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- All Subjects: sports
- Creators: Department of Marketing
Description
This paper will discuss how USA Gymnastics (USAG), Michigan State University (MSU), and the United States Olympic Committee (MSU) failed to properly investigate and take corrective action of former physician and now convicted serial pedophile, Larry Nassar. This includes a description of the powerful individuals who worked with or oversaw Nassar, how they received complaints of his sexual assault, and an explanation of the institutional environment that fostered a culture of silence and obedience. To provide a comparative analysis, this paper will analyze other athletic organizations (such as USA Swimming and USA Diving) which are also overseen by the USOC in order to compare their previous cases and reactions to sexual assault. This will be followed by recommended corrective policies for athletic organizations if claims of sexual assault arise. These policies and procedures will aim to prevent sexual assault in the future, reduce any culture of silence and vulnerability within similar organizations, and hopefully be implemented throughout athletic organizations everywhere.
ContributorsUdowitch, Heather Lynne (Co-author) / Udowitch, Heather (Co-author) / Lynk, Myles (Thesis director) / Hooper, Dana (Committee member) / Garner-Smith, Deana (Committee member) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12
Description
In the wide world of sports, not all fan bases are created equally—especially in the NBA. Differences in factors like tradition, history, team performance amongst teams make each fan base distinctly unique. This paper will analyze how team performance effects one component of fan behavior: home game attendance. Using win-loss data and home game attendance data for each NBA team from 2001 to 2017, I will construct statistical models to estimate how great of an impact team performance has on each team’s home game attendance. I expect each team’s fan base to respond differently to changes in their team’s win-loss record. This paper will also attempt to quantify other facts that impact attendance at NBA games, including year-to-year changes in team salary expenditures, regional income, and the number of star players playing for the team. Finally, this paper will explore the factors that affect home game attendance for specific games within a given season—things like weather, strength of opponent, and win streaks. Ultimately, the goal of this paper will be to provide NBA business analysts with resources to more precisely anticipate their team’s home game attendance. The ability to understand what motivates the behavior of a fan base is invaluable in creating a marketing strategy that drives fans to the arena. This paper will help to identify teams that are most susceptible to significant fluctuations in attendance and outline alternative strategies to positioning their product offering effectively to fans.
ContributorsSloan, Jacob Marlow (Author) / Lee, Christopher (Thesis director) / Eaton, John (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The National Basketball Association is the world's most recognized professional basketball league. Athletes such as Kobe Bryant and Lebron James have transcended from being high school standouts to global icons, but their careers might not have panned out the same way if they weren't allowed to declare for the draft immediately upon graduating high school. In 2005, the NBA and the NBA Players Association agreed to implement an age limit for athletes declaring for the NBA Draft. Although this was supposed to reduce the quantity of younger players declaring for the draft, the rule has been ineffective as the average age of lottery picks, also known as the first 14 picks of the draft, has decreased since the rule's implementation. Adam Silver, the current commissioner of the NBA, has been vocal about potentially raising the minimum draft-eligible age once more because of NBA team executives calling recent draft picks unfit for the NBA. The purpose of this research is to examine if lottery picks are indeed "NBA ready" upon being drafted, and if there is a correlation between the age at which they are drafted, the pick at which they were selected, the length of their career, and their career success. Various statistical analysis techniques are utilized, such as the calculation of R-squared values and correlation coefficients, and the usage of t-tests and multiple regressions. Box score statistics such as minutes per game, points per game, rebounds, and assists as well as advanced metrics such as player efficiency rating, win shares, box plus/minus, and value over replacement player were the focal point of this study. Players drafted with lottery selections from the 1985-2016 drafts had their career statistics compiled and examined for this analysis in order to adequately conduct the regressions. The results indicate that although lottery picks are having a decreasing immediate impact upon being drafted, the younger an athlete is drafted, the more long-term success they can expect to achieve in the NBA.
ContributorsKender, Mitchell Edward (Author) / McIntosh, Daniel (Thesis director) / Eaton, John (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Professional sports organizations in the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), and National Hockey League (NHL) are constantly searching for ways they can improve fan experience at their respective events. Many organizations have chosen to build a new stadium to attract fans and recruit players to play for their organization. The struggle for fan attention and fan spend is being played out on a daily basis. As revenue models have shifted more towards targeted advertising, delivered via new social and digital mediums, local organizations have focused on improving the at-game experience to maintain consistent revenue streams. The features these stadia include have varied from the comical, to the social, to the behind-the-scenes side of sports. This thesis project will examine all the characteristics of professional sports stadia and compile a report of the features organizations should include if they decide to build their own new facility. The problem that this thesis identified was that hockey arenas do not have a true "calling card" aspect to their facility, and this thesis will examine what can make these facilities more unique. At the end of this thesis, the research was used to construct a destination facility for a NHL team based on fan preferences, sponsor effectiveness, and design that reflects the region in which the stadium is located. Hockey organizations and venues need to entice their fans to attend events at their facility as opposed to staying at home to watch their events on television in order to generate more revenue at the facility.
ContributorsLatham, Nicholas Ryan (Author) / Eaton, John (Thesis director) / McIntosh, Daniel (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The purpose of this research was to determine whether there was a brand impact on athletes that chose to engage in political activism. This was investigated through research into examples of athlete activism in history and in the modern era as well as with a questionnaire distributed to marketing students at Arizona State University. The research suggests that there is no predictable impact to athlete brand from engaging in politics. Throughout history and in modern times there are examples of athlete's careers getting damaged because of their political involvement as well a instances where the athlete's brand is undamaged by their actions. The primary research results suggest that while the population preferred that sports and politics remain separate, they also believe that athletes have the right to speak out on political issues and engage in protest, and that doing so does not weaken the brand image of the athletes. The information in this research can be used by athletes to determine how their political actions may be received and by companies deciding how sponsoring a politically active athlete may affect their own brand.
ContributorsKeeslar, Alisia Marie (Author) / Eaton, John (Thesis director) / McIntosh, Daniel (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Starting in the 2017-2018 season, the National Basketball Association (NBA) will become the first major U.S. sports league to put corporate sponsors on their jerseys. This is a monumental move in the course of sports history, as it will have a major impact on the fans. Teams, as well as the league, must walk a line and make sure they are not seen as selling out for more revenue. Even though one of the reasons for allowing teams to sell space on jerseys is for revenue generation, it is also meant to help the NBA increase its exposure and become a global brand that is accepting to corporate investment. To understand how this will play out in the NBA, this report will look at the history of jersey sponsorship in Europe and the United States. Studying how jersey sponsorships have affected fans, teams, and leagues in the past will allow for a better understanding of the new jersey sponsorship market that the NBA is creating. Having a complete grasp on how jersey sponsorship markets in Europe and the U.S. will allow for better predictions on how the market for a major U.S. league will be. As of April 21, 2017, six teams have agreed to deals that involve a corporate sponsor patch on the team jerseys. These teams are from a variety of different markets and have varying level of recent and historical success. This small sample of teams with current deals can be compared to the early deals in other leagues. Some trends can be identified within the current deals based on the monetary investment certain teams are receiving from brands. The partnerships also all have other components to them as well as good brand alignment between the team and the sponsor. To value the remaining 24 teams, a formula was produced that would consider the team's current exposure in the marketplace. Through studying the history of other jersey sponsorship markets, a team's exposure is very important to brands and can allow a team to command a larger dollar amount. A formula was derived to relatively determine the value each team from the point of view of a brand mulling the decision to purchase an NBA jersey patch. Understanding the value of exposure to brands, the formula consisted of five variables that fully encompass how a team gains and maintains its exposure. A survey was also conducted in order to understand the fan in the local area. Our survey sample consisted of students of the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. In this survey, we could understand how students felt about certain brands and whether a partnership involving their favorite team could sway their purchase intentions. The survey gave an inside look on some NBA fans and how they feel towards corporate partnerships with teams.
ContributorsSantora, Spencer Dean (Co-author) / Scheetz, Ryan (Co-author) / Eaton, John (Thesis director) / McIntosh, Daniel (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
This paper explores psychographics and how they can be used to increase value in sport sponsorships. Funk (2016) indicates that psychographics are the attitudes, interests, and opinions of consumers. This defines psychographics, which is crucial for the continuation of the research. In a study conducted with the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, psychographics are explored further from the sponsor's perspective. Questions in the survey examine how recognizable different forms of sponsorship are, as well as the consumers' perception of sponsors and other consumer attitudes. Insights regarding general sponsorships within sport are provided from the analysis of this data. Overall, it is seen that the forms of sponsorship with the greatest visibility, especially those with media visibility via television broadcasts, are the easiest to recognize. Additionally, it is seen that consumers purchase based on an emotional connection to a brand, and they perceive the goal of sponsorship as a chance for sponsors to sell their brand, not their products. Knowing this information is useful, because applying it allows sponsors to maximize their sponsorship value by connecting with fans on a deeper level and targeting their promotional efforts accordingly. This piece includes the full list of survey questions and explanations, as well as an in-depth analysis of the setbacks faced in this project, and the potential downfalls of the survey sample. Regardless of that, this is still valuable information that provides an informal example of the power of psychographics as they relate to growing the value of sport sponsorship.
ContributorsBreidenbach, Nadia Marie (Author) / Eaton, John (Thesis director) / McIntosh, Daniel (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Incidents relating to professional/collegiate athletes and their use of social media have been a prominent topic in the news for the last several years. For collegiate athletes, a distasteful, offensive post can have a substantial impact on the rest of their lives, as he/she can have scholarships revoked, legal action taken upon them, and professional offers cut. An athlete's poor actions will affect their brand image and that of the school whose uniform they wear. Outcry over these incidents have caused teams, themselves, to compensate in a variety of ways. The following thesis is a narrative representation of these incidents, resulting outcry, and desperate compensation. The narrative touches upon the impact social media can have on a team, athletic department, and university. It explores the rules/restrictions of social media, marketing concepts such as branding, the right to free speech, and the impact/consequences of bad choices. The narrative is preceded and followed by analysis of real-world examples to provide sound rationale for the actions taken in the narrative.
ContributorsBornhoft, Holly Marie (Author) / Eaton, John (Thesis director) / Mokwa, Michael (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Millennials are the group of people that make up the newer generation of the world's population and they are constantly surrounded by technology, as well as known for having different values than the previous generations. Marketers have to adapt to newer ways to appeal to millennials and secure their loyalty since millennials are always on the lookout for the next best thing and will "trade up for brands that matter, but trade down when brand value is weak", it poses a challenge for the marketing departments of companies (Fromm, J. & Parks, J.). The airline industry is one of the fastest growing sectors as "the total number of people flying on U.S. airlines will increase from 745.5 million in 2014 and grow to 1.15 billion in 2034," which shows that airlines have a wider population to market to, and will need to improve their marketing strategies to differentiate from competitors (Power). The financial sector also has a difficult time reaching out to millennials because "millennials are hesitant to take financial risks," as well as downing in college debt, while not making as much money as previous generations (Fromm, J. & Parks, J.). By looking into the marketing strategies, specifically using social media platforms, of the two industries, an understanding can be gathered of what millennials are attracted to. Along with looking at the marketing strategies of financial and airline industries, I looked at the perspectives of these industries in different countries, which is important to look at because then we can see if the values of millennials vary across different cultures. Countries chosen for research to further examine their cultural differences in terms of marketing practices are the United States and England. The main form of marketing that was used for this research were social media accounts of the companies, and seeing how they used the social networking platforms to reach and engage with their consumers, especially with those of the millennial generation. The companies chosen for further research for the airline industry from England were British Airways, EasyJet, and Virgin Atlantic, while for the U.S. Delta Airlines, Inc., Southwest Airlines, and United were chosen. The companies chosen to further examine within the finance industry from England include Barclay's, HSBC, and Lloyd's Bank, while for the U.S. the banks selected were Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo. The companies for this study were chosen because they are among the top five in their industry, as well as all companies that I have had previous interactions with. It was meant to see what the companies at the top of the industry were doing that set them apart from their competitors in terms of social media marketing content and see if there were features they lacked that could be changed or improvements they could make. A survey was also conducted to get a better idea of the attitudes and behaviors of millennials when it comes to the airline and finance industries, as well as towards social media marketing practices.
ContributorsPathak, Krisha Hemanshu (Author) / Kumar, Ajith (Thesis director) / Arora, Hina (Committee member) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is one of the Big Four Sporting Leagues of US Professional Sports. In recent years, the NBA has enjoyed milestone seasons in both attendance and television ratings, resulting in steady increases to both, over the previous decade. (Morgan, 2017) This surge can be attributed in part to the integration of "cultural recognition" initiatives and the overall message of inclusivity on the part of NBA franchises, with their respective promotions and advertisements such as television, social media, radio, etc. Heritage Nights, such as "Noche Latina," among other variants in the NBA, typically feature culturally influenced changes to team logos, giveaways, and other consumer offerings. In markets where Hispanics make up a significant percentage of the fan-base, such as Phoenix, NBA franchises such as the Phoenix Suns must ascertain the financial or perceptual impacts, associated with risks of stereotyping, offending or otherwise unintentionally alienating different categories of fans. To this end, data was collected from the local NBA franchises' fanbase, specifically Phoenix Suns season-ticket holders, and was statistically checked for significant relationships between both categories of fans and several different variables. This analysis found that only $192K in revenue is being missed through the investment of Heritage Nights, and that fan perceptions of stereotypical or offensive giveaways and practices have no significant effect on game or event attendance, despite the stereotypes toward giveaways and practices still being present. Implications of this study provide possible next steps for the Suns and continue to widen the scope of demographical sports marketing both in professional basketball and beyond.
ContributorsGibbens, Patrick Alexander (Author) / Eaton, John (Thesis director) / McIntosh, Daniel (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05