6050 Final Paper

Morgan R. Parvin

The Effect of Sports Media Marketing on Average Attendance at Texas Tech Men’s Basketball

Games

Texas Tech Promotions and Fan Engagement

Andy Rowdon- Assistant Director of Promotions and Fan Engagement

Morgan Parvin December 7th, 2015

Project Description

As an ambassador for the Texas Tech Athletics department of Promotions and Fan

Engagement, I help execute the promotions and marketing efforts. However, this semester I work

as a game-day intern closely with Andy Rowdon as he is the Assistant Athletic Director for

Texas Tech men’s basketball.

Essentially, a game-day intern is the right hand person to the Athletic Director and the

sport they are in assigned. Game-day interns also collaborate with their superior to help

brainstorm innovative and new promotional tactics. Furthermore, men’s basketball at Texas Tech

is a vey popular sport that competes in the powerful Big 12 conference. Therefore, the demand

for attractive and entertaining promotional material climbs to a higher demand each year. During

the 2013-2014 basketball season the student attendance for the Red Raiders had a decline from

the previous year. For the 2015-2016 basketball season we want to raise student attendance back

to the levels that were achieved during the 2013-2014 season.

Now that I have been designated as the men’s basketball game-day intern, it will be part

of my responsibility to try to increase student attendance. In the past, the department has turned

to other universities and tried to emulate their success by using similar promotional ideas and

materials. The assumption was that promotions that were a success at other institutions would

work at Texas Tech. This was not completely true. Instead, there needs to be a targeted approach

to executing programs to Texas Tech students. Therefore, it is my goal to use this project to

discover the correlation between social media marketing and how its effect on Texas Tech

student attendance at each basketball game during a specific time frame.

2


Research Question

Subject to change: How effective is social media marketing compared to

traditional marketing when it applies to attracting undergraduate and graduate

students to sporting events?

How can different social media platforms implement and help execute

promotional tactics?

Proposed Theory

I feel that the best theory to base my research around would be the Agenda Setting

Theory because the main goal of Promotions and Fan Engagement is to get fans, specifically

students in this case, to come to the game no matter what plans they may have. With social

media being an important component to my research, I was thinking about also incorporating the

Uses and Gratifications theory as well. My thought process on U&G was maybe if there were

more social aspects to the promotions of each game, students would have a sense of belonging to

the team or even to the University and they would want to attend sporting events to show their

dedication. Again, this is just an idea.

Literature Review: The Effect of Sports Media Marketing on Average Attendance at Texas Tech Men’s Basketball Games

Industry Analysis

Within the Big 12 there are ten different universities striving to set records and attract fans

and students to games. Universities such as Baylor, the University of Texas, Kansas and Iowa

State are dominant in the sport of men’s basketball and these programs have a loyal fan base that

do not always require strategic plans to increase student attendance. For other programs a

decline in student attendance is becoming a problem. Thus, universities such as Texas Tech are

searching for ways to attract students back to sporting events, in this case men’s basketball.

3


Today we live in a very social and interactive world. According to Mark Hollis in Schools

Strategize to Increase Student Attendance, written by Paul Steinbach, if students could not have

their phone out in any environment, they would not be attending the sporting event. Therefore

social media use is now a way of life that must be accommodated. Steinbach also reported that

at the University of Maryland, students did not want to go through the hassle of obtaining their

tickets to a game through traditional printouts. Therefore Maryland is implementing a digital way

to distribute tickets: via email. In an article written by Margaret Dawson, Social Media Lessons

from NCAA Top 10 Men’s Basketball, she claims that becoming visual on social media is one of

the keys to a successful social media presence. As seen in the visual below, “The top 5 most-

4


engaging Tweets over a one-week period were nearly all photos and videos.” Gonzaga

Basketball uses every social media platform besides LinkedIn to promote their basketball team.

In 2014, the CFP structure was created for Division 1 football and the first national

championship game was held at the Jones AT&T stadium in Arlington, Texas. The marketing

team for CFP wanted to implement tactics that would keep fans engaged all the way from pre-

game events until the championship game. Rebecca Gibson report in Fan Engagement Case

Study: College Football Playoff a few of their social tactics were comprised of: “A 19 foot social

tower that could be seen anywhere around the tailgate area that displayed tweets and posts from a

10x10 screen. Furthermore, they implemented a social battle where fans had the opportunity to

vote on three songs and the winning song would be played in the third quarter of the Oregon vs.

Ohio State game. According to Gibson, “The official team hashtags, #GoDucks and #GoBucks,

were used a total of 322,032 times. The different fan activation, voting, and game hashtags

gathered an impressive 568,035 social posts from Twitter and Instagram leading to 118,151,280

projected social impressions.” Based upon these results, there was a massive amount of social

interactions demonstrated at the CFP.

While it is important to analyze other strategies and tactics between the Big 12 and similar

schools around the country; it is necessary to take a look at what Texas Tech is or has already

done to encourage attendance at men's basketball games. According to an article by Diego

Gaytan in the Daily Toreador (2015), Texas Tech is ranked as one of the top universities on

social media on Facebook and Twitter for their social presence. You could easily attribute this to

the social demand that the Texas Tech Athletic department generates According to the Gaytan,

“Tech Athletics has 56,700 followers on Twitter, 27,900 followers on Instagram and upward of

134,000 likes on Facebook.” A review of the Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts for

5


Texas Tech indicates that at least once a day a user will find a post about TTU Athletics.

Furthermore, the outreach of the student body is rather remarkable and cannot go unnoticed.

Texas Tech Athletics and the University is engaged with their students on social media. TTU

Athletics updates social media sites to let students know what food will be served to fill their

cravings before the game, whether it be breakfast burritos, tacos from Fuzzy’s or warm chocolate

chip cookies and milk. The athletic department wants fans and students to be engaged during the

game as well. For instance, AT&T Postano gives fans the opportunity to use #wreckem to Tweet

about their experience in real time during the game and then be seen on the video board.

Texas Tech Ambassadors is an athletic student association compiled of students who love

athletics and who want to promote each sport. Students are required to work two sporting events

each month as well as use their individual social media sites to promote what is going on in

athletics. This can include promotional events, meet and greets with the team or just giving a

“shout out” to a sport of their choosing. Texas Tech Ambassadors is not specific to any one

sport, but tries to put extra emphasis on attending lesser-known or attended sports. These sports

would include Women’s Basketball, soccer, tennis and volleyball, for example. Each of these

sports could use more student attendance and like the Tech Ambassadors are doing reaching out

to friends and family is a great way of doing just that.

Andrew Guerra recently compiled a comprehensive study: Student Attendance at

Collegiate Sporting Events which explores the decline in student attendance and the effect social

media plays in attracting students to games. Guerra conducted a survey and observed that people

are more likely to attend men’s basketball games if they follow the team on social media.

Snapchat had a big effect on attendance at men’s basketball games as well with 69.3% attending

while 41.3% do not attend. Instagram had a very close effect with 62.6% attending followed by

6


Twitter with 59.2%. Guerra’s data suggest that students like to attend men’s basketball games to

obtain loyalty points and they want to interact with the coaches and players after the game.

Participants indicated that hanging out with friends was not a large factor for not attending

games (47.7%), but wanting to watch multiple sporting events was in fact largest contributing

factor (53.1).

Customer Analysis

For this project, the audience to be reached and focused on will be undergraduate and

graduate students. According to the table below, Texas Tech currently has 29,237 undergraduate

students, 6,045 graduate students and 577 law students enrolled for the 2015 fall semester (Texas

Tech University, 2015). Of the enrolled 16,474 are female while 19, 366 are male. According to

ESPN (2015), student attendance is at a baffling low. For instance, “Arizona sold 10,376 student

season tickets this year. But 47.6 percent of those students, for an average game, didn't even

show up” (ESPN, 2015). Numbers such as these can be seen right at the United Spirit Arena

7


here at Texas Tech. According to reports compiled by the Ticketing Department, student

attendance for the 2013-2014 season was 26,569 and in 2015 it dropped down to a problematic

16,834. This drop in attendance was apparent during the Kansas State rivalry game. In 2014, the

student attendance was 6,068 and in 2015 there were only 2,522 students in attendance. This was

even with the opportunity for a student to win a million dollars in a promotional effort similar to

a lottery card. With promotional efforts at an all time high by the athletic department and even

including head coach Tubby Smith, who offers to buy lunches for students at the Student Union

Building, this is a very serious issue that needs to be addressed. Other schools in the Big 12 are

reaching record average attendance records more than 12,000 students per game.

Competitive Analysis:

Iowa State has implemented a spirit organization called Cyclone Alley that is designed to

be the student spirit representation at the men and women’s basketball games. Cyclone Alley

communicates primarily through Twitter to get students hyped up to attend each game and to

have a great time acting as students should, loud and crazy. The students unleash their love for

the game by wearing costumes and using props to distract the opposing team. Through Twitter

they try and recruit students to the game by posting pictures of their in-game activities as well as

some of the incentives of being apart of Cyclone Alley. For example, each time a student swipes

their ID card they obtain a point value depending on the sporting event they attend, (i.e., one

point) for attending a men’s basketball game and 2 points for attending a women’s basketball

game. After earning 12-14 points during non-conference games, students earn prizes, such as a

pullover jacket. Furthermore, 32-36 points will earn you a Iowa State Nike Air backpack. There

are four “watch” games state students can attend while the team is on the road and if they

8


participate, they will win a prize pack that includes: a Cyclone pint glass, a team autographed

Hilton Magic flag, and a long sleeve Cyclone Alley T-shirt. The engagement through Cyclone

Alley has proven to be extremely successful and is on that should be mimicked.

TCU has a Twitter handle dedicated to their student section: @TCUstudentsect. Their

Twitter page has a very rowdy and hyped up feel trying to encourage students to be at the most

upcoming sporting event. Furthermore, they frequently are re-tweeting the content that athletes

and students are posting that would attract students to each game. TCU’s student section Twitter

is clearly run by students and portrays a young and fun vibe that student’s can feed off of. TCU’s

Basketball Twitter and Facebook pertain more to game stats and player updates. While in

discussion with a former TCU student, it was noted that the athletic administration at TCU would

occasionally send out at email to announce sporting events though it was not always necessary.

TCU is also a very old school in the state of Texas and their fans seem to have a lot of support

for their school. The cost of tuition could correlate into the the “loyalty” of the fans to the school.

Students want to get their money’s worth out of their tuition and do not want to jeopardize that

by missing a sporting event. While a degree from TCU and a degree from Texas Tech mean the

same thing the cost of attendance at both are drastically different. When someone pays more for

school it adds to the feeling of needing to go to the games.

Baylor does not necessarily need to have fan promotions on their social media forums

either. Instead of promotions they to have more of a “stats” feel where they show different

statistics of the different players and teams. Baylor’s main athletic page features a lot about the

sport of the current season. Currently, they are doing a lot of promoting for Baylor Football and

what ESPN and other media outlets are saying about them. They continue this throughout each

season and during basketball they do it for both Baylor basketball programs. Their social media

9


pages are very active even though they are not directly related to promotions or fan engagement.

After talking to a recent graduate of Baylor, it was communicated that the school does not do a

lot of fan engagement even to their student base. He believes that this is largely due to the

success of their athletic programs and because they have a very loyal fan base. This loyalty is

similar to Texas A&M, especially since the institution moved to the SEC. Even though the

Aggies has been largely successful as of late they did not use to be so successful. However, they

have kept a very large fan base at all of their events. Baylor has recently excelled in the Big 12

and has created a very loyal base and does not need the promotions to try and attract fans to the

games, especially the students. Baylor has an undergraduate enrollment of 13,859. While this

enrollment is much lower than the enrollment at Texas Tech or University of Texas, might it be

possible that with the much higher price of tuition that kids might be more inclined to attending

sporting events of all sorts? The higher tuition could also relate to more income for the school as

a whole. This income would lead to better athletic facilities as seen in the recent stadium

upgrades that happened at Baylor which include the south end of the stadium being extended and

a large video board put in. Baylor is also the oldest school in the state being founded in 1845.

The University of Texas has the same loyalty that is seen in Waco and College Station.

They do not have a strong presence promoting their games or enticing their fans with different

promotions. They do have the same strong presence of using statistics and recent news to

promote all of their sports. They have countdowns to upcoming games and the beginnings of

different seasons such as the beginning of baseball and basketball. They also post different

interviews with the coaches and players. The University of Texas has 39,523 undergraduate

students currently enrolled for the fall of 2015. This statistic is about 10,000 students larger than

Texas Tech University. Just the sheer size of the University of Texas could be enough to have

10


that many more students attend their sporting events especially Basketball as a whole. It seems

that schools that have built a strong presence in the Big 12 or their respective conferences do not

have the need that Texas Tech and similar schools have of promoting their sporting events

through student and fan engagement. The University of Texas has been an established school

since 1883 making it one of the oldest in Texas, and it also has the benefit of being located in the

state's capital, Austin. Perhaps because of the history of the school, UT may have a more loyal

fan base. A current student at The University of Texas stated that they do not utilize promoting in

the traditional sense, however they send emails occasionally and there are posters to indicate

upcoming games.

Gonzaga has a long history in D1 men’s basketball and has a similar feel of community

to Texas Tech. Their success in the past 20 years has been greater than that of Texas Tech's,

however. They have had been seeded nearly every year since 1995 and have recently been

seeded as high as number two which took place in the 2014 tournament. Programs that are this

successful have always seemed to attract people to the games. They are another school that does

not seem to promote their games the same way that Texas Tech does. They are very active on all

of their social media platforms and are constantly updating each site with statistics and game

times. On their main Facebook page, they promote all of their sports and do not just focus on

their main sports. Currently, they have been promoting cross-country, which seems to be

different than what other schools are doing. Gonzaga does not have a football team, which could

relate to their more heavily promoting sports such as cross-country. Come basketball season

though, their social media pages explode with basketball statistics, images and videos. They are

constantly updating the successes of their women and men’s basketball teams. They are also

updating on their baseball and softball teams. Gonzaga was founded in 1887 and they have an

11


undergraduate enrollment of 4,837. With such rich tradition and loyalty combined with the

success of their athletic teams it seems that they have the perfect combination and would not

have to have so many fan engagements to try and encourage people to attend their sporting

events. There seems to be a lot of talk about Gonzaga basketball on ESPN about how they could

make a deep playoff run again, like they have been doing in recent years.

Kansas University has a long-standing run of success in men’s basketball but has

struggled in football. The football team at Kansas has not won a single conference game since

last year. They have been in a downward spiral since 2010 and have lost a lot of donations and

attendance at their games. However their basketball team has found a lot of success in the past

decade in fact, winning the Big 12 Conference for the past 12 years. They always make deep

playoff runs and have been seeded very high and have done very well. Kansas University

averaged over 12,000 fans at each men’s basketball game last season. There were only two other

schools in the Big 12 that did that: Kansas State and Iowa State. The question to be asked is :Is

fan engagement happening at these schools or is it the success of the program that generates

great crowds? Certainly winning helps. Iowa State has their Cyclone Alley but Kansas does not

do a lot of engagement. Kansas’ athletic pages on their social media sites are very active when it

comes to their sports. They heavily encourage their fans to come out and tailgate and get loud at

the games. They do have a “walk” where the fans line the path that the players walk to the locker

room from and they can cheer on their football team as they approach their locker room before

the game. Their basketball team recently went to Korea and played in a tournament overseas and

their Twitter feed was dominated by the results of the tournament and the reactions of players

and fans overseas. They were constantly updating the scores of the games and keeping fans up to

date as to how their team was doing. It seems that schools that have a long tradition of packing

12


stadiums and their teams doing well don’t have as many fan engagements, likely because they

don't need to at this time. Kansas has had the longest streak in the Big 12 for home sellouts at

147 and have been posting record averages nearly every year. On their main athletic page they

have a lot of graphics about different players and their stats from each games. They try and keep

fans encouraged by posting positive things about the team which is a recurring theme across all

sports pages. Kansas University was founded in 1865. This is another school that shows a rich

and long history.

Schools that have a long history and a tradition of winning, attract fans. This is seen in

schools like Kansas, Baylor, Texas A&M, Duke, and Texas just to name a few. The real question

though is how do things like promotions and fan engagements affect the number of fans that

come to the games? Schools like the ones stated do not do a lot of promotions or fan

engagements but they still pack the stadiums week after week. Iowa State does pack the house

but they have also had a lot of success and they do a lot of promoting with their Cyclone Alley

promotions and points system. It seems that these things might have an effect but what can Texas

Tech do differently to attract more fans to the games besides what they are already doing? It also

seems that schools that bring a very loud environment to each game seem to bring more and

more people. A good comparison could be made to Texas Tech’s student section at home

football games. The student section is always loud and it is always very active in every game. It

seems that each week students go not only to watch the game but to also watch and participate in

the antics that follow. If Texas Tech could have a loud and rowdy crowd at each home game it

would make sense that people would want to come. Students and players alike love when the

crowd gets loud and into the game. It makes the game exciting for the players and keeps the fans

into the game rather than leaving and going to the concession stands.

13


Method

My methodology of choosing for compiling my research will be through an online

survey, Qualtrics, to be distributed to students as well as conducting two separate focus groups. I

feel it is important to hear the voices of the student body rather than just undergraduates who

typically are the majority of students who attend sporting events. Within my survey it will be

crucial to provide open-ended questions for students to provide their thoughts and concerns and

this should lead to very rich data to grow from and expound on in my focus groups.

Online Survey:

A total of 65 Texas Tech students participated in an online survey that was available

during a span of 21 days. The students were contacted via email, Facebook and in undergraduate

classrooms asking for their voluntary input, not extra credit provide, by completing an 18-item

questionnaire. The results were analyzed question-by-question and are presented in the Appendix

section of this paper

Key Take-Away

After analyzing and interpreting the data, the results suggest that the Texas Tech Athletic

department is successfully reaching students through outlets such as Facebook and Instagram.

However, there is a very small group of participants who are going to the game and not

participating in promotional activities nor do they appear to be concerned about the promotional

activities.

Focus Groups:

There were 11 students in Group 1 and 12 students in group 2, who ranged in class

designation from sophomore to senior level. The students who participated in the two focus

groups volunteered after announcements in one of two undergraduate courses in public relations

14


in exchange for participation extra credit were made. One class was an 81-person sports public

relations course and the other was a 32-person public relations strategies course. There was no

intentional grouping of students in either time designation, they independently selected from

among two choices for focus group participation.

Key Take-Away

After analyzing and interpreting the data collect from each focus group, the results

suggested that students social media and email/text blasts are the most effective ways to

communicate with that pubic and could result in their attendance at Texas Tech men’s basketball

games. Furthermore, incentives such as food and t-shirts do entice students to attend more games

throughout the season. A major take-away is that a reward-type system would keep students

coming to each game. As many of the students were active on social media, ensuring they are

following each Tech Athletics social media site and are aware of promotions could be difficult

due to the amount of clutter on social media. One participant mentioned how she was involved in

Rowdy Raiders, a reward-type program; her freshman year of college and that incentivized her to

go to every men’s basketball game. Furthermore, she explained that the program died off the

following year, yet she would have remained involved if the program still existed. Students

indicated how they followed Texas Tech Athletics on all social media sites yet were unaware of

game times, promotions being offered and any other information regarding to Texas Tech

Athletics. This suggests that the department is doing what it can to reach students, but students

need to become more invested in each sport and sporting environment.

Results and Discussion

Detailed reporting of responses to each question and graphical representation can be

found in Appendix A. In conjunction with the online survey that was distributed, two focus

15


groups were conducted on November 4th. Refer to Appendix B for an outline of questions that

were used to guide the focus group. Here are key findings from this small data collection.

Of the 65 survey respondents, 59 percent were female. Most of thee respondents were

traditional-age college students, 80 percent 19-25 and 19 percent 26-32. The majority of these

respondents were graduate students (53%), followed by seniors (22%), doctoral student (11%)

junior (5%), sophomore (1%) and 8% selected other. Furthermore, the majority (84%) indicated

that they use social media on a daily basis. Facebook, email and Instagram were selected by

participants the most when asked about which form of communication they prefer to receive

information about Texas Tech Athletic events. In concern with promotional outreach, 38% of

participants are satisfied with promotional efforts by Texas Tech Athletics. Less than half, 39%

of participants, selected that “Some” of the time they will discuss information with their peers

while 38% said “Little” do they discuss. T-shirts were the most desired promotional material

(78%), followed by free food (63%) and at give-a-ways (56%). Half of the participants indicated

they go to less that 3 Texas Tech Men’s Basketball games while 19% attend a game 2-3 times a

month and 6% attend 2-3 games a week. Facebook is the most popular social platform that

participants use (68%) followed by Instagram (49%). Participants indicated that Facebook (53%)

is where they see the most promotional efforts, followed by Instagram (47%). The majority of

participants have not won a promotion/giveaway at a men’s basketball game (91%). There were

5 participants who had won a promotion and shared about it on social media while 4 participants

won and did not share on social media. Furthermore, 72% of participants were more likely to

attend a game due to the promotional efforts. Engaging in social media at a sporting event does

not have a significant impact on making a respondent feel more a part of the team. Interestingly,

only 4% of participants only stayed until the promotions were over. Majority (59%) of

16


participants stay until the game is over. This may suggest that promotional efforts, while they

may help bring a student to a game, do not keep them there. When asked to provide additional

feedback, of the five participants who responded, three indicated that they were either a part(or

members of the band) of the band or had to attend athletics events to do their affiliation with the

Texas Tech Athletics department. One participant did indicate they attend games when the team

is winning or losing. Another participant responded, “It depends on the score” assuming this is

reflective on the duration of their stay at each Texas Tech Men’s basketball game.

Results:

Responses from both the online survey and the two focus groups suggest that students

enjoy going to the game but they want the experience to be worth their while. For instance, a

participant in the second focus group said that even if they won something small for attending

the game that would help in encouraging her to attend more basketball games and other sporting

events.

As stated above students would like to be involved in a reward-type program, such as

Rowdy Raiders, which was implemented in the past. This could be a successful tactic to create a

reoccurring and growing student attendance. Students expressed in each focus group that they

were not aware of sporting events or much of the promotions offered at each game, such as: free

food, t-shirts and signing autographs with players and coaches after games. A student mentioned

that they wished Texas Tech Athletics had a Snapchat not knowing that this social media feature

was already available on Snapchat. Discussion within the focus groups suggested that students

did not pay attention to the information that Tech Athletics did disseminate regarding the

promotions. Two interns for Texas Tech Ambassadors were participants in the second focus

group and remained quiet during their session due to frustration. Following the conclusion of the

17


focus group, both members stayed after to express their frustration with some of the participant’s

responses because all of their marketing efforts seem to have gone unknown.

When asked what would attract students to the game, males, in particular, indicated that

popular opposing teams and players were what they wanted to go see. Furthermore, students

would attend games because they either knew a player of the Texas Tech team or admired one of

the leaders on the team. Parking was also an issue that arose in each focus group. Suggestions

such as a bus shuttle and opportunities for closer parking were expressed, as students did not

want to pay to park.

Within the first focus group, the promotional efforts of Texas Tech Baseball was praised

as students noted this is a sport where they always know what is going on and when each game

will be played. It is important to document that the participant’s felt like the success baseball is

experiencing is due to the frequency of how many baseball games are played each season and

how well the team has played in recent seasons. Another success mentioned was when students

were encouraged to attend basketball games and compete in dorm competitions as well as Greek

life competitions. Participants wanted to attend the games because they could go with their

friends or a group of people from their dorm. When asked the number of people in the group

they attended a game with, the majority (74%) responded with a group of three to four people.

Students also enjoyed the cross-promotion of different sports throughout Texas Tech;

specifically when other Tech teams would come and throw t-shirts or be recognized during

timeouts and half time.

18


Recommendation:

Going forward I would focus most promotional efforts on creating a student group such

as Iowa State did with Cyclone Alley. This group would be comprised of students that do not

work for the athletic department, but have a love for the sport of basketball, both men’s and

women’s. The organization and recruiting of students would begin at summer orientation and

give incoming freshmen something to be excited to be apart of when school starts. Iowa State

had incentives such as Nike jackets and backpacks for students who attended an allotted amount

of games and Texas Tech could implement the same strategy with Under Armour gear.

Another recommendation would be to give out small promotional items for students who

participate in the in-game promotions but do not win. Furthermore, enticing student to post on

social media about their experience could result in a larger prize or an autographed memorabilia

item.

As stated above, student’s who claimed to follow Texas Tech Athletics never knew about

certain promotional efforts and were disappointed they missed out. One way to change this

missed opportunity is to create attention-grabbing graphics that students will not overlook as

they scrolled through each social media site. Different graphic types could be tested to see what

attracts students.

Within the second focus group, students expressed that they were part of Greek life and

enjoyed going to the games with their sorority and fraternity members. Therefore, focusing on

Greek life specifically will increase attendance numbers. A promotional recommendation would

be creating an tailgating like atmosphere in Club Red up on the concourse for Greek life as this is

a popular activity for Texas Tech Football. Ultimately, the process of communication involves a

19


sender and a receiver (Shannon and Weaver, 1949). Texas Tech Athletics appears to be doing

their part in this process as the sender and students need to do their part as receivers.

Limitations:

This research that was conducted includes a few limitations that could effect the richness

of the results gathered. The online survey and the two focus groups that I conducted did not

include any freshman therefore this educational classification was not accounted for in my data.

Furthermore, a major social media site, SnapChat, was left out of my survey as a social

media option. Students did mention this form of marketing in the focus group and how they

wished Texas Tech utilized this feature more often.

Lastly, two students from the second focus group were limited to how much they could

contribute to the focus group because they were involved in a athletic student organization which

promotes the marketing efforts of the Texas Tech Promotions and Fan Engagement department.

20


References:

Baylor University. (n.d.). Retrieved October 5, 2015.

Brennan, E. (2015, July 7). Looking ahead: Gonzaga Bulldogs. Retrieved October 5, 2015.

Cyclone Alley -- the official student spirit organization for Iowa State basketball! (n.d.).

Retrieved September 29, 2015.

Gaytan, D. (2015, April 1). Athletics department uses social media to connect to fans. Retrieved

October 2, 2015.

Gibson, R. (2015, March 26). Fan Engagement Case Study: College Football Playoff. Retrieved

October 3, 2015.

Gonzaga University. (n.d.). Retrieved October 5, 2015.

Guerra, A. (2015, June 3). University of Oregan, Warsaw Sports Marketing Center Student

Attendance at Collegiate Sporting Events Comprehensive Report. Retrieved November 22, 2015.

Reports, J. (2010, May 13). KU men's basketball posts highest attendance in Big 12. Retrieved

October 6, 2015.

Robinett, K. (2015, March 25). College basketball attendance, ratings and scores were down;

what will it take to bring them back up? Retrieved October 1, 2015.

Rovell, D. (2014, February 17). Will next generation of fans show up? Retrieved September 30,

2015.

Steinbach, P. (2013, June 1). Schools Strategize to Increase Student Football Attendance -

Athletic Business. Retrieved September 29, 2015.

Texas Tech University- TRENDS. (n.d.). Retrieved October 3, 2015.

University of Texas--Austin. (n.d.). Retrieved October 4, 2015.

21


Appendix A:Q1. Please select your gender. Male Female

Q2. Please select your age. 18 years and under 19-25 years 26-32 years 33-39 years 40 years and overQ3. Please select your educational classification Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior Graduate Doctoral Other

Q4. How often do you use social media? Never Daily Weekly Monthly Other

Q5. Through which form of communication would you prefer to receive information about Texas Tech Athletic Events? (Select all that apply) Face to face Email Website Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Other (please specify):

____________________

22


Q6. How satisfied are you with the promotional efforts of Texas Tech Athletics?

Very Dissatisfied Dissatisfied Somewhat Dissatisfied Neutral Somewhat Satisfied Satisfied Very Satisfied

Q7. How often do you discuss information you receive from the Texas Tech Athletics with peers? Never

Rarely Sometimes Often All of the Time

Q8. Which types of promotional materials do you prefer to receive at sporting events? Posters T-shirts Give-a-ways Free food Other (please

specify):____________________

Q9. How often do you attend Texas Tech Men’s basketball games? 0-3 4-7 8-11 12-14 15+

Q10. Which social media platform do you use the most? Facebook Twitter Instagram Facebook Linked In Other (Please specify)______________

Q11. Where do you see the most promotions?

23


On campus Twitter Instagram Facebook Linked In Other (Please specify)______________

Q12. Have you ever won a promotion/giveaway at a Men’s Basketball Game? Yes No

Q13. If you won a promotion, did you share about your experience? Yes No Other (Please specify)______________

Q14. Do promotions make you more or less likely to attend Men’s Basketball games? More Less Other (Please specify)______________

Q15. Engaging in social media at a sporting event makes me feel a part of the team Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neutral Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree

Q16. When attending a Men’s Basketball game, I stay until the promotions are over. Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neutral Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree

Q17. When attending a Men’s Basketball game, I stay until the game is over. Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neutral

24


Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree

Q18. Please feel free to provide any additional feedback:

Appendix B:

Regarding Texas Tech Athletics, how do you get information about events that we have?

If you follow TTU Athletics on social media which platforms are those?

Can you list any sporting events at TTU that you went to when you already knew what the in-game promotions might be?

By the way, show of hands, how many of you refer to yourself as a men’s college basketball fan?

Under what circumstances to you attend men’s basketball games?

Can you tell us how many people would comprise the group that might attend with you?

If you don’t go to too many men’s college basketball games, can you list some of the reasons or the things that prevent you from going?

If you notice the in-game promotions can you describe some of them that you’ve enjoyed the most?

25


How about any that you haven’t cared for, can you tell us what it was you didn’t like about them?

Can you think of any types of promotions that could be offered that would influence your

decision to attend a men’s basketball game in the future?

Appendix C

Initial ReportLast Modified: 11/22/2015

1. Please select your gender# Answer Response %1 Male 26 41%2 Female 38 59%

Total 64 100%

2. Please select your age.# Answer Response %

1 18 years and under 0 0%

2 19-25 years 51 80%3 26-32 years 12 19%4 33-39 years 0 0%

5 40 years and over 1 2%

Total 64 100%

26


Statistic ValueMin Value 2Max Value 5Mean 2.23Variance 0.28Standard Deviation 0.53Total Responses 64

3. Please select your educational classification# Answer Response %1 Freshaman 0 0%2 Sophmore 1 2%3 Junior 3 5%4 Senior 14 22%

5 Graduate Student 34 53%

6 Doctoral Student 7 11%

7 Other 5 8%Total 64 100%

4. How often do you use social media?# Answer Response %1 Never 2 3%

2Less than Once a Month

1 2%

3 Once a Month 0 0%

4 2-3 Times a Month 0 0%

5 Once a Week 1 2%

6 2-3 Times a Week 6 9%

7 Daily 54 84%Total 64 100%

27


5. Through which form of communication would you prefer to receive information about Texas Tech Athletics sporting events? (Select all that apply)

# Answer Response %1 Face to face 10 16%2 Email 33 52%3 Website 13 20%4 Facebook 37 58%5 Twitter 20 31%6 Instagram 31 48%

7 Other (please specify) 3 5%

Other (please specify)None at allI don't wish to receive any communicationSnap chat

6. How satisfied are you with the promotional efforts of Texas Tech Athletics?# Answer Response %

1 Very Dissatisfied 5 8%

2 Dissatisfied 2 3%

3 Somewhat Dissatisfied 3 5%

4 Neutral 15 23%

5 Somewhat Satisfied 13 20%

6 Satisfied 24 38%7 Very Satisfied 2 3%

Total 64 100%

7. How often do you discuss information you receive from Texas Tech Athletics with peers?

# Answer Response %1 None 9 14%2 Little 24 38%3 Some 25 39%4 A Lot 6 9%

Total 64 100%

28


8. Which types of promotional materials do you prefer toreceive at sporting events? Select all that apply:

# Answer Response %1 Posters 7 11%2 T-shirts 50 78%3 Give-a-ways 36 56%4 Free Food 40 63%

5 Other Please Specify 4 6%

Other Please SpecifyCash prizesMoneyI don't go to sporting eventsWord of mouth

9. On average how many Texas Tech Men's basketball games do you attend?# Answer Response %1 0-3 32 50%

2Less than Once a Month

3 5%

3 Once a Month 8 13%

4 2-3 Times a Month 12 19%

5 Once a Week 4 6%

6 2-3 Times a Week 4 6%

7 Daily 1 2%Total 64 100%

10. Which social media platform do you use the most? Select all that apply.# Answer Response %1 Facebook 43 68%2 Twitter 14 22%3 Instagram 31 49%

4 Other (Please specify) 7 11%

29


Other (Please specify)I don'tredditSnapchatSnapchatIt would be cool if you all had a Tech Athletics Snapchat so we could see live feed snaps from the games and scores if we were unable to go to a gameSnap ChatSnapchat

11. Where do you see the most Texas Tech Athletics promotions? Select all that apply.# Answer Response %1 On campus 30 47%2 Twitter 14 22%3 Instagram 13 20%4 Facebook 34 53%5 Linked In 0 0%


Other (Please specify)EmailEmail

12. Have you ever won a promotion/giveaway at a Men's Basketball Game?# Answer Response %1 Yes 6 9%2 No 58 91%

Total 64 100%

13. If you won a promotion, did you share, on social media, about your experience?# Answer Response %1 Yes 5 8%2 No 4 6%

3 Have not won a promotion 54 86%

Total 63 100%

30


14. Do promotions make you more or less likely to attend Men's basketball games?# Answer Response %1 More 46 72%2 Less 3 5%


Total 64 100%

Other (Please specify)Don't care either waydosent matter to meDepends on the promotionI don't care about basketball enough to attend a gameGrad students don't get free tickets to sporting eventsNeitherI am a student employee of the athletic departmentno diffConsidering I'm with the Court Jesters, I'm required to attend.I work most of the events, so it doesn't affect me much.NeitherNo ChangeNo preferenceNeutral

15. Engaging in social media at a sporting event makes me feel apart of the team.# Answer Response %

1 Strongly agree 8 13%

2 Agree 21 33%

3Neither Agree nor Disagree

24 38%

4 Disagree 8 13%

5 Strongly Disagree 3 5%

Total 64 100%

31


16. When attending a Men's basketball game, I only stay until the promotions are over.# Answer Response %

1 Strongly agree 1 2%

2 Agree 1 2%


22 34%

4 Disagree 24 38%

5 Strongly Disagree 16 25%

Total 64 100%

17. When attending a Men's basketball game, I stay until the game is over# Answer Response %1 Agree 38 59%


22 34%

3 Disagree 4 6%Total 64 100%

18. Please feel free to provide any additional feedback:Text ResponseI am a student employee of the athletic of the athletic department, but I attend most sporting events as fanI go when it's won or lostYou may disqualify my personal survey results, as I'm required to go to games as a member of the basketball band.If I attend a game I am not working, I would still stay for the entire event because I love basketball. It is my favorite sport and Texas Tech is my school. I support the team and school no matter what promotional efforts are going on.It depends on the score

32

6050 Final Paper

Documents

Transcript of 6050 Final Paper