Soldier Field Day

In-the-News
Hot topic today is the shocking 'Leave' vote for the United Kingdom to leave the EU with a 51% approval vote. The impacts throughout the EU could be huge, and I think that maybe other countries will vote to leave eventually, creating a very unstable Europe. Not only will this have an effect on the tourism industry, but we discussed how it could impact sports throughout the UK and Europe. Relevant articles here, here, and here.

Concepts-to-Know

Purple Pricing: Northwestern University changed their pricing model to reject the dynamic pricing that is commonly used. Dynamic pricing normally leaves guests feeling ripped off since the prices change based on real time market value. One person could pay 2x less than another, simply based on when they purchased their ticket. With purple pricing, they use a Dutch Auction style pricing system, where the price starts out high, and falls as demand dictates. If you purchase a ticket at a higher price, you get refunded the difference from the final purchasing price. This ensures that the school gets the full value of the tickets, and the fans get to choose how much they are willing to pay for a ticket.

Guest Speakers

We got to spend a large chunk of our afternoon with Bob Laskowski with the Chicago Bears. He was generous enough to show us around Soldier Field, including the Bears Locker Room. He spoke to us about being with Fan Services, and how they make a continual effort to become the number one in experience compared to the other NFL teams. Each day there is a secret shopper who comes in and grades them on their experience, and in the past few years, they have improved, going from 30th to 15th in the league. One of the ways they improve fan experience is by utilizing a texting service for fans to alert services if there are any unruly or disruptive people surrounding them. This Code of Conduct has helped Fan Services keep a safe environment during the games. 

MSL vs NASL

In-the-News
Big drama in Chicago as word of D-Rose being traded to the Knicks sweeps the city. Many fans feel betrayed by the Bulls as their Chicago native leaves their city. This starts the question of what will happen to the advertising campaigns and support of the Bulls which was so closely tied with Derrick Rose and his history as the 'local kid'. There could be a downturn in ticket sales and support, however due to Rose's health of late, the trade wasn't altogether shocking to many, perhaps lessening the blow.

Guest Speakers

Kevin Brewer from the Chicago Fire Soccer Club came to speak to us about his involvement in creating great experiences for fans at their venue. His career growth was an interesting once since he has a history in luxury hotels, including time spent at the now Waldorf Astoria. He has taken that luxury brand experience and tried to recreate it at the Fire. He's part of the Fan Experience Department which focuses on group tickets, season tickets, and season ticket experiences. Part of their goals is to have a 95% from their secret shoppers, who secret-shop the whole experience, from parking to concessions to departure. They send out post-game surveys and hope to get a high Net Promotor score. They have also worked to improve communications and relationships between their vendors, since the average Fire staff includes 70 on game-day, while vendors account for nearly 700 people. Ensuring that each one of the vendors has the knowledge to assist guests when asked is an important part of their day. Brewer tells us it's now called The Fire Drill, and it consists of team members going out and quizzing vendors on pertinent information so that they're prepared for fan questions. 

Jeanne Lenti-Ponsetto is the Athletic Director of DePaul University, and she took the time to speak with us. As a woman in a such a high position at a university of DePaul's caliber, she has some great information about moving up in a world which was dominated by men when she started her career. Her primary focus right now is the arena being built in McCormick Square and the issues that surround the process of building within the city limits of Chicago. She has been working with the city to make sure that costs are shared, and that the city will be able to recoup their investment in a timely manner. Many hotels are being built around the arena and are projected to add countless jobs to the area. She is optimistic that it will really bring the city together to root for a basketball team which is playing in the city, and bring back that camaraderie that the team had in the past. The room we spoke it was a mock-up of the suits that will be in the new area, and they've had the fortune of selling a good number of suites already. We also got to see a model version of the future arena. 

Shots from DePauls offices

Peter Wilt is bringing another soccer league to Chicago, the North American Soccer League, with a yet-to-be-determined name. This is the 5th soccer team he's started in Chicago, and most recently he's successfully started the Indy Eleven in Indianapolis, which was the first soccer team to sell out every single game of its first year. His challenge is that he is coming into a city and has to create that tribal mentality and loyalty to a brand and team which is new to the area. The important goal is creating a feeling that "this is our team" in order to fuel attendance and support.

They are doing this by a variety of ways, including offering an ownership share to fans, as well as aiming marketing efforts to the core of the community to then build upwards. The management team is trying to meet with influencers in the community to grow excitement for the team. One of the problems they've run into is where to play their season. The ideal location would be Wrigley Field, due to its community feel and historic value to Chicago, however there are lots of legal hoops and approvals to get through, which is stalling progress, however continuing to build relationships with people about the team to glean excitement for the start date will continue. 

We then made the trek to the University of Illinois at Chicago to visit with Ryan Ptak and team to talk about their marketing efforts for their teams, and how the student athletes are the focus of their efforts. Current issues they're facing is the losing season the basketball team has been struggling with, and how to encourage students to still attend games when the team isn't performing. Over the past two years, the team has one 7 and 5 games respectively, so continuing to fill the seats is a challenge. They do this by offering freebies, like logo snuggles, at certain games. We got to sit in the new baseball field suites, which has an amazing view of the city.

New Facilities

Concepts to Know

Sports Marketers like to use the escalator concept developed by Bill Sutton to be more aware of the level of which their fans are at and how they can move those fans up the staircase into a 'heavy user' zone. With each new level of engagement, marketers can know where their audience is at, and which steps to take to move up another step.

The escalator concept was developed 40 years ago, and many argue that since the world has changed so much, this escalator concept no longer fits the ideal model. Instead, the elevator concept was born to replace it. This concept allows people to 'get off' at a level they feel comfortable at, instead of being forced up the 'frequent user' staircase. The elevator concept takes into account that certain lifestyles don't allow a light user to become a medium user due to commitments, such as children, work, or finances, so they can maintain 'light user' status until the next levels become more viable options.

In-the-News

Social media, and Facebook specifically, has applauded themselves on being a neutral ground for news and media so that the general public can generate trending topics. Recently it has come out that Facebook might not be the neutral political territory it made itself out to be, and now it's getting more flack for pushing people towards posting, tagging, and updating about the EURO 2016 instead of the Copa America. Fans started noticing that as the tournament progressed, Facebook reminders kept prompting them to post for the EURO 2016 regardless of the blatant posts about Copa America on their feed. This suggests that Facebook either was deliberately supporting one soccer tournament over the other, or their algorithm was way off. In light of Facebooks other News Feed drama, I think someone *cough*EURO*cough* may have convinced Facebook to promote their tournament. 

Fantasy teams are huge with fans, only growing in popularity with the advent of the internet. Two companies, FanDuel and DraftKings have capitalized on this popularity, growing rapidly in size until states began to crack down on laws regarding the gambling aspect of fantasy teams. The New York Times reports that New York might be in the works of legalizing fantasy sports, however they still aren't at a place to vote on the matter quite yet. There are several stipulations to the law, one of which would be the companies paying 15.5% of their revenue to the state, and ensuring that more 'seasoned' payers don't take advantage of novice players. 

Despite the strong connection between Las Vegas and sports gambling, pro sports has finally caved and soon Las Vegas will have an NHL team. Some see this as the first steps to the more logical NFL team that should be in Las Vegas, however there is still debate regarding location, and finances.

Guest Speakers

Scott Garrett, the Associate Athletic Director at Kansas State University spoke to us via Skype about his journey in the athletics world. Part of his focus is on the students experience and how they can continually sellout football games, which they have been doing consistently. In the past year they've sold 9,000 student passes.  Garrett says they've done with with a combination of promotions and giveaways, outreach to the student body to be proactive about building relationships with the students, offering prime seats, on the 50 yard line or free-throw lines, to the student body instead of donors, and of course winning games.

Garrett spoke a lot about the Master Plan for their expansion of the Stadium, and how each upgrade they've done has been thought out to include how this will improve the fan experience and how it will benefit the University. Much thought has gone into how the cost of this expansion won't effect the students financially, and a lot of work has gone into getting donations and sponsorships so that the Athletic Dept is sustaining itself financially.

Heather Obering, the Director of Marketing at Northwestern University, took the time on her birthday to come speak to us about her position and her journey in the sports hospitality world. Through a variety of internships she managed to become the marketer for football and mens basketball and NU, and credits networking and a willingness to jump at any opportunity to learn and grow in this industry. As a woman in a male-dominated industry, she was motivated to push to improve and take every opportunity to build relationships.

Part of her focus is Fan Experience. The importance of this is magnified because of their location in Chicago, since knowing which teams they're being compared to in the city makes a big difference. Fans can attend huge sports venues like Soldier Field, and the experience at NU has to hold up to that. The Fan Experiences department includes fan services team, in-game experience, post-game surveys to learn what can be improved upon, and the ticket sales, operations, and client services team.

Northwestern is also undergoing an expansion process and the previous day, NU announced that their basketball stadium would be part of the renovation process with the hopes it will be finished within 2 years. The projected updates would increase room between the seats for fans, add space to the concourse, and upgrade a stadium which has been largely untouched for decades. Obering and her team are very excited about the potential this will have on their fans experience and the increase in attendance to games upon completion. 

Wrigley Field Tour

Concepts to Know

At Ball State University, the C.A.R.D.S model is used for customer service.

Caring - be understanding of our guests
Aware - be cognizant of our surroundings and anticipate needs or issues
Ready - be prepared and ready to help
Diligent - be thorough, follow up with guests and ask for feedback
Serve - be a service to the guest, send fans home with something memorable

Providing an experience means 'rolling out the red carpet' for guests and new employees learn the importance of their role as ambassadors of the program, so it's integral to take those extra steps to make sure each experience is a valued one.

Ball State also provides a Student Rewards Program which gives points to students for each event they attend. Points can be traded in for a variety of prizes depending on the level of points they receive. This type of promoting to students encourages attendance, and boosts ticket sales. Students love to show school pride, and getting various pieces of merchandise in response to attending games is a great way to encourage that fanbase. Free stuff is a great motivator, especially to a college student.


In-the-News
The New York Times reports on the practice of giving out free t-shirts to all fans attending the playoffs, and the big-screen shame for the fans who don't put on their shirt. The cohesiveness of the audience, combined with the close contact to the court provides a visual effect that is striking on tv, meaning it won't be going away anytime soon. As many of our speakers have mentioned, creating that tribal atmosphere for a team helps keep the loyalty of fans, and adding gear which helps all fans buy into the tribal loyalties more than before. By offering free t-shirts, teams are encouraging the tribal, loyal attitudes in those who attend games, and ensuring that those people are taking a piece of team memorabilia back home with them to be worn again on a later date, cementing the brand more fully into their loyalties.

Picture from New York Times website

Guest Speakers
Brad Nagel from the Chicago Cubs started our Wrigley Field tour with a promotional slideshow in their temporary office. From there we got to see the working model of the finished Wrigley Field, Plaza, and hotel, where he discussed the importance of maintaining fan relationships throughout the construction process. Wrigley is part of the community, and has had the loyal support of many fans throughout the years where there weren't many wins, to now when the team is flying the blue "W" much more frequently. Wrigley Field is unique in it's history and holds the hearts of many in the neighborhood, so ensuring their happiness is at the top of the priority list. 

Making any sort of change to such a fixture will obviously have some backlash and bad PR, however I think they're doing a good job of trying to update and enhance the old Wrigley, while still maintaining it's historic value to the community. 

After our time with Brad in the corporate offices, he took us to Wrigley for a tour of the facilities. Our guide gave lots of history and background about the start of Wrigley Field, the trials it's seen, and the excitement the whole events team has for the future.

Our tour guide then showed us through the newer bleacher portion on Waveland Ave, which houses several memorabilia boxes of Cubs history, as well as shows the progression of the Cubs logo throughout the years painted on the walls.

From there we braced the 92 degree temperature to sit in the bleacher seats in full sun, where we could see the historic vines and scoreboard close up.

 Shot of the future Plaza where the the Cubs hope to house a beer garden 

as well as an ice skating rink in the winter months to encourage 

Wrigley Field as a destination no matter the season.

Our last stop was to stand on the field and ogle the opposing team. After agonizing for most of the photo-op, no one mustered up the nerve to ask the Cardinals players warming up for their picture. Maybe next time.