Proposal for New Project

Abstract

Clemson University’s (CU) football team is a crowd pleaser, selling out most if not all home games at Death Valley. The men’s basketball team suffers from less loyal student fans, having only sold out one game, in 1980, at Littlejohn Coliseum. The Clemson University Athletic Department would like to find ways to increase loyalty amongst the men’s basketball team’s student fans and consequently increase attendance at home games. I will assume that this department has asked me to assess possible factors leading to low fan loyalty and suggest marketing plans to encourage student loyalty and increase student attendance at games.

Problem

According to Clemson University’s official athletic site the seating capacity at Littlejohn Coliseum is 10,980 seats for basketball games, but the average general attendance during the 2006-07 season was 7,356. During the 2005-06 season the average attendance was 7,087 and the season prior to that it was 6,960 (http://clemsontigers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/archive/clem-m-baskbl-archive.html). While the average general attendance has increased over the past three seasons the men’s basketball team still suffers from a lack of consistent student attendance.

Death Valley, on the other hand, has the capacity to seat 80,301 screaming tiger fans. Just last season the average attendance for home games was a staggering 81,506 fans
(http://clemsontigers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/archive/clem-m-baskbl-archive.html). In other words, Clemson’s football team averages a sellout crowd with student fans camping out for days for a chance to cheer the Tigers on from the hill.

The marketing behind Clemson University’s football program is an excellent example of effective sports marketing. The product of effective sports marking, geared towards students, on a university campus is a consistently high student attendance rate at games. The high student attendance rate at CU football games fosters school spirit, school unity and the morale of the student athletes. The core problem facing CU men’s basketball team, therefore, is its incapability to successfully mimic this model.

Solution

I will survey students, interview numerous members of the Athletic department, interview members of the basketball team, and reference both online and print sources to find solutions to the problem. I will, then, compile these solutions into a problem-solving report recommending (expert document) ways for the athletic department to reach its goals. Employing information gathered from the problem-solving report, I will create a blog (lay document) for the men’s basketball team. The purpose of this blog will be to facilitate a dialogue between the athletes and their current and prospective fans. This dialogue will foster an increased awareness of the players on campus, a relationship between the players and their fans and indubitably an increased sense of loyalty towards the team. This newfound student loyalty will result in student fans that habitually attend the men’s basketball games.

Feasibility

Since basketball is a well-liked sport, it seems feasible that student fan loyalty can be increased. Certainly CU students respond to marketing appeals for sports and other products (i.e. IPTAY and football). For this reason, if I am unable to demonstrate that possible strategies will increase fan loyalty and consequently increase attendance, I will show readers why the obvious solutions won’t work and recommend that the university hire a professional sports marketing consulting firm.

Audience

All of my audiences are at least somewhat interested in increasing attendance at CU men’s basketball games. None of them are in opposition, so I will be able to present information straightforwardly. The topic is not technical, so I don’t expect there to be a language barrier

My expert audience will be Terry Don Phillips, Director of the CU Athletic Department. He has the power to accept or reject my recommendations. I don’t know whether or not he is a basketball fan, but I assume he is at least somewhat knowledgeable about sports marketing. After all, he will look good if attendance increases.

Additional expert audiences to this report include staffers in the Athletic Department who will be asked to implement the recommendations. Assistant Director of Marketing and Promotions Mike Money and the coaching staff of the basketball team may be asked to evaluate the report.

Finally, my lay audience will include players and students. Players benefit from student support at games, and the students are the people being targeted for increased attendance.

You will be my initial audience.

Topics to Investigate

I plan to answer these questions in detail:

What factors affect student attendance?
Why do the students who attend men’s basketball games do so?
Why do the students who don’t attend stay away?
What promotions or publicity could make students more likely to attend?
How can student awareness of the team be increased?
What short-term strategies exist?
What long-term strategies exist?
Does it make sense to market the team to female audiences?
Would a loyalty program help?
What programs are available, and what is involved?
What are some examples of programs used at universities similar to CU?

Methods

I expect to get data from four sources: 1.) surveys of 50 to 100 students, 2.) interviews with members of the Athletic Department, 3.) interviews with members of the basketball team, 4.) my observations of marketing tactics on campus and in Clemson, and 5.) library and online sources about attendance at CU men’s basketball games.

A draft of my survey is attached. I will distribute the survey on Facebook, on my blog, in Cooper library, and my classes.

The following articles and Websites either were referenced or appear useful:

http://clemsontigers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/archive/clem-m-baskbl-archive.html
http://clemsontigers.cstv.com/school-bio/facilities-football.html
http://clemsontigers.cstv.com/school-bio/facilities-hoops.html
http://thecourtmaster.blogspot.com/2003/11/toughest-places-to-play-in-acc.html

Qualifications

I am a student majoring in English at Clemson University and a sports fan. I would like to see the student community offer more support to the men’s basketball team. I use to be a Tiger Paw, a fundamental part of Clemson’s football marketing team. As a Tiger Paw my job was to sell Clemson’s football program to prospective athletes and ultimately to get them to sign with Clemson. The Tiger Paws’ purpose was an important one. In fact, the Tiger Paws represented a fundamental component in marketing Clemson football. During the time that I served as a Tiger Paw I gained valuable experience in sports marketing but more importantly I built a network of individuals who are knowledgeable to the ends and outs of all things sports related at Clemson.

Work Schedule

The following schedule will enable me to finish this report by the end of the fall term.

Activity/ Completion Date

Gather information~ October 18
Analyzing information~ October 26
Organizing information~ November 2
Writing the draft/creating visuals~ November 9
Bring to class draft/visuals~ November 15
Cont. revising the draft/visuals~ November 16
Editing the draft/proofreading~ November 23
Preparing presentation~ November 30
Present/turn-in final documents~ December 6

Call to Action

Could we schedule a meeting to discuss my proposal and survey? I would appreciate any suggestions you may have for strengthening my ideas and making the report better. Please approve my proposal so I may continue my research and being the report.