Sports and Entertainment Marketing Series

The setting

The RIVER CITY RAPTORS play in a stadium whose lower bowl fills and whose upper deck does not. On television the empty seats are the first thing a viewer notices, and the club has begun to worry about what that says to a sponsor.

Your role

You are to assume the role of a marketing associate with the RIVER CITY RAPTORS.

Your task

The RIVER CITY RAPTORS are a minor league baseball team whose games are broadcast on a regional sports channel. The lower bowl of the stadium sells out most nights, but the upper deck is rarely more than partly filled, and the broadcast camera angle behind home plate shows the empty seats in almost every shot.

A new sponsor has mentioned the empty seats in a meeting, and the club is concerned about how the broadcast makes the team look. Upper deck tickets are already the cheapest in the stadium, and cutting the price further worries the ticketing staff.

The vice president of ticket sales (judge) wants you to recommend how the club should fill the upper deck. Explain the role promotion plays for a club selling an experience rather than a product, identify the elements of the promotional mix you would use, identify the communications channels you would run a sales promotion through, explain the marketing strategy behind the choice, and explain how you would identify the market most likely to sit there.

Performance indicators

• Explain the role of promotion as a marketing function.
• Identify the elements of the promotional mix.
• Identify communications channels used in sales promotion.
• Explain the concept of marketing strategies.
• Explain the concept of market and market identification.

The judge will ask

1. 1.What stops a cheaper upper deck from emptying the lower bowl?
2. 2.Is a full stadium worth more than a profitable one? Defend it.

The setting

HARBOUR CITY FC plays in a stadium named for a regional company that has just been fined over an environmental matter. The naming agreement has years left to run, supporters have begun covering the name on their scarves, and the club has said nothing.

Your role

You are to assume the role of a marketing associate at HARBOUR CITY FC.

Your task

HARBOUR CITY FC is a professional soccer club whose stadium carries the name of a regional energy company under a long naming agreement. The agreement is one of the club's most important sources of income and has several years left to run.

That company has just been fined over an environmental violation, and the story has been widely covered. At the last home match, groups of supporters taped over the sponsor's name on their scarves and banners, and local media have asked the club for a statement. The club has so far said nothing.

The chief executive (judge) wants you to recommend what the club does. Identify the public relations activities this calls for, discuss the internal and external audiences the club has to address, explain the role of business ethics in continuing to promote the sponsor, explain what the association does to the club's corporate brand, and explain how the club's brand promise bears on the decision.

Performance indicators

• Identify types of public-relations activities.
• Discuss internal and external audiences for public-relations activities.
• Describe the use of business ethics in promotion.
• Explain the nature of corporate branding.
• Identify company's brand promise.

The judge will ask

1. 1.Does the club say anything publicly about the fine?
2. 2.What would have to happen for you to recommend ending the agreement?

The setting

The LAKESIDE THUNDER draw a full house at weekends and a thin crowd midweek. The team on the field is the same, the marketing is the same, and nobody has ever asked who is actually free on a Tuesday evening.

Your role

You are to assume the role of a marketing associate with the LAKESIDE THUNDER.

Your task

The LAKESIDE THUNDER are a minor league hockey team that plays home games on weekends and weeknights throughout the season. Saturday games regularly sell out and draw a lively crowd. Tuesday and Wednesday games, featuring the same team in the same arena, draw a small and quiet crowd.

Every game is marketed the same way, with the same advertising and the same ticket packages, regardless of the night. The director of marketing suspects the club has been trying to sell weekend entertainment to people who are not free on a weeknight.

The director of marketing (judge) wants you to recommend how the club should sell its midweek games. Explain the concept of market identification and who the midweek market actually is, explain the marketing strategy you would build for those evenings, explain the role of situation analysis in getting there, identify the elements of the promotional mix you would use, and describe the data the club would need to know whether it worked.

Performance indicators

• Explain the concept of market and market identification.
• Explain the concept of marketing strategies.
• Explain the role of situation analysis in the marketing planning process.
• Identify the elements of the promotional mix.
• Describe the need for marketing data.

The judge will ask

1. 1.Who is realistically free on a Tuesday evening, and what do they want?
2. 2.Would you rather add a thousand midweek fans or a thousand weekend fans?

The setting

GRANITE STATE HOCKEY has added merchandise every season and removed none. The team store carries far more than it can display, most of it never sells, and no one has ever been responsible for deciding what the range should be.

Your role

You are to assume the role of a marketing associate with GRANITE STATE HOCKEY.

Your task

GRANITE STATE HOCKEY sells team merchandise through a store in its arena and online. Each season, staff have added new items, often at a player's or sponsor's suggestion, and nobody has ever removed anything. The store now carries far more than it can display, and a storage room is full of boxes that have not been opened in years.

A small number of items, mainly jerseys and caps, account for most of what the store sells. The director of retail wants the range to reflect the club's identity and wants to know what should stay, what should go, and how that decision should be made in future.

The director of retail (judge) wants you to recommend what the range becomes. Explain the concept of product mix and how this one should be decided, explain what the product management function covers for a club store, explain how you would identify the product opportunities worth keeping, explain what a sprawling range does to the club's corporate brand, and identify the data you would monitor to make the decision.

Performance indicators

• Explain the concept of product mix.
• Explain the nature and scope of the product/service management function.
• Identify product opportunities.
• Explain the nature of corporate branding.
• Identify data monitored for marketing decision making.

The judge will ask

1. 1.How would you decide what to cut?
2. 2.What would you do with stock that will not sell at any price?