A website is critical to help promote your sports organization in the community. It’s also an effective way to help you get organized, manage registration, and collect payments. You can also use a website for fundraising, sponsorship, and recruiting volunteers.
Sports volunteers who want to create a website for their team often have many questions. Should I hire a design agency? What is the best design strategy? What font and typography should I use? How can I stand out?
Creating a website for your sports team is more than just slapping together some text and images. It takes careful consideration and planning, and this guide will walk you through the critical things to consider when designing your sports site.
Best sports website design examples
Explore the following sports websites to get design inspiration for your own.
Youth sports
1. Kings Youth Football
Kings Youth Football is a community football program that has teams in grades K-6. The organization uses its website to promote its teams throughout the year, manage registration & payments, and communicate with families.
Here’s why Kings Youth Football is a great example:
- It has high-quality images on the website that builds credibility.
- It includes pages with board members and coach profiles. Listing staff builds trust with parents and sponsors in the community.
- It provides links for parents and coaches to learn more about season requirements under the "Parent Resources" and "Coaches Resources" menus.
- It has a prominent link to registration at the top of the website so visitors can't miss it!
A sweet bonus: Kings Youth Football’s website also includes links to the league website so visitors can easily find standings and scores.
🧠LEARN MORE: The Best Sports Website Themes
2. North Bitterroot Little League
North Bitterroot Little League uses images on its website to promote essential information regarding season schedules, apparel purchases, and fundraisers for their season. All these links live right in the header for easy accessibility for visitors.
The league also has prominent links with field locations and FAQs, including age charts, so parents can find helpful information without contacting the organization directly.
As a fun added bonus, there's a Countdown Clock to Opening Day at the top of the website to build excitement for the upcoming season.
3. Port City Soccer
Port City Soccer has programs for recreational soccer, select soccer, and summer soccer camps. Information about each program is easy to access in their navigation.
Registration is the most critical part of the homepage before the season, and they make it super easy for parents to register quickly online. They have a clear call-to-action on multiple pages for visitors to click and register.
They also prominently display their current sponsors on the website, and make it easy for businesses to sign up to become a sponsor.
4. SKILLS Basketball
SKILLS Basketball has been providing summer basketball camp opportunities for almost thirty years. They list the history of their organization on their website so parents can learn more before signing up their kids.
Videos from past camps are also embedded on the website for potential players to learn more about the camp experience.
5. Will Rogers High School Football
Will Rogers Football uses its high school sports website to promote the team, raise money for teams, and promote players to play at the next level.
Parents and players can find relevant college recruiting information anytime without contacting coaches or administrators. Social media accounts are also attached to the website so fans can follow the team on different social media sites.
Professional sports
6. Manchester United
Manchester United is one of the most recognized football clubs in the world. Their website immediately builds credibility by recognizing the club’s long and accomplished history.
Fans can also watch video highlights and interviews, and check out player profiles. Sponsors of the club are also prominently displayed at the top of the website.
The club also makes it super easy for fans to purchase apparel or buy tickets to upcoming matches.
7. Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds post video recaps of every game on their website that fans can watch. Social media accounts are also embedded on the website with the latest highlights from games.
The Reds are also the oldest professional baseball team, and they emphasize the club's history on their website. Fans can learn more about the team's 5 World Series Championships and 9 National League Championships.
8. Nike
Nike is one of the most recognized brands in sports. But their website is more than just a typical online store. Visitors can customize shoes, other sports equipment, and apparel directly on the website.
Nike also shares podcast episodes with athletes and coaches athletes to reach new heights.
9. Dallas Cowboys
Whether you love ‘em, or love to hate ‘em, the Dallas Cowboys have an awesome website.
The website highlights the latest news about the sports brand, even during the offseason. Fans can also view multimedia, including practice recaps, player interviews, and community events.
Cowboys Stadium is one of the most famous venues in sports. One excellent design element is that fans can virtual tour the stadium and select tickets to future games.
The Cowboys’ main sponsor, AT&T, is also built into the website’s design.
Best practices for sports web design
Organize your website to make important information easy to find
Usability is key to a good website experience. When people visit your site, you should make it easy for them to find what they're looking for without confusing them. If visitors can't find what they want or are confused, they will not have a good experience and might not return.
If visitors leave your website immediately, it can hurt your website's ranking on Google, aka SEO.
Here are a few tips for a clean page design:
- Simplicity - Organize the pages on your website so everything is easy to find with just a few clicks.
- Seasonality – Focus on what’s important throughout the year. Before the season, put your online registration front and center. During the season, post schedules so visitors can easily find important information. In the offseason, post all the details for your next season, and only other offseason events.
- Consistent Updates - Update your website at least once weekly during your season and once monthly during your offseason.
- Images and videos - People want to see more than just all text on your site. Add images, videos, and links to your social media channels throughout your website. You can also add photo albums from previous seasons or events if you don't have much content yet.
Build credibility when visitors land on your website
Your youth sports website may be the first engagement people have with your organization, so it’s essential to make a good first impression that lasts. Users only spend an average of 10-20 seconds on a webpage before deciding if they want to continue, so quickly establishing credibility is crucial.
How? You can start by creating an “About Us” page. Briefly outline some information about your organization. This includes your history, mission statement, values, board members, and coaching profiles.
Provide an email address for your organization and respond to questions so that community members know you’re easy to reach. You can even provide different email addresses for each board member so that parents or coaches can reach out to the right person with specific questions.
Optimize your sports website for mobile
These days people rely on their smartphones for all of their everyday activities. We spend roughly 3 hours per day on a mobile device, whether a phone or a tablet. To cater to this rapidly growing base of mobile web users and offer an optimal experience, you must pursue mobile-friendly, responsive websites.
Consumers get super annoyed when they try to access a website on a mobile device and it promptly redirects them to a desktop site.
By having a website optimized for mobile devices, you can improve user experiences since it allows them to navigate your team's website seamlessly. This means they can quickly and consistently access information whenever and from any device.
Grow your organization with online registration
When you manage a sports organization, a critical function in the offseason is registering new players. Parents are busy, and you need to make an effort to communicate with them to get players registered.
Many families may also be new to the community and may need to learn what sports are available for their children in the location.
If you don't have enough players for your next season, a few reasons could be:
- They don't know about your sports league.
- It's too expensive.
- It's too difficult to register.
Player registration can often deter parents from looking for somewhere their child can play. Parents shouldn't have a stack of paperwork to fill out before their child joins a sports team. Keep it simple by using an online registration system.
You can ask a few simple questions like player name, jersey size, and current school. You could also ask if parents want to volunteer and in which capacity they can do so. With a simple registration form, you can convert interested parents into new members.
Save time with the fastest website builder made for sports
At Jersey Watch, we know you have a lot on your plate. You collect player registrations, coach, manage sponsorships, and deal with parents — all in a day’s work.
A youth sports website is a crucial tool for connecting with parents and players, as this is where they expect you to provide all the important information about your organization. Our website builder can help do the heavy lifting so that you can focus where it matters: managing your league or teams.
Try it free by creating a free account.
Sports website FAQ
What makes a good sports website?
A good sports website should be easy for visitors to navigate, load fast, and have up-to-date content. You should post information throughout the year, even if your season is only a few months.
You should also ensure that your sports site generates revenue for your organization through player registration, apparel purchases, donations, and sponsorships. Plus, guarantee the website makes it easy for people to pay online.
Visitors will also want to see multimedia on any sports website. Uploading photo albums from games and embedding videos is a great way to generate more interest in your organization.
How to create a sports website?
To create a sports website you should find a website builder that is fast and easy to use. Building a website should take no more than 30 minutes, and maintaining up-to-date content should just take a few minutes per week.
Most modern website builders don’t require experience or tech skills. A lot of them include sports website templates so you don’t have to do any heavy lifting - you just fill in content and launch.
How much does it cost to make a sports website?
Most modern website builders will cost between $20 and $100 per month, depending on the features you need and your organization's size. When you research website builders, find a system with transparent and simple pricing and no contracts.
What is the best software for creating a sports website?
There are many popular software platforms and apps to run a sports organization. You can start by researching different solutions online.
When you build a website, it’s important to find a system that is fast and easy-to-use so that you can keep your content updated, and you can share responsibility with other board members and coaches without having to train them on building a website.
To learn more about the best sports software, read The Best Sports Team Management Software.
If you want to fully customize a website and ecommerce store by building from scratch, sign up for a free Wordpress account.