Missouri State Football Program

Research Project - MKT 360

Presented by:
Ally Gramlich Stephanie Muschall Gianna Ocello Tom Platten Jessie Pine

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Report Statement of Problem ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Statement of Purpose ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1

Methodology ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Secondary Research ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Primary Research --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Preliminary Survey -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Student Focus Group ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Alumni Focus Group ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 Final Survey ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 Analytics -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Errors --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Future Improvements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5 9 9

Conclusions and Recommendations ----------------------------------------------------------------- 10

Appendix Correspondence with Mr. Jerry Hoover --------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Correspondence with Matthaus Klute ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2 Student Focus Group Meeting -------------------------------------------------------------------------4

Alumni Focus Group Email Questionnaire ----------------------------------------------------------- 8 Final Survey -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Missouri State University Football games have low attendance and low morale.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
The purpose of this study is to determine how to increase attendance of Missouri State University Football home games.

METHODOLOGY
Our methods of research include the following: Secondary Research As we could have guessed, there was quite a bit of secondary research that was available to us. We compiled a great amount of information from a variety of sources such as other schools athletic websites, the MSU football forum, the Missouri State University website, Football Experience and Stadium Evaluation Task Force Committee Report, Census data, and PRIZM data. The SGA football packet and the MSU football forum were by far the most helpful when determining what to include in our surveys and focus groups. The forum helped us determine what students and alumni wanted most in a football program, while the Football Experience and Stadium Evaluation Task Force Committee Report gave us an idea of what the university has already done and plans to do to make the football experience more enjoyable. The topics that came up time and time again were how bad of shape the facilities were in, and that many people believe that a new coaching staff was needed. One of the most popular threads in the forum is one which talks about firing the head coach. (http://www.bearnation.com/forum/threads/fire-terry-allen-2012-edition.12714/) Primary Research Through interviews or email correspondence, the following people were contacted. Their input was taken into consideration while we made recommendations. Interview with Paige Oxendine Student Body President Paige had good information for us to consider while starting our research. She pointed out that there is not one simple solution to our problem. The solution has multiple parts, and it is hard to put those possibilities into action. She mentioned that we are probably going to be adding a student athletic fee to tuition. This money could go towards scholarships for athletes or facilities. However, most of campus is resistant to this change.

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Other resistance to change comes from the neighboring community. On the other side of Grand Street, the neighborhood opposes large amounts of noise or other activity close to their homes. They especially dislike tailgating. Paige also mentioned that the majority of our benefactors are conservative and are likely to disapprove of our campus becoming a partially wet campus for days that games occur. Overall, Paige had great information that although limiting aided our research process. Interview with Rick Kindhart Director of Communications for Football Program We reached out to Rick Kindhart, director of communications for the MSU football program, to gather 2012 statistics and his opinion on the topic. He provided us with crowd numbers for 4 of the home games: 10,076 top home crowd 10,002 home opener 8,493 MSU v. Northern Iowa 8,001 MSU v. South Dakota Mr. Kindhart also provided us with his input and ideas for improving home game attendance. He stated that Plaster Sports Complex now seats 16,600, and building a larger stadium would draw more people in. Incorporating a residence hall or club in the new stadium would create more activity surrounding the stadium and encourage students and the community to attend football games at the stadium. Another idea he had was to allow alcohol to be available for the general public, and he explained that this can be decided by MSUs university president, Clif Smart, and that President Smart is not opposed to this idea. President Smart has already made efforts toward supporting the football team and home game attendance by prohibiting campus activities to go on during the morning or afternoon of game days. Mr. Kindhart believes that being smarter about scheduling games would also increase attendance. Mr. Kindhart also suggested that selling discounted tickets to other universities in the area, such as Evangel and Drury, would be a great way to promote community involvement throughout Springfield and increase MSUs fan base. Interview with Jerry Hoover Band Director Mr. Hoover provided us with great advice. He has been with the Band program for many years, and has a good perspective on the Football program. He noted that the layout of the field is part of the reason people dont feel included in the game atmosphere. Mr. Hoover also pointed out that the whole campus doesnt observe game days very well. Meetings, speakers, and other activities are scheduled on game days. The effort to improve football games is not campus wide. The entirety of this correspondence can be found in the Appendix, page 1.

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Interview with Matthaus Klute President of Maroon Madness Matthaus has a lot of input in the aspect of Maroon Madness. He especially had much to offer in respects to BearFest Village. He has 3 main points: 1. BearFest Village needs more branding. 2. More student organizations need to get involved in tailgating. 3. It starts with the students: student pride will initiate game day attendance. The entirety of this correspondence can be found in the Appendix, pages 2 3. Preliminary Survey The preliminary survey we did was used to see if there was a student/alumni interest in the subject matter. It was set up so a different form of the survey would come up depending on whether you clicked the current student section or the alumni section. Both surveys start off by asking simple questions such as age and gender, but after that they are quite different. We started distributing the survey to our close friends, and large student organizations via Facebook and Twitter, but soon after it spread rapidly. Even a very popular Twitter account in the Springfield area tweeted a link to our survey. By the time we closed the survey, we had over 200 responses from alumni, current students, and even people who are just fans. The respondents also had the option to provide their email addresses, which we used as future contacts. Student Focus Group On April 11, 2013, we held a student focus group. There were 9 current students in attendance. These individuals varied in hometown, grade, major, and organizational affiliation. We reserved a room in Siceluff Hall and took 60 minutes for discussion. The following are the critical incident points we discovered from this focus group: There is a lack of draw to the games o Insider perks o Free giveaways Subpar tailgating experience o Not fun o Not inviting some students feel uncomfortable Facilities need improving o Student section Athletic program problems o Coaching staff needs improving o Lack of talent on team o We dont play any prestigious teams The entirety of the notes from this focus group can be found in the Appendix, pages 4 7.

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Alumni Focus Group (E-Mail) In order to gain a wide variety of opinions and ideas, we enlisted the help of Missouri State alumni through an online focus group. Alumni often have a different viewpoint than current students, and they are important potential consumers of Missouri State football. Using email addresses collected from the Preliminary Survey, we contacted interested Missouri State alumni. We asked the same questions as we planned to ask the student focus group. A follow up email was sent to employ the Delphi method and inquire additional responses. However, we did not receive any responses from the second email. The following are the critical incident points we discovered from this focus group: There is a lack of perceived value for consumers Subpar tailgating experience o Not open long enough o Not enough food or alcohol available o Too many restrictions o Lack of attendance Facilities in need of updating Employing a new coaching staff in hopes of turning the teams record around Lack of promotion and awareness of games Possibility of perks or incentives for attendees Lack of game-day traditions The entirety of the notes from this focus group can be found in the Appendix, pages 8 13. Final Survey The final survey was published based on the ideas generated in each of the focus groups. There were 72 respondents. A copy of the survey can be found in the Appendix, page 14 16. The results of the final survey can be found in the next section, Analytics.

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ANALYTICS

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(BearFest Village)?

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Dominos, etc.)?

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on the team?

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ERRORS
We recognize the fact that our survey is not without error. No survey is a perfect picture of the target market. It is important to acknowledge the errors of the survey, which are as follows: Non-response Error The surveys were seen by many, and answered by few. As with any survey, there is a margin of error for those who didnt respond. We especially had a lack of responses in the follow-up email for the Alumni focus group. Selection Bias It is evident that our survey did not capture a completely random sample of respondents. We sent the survey to our friends and classmates, but we know there are many students we did not reach. Sampling Error The survey did not completely represent the entire population we wished to gain information from.

FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS
If we had the opportunity at a second chance to complete this research project, we would do a few things differently to increase effectiveness and reduce sampling errors: Alumni Survey and Email Focus Group Contact a larger group of alumni to reduce non-response error Arrange an in-person alumni focus group to improve response rate Student Focus Group Reach out to a larger amount of students to get differing opinions and reduce selection bias Give more advanced notice of the focus group to increase awareness and participation Surveys Distribute surveys on campus to get a random sampling of student population Ask how respondents are associated with MSU, some respondents had no formal ties to the university Look into using SPSS to analyze survey results Interviews Make an appointment with President Clif Smart

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CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

To wrap up our report, we thought we would share our final recommendations on how to get more people to attend MSU football games. Here are our recommendations: The best way to notify fans of an upcoming game and game day activities The first choice students recommended was Social Media. The second choice would be notifying people by email. As of right now, there is a Student ENewsletter email sent out to all MSU students, but the game day activities, kickoff time, and other athletic information is towards the bottom of the email. With our focus group and survey, we found that most students would like a separate email containing just game day activities, kick-off time, etc. Improving the game-day experience Our focus group members and survey showed that a beer garden would be one attribute to add to improve the tailgate experience. Opening the tailgate area earlier and staying open longer is also an improvement people would like to see. Having easier tent rentals appeals to people. Our focus group members agreed that if renting tents were easier, they would attend the tailgate. A suggestion was having a student run organization that helped put up and take down the tents. Make sure the entire campus community tries their hardest to not have other competing events take place during home football games. Recommend to improve services at the concession stands The service at the concession areas in the football stadium is slow. People want to be able to get their food quickly to make sure they dont miss any of the game. We recommend for every cashier there is, assign an additional staff member to be the server so to speak, someone that fills the order while the cashier collects money. Add more choices at each concession stand and make sure there is an ample amount available. Add more food vendors throughout the stadium. Some suggestions were local restaurants, Dominos, Dippin Dots, and Pretzel Time. Improve student bleachers We recommended the university installs non-wooden bleachers that seem more stable and secure. We recommend a reserved seating area for organizations (Greek Life, Student Activities Council, Residence Hall Association, etc.) and reserved seating for general students, all within the bleacher section. Students brought up how they felt that they were too far from the action. Move the bleachers closer to the field and possibly move the track behind the bleachers.

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New coaching staff The results from our survey show that more people would attend games if MSU employed a new head coach. They believe Terry Allen should be replaced in order for our team to improve. Get the players to make a presence on campus We recommend that players hand out schedules on a constant basis (more than just at Bear Bash). Suggest the football players wear football athletic gear while on campus. Football program should have pep rallies on Fridays before Saturday games. Before class starts, have football players stand up and introduce themselves and encourage students to go to the game. If the students feel as if the players really care about their presence at games, then are more likely to go. Have a couple players speak different organizations meetings (Greek Life, Student Activities Council, Residence Hall Association, etc.) to get the students pumped up for MSU Athletics and make them aware of upcoming games. Prestigious Football schools Survey shows people were interested in our team to play more prestigious football schools but its not a feasible option at this point due to costs. Night Games Having some home games later in the evening was a suggestion most of our focus group members and survey results showed. Having a 6 p.m. kick-off time is what our focus group recommended. We know we also have to take the City and Springfields rules into account such as noise restrictions, etc. During our time and effort put into this report, we have come across many challenges along the way. Trying to get people to take our survey, participate in our focus group, and take our research seriously is not an easy task.

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APPENDIX
Correspondence with Mr. Jerry Hoover, MSU Band Director
Dear Jessica, There are a number of things that have contributed to a lack of interest in attendance by students at football games. Poor seating, concessions, and restrooms on the east side We are so far from the field, it is easy to loose interest in what is going on The football program's win/loss record has been uninspiring Too many meetings, activities, and other events are scheduled in conflict with the fall home game schedule by housing, Greeks, classroom teachers, departments we do not have a unified effort throughout the university to make the home football games a coming together for spirit, for excitement, for involvement, for fun Certain areas not only don't support it, they just dismiss it altogetherwith almost 4,000 students living on campus, it seems ridiculous that we cannot get a stimulus going through the dorms through encouragement, through competition, through lots of visible promotions to get students to want to be a part of a Saturday afternoon ballgame Poor relations (or no relations at all) between football members and general students At the suggestion of a student committee and the Office of Student Engagement, we changed our approach to the stadium on game days this year by running all the band to various areas and to rejoin for a rally on campus at the Bear Paw, but we were in conflict with the tailgate (parking lot on Grand Street) going on at the same time. So the rally consisted of the band and parents who were on campus. Hope this helps. Mr. Hoover

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Correspondance with Matthaus Klute, President of Maroon Madness

Do you feel that there is a lack of support at our football games? Absolutely. I think a majority of students dont care that were bad they just dont care about the football program period. How many members are enrolled? I dont have an exact figure but we are at about 1200 students. Is that number up or down from previous years? As far as I know, this is the highest it has ever been. Are members actually attending games? No. What is the price to join the group? $10. Although next year we are looking at a tiered membership. $15 dollars gets you voting rights and other benefits. We are hoping this will help distinguish members who want to be more involved and it compels members who spent $15 to involve themselves more. How are you attracting new members, what kind of activities? We havent been doing much to attract members lately. We are trying to attract members to games. Weve tried social get together, handouts, various gorilla marketing strategies. All have been unfruitful. On average how many of your members attend football games weekly? Beginning of the year we had a couple hundred who actually scanned in. More showed up later. Near the end we have around 50 or less. What pre game activities do you do before football games? We just started tailgating midway through the season this year. The tailgate was great but we didnt promote it heavily enough. By the time we had a good tailgate going, students had already lost interest in football.

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Correspondance with Matthaus Klute, President of Maroon Madness (Continued)

What is your opinion on Bear Fest Village? Do you have any suggestions on how to make it a better experience for students and the community? I think Bear Fest Village could definitely improve. I have lots of ideas, but Ill give you the 3 most important ones. 1. Needs more branding. (the stadium could use that as well) It doesnt look like a Missouri State tailgate, just looks like a tailgate. 2. Need to reach out to more student organizations. Quite a few organizations dont know they need to register for Bear Fest Village, and with how BFV has been in the past, they wont go out of their way to find out. If you want to grow student involvement at BFV, grow the organizations that turn out for it. It needs to be more than a mass email. Someone from nelligan/athletics/OSE/MM or whatever needs to be in constant contact with these groups making sure they are registered and attending. Until BFV becomes a thing, someone needs to be charged with dragging student organizations out there. 3. This needs to be a bottom up change, not top down. Im sure youve read the football task force report, and its great, but a lot of it is not feasible. They spent upwards to 90k last year just to pack the home opener. The truth is we see a better atmosphere every Friday and Saturday night than theyve ever had at BFV. Students need to be selling students on it. Organizations need to come out, drink, and enjoy themselves. We dont need fireworks and concerts; we need a thousand students and alcohol. Theyre trying to sell it on the school pride angle. You cant create that from the top down that will happen organically. That being said, their needs to be something for the freshman to do. I remember when I lived in Woods going to BFV with a big group of guys and there was nothing to do. However, I think that is a void Maroon Madness can fill as early as this season.

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Student Focus Group Meeting

Directions: The objective of this meeting is to develop as many ideas as possible about how to improve attendance at Missouri State Football games. Rules to the meeting: 1. Each person will be asked to participate in turn so that everyone can have the opportunity to contribute. Please contribute one thought on the subject, then we will move to the next person. 2. Please do not interrupt other individuals. The objective is simply to come up with a list of ideas. 3. In front of you is a sheet of notebook paper. Please feel free to write on this paper if you have any thoughts. These papers will be collected after our meeting. 4. We will go around the room until we have exhausted the responses. When you cannot think of anything else on the subject, then say pass. When everyone has passed then we will proceed to the next question.

Focus Group Responses:

1. Who do you believe would attend games? (This is a description of the people who will attend the gamesthe customer) Well hopefully students, alumni, parents of the players, probably Springfield county residents Anyone bored, need something to do The cheerleaders Prospective college students Other college coaches Freshmen Bored In hopes that our team will win a game They would attend so that they can see what college football atmosphere is about. We want it to be good but its just not Siblings of students or players Tailgating; they think its big like at Mizzou Family 2. Why do you believe people would attend a Missouri State Football game? Because they want to support the team School spirited people. They would attend to get an adequate view of what MSU is all about, what the atmosphere is like Fraternity or sorority event going on Excitement and experience of the stadium and football in general

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3. Why do you believe people choose not to attend Missouri State Football games? Not bowl series, too far from the field with the track, our team isnt the greatest; The Miami basketball coach used to deliver free pizzas to dorms; The student section is bland- you could have an entire row to your self; we dont have any traditions- walk of champions. I know for Sig Ep is excited about tailgating; most people want to stay and drink all day and arent motivated to walk 100 feet to the stadium; Coaching staff- why do we retain Terry Allen with so many losing seasons Team isnt that good, maybe if more free stuff was given out (would like to see shirts, little footballs, anything free, food) Lack of alcohol, horrible facilities, lack of game day motivation (if nobody is excited about it, why come?) Lack of enthusiam, campus doesnt get word out; Mizzou builds up week before; Why would they go watch a football lose Football team sucks so nobody wants to watch a horrible team The stadium is not up to par; whenever he goes to MSU football he feels like he is going to a high school football game; they kick people out of tailgating; coach has ruined two football programs Dont like football Teams that we play nobody has ever heard of; if we played bigger teams like K State people would go; crappy weather Fear of falling through wooden bleachers 4. What do you believe would make the perfect game-day experience for the people of the Missouri State Community? Wet campus just on Saturdays- not having to worry about cops. If we fixed everything that why people dont go. Started at Auburn, rent out tailgating stuff- work with school to rent out. Hourly rate of $10-$15 dollars. Groups of friends can rent it out. Bear park you have to rent a spot to get a tent: thats the problem, figure its already going to be rented out by other organizations. Need to expand for everyone to feel comfortable. Bowl atmosphere: cant see inside the stadium unless youre in it but you can hear it: different aura, you feel like youre apart of it (ex: Arkansas) Could stand outside by McDonald and watch entire game without paying. Athletic fee: $100 extra would not affect my tuition and if every student is paying that thats a lot of money. Springfield Cardinals Bass Pro boats: show things and stuff that will bring in community. Pairing fraternities and sororities for tailgating: switch pairing every game day weekend: builds excitement and willingness to go to game together. With amount of companies in SGF, it wouldnt be hard to get sponsors for free giveaways. Atmosphere: if everyone went then upcoming freshman would attend too. Dont want to wake up at 7am to go to the parade. Night game: parade could be at 1 and more people would show up. Expand the tailgate, include alcohol, include theme day (Mizzou has themed tailgates), more giveaways, once in stadium- better facility, more exclusive rights (closer to stadium, more access-free tickets give students a way to devalue athletics-if you dont pay any money you arent losing anything), dont few like you are valued by the athletes. Night game: reason only night game- its a zoning ordinance (residential area that backs
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up to the area: anything that happens after 10pm, lights and loud noises need to be shut down). Think about inclusive activities: free taco coupons, if they can give you something that they present at the end of game they get things. Lets say they have a shirt at the end of the game or free taco hang out. Beer tasting, wine tasting: address people that maybe not be sports fans. The facility is a huge thing- student section is not accommodating at all- no shaded areas for parents during sit for parents weekendonly go for an hour and a half because mom cant sit in sun all day. When you use the restroom its gross because youre underground and in a tunnel. Concession stands runs out of things by the times everyone gets to the stadium- couldnt even get a hot dog at the second quarter. High school dance team: big part of Friday night football games: family always loved football, family came down to keep that on, seems like high school games were bigger in high school than here. Parents still go to high school football games and take sister in middle school. Need a draw to come: the only people that do come are greek life. The people not in greek life dont feel like they belong; if they cant have a tent they wont go. You feel out of place, dont know who to talk to. At Mizzou everyone tailgates, you make friends with people parked next to you. Not the same, not as big, not the same set up. Draw more of the community if you let people set up tents. Parents can bring kids. Mizzou draws people from entire state that have no connection with Mizzou. Homecoming people do excited even though we have to wake up early. If you moved everything later in the day, its the fact that the game is at 1. Baseball has winning team and great facility and people still dont show up: we cant get anywhere without a tradition. Tailgate should have more outside companies give stuff away; more departments come celebrate like Construction Management. A lot more people would go to the game (and make more money) if they sold alcohol; better athletes. Beer garden environment Alcohol at Mizzou- wet campus just on gamedays; not only inclines people to want to go, but makes that atmosphere more enjoyable for a lot of people; majority of college students drink and ability to drink and have wet campus on game days would make people more inclined to attend; Went to Mizzou HC and everybody gets so excited, drinks before, the whole atmosphere is different because they are able to have alcohol on campus and able to have tailgatesbig part of getting excited and wanting to go the game. Dont feel like you can walk up to anyones tent. At basketball games, if MSU scores 10 3s everyone gets free Andys ice cream: keep people interested- whole community. Wake up, start drinking, drink more, go to game. Game day- What time are games usually? Do other colleges have night games? Maybe get up later, orient myself for the day, and go to the game, drinking there. Tailgate could be awesome if everyone participated and everyone went. Perfect game: hittin that awesome tailgate and raging at the game making noise with fraternity brothers having a great time. After game probably pass out. Whenever goes to game parents came down for first three games (from St. Louis, wanted to support MSU football)by second game realized wanted to leave by half. Dad would go to concession and wait 30 min in lineridiculous wait. He doesnt wait that long at Busch Stadium. After game: win celebrate, lose drink more. Dad is big on high school football program. Looking to take that enjoyment to the next level in college, they thought it would be better, but they are not coming down anymore. At end of tailgate when Sugar Bears come out and band plays,
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that is cool, but could be improved. Night game atmospheres more fun. If tailgating was bigger, greek life goes, but dont see anyone else with tents, more people would go if they felt comfortable, if ticket got you free stuff (ex: free taco), better promotion. Update coupons on the back of the tickets. One tent that would. Would pay money for a better stadium (in exchange of free tickets). Play up alumni more: have something for them, pamper them kind of, push donations. Tailgating: in the south thats a huge part of it. Grill and play games. Extend tailgating to later.

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Alumni Focus Group E-mail Questionnaire

Directions: The objective of this questionnaire is to develop as many ideas as possible about how to improve attendance at Missouri State Football games. Rules to the questionnaire: 1. Each person is entitled to their own opinion: no idea is too far-fetched. Please just list a simple idea after each question (straight and to the point). 2. We will record these answers for our research. 3. If you wish to not answer a question, or dont have an opinion, you can leave the answer space blank.

Focus Group Responses

1. Who do you believe would attend games? (This is a description of the people who might attend MSU football games the "customer") - Students/Alumni with an interest in sports - Students/Alumni with an interest in the Band or Color Guard - Parents of Athletes/Band Members/Color Guard Members/Cheerleaders/Sugar Bears - Friends of Athletes/Band Members/Color Guard Members/Cheerleaders/Sugar Bears Typically, very involved or school spirited students. I think people who are extremely interested in Division II sports might attend, other than that the casual sports fan in my opinion would have no incentive or motivation to attend as the product on the field is less than desirable, every year. Students, MSU faculty/staff, and Springfield residents. That's who I think should attend games, but I don't think that many do. As far as who I believe will attend games, I think families in Springfield from the lowermiddle class and up and students who are interested in football which would probably equate to about 30-50%. Within the students, I would say most likely all the fraternity and sorority members, since it usually a rite of passage in bigger universities to be at football games. Most students end up not choosing to go to games however because they start too early on Saturday, we have to be real and understand that most students go out and party the night before, at least the ones that would enjoy a good football game. Anyone who is a football fan. MSU has the highest quality football team outside of MU or Arkansas. The greatest possibility from attendance should be the students followed by local alumni. Students, alumni, faculty of the University, football fans and the families of players, cheerleaders, band members I believe the customer would primarily be a local, with-in about an hour or less, alumni or other local people who are non-alumni.

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2. Why do you believe people would attend a Missouri State Football game? - Social event - Genuine interest in MSU sports For the tailgating. -Possibly for a parents weekend, or to show school spirit. Maybe offering a giveaway or incentive to attend would help, or something exciting during halftime or after the game -Maybe for homecoming or an even of that nature, possibly if alcohol is sold in the stadium, or if the team is winning and trying to move to division I Maybe people come to see their friends play football. Or parents of football players and band members come to watch maybe? I honestly think there are a lot of people that come to watch the band and then leave after the halftime show. I believe people would attend a MSU football game currently either due to nice weather, a special occasion such as Homecoming, or a sustained winning streak and predictions of future success. I also truly feel that name recognition is huge when it comes to wanting to go to a game and see an opponent that you know. Unfortunately, there aren't many of the same schools between basketball and football for the Valley. Fun afternoon. Sometime exciting and a good product. Sharing football with a son, daughter, or friends. It is a fun environment for students (high school and college) They know someone involved They enjoy football Someone invited them (had extra tickets) There is a promotion for cheap tickets There is a special event or theme to the game Right now, honestly there isn't much of a reason. Having been an alumni of this school, coached there, as well as at other Division 1 institutions- there are two ways to have a fan base. #1 is a historical fan base, which unfortunately MSU does not have. The last time there was a sell-out was against a division 2 team, Pittsburgh State, and most of the fans were theirs. #2 is to win, and win a lot. Currently, with this staff and these facilities, there isn't a shot at winning. While I do admit coach Allen did a great job at Northern Iowa at his time there, he believed that he could turn SMS into a perennial powerhouse, and he has not been able to do it yet. He needs to go with another, young and upcoming coach be brought into the fold. USF made its transition through the divisions with such, as did WKU (although it has not had the success that USF has). Missouri is an ultimate state of fair weather fans. If they are winning, people will come. If they are not winning, why would they show up and watch their team lose? 3. Why do you believe people choose not to attend Missouri State Football games? - Alcohol not served - Low level of competition - Low level of school spirit Because the Mo State team doesn't make football fun to watch. -I think people do not attend because they seemed to get slaughtered every year. -The school does not seem to have as much pride and focus on football as it does on
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basketball, getting recruits must be very difficult. They do not win. It is frustrating to watch when they continually lose. People choose not to go to the games because of what they are paying for. They can easily just stay at home and watch the game if it's on tv or watch a even bigger and more important game on one of the big networks. The stadium itself is very run down and can almost feel like you wasted your money if you have to walk to the center of the lower concourse, because you end up walking through what feels like a basement. It's also no lie that currently MSU is the second most loved collegiate sports team in the area behind Mizzou, I hate this thought process but it's one that must be made. People currently would much rather stay at home and watch the Tigers play if there is a game on than come and watch the Bears, just because their wins mean much more, and people can feel collective about that team across the state. 1. Economy. I dont mean people cant afford the price. There are so many other options. Do they purchase season tickets for mens or womens basketball, MSU baseball, Springfield Cardinals baseball, MU or Arkansas football. Most people cant afford more than one so which one is it? 2. Conflicts. Not only with other sporting events but with different activities in the fall. I know I often have conflicts. Do I go to the game or spend the best afternoon of the week working around the house getting ready for winter? Weekends are when everything happens at once. Which do I choose? 3. Recently the quality product on the field hasnt been there. Even the larger football programs cant sustain a large attendance if the product isnt what they believe it should be. 4. There is the weather. Many people dont like sitting outside on a cold and rainy day. Especially if the game has no meaning. 5. The bleachers can get uncomfortable after a couple of hours. Getting to the upper levels for people who have problems getting around can be a reason not to attend. 6. For me BearFest Village is ok if you are wanting something to eat before the game but it isnt really tailgating. Is tailgating allowed in the parking lots? Is the parking so tight that it is difficult to tailgate? Im not sure it is encouraged or allowed. They do not have ties to the university They have never been or haven't been invited Tickets are too expensive for the 'product' They are not aware of the schedule of games Why would you want to watch your team lose? 4. What do you believe would make the perfect game-day experience for the people of the Missouri State Community? - Tailgate - Game against a rival - High attendance - MSU probable win Bigger tailgates, freebies at the game Having a tailgate and festival similar to what is done on homecoming certainly helps, I understand it may be difficult to duplicate that every game of the year, but possibly allowing the campus to go wet for the day and offering up tents and spots as incentives
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for organizations to get members would help. I think a perfect game-day experience would include a lot of on-campus hype. It would also include a lot of publicity throughout the Springfield community in order to get more fans to attend. There would be a well-attended tailgate, and the team would play competitively. I don't think they have to always win. I just think the team needs to play competitively. As a student, and now alumni, one of the pinnacles of a good football atmosphere is tailgating. No matter how crappy a team may be at the time, you can always look forward to tailgating, it's what gets people there. Unfortunately, our tailgating time that we are given is just too small, 2-3 hours tops barely allows us to get situated. Most other universities will start tailgating in the morning and proceed up until the game, it's fine if Bearfest Village is only run for the 2-3 hours, but restricting students and others from tailgating kind of ends up pushing people away and they will go party somewhere else. That's just the before-game atmosphere too. I'm all for removing of the track, which I believe is in the plan for the new renovation of the field and student section side in the next couple years. I also would like to see a capped endzone, so possibly extended the seating from one side to the other by creating a connection with more seats. The in-game games is fine, that's expected, but honestly also being a recent graduate, the band's songs that they play have become very repetitive over the past couple of years. I would enjoy seeing them add some current and popular songs in to the their line-up, to spice things up. When they constantly play the old songs over and over again I feel like I'm at a retirement home dance unfortunately, and start to snooze off a bit. Nice weather. Good crowd; especially in the student section. Depressing to look over and see the stands nearing empty except for the band. A competitive team that is doing well; perhaps fighting for the league championship. Hanging out with friends. As a former member of the PRIDE Band (which has now attended a few seasons as a spectator), I see a lot of disconnect with the game-day experience at MSU. Many people come to the tailgate, but don't cross the street to attend the game. Others come to the game, but do not participate beyond sitting in their seat. Part of the issue is a big disconnect with the student side and the lower and upper part of the west side. There is no one prompting participation in the game. The announcer is either giving game stats, or reading an advertisement. The games also lack tradition. This year, the band started a 'march' across campus for students. Things like this need to be initiated for everyone in attendance. The crowd needs more encouragement to participate in the game, wear maroon and return for more games. Traditions need to be established and executed at every single game. Community? Having more of a sports park, with parking directly around the stadium. During my time as a student there, many people were injured by trying to cross the street and hit by a car. The encouragement of the alumni to tailgate and other things would be great too. Having a big alumni-relations event at a big game that was definitely winnable would be something great.

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5. If you were to attend a game, what would you expect during your time there? - Low attendance - MSU losing - No alcohol I would like to expect a good game, and lots of crowd interaction. -Id expect some mediocre football, with half empty stands, hopefully a decent team to cheer for and a hope for a .500 season -To see friends from different groups or classes as well at the game to make it more of a social experience If I were to attend now, I would expect to see a not very exciting game and most of the fans leaving after the band's performance. If I were to attend a game, I would expect a good seat, a good view, great and unique food while also keeping the classics such as popcorn, nacho's, hot dog's, etc. I also would expect a good view, now what I mean by that is buildings around it, or the opposite side stadium being aesthetically pleasing, the old student section made the grand stand side see what appeared to be some run-down old wooden bleachers. Most sports teams now a days have some type of perk or incentive too if they win by a certain amount, that only ticket holders would be able to get, and it's usually a pretty decent deal. This gives them an extra rooting interest on top of the one they already had. Finally, this can go without saying and I know it takes patience and hard work but a winning team, that's what I want to see if I go TO the game, and I know we are on the right track currently. Good competitive game. Good value for the ticket price. Hopefully the weather is good. Entertaining pre and post-game activities Entertainment during every timeout and break A welcoming environment Game day traditions Information about upcoming games Giveaways To see old friends, to see a great stadium, and to have a chance to win the game. 6. What do you believe is the best way to encourage others to attend games? - Attendance competition between Fraternity and Sorority Life/Other school organizations - Games that support non-profits - Attendees could win an iPad or tickets to Springfield Cardinals Game I don't think there are many ways to encourage that without a better team record. As much as I hate to say it, we need a winning team to attract more fans. I think what Drury did, by offering days off of class to give students and incentive to go to the championship game worked out well. Now I understand that was for a championship, and privately funded schools have the ability to do that more so than publicly funded ones but offering difference incentives or a motivation for students to attend aside from seeing a football game might increase attendance I think that the football players should get out and publicize the games. They should be
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the face of team and encourage students, community members, and faculty to attend. I also honestly think that if they start winning more often, it will encourage more fans to attend because the games will actually be enjoyable. Bombardment. Seriously, unless there is an RHA event going on at the game, the students have no idea there might be a game that weekend, same thing with the community. The news doesn't cover us that often, and the only way the community will know if we have a game coming up is if they drive by the stadium and turn their heads almost crashing to read our billboard of upcoming games hanging from the south side of the stadium. You go to other schools that have a decent, doesn't have to be great, football team; you can't go around the town without knowing there is a game. Springfield unfortunately has so much to offer that you can easily get sucked in to doing something else with your team, and it's not that hard to find something else to do with your time either. This is a longshot, but you need to try to market the game for longer than the game exists. So the week before hand all the way up to the game and then afterwards too. Maybe like connecting with some bars downtown that with a ticket from the game you can get certain specials that night, it will create a full Saturday atmosphere, one where you would want to place attending the game within it. Why not do what created interest in womens basketball when it was a hot topics. There were a number of promotions; especially with grade school students. Tickets were given to certain schools for certain achievements. It created interest in the youth who might be students or season ticket holders later. In some cases it also brought out the parents. Sponsors also would have tickets available for people to pick up at their business and borderline fans had an opportunity to see the product. Establish game-day traditions Send out more email communications regarding games -I don't recall getting any emails from the university regarding this Promotions for tickets Game-day themes Alcohol sold in the stadium More evening games Giveaways (beyond t-shirts) Pre/post-game activities -Concerts, fireworks, etc. Promote the games through the use of social media. Facebook, Twitter, etc. Installing an ability to use WIFI at the games would be great too. If you made the login something reasonable like $.99, that would encourage people to use it. This way, the wife or younger people of the family who don't enjoy football could spend time on facebook, twitter, pinterest, etc while the others enjoyed the game. Also, getting a better team. People always want to go see winners. While I do respect coach Allen, the program has not been a consistent winner since, forever (coach Branch is the last one I remember).

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Final Survey

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Appendix Page 16