MINNEAPOLIS—NBC Sports Next has announced a multiyear technology agreement with USA Cheer, the governing body for sport cheering in the U.S. The organization and its member clubs will use NBC Sports Next’s SportsEngine Motion technology to manage their operations.
USA Cheer represents member organizations in a sport that now includes more than 3 million participants in recreational youth, all-star, school cheer and STUNT. In 2021, cheer was officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee, allowing the sport to be included in a future Olympics program. Because SportsEngine Motion is specifically designed to manage the demands of studio and class-based sports, USA Cheer will use the technology to help achieve its mission to help grow interest and participation, promote safety and represent the United States in international competition.
SportsEngine Motion’s technology platform is a business-management software specially developed for studio and class-based sports, as well as those that conduct camps and clinics, such as cheer, gymnastics, dance, figure skating, martial arts and swimming.
The number of class-based sports organizations that use SportsEngine Motion, which have different organizational needs from competition-only team sports like football and basketball, has doubled over the past two years, NBC Sports Next said. Prior to USA Cheer, Stronger Youth Brands’ Soccer Shots, a learn-to-play franchiser with more than 600,000 children enrolled in age-appropriate soccer curricula across North America, was the latest entity to switch to SportsEngine Motion technology.
USA Cheer member organizations will utilize the platform’s cloud-based features, including registration, payment processing, automated billing, member communication and a free mobile app. Member organizations will benefit from the user-friendly interface of SportsEngine Motion’s class and lesson functionality, providing efficient and streamlined tools for all types of scheduling, NBC Sports Next said.
“It’s important for USA Cheer to provide great resources to the cheer community, and partnering with SportsEngine will help expand the growth of cheerleading and assist with the ease of doing business,” USA Cheer Executive Director Lauri Harris said.
“We’re proud of our long-standing support for cheer and the confidence USA Cheer has demonstrated by choosing to implement our SportsEngine Motion technology,” added Will McIntosh, president, NBC Sports Next. “The solutions built into Motion were created with cheer in mind, so it’s a better platform overall to more effectively engage their membership and advance their mission.”
SportsEngine serves more than 30,000 small and medium-sized youth sports organizations, tournaments, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and governing body community, professional sports leagues and thousands of municipalities. It offers technology solutions designed to dramatically reduce the time such groups spend on administration and communication, allowing them to focus more on athlete development.
