.e. $35
instead of $40 if you register two weeks out from the deadline). If you use a waitlist, you
can also offer a discounted fee to those who are joining the season once it’s begun.
 Sponsors
o Recruiting – Start by making a list of all of those businesses and groups that might be willing
to sponsor your league. If you have a local gay magazine or newspaper, it often has a
business director in the back, which can get you to think beyond the usual one or two bars
that sponsor everything. Divide up the list and ask around to see who you know might have
a connection. If you don’t have a connection, start cold calling or stop by at a time that
makes sense to be able to talk with someone (i.e. bar managers are often setting up in the
afternoon before they officially open). Once you’ve approached prospective sponsors,
don’t give up until you hear a no. Just because they aren’t calling you back doesn’t mean
they aren’t interested. If you have email, it is often helpful to email them and then follow
up with a phone call a day or two later and reference your email. This gives them a chance
to consider the request and check to see if it fits for their business.
o Materials – Before you approach sponsors, you should create a simple document to make
the case for why they should support your league. It should include the sponsorship levels,
the case for why they should be a sponsor, a few points about the league, and contact
information. See examples. Keep in mind that your point of contact might need to pass
something along to the owners who make the final decision, so keep it straightforward and
clear. The more quantitative you can be the better. How many people usually go to a
league-wide event? How much do they spend? Why might they like to target the gay
community for their business? The more you can show that the return on their investment
will be high, the more successful you will be.
o Levels/opportunities – Having a tiered structure of sponsorship opportunities will do two
things: 1) broaden the range of businesses you can approach, and 2) increase the chances
that a loyal sponsor will want to increase their support over time. The biggest bar in town
is likely to want to be the top sponsor of your league. Similarly, a real estate firm may not
be able to be the top sponsor but could come in at a lower level. Offering multiple ways for
sponsors to support you will also provide an opportunity for in-kind gifts that are donated

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to your league, for example water/sports drinks, equipment, shirts, printing, graphic design
services, advertising, etc. See examples for creative ways to get the most from sponsors.
o Retaining – Once you have a sponsor – and more importantly, their sponsorship check –
you should work just as hard to keep them engaged and happy. If appropriate, have a team
or league-wide event at their establishment so they see the tangible benefit of supporting
your league. Invite sponsors to games or, if they are associated with a certain team, have
captains send them a weekly recap of how “their team” did. The more you connect the
sponsor to the league, the more likely they are to return and hopefully increase their
sponsorship level. Consider doing a recap at the end of the season of all of the ways they
benefited from their investment (i.e. how many events, how many people attended, how
much was spent, what publicity they received, is there an anecdotal story about customer
loyalty?).
 Fundraising events
o Planning – Events can be a great way to close a budget gap or lower the cost of player fees.
Whether you’re organizing a bake sale, car wash, bachelor auction, speed dating night,
silent auction, or season-end gala, events always take more time than you initially expect to
plan. You should ensure that your time is spent wisely to bring in the most amount of
money for the hours you put into them. Delegating to other (responsible) players can be a
way to help balance the load so you don’t get overwhelmed. Make sure to give yourself
enough time to not only secure an event space but to advertise it widely enough to attract
the crowd you want. Choose a time and location that will make people want to attend, and
if possible check community calendars to avoid any major conflicts.
o Publicizing – Depending on the scale of the event, you’ll want to get the word out in as
many ways as possible. If you are organizing a speed-dating event with a target goal of
getting 30 people to attend and pay $15 each (to raise $450), you can blast it out to your
list and post it on Facebook. If you are organizing an annual bachelor auction and hope to
have 200 people show up to help raise $10,000, you will want a more robust publicity effort
that could include getting an ad donated in your local gay magazine or having a story
written about it in your local paper. No matter what scale you’re going for, you will be
more successful if you use as many connections as possible to spread the word and fill the
room.
 Merchandise
o A popular way to raise money and increase visibility of the league is to sell merchandise
with your logo on it. If you’re going to be printing t-shirts, league shirts, league-approved
shorts, or other merchandise, you can have a league member (i.e. your treasurer) sell it on
the sidelines during games, at social events, or even online if possible.

Tools:
1. Sample sponsorship packet
2. Sample sponsorship events (Draft Party, Drag Party, and Bachelor Auction)
3. Sample “MVP” player donation sheet

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4. Teams and playing
Approach: This section is going to be the biggest part of your world because it focuses on the core of the
league. Your goal is simple – to succeed. However you define success – whether to simply give it a
try, make it the best league, or just survive one season – you will have ongoing and regular work to
maintain your league. The good news is that you are not the first to do it, and you can borrow
heavily from other leagues that can offer guidance and tools so you don’t have to start from
scratch.

Tactics:
 Seasons / Schedule
o Many leagues organize a spring and fall season with a break in between. Weekends are
often the best time to play to allow for flexibility in schedules. Seasons typically have a
regular season that lasts six to eight weeks followed by a week or two of play-off games.
Depending on your weather, field access, and local social calendar/culture, you should try
to plan your season to allow the maximum number of players to attend their games. This
includes avoiding major and religious holidays, as well as any major community conflicts
(i.e. Memorial Day and beyond when many people have vacation “shares” or travel plans).
You should try to advertise the season schedule as far in advance as possible so players
know what they’re getting into before they register.
 Captains
o Captains serve a few purposes in the league: 1) they provide leadership to their team; 2)
they help organize and communicate to the league; 3) they serve as a source to spread the
work load beyond the board; and 4) they create a hierarchy on the field that makes it easier
to run the games. Captains can be elected or chosen from a pool of volunteers. Ideally,
captains show a high level of responsibility, know the game well enough to teach or model
to others, have a high level of character and integrity, and have a natural ability to lead.
Figuring out how many captains you’ll need is dependent upon how many players, and thus
teams, you’ll have, but it is better to have more captains to choose from than fewer.
 Draft
o The draft can be as simple as a random division of players into teams of equal size or as
complex as having multiple means of skill assessment (i.e. self-assessment, try-outs, and
referred assessments from other players/captains) followed by a formal draft. Your
primary goal should be to make the draft as fair as possible (however you define it). Other
leagues have spent time thinking through how to have a fair draft and avoid problems that
might result from a perception of an unfair draft. Please see the resources section below
which, if nothing else, will broaden the list of questions you’ll have to answer in structuring
your draft.
 Wait list
o Similarly, if you chose to have a wait list and then pull from it, there are some questions
you’ll want to consider. How many players can be added to each team? If someone is
absent or injured for part of the season and returning, does that team get a wait list pick?
Do wait listed players have to pay the full registration fee if they join the league? See the
resources section below.

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 Rules
o Many leagues follow the rules that are set by the National Gay Flag Football League. This is
encouraged, especially given that many leagues will send a team to compete in the Gay
Bowl or other national tournaments, which use the NGFFL rules. It should be noted that
the NGFFL makes occasional changes to the rules, which are communicated to the
individual affiliates.
 Quarterbacks
o Attempting to have at least one competent quarterback on each team in your league can
be an important consideration when you set up your draft or put on a skills clinic. Some
leagues assign teams and hope that a member of the team steps into the QB role, while
others identify prospective QBs beforehand and have a separate QB draft. The enjoyment
of the game and quality of play can be impacted by how you choose to approach this.
 Training / Skills building
o Your league is most likely to consist of players that have a wide range of athletic ability and
skill level. By offering trainings or skills-building clinics you can help improve individual
players while elevating the level of play of the entire league. You can also help decrease
the number of injuries that are bound to occur, especially if you teach people how to
properly warm up and stretch. It is often helpful to offer a training or two before the
season starts (or even before registration opens) to demonstrate the proper way to play
flag football. This will also help attract recruits by answering questions and/or allaying fears
they might have. Consider offering different levels of clinics, i.e. football 101 for beginners
vs. skills building for more advanced players. In addition to these league-wide events,
captains can also offer trainings for their individual teams. Please see resources below.
 Fields
o Depending upon your location and size of league, you will need to secure fields that will
accommodate your league schedule. Or more likely, your schedule will have to
accommodate the field options available to you. You will often have to secure field permits
through the local parks and recreations division, so please check with them directly. Give
yourself enough time to figure out what deadlines or processes they have in place to secure
fields. Most parks and recreations divisions have autonomous control – so do whatever
you can to get on their good side. This can often mean the difference between time-
consuming red tape and getting the permits you have requested.
 Equipment
o Depending upon the size and budget of your league, you can purchase equipment or get it
donated. You should not only account for the initial purchase but also additional purchases
for lost or broken equipment. Though you may not buy all of these, here is a list of what
you may need:
 Cones – large
 Cones – small
 Markers (line of scrimmage, 5 yards, and first down)
 Flags
 Footballs
 Equipment bag
 Kicking tee

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 Ref equipment
 Whistles
 Shirts
 Stop Watch
 Penalty/yellow flags
 League Banner / signage
o Several good online sources for equipment include:
 www.playitagainsports.com
 www.footballamerica.com
 www.markersinc.com
 Officiating / Refs:
o Some leagues hire professional refs, some have volunteer refs, and some have a hybrid of
paid and volunteer refs. The NGFFL offers some great resources to help train your refs and
prepare them for the games. They also can serve as a resource to connect you with
professionals or offer training guides for your local refs. Please see resources below for
more specifics about officiating.

Tools:
1. Tips for captains and coaches
2. Sample draft methodology
3. Sample wait list rules and email
4. Sample player rules – DC rules, Denver rules and penalties, Gay Bowl rules
5. Sample ref training and rules
6. Sample practice agenda – Denver and DC
7. Sample skills clinic agenda
8. Sample season schedule
9. Sample ref schedule
10. Sample ref palm card
11. Sample warm-up / cool-down routine
12. Sample plays sheet – version 1, version 2, version 3
13. Basic offense and defense and NGFFL mechanics
14. Play-off brackets
15. Passing tree
16. Suspensions and ejections sheet

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5. Internal and external communications
Approach: The old cliché holds true even in a recreational flag football league. Communication is key.
Players want to hear clearly from the leadership of the league about critical logistical details such as
game times, locations, fees, and equipment requirements. But, chances are they joined your
league for the sport plus more. Many join leagues also looking for a sense of community – a social
outlet, new friends, and the feeling of belonging to something. So they want to hear about
opportunities to get involved and connect to other players. They also want glimpses into why your
league makes the decisions it does – about fields, team sizes, officiating, and everything else that’ll
impact their league experience. Finally, because we live in the age of social media, players will
want to interact with other players as well as team and league leadership in the online places
where they congregate – places like Facebook. So structure your league with a commitment to
vigorous communication across multiple channels, and divvy up your available volunteer hours and
commitments accordingly.

Tactics:
 Database
o The league needs an accurate, up-to-date list of the contact information of all current
players, and – ideally – separate lists of (a) prospective recruits and (b) former players.
That can be housed in any number of ways, from the free-and-easy but not overly
functional Microsoft Excel®, to online contact lists that can be accessed and used by
multiple people such as Gmail®, to applications such as Constant Contact® and MailChimp®
that have cost implications but are highly functional and very easy to use once learned.
Choose the one right for your league and budget. Then, importantly, make sure someone is
tasked with keeping it up to date as peoples’ email addresses and phone numbers change.
Finally, whatever database you choose, be sure it is redundant – meaning, multiple people
in league leadership have access to the up-to-date version.

 Email
o Email is the logical foundation of a league’s communication with players, prospects and
other audiences. Your league might generate an email to all players and recruits whenever
critical news and information becomes available. Or your league might choose to gather
news and distribute it every other week, or weekly, or monthly, as a more formal email
newsletter. (See bullet below.) There is no right answer – the path your league takes will
depend on budget, available volunteer time, time of year, etc.

Craft emails that deliver pertinent information in a brief, clear, succinct fashion. Journalists
use the rule of thumb “who-what-where-when-why” to create text that people will actually
take time from their busy day to read. Consider following that rule of thumb to deliver
email communications to your players and other audiences that will be appreciated
because it shares needed information briefly, without being burdensome.

 E-newsletter
o As your league advances, consider developing a simple email newsletter that can be
distributed monthly, or even weekly during playing season. It can contain critical logistical
details such as game times and social-event locations. It also can include a variety of
content to advance the sense of community that your league creates. That could include
highlights of blog posts about weekend games, or even links to YouTube videos posted by
enterprising league players or supporters.

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 Facebook
o Facebook has become a primary way in which many (most) of us interact in our spare time
and about our extracurricular lives. The league should establish a Facebook presence, a
“Page” that league players and supporters can like or friend. Then league leadership can
use the page to augment email communications, pushing out pertinent information such as
the opening of player registration, or even spreading the word quickly about day-of
weather delays. Importantly, Facebook is a great place to highlight photos and videos of
players in action, as well as to publicize the more social aspects of the league – so more
people feel ownership and excitement about the league and the experience.

 League website
o Have a dedicated league website. That website should be an easy one-stop place to find
schedules, key locations and dates, how to get involved, and other critical information. It
also should feature information about your league that would appeal to prospective local
sponsors, as well as highlight and enthusiastically thank sponsors already in the fold.

Want to take the website to the next level? Enable online registration and payment. Tools
like these can be incorporated into your site to enable that functionality. Another way to
make the website dynamic and relevant is to incorporate a blog that is regularly updated
and featured on the league’s other social media locations. The blog could feature game
results, highlights of key players, and other stories illuminating the “culture” of your league.

 Video
o Chances are, your league has at least one aspiring amateur moviemaker – a player or
supporter who lives with a flip cam or other video-recording device and loves to use it.
YouTube videos, from game highlights to fun-filled short movies featuring league players
and activities, can be placed on your league’s website and Facebook page. They are a
great way to highlight the people in your league and the fun they are having. There are
many examples of video being used by local leagues around the country in support of
broader goals.

 Privacy/photography
o Your league needs to be sensitive to the realities of life for some LGBT people. Despite
progress made on the equality front, many LGBT community members fear job security.
You don’t want your league to inadvertently be an agent for outing its players and causing
disruption to their professional lives. So ask your players to sign a waiver giving the league
permission to photograph and video them. If they decline, honor their wishes without
exception. Be sure league photographers, website administrators, Facebook facilitators,
and anyone else who might inadvertently post a photo or video of those individuals knows
not to do so.

 Local news outlets (traditional media and blogs)


o Media outlets in your local area, particularly those serving the local LBGT population, can
be helpful in getting the word out about your league, opportunities to play ball, and
opportunities to sponsor the league. There are multiple ways to go about pursuing and
securing news coverage. First identify logical outlets by asking around and by doing a basic
internet search. That probably includes local LGBT newspapers and local LGBT-focused
blogs. If it’s not clear who at those outlets to contact, call the main desk and ask who might

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be interested in something new and interesting in the local LGBT community.

You can always email them a formal “press release” about your league’s founding or the
start of a new season, for instance. But a personal email with a follow-up phone call often
works better. (“Hey Jane Blogger, here’s something you might find interesting. I’d love to
call you and tell you a bit more about it…”). Or do both.

Have something you believe might be newsworthy to local media outlets beyond just the
local LGBT media and blogosphere? An event, perhaps, that will include lots of visually
interesting things (e.g., a colorful float at Gay Pride)? Don’t hesitate to email and call the
assignment desks at the local TV news stations. That contact info can usually be found on
the stations’ websites. Contact them the night before, then again the morning of, which is
when they decide what news they will cover that day.

Finally, consider asking the editor of your local LGBT newspaper to publish an op-ed or
byline article by a league leader about the league, its contribution to the local community,
and how to get involved.

 Sponsor communications
o An easily overlooked but important area of communications is staying in close touch with
league sponsors. For instance, that can include ensuring they receive your league’s twice-
monthly e-newsletter and invites to all social events. But it might also include monthly
touch-base phone calls from their designated point of contact within the league. That can
hold particularly true for sponsors such as local bars and restaurants that likely expect
patronage from league players in exchange for their generosity. Ask them how they
perceive the league is doing in fulfilling its obligation as a beneficiary of their generosity.
Find every possible way to show sponsors that the league is thinking about them, wants
them to be included, and – most importantly – wants to fulfill any obligations it has taken
on. Done successfully, this form of communication will make all the difference in the world
when it comes time for renewal.

Tools:
1. Sample email to league – pre-registration and season start
2. Sample email to team
3. Sample blog
4. Sample league Facebook page – Jacksonville Surge and San Diego
5. Sample video highlighting this week’s league games – DC Gay Flag Football League
6. Sample press release
7. Sample banner ad – version 1, version 2, version 3
8. Sample op-ed published in a local LGBT newspaper
9. Sample article in local LGBT newspaper
10. Sample proposal to local sponsor

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Conclusion
This document is meant to assist you in your efforts to create and strengthen your league. The various
components are for you to consider and tailor to your needs and goals. As we have mentioned, you will
need to prioritize how you spend your time and energy to maximize your resources and figure out how to
make the league a success. Only you know your city and your community, and what will work best.

Though this document is very organized, we know that your day-to-day life is going to be a bit different –
with not nearly as many bullet points. The expectation is not that you do everything perfect in your first
season, but rather that you get it running, attract good players, and hopefully have some fun along the way.

Finally, remember that you aren’t doing this alone. There is a significant amount of resources and
experience that will guide you through this process. Whether it is the NGFFL board or captains and players
across the country, support is out there to strengthen your efforts and make sure you find success. You are
not only playing a sport, but you’re also building something that hopefully will have a pretty big impact on
people’s lives. Good luck!

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