Loyola Basketball Marketing Plan

Loyola Basketball Marketing Plan

Group 1:

Sean Baker

Jamie Gorczynski

Frederick Schubert

Rutger van Wesel

Sean Murphy

Table of Contents

Loyola Basketball Marketing Plan

I. Executive Summary

Loyola College, located in Baltimore, Maryland, was founded in 1852 as a Jesuit Catholic university. The college enrolls approximately 3,418 full-time undergraduate students and 2,656 graduate students, and offers eight men’s and eight women’s athletic teams, which compete at the NCAA Division 1 level. The Loyola College Greyhounds men’s basketball team is a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and is led by third year head coach Scott Hicks. The team is comprised of a thirteen-player roster including four freshman, five sophomores, three juniors, and one senior. The Greyhounds men’s basketball team plays its home games in the 3,000 seat Reitz Arena, which is located in the center region of the Loyola College campus.

During the 2001-2002 season the men’s basketball team achieved an overall record of 5-23 and a 4-14 record during MAAC league play. The Greyhound’s record for home games at Reitz Arena during the 2001-2002 season was 2-9, which included a 2-6 record during MAAC league play and a 0-3 record during non-conference games. For the 2002-2003 season, the team is scheduled to play thirteen home games, of which eight are conference games. In the preseason MAAC Coaches Poll, the Greyhounds were selected to finish last out of ten teams.

According to the Office of Academic Affairs for Student-Athletes, “it is the educational mission of Loyola College to challenge students to learn, lead and serve in a diverse and changing world. Loyola has always been devoted not only to the transmission of knowledge but also to the development of mind and character.” With regards to the college’s athletics program, “the college has maintained a reputation of athletic success and academic integrity that has become a model for institutions of similar size throughout the United States.” Reverend Harold J. Ridley, President, heads Loyola College, while the Athletic Department is under the direction of Mr. Joseph Boylan. Head men’s basketball coach Scott Hicks, who retains ultimate responsibility for the performance of the team, is supported by assistant coaches Byron Thorne, Karl Radday, and Brian Murphy.

Due to the relative poor performance of the basketball team over the past few years as well as ineffective promotional efforts, fan support/turnout during home games at Reitz Arena has been weak. Attendance for eleven home games during the 2001-2002 basketball season averaged 580 spectators per game, compared to an average of 2112 spectators per game for away games.

II. The Challenge

The primary challenge being addressed is the development of a feasible, adaptable plan to increase fan turnout, and revive enthusiasm and support for the Loyola College Greyhounds men’s basketball team.

III. Situation Analysis

Team Analysis

The Loyola College Greyhounds men’s basketball team competes at the NCAA Division 1 level, and is a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Loyola’s conference opponents include: Canisius College, Fairfield University, Iona College, Manhattan College, Marist College, Niagara University, Rider University, St. Peter’s College, and Siena College. The team is under the direction of head coach Scott Hicks, as well as assistant coaches Byron Thorne, Karl Radday, and Brian Murphy, and is comprised of a thirteen player roster including:

1. Lindbergh Chatman (Jr., F)
2. Luscious Jordan (So., G)
3. Charlie Bell (Fr., G)
4. Donovan Thomas (Jr., F)
5. Bernard Allen (So., F)
6. Bobby Bossman (Fr., G/F)
7. Ryan Dickey (Jr., G)
8. Sean Corrigan (So., F/C)
9. Linton Hinds (Fr., G)
10. Irakli Nijaradze (So., C)
11. Delonnie Southall (Sr., F)
12. Jim Chivers (So., F)
13. Josko Alujevic (Fr., F)

The basketball team had an overall record of 5-23 during the 2001-2002 season, which included a 4-14 record against MAAC league opponents. The team’s record placed them ninth in MAAC standings out of ten teams, a position which it has held for the past four seasons. At Reitz Arena, the Greyhounds were 2-9 during the 2001-2002 season, going 2-6 in conference games. Due in part to the Greyhound’s poor overall record, and equally poor home record, the team drew, on average, only 580 spectators during eleven home games last season. During the 2002-2003 season, the team is scheduled to play eight conference games and five non-conference games at Reitz Arena.

Despite Loyola’s poor record the past few seasons the team has a number of strengths going into this season that should help in achieving a greater record and attracting a greater home fan presence. First, while still relatively young, many team members head into this year with a greater level of maturity and experience playing at the college level, including Luscious Jordan, Donovan Thomas, Bernard Allen, and Irakli Nijaradze. Second, despite the poor record last season, the level of confidence should be greater because of contending in a number of close games. For example, the Greyhounds led at halftime in five out of their fourteen league losses, and were within five points during the final ten minutes in four other league losses. Third, after losing starting point guard Damien Jenifer to graduation and shooting guard B.J. Davis to transfer, Coach Hicks recruited a strong freshman class including shooting guard Bobby Bossman, point/shooting guard Charlie Bell, point guard Linton Hinds, and forward Josko Alujevic.

The basketball team has a number of weaknesses that could hurt its chances during the 2002-2003 season as well. First, despite Loyola’s perceived strengths, the team was chosen to finish last by a preseason MAAC Coaches Poll. Second, fan support/attendance, which is crucial during close games, has been poor the past few seasons. Third, despite the added maturity, the team is still relatively young and unproven. Nine out of thirteen players are either in their freshman or sophomore years, and only one player is in his final year of eligibility. Each of these three factors could contribute to a poor performance this season and continue to negatively effect fan support/turnout.

Although the Greyhound’s record has been poor the past few seasons, the college’s program has achieved success in the past and is looking to return to that glory. During the 1993-1994 season, the Loyola College Greyhound’s upset Manhattan College in the MAAC title game, and earned a bid in the NCAA Championships.

Customer Analysis

As previously stated, fan attendance for games at Reitz Arena during the 2001-2002 season averaged only 580 spectators per game, compared to an average fan attendance for away games of 2112 spectators. In addition, the average number of fans in attendance for home games represented less than one fifth (19.3%) of the total occupancy of Reitz Arena. These figures are especially troubling considering the number of Loyola College undergraduate and graduate students, the number of faculty, administrative, and support staff, as well as the number of Loyola Alumni living in the state of Maryland. Loyola College has a total of 3,418 full-time undergraduates, 2, 656 full-time graduate students, and 848 faculty, administrative, and support personnel. In addition, sixty-two percent of the college’s 40,862 or approximately 25,335 alumni live in Maryland. That makes for a total of 32,227 individuals associated with the college that are available to attend Greyhound men’s basketball games.

Discounting the number of alumni that live in Maryland, still leaves a total of 6,074 full-time students and 848 employees available to attend basketball games. The average of 580 attendants is less than nine percent (8.4%) of the total population of individuals who are either students or employees of the college. Considering that students are admitted free of charge, employees receive two tickets free of charge to each home game, and tickets to the general public are either $8 or $5 depending on seat preference, the percentage of actual attendees from potential attendees is extremely poor.

Reasons for individuals not attending basketball games include personal reasons, prior commitments, college related work, indifference due to poor record, and a lack knowledge regarding schedule information. The two most likely reasons for low attendance, in order of importance, are the lack of knowledge regarding schedule information and indifference due to the team’s poor record. Measures need to be taken to increase the number of fans in attendance regardless of the success or failure of the basketball team itself.

Competitor Analysis

Competition can be thought of as any better use of an individual’s time, as perceived by that individual, and not merely an alternate athletic event. Fan attendance for Loyola College Greyhounds men’s basketball games is under intense competition from a number of different alternatives including, but not limited to, prior commitments, college related work or activities, and alternate athletic events. Some alternatives are purely unavoidable, while others may be purely preferential. Those alternatives that are unavoidable are much more likely to prohibit fan attendance than are preferential alternatives. For example, a student with an extremely important paper due the following day may not be able to afford the time spent attending a basketball game. Alternatively, a student who chooses to watch a game televised on ESPN is fully exercising his/her free judgment not to attend.

In addition, Loyola men’s basketball faces considerable competition from alternate athletic events. Various other colleges and universities in Baltimore and the surrounding areas, such as Towson and Johns Hopkins, have athletic events that coincide with those of Loyola College. Also, in the Baltimore and Washington D.C. areas there are a number of professional and minor league teams whose seasons coincide with the collegiate basketball season including the Baltimore Ravens, Washington Redskins, Washington Wizards, and the Washington Capitals.

With the diversity of the support base, i.e. students, faculty, administrators, and staff, as well as alumni, the Loyola men’s basketball team faces considerable competition for fan support/attendance. However, an effective plan aimed towards awareness could invigorate support and dramatically increase attendance figures.

PEST Analysis

A PEST Analysis looks at the different factors in an organization’s environment, which includes political and legal, economic, social and cultural, and technological environments. The climates that surround Loyola College men’s basketball directly are the social and cultural, and the technological environments. The others do not really play a major role.

The social and cultural environment involves many things, including their desire to distribute tickets to the student body. This is Loyola’s main concern. Students are the number one market for them. However, sales are down because students do not have the desire to go to home games. Loyola must also try to get alumni involved in ticket purchases. This applies to the high number of local alumni as well as alumni out of state. They must create a need for alumni to come back to school and attend a game. Outside of past students and current students, Loyola must also look at senior citizens and youth groups in the area. A major player in ticket sales would be the youth groups and local schools. If any of the kids on these teams have a desire of someday playing Division I basketball, the opportunity is there for them to see what it is like and what to work for. By offering ticket sales to groups like these, they are increasing their chances of someday landing a couple of these kids to play for them.

The technological environment surrounding Loyola would be their giveaways of prizes during games, and the different contests at halftime. Loyola must keep up with the current trends in men’s college basketball, such as media guides, viewing of games on television, and broadcasting over the Internet and the radio. They should benchmark other schools for advice on how to get people to buy tickets and keep buying them, and to create awareness to them. Most importantly for Loyola to do during their campaign is to promote fun for the people. They need to create an atmosphere where the buyer wants to keep coming back.

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT Analysis provides information that is helpful in matching the organization’s resources and capabilities to the competitive environment in which it operates. It helps determine their internal and external environments when looking at their strategy for planning. The SWOT Analysis looks internally at the organization’s strengths and weaknesses, and it looks externally at the environmental opportunities and threats.

Loyola College men’s basketball has many organizational strengths surrounding them. First, they are a diverse team in a diverse city. Many of their players come from all over the U.S., including Maryland. However, some of their players are from outside of the U.S. This gives people the chance to see how basketball is played here, but also how the game is played in other parts of the world. They offer state of the art training facilities with their arena and Fitness and Aquatic Center. A strong characteristic is their teams and players from the past. Some of the players have gone on to professional basketball here and over seas. Past teams have won MAAC Championships, and have even competed in the NCAA tournament, which is always good exposure no matter what happens. Even though those days of championships and NCAA appearances have come and gone, Loyola sees a need to get back to where they should be. The force behind their desire to get back on top is the strong alumni and Loyola’s determined athletic department. Members who play a vital role in this include Joe Boylan, Dave Gerrity, and Marty Kelly to name a few. Joe Boylan and Dave Gerrity carry with them a list of experiences, including trips to the NCAA tournament in both basketball and soccer. The Loyola College name and reputation alone is a major strength. People know of Loyola and will recognize the name, and associate it with good things, thus contributing to ticket sales. They have a strong base of local schools in which they can target for more ticket sales. These schools look at Loyola as a Division I basketball team with potential. If they come to watch a game, who knows, they could end up playing here someday because of their experience. Loyola offers so much to ticket buyers and fans, including radio and Internet broadcasts, ticket packages, contests and giveaways, shuttle services for parking, dining services, etc. These contribute to fan conveniences and overall fan experiences. Loyola College has a chance to make a name for themselves when they face in-state University of Maryland, last season’s NCAA Champions. This should bring about recognition for the school and basketball program if they can compete. Since the game is being televised, fans all over will get to see what they have to offer. Their schedule is also a major part in selling tickets. Fans want to see good teams and good players, and Loyola faces these types throughout the year, especially with previously mentioned Maryland, and Iona College, who has been to the NCAA tournament. One huge contributor to ticket sales that Loyola is looking into is a “21 Club”, which would be a place on campus for students and alumni to purchase alcohol and share in a conversation.

Along with Loyola’s many strengths come organizational weaknesses. One of these weaknesses is the small television market for college basketball besides U of M. People in the viewing area can watch “The Best of Baltimore” tournament, but not any other of Loyola’s games, except reruns, which are broadcasted late at night. Another weakness is that when people come to watch games they have to put up with the stress of parking. There is not much parking on campus as it is, but when there might be a big turnout, there will be a problem with parking. Fans want to park as close as possible, but really cannot get it here. Due to Loyola’s losing record the past couple seasons, they have no real fan base to support their players. No matter what anyone says, the number one ticket seller is a team that wins games. If they lose games, they lose fans and ticket sales. Sad to say, but that is the way it is in any level of sports. People want to see a win and if they know there isn’t one, then they will not attend. Some important weaknesses that could be turned into strengths right away would be easier recruiting standards that would allow better players to have the chance to play here and more importantly, get an education from here. They need to have a blue chip athlete. Players sell tickets. If they get a big name recruit or transfer, then they might start selling more tickets. Another option would be to get a big name coach. When Bobby Knight was looking for a place to coach, it would not have hurt to go shopping for someone like him to get some attention. By hiring him, Texas Tech saw dramatic increases in ticket sales, and the same would work anywhere. Some minor weaknesses that Loyola has include the absence of a pep band. Most big schools have them and students love them. They help to create a certain atmosphere that is needed at college level games. Pep bands help to get the crowd into the game and by doing that; the players will want to play better. Teams need the support of their home fans, and that is not present here at Loyola. Strength of schedule and times of games is another weakness that Loyola has. They play in a weak conference. Some of the times of games and days of games are not convenient for some people. However, a major weakness that Loyola has is the non-existence of a place to gather on campus to drink. Loyola is looking into it, but in the time being, is losing out to the competitor. This is a major expense for a school, but in turn is a major revenue maker. Other schools draw crowds full of students because there is a place to gather before, during, and after games. Loyola needs to do something like this soon if they want to gain the student body’s awareness.