DESCRIPTION

In this lesson, students explore the relationship between price and demand. They are also introduced to the concept of yield management pricing. Students begin by setting a low uniform price for all tickets at a football game. This results in high demand--a sell out. They then raise prices to a uniform higher level. This results in the best seats selling out, but none of the other sections. Students then selectively price particular sections to sell them out at the highest possible price. Students review an income statement to see how their profitability is improving. Finally, students take control of pricing all the seats in their stadium and try to achieve a specific profit goal.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• understand ticket pricing for both sporting events and concerts.
• consider basic relationships between price and demand.
• see why different seats command different prices.
• discuss the concept of yield management pricing.
• discuss the pros and cons of dynamic pricing.

DESCRIPTION

In this lesson, students explore staffing two key positions within their stadium: ushers and security. They start by intentionally setting staffing levels too low. They observe crowding and injuries that result in fines at a concert. At a football game, they have fans throwing trash on the field as well as fans moving to seats they didn’t pay for. They also learn how the lack of ushers leads to fewer people purchasing expensive tickets at subsequent games because they know they can freely move around in the stadium. Finally, students are challenged to staff their stadium, within a limited budget, yet still preventing fan security issues and unlawful switching of seats.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• understand the need for adequate stadium staffing.
• see the two vital functions that ushers play.
• comprehend why security personnel are central to a smooth-functioning event.
• discuss various approaches to preventing stadium violence.

DESCRIPTION

In this lesson, students explore the challenges of getting fans into a large event in a smooth manner. They begin by planning ingress for an event with 10,500 fans. They calculate the number of satellite parking lots and buses that they will need. They then run through an event and observe ingress issues. Students note that accidents occur in the main parking lot, and fans cannot get in on time. They then look at three key employee positions for managing ingress and do computations to staff those correctly. They then run another event and see smooth operations. Finally, students are challenged to achieve smooth ingress at a series of events with almost double the attendance of previous events.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• define ingress and egress.
• understand why ingress and egress are vital to the long-term success of stadium events.
• discuss event transportation and parking options.
• understand the relevance of the Americans with Disabilities Act to new stadium construction.

DESCRIPTION

In this lesson, students try to maximize profits from parking at their events. They begin by setting a relatively high price for parking in their main lot. They observe low demand and numerous complaints. They learn how to read an income statement and analyze their revenue from parking. Next, students reduce their price for the main lot and see both demand and revenue increase. Finally, students are challenged to price both their main lot and their satellite parking lots to achieve an aggressive goal for total parking revenue.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• understand why stadium parking is central to a positive fan experience.
• discuss and evaluate other ways to arrive at and leave the stadium.
• consider ways in which stadium owners can make stadium parking a compelling value proposition.
• describe the connection between parking and tailgating.

DESCRIPTION

In this lesson, students learn to maximize profit from concessions at an event. They begin by observing a busy concession stand at an event with too few concession stands and too few employees. They analyze customer complaints and concession profitability. Students then work to correct problems by changing the amount of inventory ordered, pricing products properly based on cost, and staffing concessions stands based on expected attendance and capacity estimates. Students run another event and see the increase in concession profitability. Finally, students take full control of concessions and try to achieve

a specified profit goal.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• provide an overview of concessions provided at stadiums and how they contribute to the fan experience.
• detail why concessions are big business for stadium owners.
• discuss how food and drink items at sporting events are priced.
• highlight the importance of adhering to strict food safety guidelines for concessions.

DESCRIPTION

In this lesson, students begin by identifying potential corporate sponsors within their simulated city. They review each sponsor’s advertising budget. Next, students try to sell a sponsorship for a field-level sign to a particular corporate target. They negotiate a price by starting high and working down. Next, students try to quickly sell another sponsorship and experience “leaving money on the table” when it is quickly snatched up. Finally, students are challenged to negotiate with multiple potential sponsors and achieve a specific target

for total sponsorship revenue.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• understand the value of sponsors to sports teams and stadium owners.
• see why sponsorships work.
• discuss different types of sponsorship opportunities.
• consider the best ways to price sponsorships.
• see why TV broadcast rights are a lucrative revenue stream alongside sponsorships.

DESCRIPTION

In this lesson, students use both market research and traditional forms of media to successfully promote events. They begin by using print media to promote an alternative rock concert. They discover that, in this case, that doesn’t work too well for them. By conducting a survey of fans and using segmentation tools, they discover that alternative rock fans are more likely to be reached by radio advertising. They then switch their budget dollars to radio and run through another concert. By analyzing financials, they see improvement in attendance and profitability. Finally, students are asked to use surveys and segmentation to discover the best way to reach football fans. They then try to achieve attendance targets at football games while staying under a specific advertising budget.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• define traditional media and contrast it with new media and social media.
• understand the role of the media planner in marketing an event.
• define market research as the five steps media planners take to promote and measure an event.

DESCRIPTION

In this lesson, students learn to use social media to promote an event. Specifically, they use an interface modeled directly after the Facebook advertising interface. They begin by running a concert with no promotion and observing the attendance. Next, they bring up the social media advertising interface and create a headline and text for their ad, select an image, choose a target audience, name the campaign and set a campaign budget. As the ad runs, they check the clicks generated. Students then run the concert and observe the increase in attendance. Finally, students are challenged to use social media advertising to hit an attendance target for a football game, while staying within a specific advertising budget.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• explain the key characteristics of social media.
• identify the key players in the social media space.
• understand the right and wrong ways to use social media for marketing.
• consider examples of social media marketing in sports and generate ideas for new campaigns.

DESCRIPTION

In this lesson, students begin by learning how artists and promoters split profits from a concert. They then do a sample profit calculation. Next, students conduct market research to discover the most popular type of music in their city. Students then review a list of available bands using an interface modeled after online booking websites. They choose one that they can afford and that has a history of drawing a lot of fans at a good ticket price. They set ticket prices for the concert and promote the concert using a social media advertising interface. They then run the concert and use an income statement to analyze their profits. Finally, students are challenged to book additional concerts on their own and achieve a cumulative profit goal over time.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• understand which acts perform at stadiums.
• understand the logistics of booking large acts.
• discuss the economics of stadium shows.
• think through ways stadiums can continue to attract large acts.

DESCRIPTION

In this lesson, students take over a losing football team with lousy, overpaid players. They begin at one position and sign an available player with better stats and lower salary than their current players. They run one game and see some, but limited, improvement in their performance. They begin releasing players that are underperforming yet drawing high salaries. Finally, students are challenged to work through all positions and find better, less expensive players. Their goal is to get a winning team while staying under a salary cap. This draws more fans and eventually causes the team to go from a financial loss to a profit.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• state why player management is central to winning teams.
• understand why player selection is so important.
• think about what goes into player development—and why there are no guarantees.
• see why team building is so important.
• discuss why the best teams are agile, especially in light of injuries

DESCRIPTION

In the final project, students take complete control of their stadium. They manage ticket pricing, staffing, parking prices, ingress, concessions, promotion, sponsorships and more. They can book as many concerts as they can afford and want to manage. Their goal is to hit a specific profit target for a single season. They can run multiple seasons to meet the goal. Both teachers and students can see an online scoreboard showing how students are doing relative to one another. (Teachers have the option to turn this off.) Additionally, teachers have the option to set this up as a team activity in which students work cooperatively to reach the goal. After reaching the goal, students’ grades are finalized, but they can continue to run their simulation to explore and learn further.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• understand ticket pricing for both sporting events and concerts.
• understand the need for adequate stadium staffing.
• understand why ingress and egress are vital to the long-term success of stadium events.
• consider ways in which stadium owners can make stadium parking a compelling value proposition.
• provide an overview of concessions provided at stadiums and how they contribute to the fan experience.
• understand the value of sponsors to sports teams and stadium owners.
• define traditional media and contrast it with new media and social media.
• understand the right and wrong ways to use social media for marketing.
• understand the logistics of booking large acts.
• state why player management is central to winning teams.