Tell the story. Communicate the value. Land every team on a registration page we control. A tactical brief for the new bpoas.com — written against a May 22 deadline.
We audited every page on bpoas.wpenginepowered.com, mined the old site for brand material we should not lose, and pulled every word of marketing content currently living on EventConnect. Three storylines define the work.
The brand's lead phrase — "The Ultimate Youth Baseball Experience" — anchored two paid-traffic landing pages on the old site (/the-ultimate-youth-baseball-experience/ and a 2026 variant) and is the search-friendly H1 candidate. The brand's signature tagline — "a pro for a week, a kid forever" — lives in one old-site founder post (/beyond-home-plate/) and pairs directly beneath the H1 as the emotional hook. Neither phrase is on the new homepage. There is no About page on the new site. Mike Sweeney's 5× MLB All-Star endorsement video sits on the blog but isn't surfaced anywhere with brand weight. Each of the five replica fields carries an MLB story (Brett, Fisk, Robinson, Ruth) the new site doesn't surface.
Production-visible placeholder copy ("NEEDS HEADER & BUTTONS" on Spring Season). A test post titled "TESTOVIY POST 02.05" sitting on the public News index. Escape-room copy ("Bigfoot exists?") under "Dine" on the Experience page. URL slug typo /ball-parks-expereince/ baked into slug, title, nav, and body. Multiple "Summer 2025 Schedule" CTAs 13 days from Memorial Day 2026.
Today every BPoA tournament's marketing content — dates, divisions, pricing, what's-included, payment policies, FAQs — lives entirely on EventConnect. There's no version on bpoas.com that competes for the SEO, captures leads, or fires conversion pixels before the handoff. The plan: build 13 tournament pages on bpoas.com, lift the EventConnect marketing copy onto them, and deep-link "Register" to the matching EventConnect event ID (we have all 13). On the funnel side, the only EventConnect link site-wide is the header "TEAM LOGIN" (assumes account exists), and 22 add-on pages exist as content stubs with no description, price, or path to purchase. This is the single most important fix.
Recovered from the old site. The new homepage hero, the four pillars under it, the social proof we shouldn't lose.
The brand uses two phrases that play different jobs. Both stay; they're complementary, not competing.
"The Ultimate Youth Baseball Experience."
The descriptive, search-friendly phrase. What parents type into Google. Already anchored two paid-traffic landing pages on the old site (/the-ultimate-youth-baseball-experience/ and a 2026 variant). Belongs as the homepage H1, as page-meta titles, and as the lead keyword phrase across SEO copy.
"A pro for a week. A kid forever."
The emotional brand promise. Sourced from the founder narrative on /beyond-home-plate/. Pairs with the lead phrase to give the hero an emotional hook after the SEO line. Use as: the line directly beneath the homepage H1; the footer signature line site-wide; a featured quote on the About / founder page; recurring brand mark.
How they pair on the homepage:
Five two-thirds-scale replicas. Synthetic turf, sunken dugouts, stadium lighting. Surfaced as: Per-field pages led by their MLB story (Brett, Fisk, Robinson, Royals dynasty, Wrigley).
"ONLY Ballparks of America offers great fields and facilities, located in a top vacation destination." AP, TripAdvisor, Forbes accolades. Surfaced as: The /branson/ page reframed as the moms' decision layer.
Three-dads founder story. The Tradition father-son tournament. Surfaced as: About-page founder narrative + The Tradition as flagship fall event.
"A company that isn't there just to make money." Cooperstown Dreams Park inspiration. 10-year vision (15 fields/120 suites). Surfaced as: About-page mission section + reframed Adopt-A-Team.
| Asset | What it is | Where to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Mike Sweeney | 5× MLB All-Star, KC Hall of Famer — video testimonial on the blog | Homepage hero quote · About · tournament pages |
| Cal Ripken WS | Babe Ruth League's marquee — host since 2017 | Dedicated /tournaments/cal-ripken-world-series/ |
| SportsEvents Mag #4 | "American Ballparks Every Planner Must See" | Pull-quote on homepage / About |
| Press coverage | KY3, MSN, Branson Tri-Lakes, Youth1, AP, TripAdvisor, Forbes, Trivago | Press strip on homepage; section on /about/#press |
| Partner roster (15+) | USA Baseball, Cooperstown Bat, Baseballism, BJ's Trophy, Hi-Cast, Oakley, Coca-Cola Ozarks, Rawlings, Musco Lighting, Triton, Cold Stone, Titanic Branson, White Water | Footer logo strip site-wide; /partnerships/#current |
| Themed fall tournaments | Faith·Flag·Family Classic, Bombs For a Cure, Battle for the Bling, Diamond Queens softball | /tournaments/fall/ |
Specific over abstract — keep "Brett's 3,000th hit" and "two-thirds-scale replica," cut "world-class facility" and "premier experience." Family before facility — every page leads with what the family experiences, ends with what the campus provides; current new-site pages do this backwards. Coaches and parents read differently — tournament pages need a "for coaches" stripe (game guarantees, format, deadlines, roster minimums) alongside the family-experience narrative.
~35 active pages. The discipline: build a page only when it has a unique job to do. Where the old site had a page, that doesn't mean the new site needs one — content can live as a section on a stronger page or as an anchor inside a parent. Best practice: hub-and-spoke only when each spoke earns it.
Six pages collapse into stronger parents. Not because the content disappears — because grouping serves the user better than splitting.
| Was going to be a page | Now lives as | Why |
|---|---|---|
/about/founders/ | The main content of /about/ | Founder story IS the About page. Splitting hurts both halves. |
/about/press/ | Section on /about/#press + homepage strip | Press content currently sparse. Promote to its own page in Phase 2 if coverage gets richer. |
/partnerships/current/ | Anchor on /partnerships/#current | Three forms across three pages is bad UX. |
/partnerships/become-a-partner/ | Anchor on /partnerships/#sponsor | Same — keep all three partnership audiences on one strong page. |
/partnerships/adopt-a-team/ | Anchor on /partnerships/#adopt | Adopt-A-Team is a sponsorship variant, not a separate decision tree. |
/facility/campus-map/ | Section inside /facility/ hub | The campus map IS what the facility hub should show. |
| URL | Page | Status |
|---|---|---|
/ | Homepage | FIX MVP |
/about/ | About — founder story, mission, leadership, press | NEW MVP |
/tournaments/ | Tournament hub (replaces /events/) | NEW |
/tournaments/summer/ | Summer season landing | FIX |
/tournaments/spring/ | Spring (partner-run) — info + housing | FIX MVP |
/tournaments/fall/ | Fall — The Tradition + future fall events | NEW |
/tournaments/cal-ripken-world-series/ | Marquee event hub | NEW |
/tournaments/[slug]/ | ×12 individual tournament pages — shared template (Memorial Day Classic + Summer Kickoff are MVP for May 22) | NEW + MIGRATE MVP* |
/programs/ | Programs hub | NEW |
/programs/camps-clinics/ | Camps & clinics | FIX |
/programs/local-leagues/ | Local leagues | FIX |
/programs/upper-deck-batting-cages/ | Upper Deck batting cages | KEEP |
/facility/ | Facility hub (incl. campus map) | FIX |
/facility/the-five-fields/ | Five fields hub | NEW |
/facility/st-louis-stadium/ | Brett's 3,000th hit · Great Southern Bank | NEW |
/facility/chicago-field/ | Wrigley analog · Silver Dollar City | NEW |
/facility/boston-park/ | Fisk's HR · asymmetric Fenway tribute | NEW |
/facility/kansas-city-field/ | Royals · The Track sponsor | NEW |
/facility/brooklyn-field/ | Ebbets · Robinson's debut | NEW |
/facility/lodging/ | Lodging — team suites + family hotels | FIX |
/facility/dining/ | Dining — 5-eatery campus | FIX |
/facility/entertainment/ | Grand Slam Entertainment | FIX |
/experience/ | Destination & all-inclusive narrative (was /ball-parks-expereince/ typo) | FIX MVP |
/branson/ | Branson destination | FIX |
/photography/ | Photography services | FIX |
/sho-me/ | Sho-Me Baseball partner facility | NEW |
/partnerships/ | Partnerships — current + sponsor + adopt (anchor sections) | NEW MVP |
/store/ | Store | LINK OUT |
/news/ | News | FIX MVP |
/contact/ | Contact | FIX |
/faq/ | FAQ | FIX |
/team-login/ | Branded landing → EventConnect | NEW |
/prepare-for-your-tournament/ | Prep checklist | FIX MVP |
/affiliate/ | Coach/team-organizer referral program ($200–$500 per team) | NEW |
/careers/ | Careers / Join the Team — links out to SportAdvisory | FIX |
/privacy-policy/ | Privacy | KEEP |
/terms-of-service/ | Terms | KEEP |
/addons/*) — noindex + sitemap exclusion + 301 each to its category home (Section 07)./event/event-title/ through -6/) — re-slug under /tournaments/ with 301 redirects.Cleaner URLs help SEO, look more professional in shared links, and reduce friction for anyone typing or remembering a URL. A 301 redirect on each old slug means nothing breaks — old bookmarks, email blasts, and external links all keep working, and Google transfers the existing ranking to the new URL. Two-minute config per page in WordPress; zero traffic loss.
/ball-parks-expereince/ → /experience/ — fixes the slug typo/join-the-team/ → /careers/ — cleaner, standard SEO slug/boa-affiliate/ (old site) → /affiliate/ — drop the BoA prefix; site is already on bpoa.com/about-our-facility/ → /facility/ — root the facility hub/travel-lodging/ → /facility/lodging/ — namespace under facility/contact-us/ → /contact/ — drop the suffix/photography-services/ → /photography/ — drop the suffixPrimary nav reorders to follow the funnel. Header CTA changes from "Team Login" (returning users) to "Register" (acquisition). Items with the ▾ chevron open a hover dropdown showing the subnav items in the right-most column.
| Slot | Label | Parent destination | Subnav items (dropdown) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nav 1 | Tournaments ▾ | /tournaments/ | Summer Season · Spring · Fall (The Tradition) · Cal Ripken WS · View All Tournaments → |
| Nav 2 | The Experience | /experience/ | — |
| Nav 3 | Facility ▾ | /facility/ | The Five Fields · Lodging · Dining · Entertainment · Tour the Campus → |
| Nav 4 | Programs ▾ | /programs/ | Camps & Clinics · Local Leagues · Upper Deck Batting Cages · Tournament Photography |
| Nav 5 | Branson | /branson/ | — |
| Nav 6 | About | /about/ | founders · mission · leadership · press (anchor sections on the page; not currently in a dropdown) |
| Header CTA | Register (red) | /tournaments/ | — |
| Header secondary | Team Login | /team-login/ | — |
/tournaments/ has the filter strip + 13-card calendar + sales contact; /facility/ has the campus overview + sub-page preview; /programs/ segments local vs. visiting audiences.
Every step lives on bpoas.com, not on EventConnect. The user only crosses to EventConnect's domain when submitting payment — and even then, attribution comes back via webhook.
app.eventconnect.io/events/{ID}/registration-type/create with UTMs preserved. Webhook fires register_complete back to GTM Server-side.| Funnel step | Event | Lands in |
|---|---|---|
| Page view | page_view | GA4, Meta, Google Ads |
| View tournament hub | tournament_hub_view | GA4, Meta (custom audience) |
| View individual tournament | tournament_view + tournament_id, age | GA4, Meta retargeting, Google Ads |
| Submit Info Pack form (LEAD) | info_pack_request | GA4 conversion, Meta lead, HubSpot, AC nurture |
| Click Register (HANDOFF) | register_click + tournament_id | GA4 conversion, Meta init-checkout, Google Ads |
| Registration completed | register_complete + revenue | GA4 server-side, Meta purchase, Google Ads, HubSpot deal |
register_click as proxy conversion. Webhook attribution lands as soon as API is unblocked. See Action 33 in Section 08.Every individual tournament page inherits this 12-section structure. Per-tournament work documents only the variables.
| # | Tournament | Dates | Ages | EC ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Memorial Day Classic | May 22–25 | 11U–14U | 38689 |
| 2 | Summer Kickoff | May 30–Jun 5 | 12U, 13U | 38692 |
| 3 | Gold Glove Classic | Jun 6–12 | 12U–14U | 38768 |
| 4 | Father's Day Classic | Jun 13–19 | 11U–13U | 38769 |
| 5 | Boys of Summer | Jun 20–26 | 12U, 13U | 38770 |
| 6 | Hometown Heroes | Jun 27–Jul 3 | 11U–13U | 38771 |
| 7 | Star Spangled Shootout | Jul 4–10 | 12U, 13U | 38772 |
| 8 | Kapau Klassic | Jul 11–17 | 11U–13U | 38773 |
| 9 | Mid-Summer Showdown | Jul 18–22 | 12U–14U | 38694 |
| 10 | Blitzball Bash | Jul 25–31 | 12U, 13U | 38774 |
| 11 | Global Games | Jul 31–Aug 3 | 12U, 15/16U | 38775 / 40338* |
| 12 | The Tradition | Aug 28–30 | 9U–15U | 42077 |
| 13 | Cal Ripken World Series | TBD | Major/70 | via Babe Ruth League |
*Two EC IDs for Global Games — see Action 26.
The content view — what each page should contain. Drafted H1 + subhead + primary CTA + content blocks per page. For the work view (build order, owners, deadlines, infrastructure tasks, decisions), see Section 08. Same projects, different lens.
A pro for a week. A kid forever.
The 12 EC-driven tournaments share the canonical template (Section 05). Each brief documents only what changes per tournament.
| URL | Drafted hero hook | Format |
|---|---|---|
/memorial-day-classic/ MVP | "Open the season under the lights at five replica MLB stadiums." | 4-day |
/summer-kickoff/ MVP | "Six days. Five fields. The week summer actually begins." | weeklong |
/gold-glove-classic/ | "Defense wins championships. Bring yours." | weeklong |
/fathers-day-classic/ | "Fathers and sons. Five fields. Father's Day on a baseball field." | weeklong |
/boys-of-summer/ | "Long days. Long fly balls. The longest week of summer." | weeklong |
/hometown-heroes/ | "Honor the ones who served. Play for the ones at home." | weeklong |
/star-spangled-shootout/ | "Independence Day. Under the lights. Fireworks optional." | weeklong |
/kapau-klassic/ | "The mid-July classic. Same fields. Bigger bats." | weeklong |
/mid-summer-showdown/ | "Five days. Five fields. One bracket." | 4-day |
/blitzball-bash/ | "Real baseball by day. Blitzball by night." | weeklong |
/global-games/ | "Teams from across the country. Some from across the world." | 4-day |
/the-tradition/ | "The father-son weekend that started it all." | 3-day |
Each per-field page leads with its MLB story; sponsors and dimensions sit in the supporting layer.
| URL | Hero (drafted) | Sponsor / Dim |
|---|---|---|
/st-louis-stadium/ | "St. Louis Stadium. Where Brett's 3,000th hit lives on." | Great Southern Bank · 235'/265' |
/chicago-field/ | "Chicago Field. Ivy in spirit. Wrigley in soul." | Silver Dollar City · 225'/250' |
/boston-park/ | "Boston Park. The Green Monster, the Pesky Pole, and Fisk's wave." | 200'L / 225'R / 250'C |
/kansas-city-field/ | "Kansas City Field. Built for the Royals. Played by the next generation." | The Track · 219'/270' |
/brooklyn-field/ | "Brooklyn Field. Ebbets in spirit. Robinson's debut on every pitch." | 220'L / 196'R / 245'C |
Twenty-two add-on pages exist as stubs — title only, no description, no price, no listing page, no path to purchase. EventConnect has 33–35 fully populated add-ons per tournament. The right answer isn't to fix the stubs — it's to retire them.
| Category | Examples | Surfaced on | Transacts in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tournament-attached | Linen packages, Family Feast, t-shirt, banners, trading cards | Tournament page (Section 08 of canonical template) | EventConnect (attached to team) |
| Photography | Player & team registrations, action packages, custom poster, banners | /photography/ | EventConnect (deep-link) |
| On-campus entertainment | Operation Laser Tag, Scorpio Escape Room, On-Deck Arcade | /facility/entertainment/ | On-campus or pre-purchase |
| Off-campus partner tickets | Silver Dollar City, White Water | /branson/ | EventConnect |
| Branded merchandise | Pro-shop apparel, hats, custom orders | /store/ | Shopify |
| Hitting / pitching | Upper Deck Hitter Contest, Pitching Bundles, Braggin' Rights Laser Tag | /programs/upper-deck-batting-cages/ | EventConnect or on-campus |
Specifically: noindex all 22 /addons/* URLs, exclude from sitemap, 301-redirect each to its logical home page (Action 5 in Section 08).
Section 06 was the content view — what each page should contain. This is the work view — every action that has to happen for the project to ship. It consolidates per-page work (build /about/, fix the homepage, etc.) with everything that doesn't map to a single page: tracking infrastructure, slug redirects, content sourcing, BPoA decisions, and post-launch initiatives. Same projects, different lens. Each item: what to do, why it matters, the tags that route it (priority · type · owner · linked brief).
/about/ appears in both sections — once in Section 06 as a content brief (drafted H1, content blocks, anchor sections) and once here as Action 12 (build it, who owns it, when it ships). If you're a writer or designer mapping content, use Section 06. If you're a project manager tracking deliverables and timeline, use this section.
Why: Public News post left over from QA / staging. The title reads as developer scratch work and undermines credibility. Two-minute delete.
Why: Internal note visible in production. Page also says "Stay Tuned for the 2026 Spring Schedule" — we are past spring 2026.
Why: Wrong content block in the wrong section, visible in production. Replace with the dining content per the /experience/ brief.
Why: Partner-name typo. Embarrassing if Cold Stone notices. One-word edit.
Why: Stub pages create thin-content SEO risk across 22 URLs. Per Section 07 — redirect each to its category home (entertainment, photography, programs, store).
Why: Two URLs for the same tournament. Six events use placeholder slugs. Pick canonicals under /tournaments/{slug}/, 301 the rest.
Why: The funnel keeps visitors on bpoas.com until the moment of payment. Site-wide "Register" buttons (header CTA, homepage hero, content section CTAs) route to /tournaments/ hub or a specific tournament page on our site — never directly to EventConnect. Only the Register button on each individual tournament page deep-links to EventConnect, using the matching event ID (we have all 13 in Section 05): app.eventconnect.io/events/{ID}/registration-type/create?nav=hidden. This pattern lets us own the SEO, capture leads in the funnel, and fire conversion pixels before the handoff. The current /summer-session/ placeholder (which points nowhere) gets retired as part of this work.
Why: May 22 tournament — zero days slack. Use canonical template (Section 05). Lift content from audit/raw/eventconnect-tournaments.md. Wire Register CTA to EC 38689.
Why: May 30 tournament — second event of the season. Same template, same content-lift pattern. Wire to EC 38692.
Why: Memorial Day teams visit /prepare-for-your-tournament/ in the next two weeks and find 2025 PDFs. Adopt-A-Team is framed around 2025 World Series. Multiple "Summer 2025 Schedule" CTAs across Upper Deck, Branson, Join the Team.
Why: The two phrases pair on the hero. The lead phrase carries SEO weight (it's what parents search) and already anchors two paid-traffic LPs on the old site. The tagline carries the emotional hook and is the brand's signature line — pair it directly beneath the H1 (italic, accent color), keep it as the footer signature line site-wide, feature it prominently on the About / founder page.
Why: Today the new site has no About page. The /beyond-home-plate/ founder content and the Mike Sweeney video need a real /about/ surface. One consolidated page absorbs founders + leadership + press.
Why: The only EventConnect link site-wide today is "TEAM LOGIN" (returning users only). High-contrast Register button (red, /tournaments/ destination) converts the header from a returning-user utility into top-of-funnel acquisition. Team Login becomes secondary text.
Why: Tracking layer must be live before paid ads launch. Per Section 04 — fire page_view, tournament_view, register_click at minimum on day one.
Why: Single highest-leverage form on the site for first-session visitors who aren't ready to register. HubSpot embed + AC nurture + auto-emailed PDF info pack (one canonical, reused per tournament).
Why: After Memorial Day Classic + Summer Kickoff are live, the remaining 10 EC-driven tournaments (Gold Glove, Father's Day, Boys of Summer, Hometown Heroes, Star Spangled, Kapau, Mid-Summer, Blitzball, Global Games, The Tradition) follow the template. Variables in Section 06.
Why: Replaces default Tribe Events List view at /events/. Filter UI (Season / Age / Format) per Section 06 brief. The hub is what turns paid traffic into tournament-page traffic.
Why: "Expereince" typo is in slug, title, nav, and body. Permanent SEO issue. Clean break: rename, 301 the old slug, update nav label.
Why: Each replica field carries an MLB story (Brett, Fisk, Robinson, Royals, Wrigley) — ownable SEO and brand storytelling. Hub + 5 spokes per Section 06.
Why: Replaces the original split (/current/, /become-a-partner/, /adopt-a-team/). Anchor links from nav (#current, #sponsor, #adopt) keep all three audiences on one strong page rather than three thin ones.
Why: Sho-Me Baseball (1958, lakefront, 14U+ tournaments) is currently absent from the new site. BPoA owns the relationship and the SEO juice. Cross-link to shomebaseball.com for schedules.
Why: Marquee event — host since 2017, runs through Babe Ruth League. Anchors brand legitimacy. Cross-links out for actual registration.
Why: Today the header link goes straight to app.eventconnect.io/login off-domain — pixels don't fire, attribution lost. Branded interstitial fires GA4 and routes through with UTMs preserved.
Why: Active 2026 revenue program currently only on the old site at /boa-affiliate/. Coaches/organizers earn $200–$500 per team referred via personal codes. Distinct audience and value prop from /partnerships/ sponsorship — keep it as its own page. 301 the old slug.
Why: Page exists on staging today as /join-the-team/ but I omitted it from the original sitemap. Rename slug to /careers/ for cleaner SEO, restyle to the new theme, expand content (6 hire teams, internships, values pillars), keep SportAdvisory portal as the apply destination.
Why: FAQ says 48. Lodging page says 8. CLAUDE.md says 8. Single confirmed number from Guest Services, then update FAQ + lodging + tournament-template payment-policies blocks.
Why: EC catalog lists "Photography Registration Fee" + "Team Photography Registration Fee," and "Photography Action Package" + "Team Photography Action Package." Likely individual-vs-team variants. The /photography/ tier table resolves this.
Why: Old site routes escape rooms to thepuzzleparlour.com — separate brand. Stub pages have H1s "Click for More Info" but no info. Need: BPoA-owned, partner, or third-party? Determines whether they live on /facility/entertainment/ or get linked out.
Why: Open question from BPoA-Kickoff-Doc. Affects whether /store/ redirects to BPoA Shopify, BL101's catalog, or hybrid. Affects merch positioning across tournament pages.
Why: Four 2025 PDFs linked from the Prepare for Your Tournament page. Memorial Day teams visit this in the next two weeks. BPoA Guest Services owns the source documents.
Why: We're building all 13 tournament pages with 2026 content because that's the only data currently in EC. For the 2027 season, those pages will need to roll over — updated dates, registration deadlines, division pricing, payment schedules. Need from BPoA Guest Services: (a) the timeline for populating 2027 events in EC, and (b) whether 2027 events reuse the existing event IDs (auto-updates flow through) or get new IDs (we'd re-wire the Register CTAs). This shapes the content-refresh sprint timing and whether tournament pages are treated as annual or evergreen.
Why: True register_complete attribution. MVP ships with register_click as proxy; webhook unlocks full revenue attribution and Google Ads optimization toward purchase.
Why: Session continuity through the EC handoff so attribution holds even before webhook lands. UTMs append + bpoa_session ID stitches conversions back to GA4 client_id.
Why: If 6+ press features warrant their own page, split. Otherwise, anchor section on /about/ stays. Decision triggered by press inventory growth.
Why: Populate after first 2026 tournament. Strong returning-team retention surface (parents come back to find photos) and conversion artifact for next-year campaigns.
Why: Unified domain attribution for merch sales. Today /store/ exits to ballparksofamerica.myshopify.com — no pixels, no cross-domain signals.
Why: 9 years of teams have played at BPoA. Alumni stories — especially players who've gone to college / pro ball — are strong organic-SEO and brand-equity content.
Why: Old-site Puerto Rican MLB heritage post signals BPoA's international reach. Global Games + general experience pages benefit from Spanish variants.
Why: Cold-outreach + email-sequence destination for high-intent leads. Personal-brand storytelling, calendar embed, direct line.
Why: Hero copy variants, CTA placement, divisions sidebar layout, social-proof block formats. Run experiments month-over-month against the canonical template.