RESPONSE TO MASS BAY YOUTH LACROSSE LEAGUE
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

DearBoard Members of the Mass Bay Girls Lacrosse League –

We would like to thank you for the opportunity to reply to your Request for Proposal (RFP). The staff at LeagueAthletics.com, LLC looks forward to working with Massachusetts Bay Girls Lacrosse League (MBGLL) and its member clubs.

Currently, of the 76 member towns in the MBGLL, approximately 15 of them already utilize the LeagueAthletics.com services in some capacity, as does the MBYLL and many of its towns. LeagueAthletics.com is also the website partner for US Lacrosse (USL). This would be a key benefit to all your member clubs allowing them to take advantage of low cost, exclusive registration features provided by our service and US Lacrosse.

KEY FEATURES

The aforementioned RFP identifies two specific areas of interest as Base Requirements – Web based League Management and Web Site Hosting and Email. LeagueAthletics.com currently supports nearlyall the specific requirements in the RFP. This can be accomplished entirely with LeagueAthletics.com’s own software platform, without the need for any third party software.

1 - Web Based League Management

LeagueAthletics.com provides several comprehensive tools with regard to League Management. Leagues, Division and Teams can be created within your LeagueAthletics.com website. There is no limit to the number of divisions or subdivisions that can be created within our service. The system can then be used to create schedules, maintain results and standings for these divisions/subdivisions. The system also allows these divisions - and the teams within the division - to be used for direct email communications.

For an organization such as MBGLL, we would suggest taking advantage of our Parent/Child connections. With this feature, local clubs thathave a LeagueAthletics.com hosted website,and will be able to connect their local sites and their teams to the MBGLL Parent website. Schedules that are entered at the Parent site (MBGLL) for the connected teams will be integrated with their schedule at their local sites. Scores for these games can be entered at either the Parent or the Child site. The Parent site will have view rights for the rosters of the connected teams, lessening the need for paper rosters, as well as several enhanced communications features with members of the connected teams and board members of the connected sites. This would be a huge time saver for your LeagueAthletics.com users and you to easily communicate with them as well.

As mentioned previously, the LeagueAthletics.com partnership with USL will also allow your member clubs to use our exclusive Online Registration system, which automatically checks the validity of a registrant’s USL Membership status and allows them to renew or register with US Lacrosse seamlessly. This service significantly decreases the burden of club volunteers and eliminates the possibility of members being registered without a valid USL membership.

Addressing the specific points within this section of the RFP:

  1. League and team/player registration with online payment
    The LeagueAthletics.com system includes a comprehensive Online Registration tool which allows for individual Member registration or Team registration. The system also allows the creation of custom supplemental questions allowing your organization to capture any information needed during the registration process. The registration is created through our easy to use template, eliminating the need for HTML or web administration experience.
    Our online payment tool requires that your organization has its own compatible Merchant Account or PayPal account. By doing this, transaction fees are kept to a minimum and the organization has full control over any funds collected during the registration process. Outside of the fees charged by your Merchant Account, there are no additional costs for Online Registration. LeagueAthletics.com does not charge any per-registration or “convenience” costs for use of online registration tool.
  2. Town Configuration for Players, Contacts, Teams, Fields and Availability by Town Admin
    Teams are created in the LeagueAthletics.com system and can be placed in divisions/leagues as specified by the organization. Players and Contacts can be associated with these teams. Access to these tools and any other Administration tools can be granted to Town Administrators by the Webmaster of the site.
  3. Team Configuration within a registered town by Town Admin
    As explained in the previous section, access to these tools can be granted by the site’s Administrator. Once granted, the Town Administrator will have access to various team specific tools such as Creating a Roster and Scheduling.
  4. League Configuration for Board and Officials
    The system allows for members to be grouped as Board Members and Officials. Further, the members can be assigned specific positions within each group.
  5. Umpire Configuration for Officials
    Umpires (and any other Official for that matter) can be added as Officials within our site and used for scheduling.
  6. League-wide Game Scheduling
  7. Region (Geography)
    Schedules can be created by using the location for each team and scheduling “closer” opponents
  8. Divisions
    The LeagueAthletics.com Scheduling tool allows you to specify the teams that are included in the schedule.
  9. Blocks
    Support for Block Scheduling could be added but is very difficult to achieve unless all divisions have a very similar number teams in each town and the same availability of fields. We’d need more information in order to ensure proper support for this type of scheduling.
  10. Ad-hoc scrimmage Scheduling
    The LeagueAtheltics.com Scheduling system allows for games/scrimmages to be entered on an “ad-hoc” basis.
  11. League-wide Game/Scrimmage calendaring for many umpires.
  12. Scheduler needs to include league and town games
    Our Officials scheduling tool takes into account an Official’s current availability based on other scheduled assignments and travel distance to the event. You can also specify that certain Officials qualify for certain events.
  13. Full reporting of Umpire Assignments and Payments.
    The system fully track Officials Assignments, past and future, however, it does not track payment at this time. This is currently being researched as a possible future enhancement.
  14. Game Email notifications for Board, Coaches, Umpires and Town Administrators. In addition to schedules being available on the website for viewing in several different formats and downloadable to both newer and older Calendar programs,the LeagueAtheltics.com system has a comprehensive communication package associated with game scheduls. Email Reminders can be sent to team members, coaches, and team Administrators for Games and/or Practices. Schedule Change Notifications can also be sent in the event of a cancellation, date, time, or venue change. In addition to email, these reminders and notifications can also be sent via text message, at the member’s request.
  15. User Defined Fields for Registration
    All LeagueAthletics.com registrations capture the basic contact information for the Participant – name, address, telephone number(s), email address, date of birth and, if specified, the grade and USL Membership number. Additional “Supplemental” questions can be created rather simply and easily. These additional questions can be captured using any of the systems several questions types, such as check boxes, drop-down selections, or user-entered text. The questions are created through our template, again, eliminating the need for HTML or any other web programming knowledge.
  16. User defined query and reporting for registration applications
    The LeagueAtheltics.com system includes powerful reporting options, including an Onscreen Listing as well as “ad-hoc” reports which can be downloaded into Comma Separated Value (.csv) spreadsheets or XML documents.
  17. Access controls and security for league administrators, town administrators, coaches and users
    Administrative access can be granted to the website with as much or as little access as the webmaster would like to provide. This will allow several different levels of administration. The site also does allow for Coaches/Managers to use a team specific password which allows certain rights for the specific team.
  18. The tools need to be simple to use across multiple browser platforms.
    The LeagueAtheltics.com system is fully compatible with all major browsers, including Internet Explorer, Mozilla’s Firefox, Safari, and Google’s Chrome.

2.Web Site Hosting and Email for MBGLL.ORG

At the very minimum, with LeagueAtheltics.com, your organization will receive a comprehensive, yet easy to manage website. Your website will use a simple to create and maintain template format. This will allow administrators to be able to make updates and changes to the site without the need for HTML or web programming experience. The LeagueAthletics.com system is entirely web based, eliminating the need for additional software to be purchased or downloaded to a specific computer. All that is needed to create, edit or update the website is an internet connection and a browser.

Addressing the specific points within this section of the RFP:

  1. Flexible site map and navigation configuration
    The LeagueAtheltics.com website uses a proven site navigation system, developed in conjunction with feedback from our clients.
  2. Site Setup and Training
    The system is rather intuitive to use and can easily be setup by the Administrator of the site. There is full online documentation of the available tools as well as video tutorials for key areas. We will be more than happy to provide additional training, if necessary, via Web Meetings and/or Phone Support.
  3. Creative Design and Graphics setup and assistance
    The LeagueAthletics.com website gives the user control over color scheme and allows for the use of uploaded custom graphics and images. If assistance is needed in creating custom graphics for your organization, we can help you obtain these graphics through one of our Resource partners.
  4. Basic Content Management through Browser Clients
    Since the LeagueAtheltics.com system is entirely web-based, any and all functions, management and updates can be made through any major web browser.
  5. File Upload Capability
    The LeagueAtheltics.com website allows for unlimited uploads of Picture and Documents using the tools provided within our site. The system also allows for “miscellaneous” file storage with a generous limit of 500MB.
  6. Calendar and Event Scheduling
    In addition to traditional Game, Scrimmage and Practice scheduling, the LeagueAthletics.com system allows the scheduling of General Events, which can be specific to a single team, multiple teams or the entire program.
  7. Overlay of Registration and Game Scheduling
    Wehave requested further clarification on this question, but at the time of this response, we have not yet received an answer.
  8. Financial and Electronic Payment Reporting
    Reports of electronic payments received through the site can be produced in several formats, including by Registration program or by individual transaction. Reports can also be obtained from your Merchant Account.
  9. Group/Division and User Directory Management
    The LeagueAthletics.com websites can automatically produce a page with associated Team Contacts as well as a Contact page for all members assigned as Board Members.
  10. Ability to create Sub-sites by Group/Division
    Each Team and Division within the LeagueAthletics.com site will have their own “area” where Bulletins can be posted, along with schedules and other pertinent information particular to that division or team.
  11. Access Control Configuration
    Administration access, as previously describedcan be restricted. Access can be restricted by page and division.
  12. Technical Support
    LeagueAtheltics.comprovides several methods to obtain support, including full online documentation, FAQs and our Administrator’s Forum. You will also have access to our Support Ticket System where support issues are handled directly by our staff in a very timely manor. If phone support is needed, our support hours are Monday-Friday 9AM-6PM and Saturday 9AM-12PM.
  13. MBGLL Email Configuration
    LeagueAthletics.com offers a dedicated email server for an additional fee of $95 annually. This will allow unlimited vanity email address to be created, such as . These email addresses can be POP3 email accounts or email aliases or forwarding accounts. The email server will also allow Mailing Lists to be created, such as . This will allow email discussions to be sent to all members of the Board.
  14. Email Communication by Group/Division
    Email blasts can be sent from the site to either the entire organization or to specific queried groups such as teams, divisions, registration program and much more.
  15. Advertising
    The Website allows for sponsors to be added. These sponsors can have a logo, description and a link to their own website, appearing on a dedicated “Sponsors” page. In addition, their logos can belisted or rotating on the site’s home page. Banners can also be added to the site and can appear one per page click at the top of the site. LeagueAthletics.com does not place any third-party advertisements on your site.
  16. Blogs
    The LeagueAthletics.com system offers Forums, where posts can made and registered users can reply to the post. We also offer a tool available from your site’s home page for Twitter feeds.
  17. Wikis
    Not supported at this time.
  18. Photo Uploads
    Photos can be uploaded to a main Organization Picture page or for a specific team. Photos can be organized into albums or by team and the site provides slideshows and the optional ability to download originals as well. Photos can only be uploaded by Administrators that have been given rights to do so. Authors can have the system place watermarks on proprietary photos and also restrict downloads.
  19. Merchandise sale with online payment
    An Online Store is included with your website. Payment can be collected through your organization’s Merchant/PayPal account.
  20. Surveys
    The LeagueAthletics.com system has a Survey tool available as well as our Online Form tool. Either tool can be used to capture questionnaire information.

3.Optional Requirements

As described earlier, LeagueAthletics.com offers a Parent/Child connection, allowing local clubs to maintain their own fully operational LeagueAtheltics.com website. This will allow programs to be in full control of their own registrations and communication and also maintain their own identity. These “child” sites would then connect to the Parent site of MBGLL. Schedules created at the Parent site would be integrated on the child site for connected teams. Schedule changes, scores and standings will all be made in real time.

All local “child sites” will be fully featured LeagueAthletics.com websites with all features described in section #2 of this RFP.

SUMMARY

In closing, again we would like to thank the MBGLL for the opportunity to present our proposal. Please feel free to contact either Don Malin or Randy Wise (contact information below) with any questions, comments or concerns. We look forward to working with the MBGLL and to continuing to support its member clubs.

Randy Wise –
Sales and Customer Support
(888) 932-6747 ext 712

Don Malin –
President
(888) 932-6747 ext 710