Trend Tracker: Gameday Housing
Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 09:07PM 
Are you looking for new ways to target the significant amount of fans out-of-venue? Is your brand looking for new "ownable" properties in the sports marketplace?
As reported in Entreprenuer magazine, three (3) Notre Dame alums recently started a venture called Gameday Housing that serves as a vacation rental marketplace for fans looking to rent a home (versus a hotel room) on a game day weekend in a college marketplace. The venture allows fans to quickly log on to GamedayHousing.com, choose which game they would like to attend, and see which houses they can rent to host an ultimate watch party.
After just six (6) months, Gameday Housing registered 100+ homeowners in college football towns who were willing to rent out their residences to visiting fans and the company is slated to generate $500K+ revenues next season (up from $100K in 2008). The revenue model is structured so Gameday Housing takes a 20% commission from each transaction, with homeowners pocketing the rest. A pretty nice (yet, a little risky) way to make some easy dollars if you are planning on being out of town on a game weekend!
Rates fluctuate based on demand per market/game day weekend. In 2008, a restored 1904 bungalow in Austin Texas went for $1,180 on the Texas-Kansas weekend while a two (2) night stay in a log cabin in Sevierville, Tennessee went for just $375 when Tennessee played Vanderbilt at home.
The Gameday Housing website, currently in a Beta stage, features 45 college markets for fans to choose housing options on game day weekends (as well as the National Championship, Sugar Bowl, and Rose Bowl). Homeowners looking to get started need to pay a $100 listing fee that is refunded after their first booking (not a bad deal).
Look for the businessmen behind Gameday Housing to make some serious money as college football rivalry weekends continue to rise in popularity and attract the minds (and wallets) of fans!