Does Your Sports WordPress Website Really Need SportsPress Pro?

Jenni McKinnonNovember 25, 2017

When it comes to building a sports WordPress website, no plugin does a better job than SportsPress. But what’s the deal with upgrading to SportsPress Pro? Should you?

SportsPress and SportsPress Pro are both WordPress plugins that can create a professional, robust and eye-catching sports website. SportsPress Pro is the premium version of the free SportsPress plugin.

Here’s a detailed look at both SportsPress and SportsPress Pro to help you decide whether or not you should upgrade.

Smells Like Team Spirit

Both SportsPress and SportsPress Pro are brimming with features and capabilities. They’re highly customizable without touching code and infinitely customizable with coding.

But which one is right for the sports WordPress website you want to create?

Below is a detailed look at both SportsPress and SportsPress Pro, and what they can each do with WordPress.

All You Need Is SportsPress?

There are a few options out there in terms of plugins you can use to create a sports WordPress website so why choose SportsPress at all?

Out of all the sports plugins available, SportsPress has that most features and options. Don’t believe me? Feel free to search the WordPress Plugin Repository and find out for yourself firsthand.

Not to worry, with all the features SportsPress brings to the table—or, er, server—it’s still super straightforward to use, especially with its setup wizard. You can have your sports website up and running in a few minutes.

If you upgrade, there are a ton more robustious, athletic features available in a couple clicks.

In the end, why would you use a plugin that only has some features you need to create your sports WordPress website when you could have so much more and for free?

What’s in the (Ice) Box?

All the features in the free version of SportsPress are available in the upgraded version.

Here are the features that are included in the free version:

Equation builder – Create a custom scoring system and custom metrics to display on your website.
Club profiles – Display a profile for your team with custom content.
Player profiles – The list of players links to their individual profiles.
Automatic league standing – Show your league’s progress along with your logo.
Events – Display scheduled events with all the details you need including a map.
Calendar of events – You can choose to add a calendar that lists all the upcoming events.
Player lists – Display an eye-catching list of players with their statistics.
Staff profiles – Create detailed profiles for all your staff members complete with contact details and a photo.
Flexible club choices – You can select current or previous clubs.
Archives – Each season is archived.
Venue Details – You can display detailed information about a game venue including a Google map.
Advanced configuration – Edit statistics and league table columns.
Match Mode – You can switch between player vs player or club vs club.
Import with CSV files – Import events, clubs, players and staff members.
Shortcodes – Easy access to a full range of shortcodes for greater customization.
iCal – Events integrate with iCal.
WPML – Certified compatibility with WPML.
WordPay integration – You have the option to collect membership dues using WordPay.

For details on each feature, check out All Features.

By the way, there are no limits to how many staff, players, events and everything else that you can create. You can feel free to make a robust sports WordPress website, your way.

SportsPress is also compatible with any WordPress theme. You can activate one and use it as is or further customize it for enhanced functionality. You can also choose to take things up another notch and use one of our professional and burly sports themes.

For details, check out How to Integrate SportsPress into Any WordPress Theme.

There are also over 20 different sports and esports presets included so setup is a breeze:

American Football
Association Football (Soccer)
Australian Rules Football
Baseball
Basketball
Cricket
Darts
Golf
Handball
Ice Hockey
Lacrosse
Netball
Rugby League
Rugby Union
Snooker
Softball
Squash
Table Tennis
Tennis
Volleyball
Water Polo
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Dota 2
League of Legends

I Can Never Get Enough

SportsPress is great on its own, but if you need a lot more features, the Pro version has got you covered:

Multisite compatible – It’s built for Multisite with special features included.
Tournaments – Create and display tournaments in a bracket or knockout cup format.
Timelines – Display a visual timeline of player performance in events.
Scoreboard – Present multiple event results in a horizontal scoreboard.
Sponsors – Add your sponsors on your website and track each of their clicks and impressions.
Staff directories – Create a directory of staff members with key contact details
Team access – Assign users access to specific sections for them to edit or manage.
League menu – Display a global navigation bar at the top of your website for quick access.
Team colors – Set team colors per website to personalize player profiles.
Twitter – Add a Twitter feed to team, player and staff pages.
Branding – Rebrand your admin panel to your organization’s brand.
Duplicator – One-click cloning for anything such as events or profiles.

There are also three different license options available for maximum flexibility: Club, League and Agency. For details, check out SportsPress Pro Overview.

You can also feel free to try out the free version and upgrade later in a couple clicks by entering your license key. You won’t lose any of your data and you don’t need to uninstall the plugin beforehand.

If you want the most professional sports WordPress website possible, SportsPress Pro is the way to go.

Help, I Need Somebody

With so many features available, it can be difficult to wrap your head around all of it. So how do you know if you can ride the wave and keep using the free version or if you should upgrade to SportsPress Pro?

It all comes down to the features you need to create the sports WordPress website you want. If you’re not sure what you need or what kind of website you want to create, try to do some planning.

Planning Your Victory

Here’s a helpful chart that can help you plan your website and decide which version to use:

	Use SportsPress	Use SportsPress Pro
Installing Multisite is a must for your website.		✓
You want to create a website for only one club or league.	✓
All you need is basic website to test out features.	✓
You want a basic website now, but grow it in the future.		✓
Building a tournament website is a necessity.		✓
You need a network of sports websites.		✓
It’s important that you’re the only one with administrative access to your website.	✓
You’re a web developer and you want to create fully-featured sports WordPress websites for clients.		✓
Being able to offer potential sponsors some advertising space on your website is crucial to gaining their support.		✓
You want to be able to rebrand the WordPress for your organization and customize profiles with team colors.		✓
It would make your life so much easier if you were able to duplicate anything like events and profiles.		✓
You don’t want to display a striking scoreboard. You only need to display player metrics.	✓
Being able to quickly create and show a global menu across your network for effortless navigation is a necessity.		✓
You want to display a visual timeline of all the players’ performance across all events.		✓
	Use SportsPress	Use SportsPress Pro

For details, check out all the SportsPress Pro features.

You can also take a look at these resources:

When it comes to creating a sports WordPress website, SportsPress Pro has everything you could possibly need with more features being rolled out regularly.

The free SportsPress plugin is great for starting out, but upgrading provides you with everything you’re going to need in the future as your website becomes more popular. Upgrading is also the best choice if you plan on scaling up your website.

At the end of the day, if you want the most professional and robust option with the most features and capabilities, go with SportsPress Pro.

We Are the Champions, My Friends

No matter which you choose, your sports team will be well on their way to their first win when you install SportsPress or upgrade to Pro. You’ll be able to create a burly, professional and eye-catching sports WordPress website to boot.

Knowing whether you need to upgrade can be tricky and it all comes down to the features you need on your website since there are no limitations to the free version. Although, there are a ton of brawny features and capabilities available when you upgrade.

Hopefully, now you’ll have an easier time choosing which one is right for you.

What kind of features are you looking for in a plugin for your sports WordPress website? Let us know on Twitter or Facebook and we can see if we can make it happen.