"Virginia and Virginia Tech football struggle to sell tickets to their bowl games"

From The Washington Post


Review by Julie Fox in KIN 435 (section 1)


Many college football teams are finding themselves in difficult positions now that it is bowl season again. Virginia and Virginia Tech are two of the many ACC schools struggling to sell all of their allotted tickets. According to this article, Tech had only sold about 53% of their ticket allotment to the 2012 Sugar Bowl game and Virginia was expected to fall at least 4,000 tickets short of their allotment to the 2012 Chik-fil-A bowl. The problem with the decline in ticket sales is that the school and the ACC Conference are responsible for the unsold tickets. Tech was expected to receive its largest-ever bowl payout as a result from being in the bowl game. Due to the unsold tickets, Tech will not receive nearly as large payout as expected.

Virginia Tech’s reputation was on the line for this bowl game. Tech was selected to play in the game because of their reputation as having a large fan base that travels well. The school was expected to fill a lot of seats and a lot of hotel rooms, but found themselves failing. Head Coach Frank Beamer transformed himself into a salesman, pleading with students at halftime of a men’s basketball game to buy their bowl game tickets through the school.

The problem lies within the secondary ticket market. The secondary ticket market used to consist of people selling tickets on corners outside of stadiums. Now people can go online and buy better, cheaper tickets. StubHub listed more than 7,000 available tickets for the Sugar Bowl and 4,000 for the Chik-fil-A bowl. To fix this problem, Tech needed to implement some sort of incentive for students and fans to buy their tickets through the school. Why should students buy a random ticket in the nose-bleed section through Tech, when they could buy their ticket on Stubhub and pick their own seat? They needed some sort of program where if fans bought their ticket through the school, they got a discounted price on transportation to the game. While it is understandable that the ACC has rules about ticket allotments, it might be time for them to realize that secondary ticket markets are becoming the primary source of ticket sales. It is unfair to put so much financial burden on the schools when it is constantly getting harder for them to sell tickets. I feel a good solution would be to lower the ticket allotment to each school and put more tickets for sale on websites such as StubHub where they ultimately would make more of a profit.

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Review by Bekah Jarzombek in KIN 435 (section 1)

For the 2012 Bowl Championship Series, ACC schools were feeling the pressure to meet ticket sales numbers. The secondary ticket market was stealing fan’s business by providing lower ticket prices and convenience. Specifically, as of December 12, 2011, Virginia Tech had only sold 53% of the 17,500-ticket allotment for the Allstate Sugar Bowl on January 3, 2012. There was strong concern considering the game was less than a month away. Failure to sell tickets meant Virginia Tech and the ACC must pay for the unsold tickets. Less profit would be made off of the game. In desperation, Coach Beamer of Virginia Tech spoke at a men’s basketball game. He attempted to persuade students to buy their Sugar Bowl tickets from Virginia Tech. In addition, football players threw Mardi Gras beads into the crowd for extra motivation.

Other than the men’s’ basketball event, the article did not expand on ways Virginia Tech was attempting to fix the ticket problem. It seems the school and ACC should have recognized the problem earlier. With that said, resorting to Beamer’s begging session, three weeks before the game, was not an effective way to persuade students’ ticket decisions. The root of the problem is the Virginia Tech ticket prices are more expensive than companies such at StubHub. They can beg all they want, but a student is not going to buy a more expensive ticket if they know they can get it for a cheaper price. That doesn’t mean the fans lack passion for Virginia Tech. Their job is to go the game, and that is what they are doing…at a cheaper price.

"The Effects of Promotion on Attendance in Professional Baseball"

From The Sport Journal

Review by Rick Reardon in KIN 435 (section 2)

The article that I read was a study on the relationship between promotion at baseball games and the attendance at those games. The article was submitted by Robert Aaron Browning. This article took four Ohio River Area baseball teams and study the effects of promotion as it related to attendance for these baseball teams.

Before the author conducted his own research with these teams he presents some research that helps to form a hypothesis for his research later. Early baseball research said that attendance to baseball games could be placed in four categories economics, demographics, game attractiveness, and other factors. However, later there were changes added to it such as, economics, average income and population. Not until recently did people realize that they could control one of the factors which was promotion, or pre-event marketing. The author noted that there had been a positive increase of 14% at games that offered such promotions at games. However, the biggest increase in attendance happened when teams offered bobble-heads, over “Baseball for a Buck” night by the New York Mets, or opening weekend giveaways by the L.A. Dodgers. Many baseball teams can be victim to “water down” promotions by offering too much price promotions (giving discounts on tickets, food, etc). The results concluded that every team had an increase in attendance whenever there was some sort of promotion. Non price promotion was the most successful because this category showed the most increase in attendance in all three organizations.

I was surprised when I read the results. I would have thought that since we are in such a bad economy people would have wanted discounted tickets, or food instead of entertainment promotions. Promotion is a crucial part of the sports industry right now because that is really what gets people to the game. On the whole people aren't really going to games as sport enthusiasts but more of an entertainment for the day. It is important for organizations to look at this data and try to use it to their advantage for attracting fans to the ball park. Honestly as a fan, I get really tired of seeing all the different promotions that just drag the game on. When I go to a game, I go to watch the sport and not to see all the ads, and other different promotions. However, I can see how many people like the promotions, especially if they have kids. If you take a kid to a baseball game it is going to be hard for them to just sit there and watch a game for two to three hours, so promotions kind of give them a change of something to do. I think it is important to use promotions to draw people to the game because thats obviously something thats getting them there, and they have to compete with people sitting at home and watching the game on their TVs.

"Snowboarder Shaun White a marketing bonanza"

From the BostonHerald.com

Review by Adam Carranza in KIN 435 (section 1)

In the growing world of action sports, there seems to be only one superstar as their icon, Shaun White. He is the poster boy for not only snowboarding and skateboarding, but for the whole action sports industry. No doubt, his amazing success helps him accomplish this, being a two-time Olympic half pipe and 11-time Winter X games winner. But what also attracts him to so many marketers is his laid back style, easy-going fun personality and his humbleness for all of his success. He signed his first sponsorship deal at the age of seven and hasn’t showed any signs of slowing down since then. White is currently signed with big companies such as BFGoodwich, Burton, Hewlett-Packard, Oakley, Target, Ubisoft and a recent million dollar endorsement with Stride gum which includes his very own flavor. There wasn’t any worry when he couldn’t renew his sponsorship with Red Bull, because he’ll probably sign a deal three times as big with either Coca-Cola or Pepsi.

The marketing implications he has are huge and it’s not just within the action sports world. He is considered one of the most polarizing male athlete figures across all professional sports. He has amazing power as a source with his continued victories on the slope and in the skate park, and also has great attractiveness to him with his long red hair look a.k.a The Flying Tomato. But it’s not just his hair that gets marketers salivating over the chance for him to be there sponsor, it’s his attitude toward his accolades and how he seems like a genuine real person accomplishing these great feats, not some stuck up superstar who couldn’t care less. He has the ability to reach so many different markets and is some one young people across the world recognize and are compelled toward whether they participate in these action sports or not.

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Review by Kelly Fraser in KIN 435 (section 1)

According to Boston Herald Sports, professional skateboarder and snowboarder Shaun White is a quite marketable athlete. He’s won numerous X Games Gold Medals and has won a gold medal at the Olympics. Additionally, he continues to push the limits in his extreme sport and raises the bar during every competition he enters. What more can a company looking for a spokesperson or an endorser look? We can understand why White is a “marketing bonanza” by reading Brian Gomez’s article in The Colorado Gazette.

The article is a straightforward read detailing and explaining White’s current sponsorships and how he has continued to use his snowboard to promote himself and other companies at the same time. The article states that White “has 1.8 million fans on Facebook and 756,900 followers on Twitter, and almost any video of him on YouTube is an instant hit - a 2-minute clip of the private halfpipe that Red Bull built for him to use for Olympic training in Silverton has been viewed 3.1 million times”. Quiet frankly, I’m not sure why Shaun doesn’t have more than 5 million fans on Facebook. Seeing as though Facebook now has reached over 500 million fans and the fact that White has become an international extreme athlete sensation over the past five years would make one think that White might increase his followers and fans by now; but, he is only 25 years of age, so he still has many years ahead of him to increase his rock star level status in the U.S. and overseas.

Furthermore, the article correctly explains why Shaun White has become so marketable for top organizations. The author included many necessary facts about his accomplishments in sports and as a spokesman for many firms. It’s easy to understand why Shaun White could potentially be the as big in extreme sports as Michael Jordan or Lance Armstrong were in their sports, respectively. He’s always natural in front of the camera, goes with the flow, and continues to be himself. Companies enjoy athletes that are easily marketable, outgoing, and approachable. “The Flying Tomato” has and will become an instant hit wherever you see him.