Raccoon Media Group has launched a hosted buyer marketplace – GamePlan – dedicated to the business of sport. A four-event portfolio will connect qualified buyers and commercial partners across sponsorship, senior leadership, procurement and venues across the country.
The GamePlan US-based portfolio comprises BrandMatch, E.L.I.T.E., MATCH Indoor and Sports Venue Summit, all united under one commercial network and designed to connect the buyers, sellers, sponsors, professional sports venues, destinations, operators and commercial partners shaping the modern sports economy.
The Sports industry represents a global market estimated at over $417bn in 2025, with sponsorship-spend alone projected to exceed $156bn by 2032. Yet despite this scale, the professionals managing commercial decisions across sponsorship, procurement, professional sports venue strategy and senior leadership remain fragmented across siloed conferences, crowded trade shows and disconnected platforms. GamePlan was built to change that.
“The business of sport is one of the most commercially significant sectors in the world, but the infrastructure for doing business within it hasn’t kept pace,” said Patrick Higgins, GamePlan founder and president.
“GamePlan brings the right people into the right rooms, with pre-qualified meetings, focused networking and real commercial intent. This isn’t about standing around in a booth hoping that the right person stops by to talk. It’s about real outcomes.”
Higgins continues: “This is one of the most exciting projects in the sports business industry because we’re not just launching four events. We’re introducing an entirely new commercial ecosystem for the business of sport. By connecting sponsorship, procurement, professional sports venue business development strategy, destinations, and executive sports leadership under one network, we’re creating opportunities that simply haven’t existed before. That’s incredibly exciting for buyers, sellers, and ultimately the entire industry.”
Each GamePlan event is designed around a distinct buying lane:
BrandMatch (Salt Lake City, June 2028): The sponsorship and fan engagement marketplace connecting brands, agencies and rights holders around professional and collegiate partnerships built for measurable commercial return.
E.L.I.T.E (Date TBA): A deliberately selective gathering of C-Suite and business owners across for-profit sports organisations, matched by seniority and intent for high-level conversations that don’t happen at ordinary industry events.
MATCH Indoor (Salt Lake City, June 2028): A procurement focused marketplace where indoor sports organisations meet suppliers and technology partners ready to solve challenges, support growth, and execute on real budgets and buying decisions.
Sports Venue Summit (Palm Springs, September 2027): Connecting professional sports venues, destinations, and service providers with qualified meeting planners through immersive experiences, curated networking, and pre-qualified business opportunities.
“GamePlan is an important part of our broader strategy to grow Raccoon’s presence in the US and deepen our position across the global sports industry,” said Mike Seaman, group CEO of UK-based Raccoon Media Group. “We’ve built our business around understanding specialist communities and creating environments where they can connect and grow. GamePlan takes that thinking firmly into the commercial side of sport, giving us a platform that connects buyers and sellers around genuine business need. It strengthens our US portfolio, expands our B2B capability and gives Raccoon a much bigger role in the business of sport.”
All four events share audiences, data, meetings and commercial opportunity under the GamePlan umbrella and a conversation that starts at BrandMatch can continue at Sports Venue Summit. A relationship built at MATCH Indoor can open doors across the full portfolio.
At the core of GamePlan is the hosted buyer model and they will be pre-qualified and verified for budget, authority, need, timing, and commercial intent before they arrive, says Raccoon.
Curated one-to-one meetings are scheduled in advance and each event features live product demonstrations and innovation showcases.
The portfolio enters the market, organisers claim, representing over $1.65bn in annual buying power, 235+ qualified hosted buyers and 4,000+ curated buyer/seller meetings across its event calendar.
