Download - 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.
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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.
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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-
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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References:
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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.
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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):
____________________
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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?
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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
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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?
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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%
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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%
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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%
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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%
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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%
6 Other (Please specify) 2 3%
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%
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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%
3 Other (Please specify) 15 23%
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%
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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%
3Neither Agree nor Disagree
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%
2Neither Agree nor Disagree
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
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