1995 – Arena Sports Founded
In the mid-1990s our parent company, Arena Sports, was created and began indoor soccer facility operations in the Seattle area. Arena Sports dedicated itself to enhancing the quality of life in our community by providing high-quality, fun and safe sports and recreation for people of all ages. Over time, Arena Sports has grown to offer leagues, clinics and classes for adults, youth and children to more than 80,000 community members. Specifically, nearly 25,000 individuals on 2,000 teams participate in league play and another 12,000 individuals attend classes and clinics each year.
As Arena Sports grew, along with the popularity of soccer in America, they found that paper schedules posted on the wall and business analysis by Excel spreadsheet were not going to be efficient enough to keep pace. Instead of creating a back-office full of accountants and an ever-growing army of customer service representatives, Arena Sports decided to create a custom software package to permanently solve as many recurring, labor-intensive operations as possible. From scheduling leagues to taking customer payments, managing email communications, creating marketing campaigns, performing essential business analysis and beyond, the sheer number of tasks specific to running these facilities can be daunting. Without the help of specialized software the Arena Sports team realized that the continued growth of their business was in jeopardy.
1999 – SportsIT is Born
SportsIT was created by the Arena Sports team to automate the many recurring processes involved in running a group of successful indoor sports facilities. Early on, the SportsIT team realized that leveraging the power of the internet would allow them to create a fast-evolving, integrated software solution made available across any number of computers without the headaches and hassles of traditional, locally installed software packages. With the emergence of Secure Socket Layer technology it became possible to create a completely safe and private network within the greater internet. SportsIT is one of the earliest providers of modern internet-delivered Software-as-a-Service – now commonly known as SaaS.
We pride ourselves on taking the time to train, support and listen to our customers. We have a team of business professionals who understand the industry and the knowledge to provide technical support and timely training to your staff. We believe in supporting our customers in every way and using technology to provide you with greater flexibility and profitability in your business.
We are strong believers in using software as a tool of operational efficiency and also as an online representation of your business in the community. Your online presence let’s your customers interact with your business any time of day without requiring you to pick up the phone.
Our offices are in Redmond, WA, one of the hotbeds of high-tech. We don’t have foosball tables or giant bean bags in our office but we can play soccer with our friends from Microsoft and Google on our lunch break.
Roster
Don Crowe, CEO
Don Crowe oversees strategic planning, marketing, program development, operations and financial reporting for all three Arena Sports locations, as well as for SportsIT and Lil’ Kickers. Prior to Arena Sports, Crowe served as the acting financial officer and treasurer of the board for ICON Communications Corporation. A Washington state CPA, Crowe has also worked with Arthur Andersen’s audit division in Seattle. Crowe, a native of Canada, graduated from the University of Washington with a B.A. in business administration and accounting. He resides in Issaquah, Wash., with his wife and three daughters. Actively involved in soccer for 30 years, Crowe has played in the Washington State Premier League and earned all league honors in the North Puget Sound Soccer League.
Anthony Tippett, CTO
Anthony grew up in the idylls near Eugene, Oregon and went on to graduate from the University of Oregon with a BSCS in 1999. After a few years working with Jed at a small software firm supplying custom telecommunications analysis software to AT&T Wireless, Anthony joined the fledgling SportsIT team and liked it well enough to become CTO. Following Don Crowe’s lead, he also lives in Issaquah and raises daughters.
Don Amick, Sales & Account Administrator
Don Amick is a friendly fellow who lives on an island.
Jed Murdock, Senior Software Developer
Jed grew up in Eugene and Portland and met Anthony while studying Computer Science at the University of Oregon. Jed and Anthony have worked together on school projects, in the campus computer labs, and at Ursus Technologies. Since 2007 they have been together once again at SportsIT. It’s fair to say they get along OK. Jed compliments his BSCS with a BS in Journalism, which does him no good except to give him editing duties when people remember to pass things his way for review.
Kristi Carlson, Customer Support and Account Manager
Kristi is a wonderful lady who keeps us all honest by making sure our software does what it should, and is the person you’re most likely to talk to when you call.
