University of Utah Men’s Lacrosse

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University of Utah Men’s Lacrosse

Table of Contents

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Opportunity and Objectives

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Focus and Topics

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Activities and Methods

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Participants and Context

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Research Milestones and Schedule

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Survey Instrument

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Discussion Guide

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University of Utah Men’s Lacrosse

Opportunity and Objectives The Opportunity In June of 2017, The University of Utah announced that its men’s club lacrosse program would begin competing at the NCAA Division I level starting in the 2018-19 season. The men’s lacrosse program will be the first addition to Utes’ NCAA sports since 1995 when women’s soccer was added. Utes Athletics is now comprised of 20 NCAA sports - eight men’s and 12 women’s. Previously an MCLA Division I - or “club” - affiliate, the lacrosse team made history by becoming the first endowed program within Utes Athletics, receiving $15.6 million in funds.

With the integration of a new team comes numerous opportunities. Utah’s Divisional transition presents a great opportunity for the men’s lacrosse program to establish itself as a revenuegenerating entity for the Utes, but also as a leader in the sport in the Western part of the United States. Utah is in the unique position where it is now the third Division I men’s lacrosse program to be established West of the Mississippi River -- the others being the University of Denver and The United States Air Force Academy, respectively.

With the creation of the Utah men’s lacrosse team, the opportunity has opened up to delve further into how successful and which tools can be used to help the program reach its full potential. The opportunity we have chosen to look into is how the University of Utah men’s lacrosse program can use its position as a new and growing sport within a passionate fanbase to reach a certain level of awareness and fandom. As a result, the goal of the project is to conduct research to gauge the public’s opinion on the addition of the program, and inevitably use our findings to recommend ways in which Utes Athletics can leverage their position to drive attendance and ticket sales.

Knowledge Gaps The Utah program itself has never existed on a Division I level, so in most ways, this is a completely new product being introduced to a market that hasn’t had anything similar exposed to it yet; essentially a “new product study.” The Greater Salt Lake City area has never housed a D1 lacrosse team. That leaves this particular product almost completely untouched by something similar that has been tried in the surrounding area. That leaves such a large gap of time and knowledge in truly knowing how a market such as the Utes fanbase will react to a brand new team. Will they embrace them immediately? Will it take a few years of establishing their brand before they can get full backing from their fans? With such an unexplored topic of research, the knowledge gaps play a large role in how the study will pan-out.

Key Learning Objective From this research, we hope to gain a better understanding of the level of interest current Utes Athletics fans and residents of the greater Salt Lake City area (refer to Geographics and Demographics) have towards the sport of lacrosse and the implementation of the program as a whole. By figuring out where our potential fan base lies and whom to target, we will be able to recommend strategies that the program can use to drive game attendance.

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University of Utah Men’s Lacrosse

Evaluation We will have met our objectives if by the end of our research we are able to recommend and provide data-driven strategies for the Utah men’s lacrosse program to increase their game attendance.

Focus and Topics Current Situation: Lacrosse in Utah In May of 2017, the Utah High School Activities Association (UHSAA) approved boys and girls lacrosse a sanctioned sport. The Board of Trustees has set sanctioned play to begin in the 201920 academic year, allowing time for high schools to prepare to field teams and proper facilities.

The motivation behind the decision was the understanding that the sport was growing rapidly independently from the school system, and the Board wanting to provide the opportunity for students to participate in education-based activities.

In addition, Utah is home to multiple prominent organizations dedicated to growing the game: • • • • • •

Utah Lacrosse Association Utah State Chapter of US Lacrosse Intermountain Lacrosse 3d Lacrosse Tribal West Lacrosse UHSAA

Market Trends The sport of lacrosse, while brand new at the collegiate level in Salt Lake City, was just sanctioned by the official statewide sports association for high schools. This step will raise activity and visibility across the state, where the number of quality home-grown players will climb in upcoming years. Lacrosse is a sport dominated by East Coast athletes because of higher participation numbers, so a lot of scholarships given out by Utah have a chance to be for East Coast athletes. However, with the sport now at the highest level of high schools, the youth product is sure to see a rise in quality of play, and producing athletes worthy of scholarships that will be able to play at home and be hometown heroes.

The sports teams that are in the same market and will be direct competition with getting attendees have had a mixed bag when it comes to attendance over the past year. The NBA’s Jazz and Minor League Baseball’s Bees saw a rise in attendance from ‘15 to ‘16, while the MLS’ Real Salt Lake and the ECHL’s Grizzlies saw a drop in attendance over the same period of time. This is likely reflective of the success of the teams, rather than a sharp upturn or downturn in people’s attitudes towards attending sporting events. With Utah men’s lacrosse being a brand new and shiny addition to the area’s sporting market, it is likely to not depend on the on-field successes or failures for at least a few years.

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University of Utah Men’s Lacrosse

Geographics Geographically, target participants will be within the greater Salt Lake City area and Northern Utah. The Utes have a distinct advantage of being in quite a large market with no direct lacrosse competition at their level within a seven-hour drive. The Salt Lake metropolitan area has an estimated 1,153,340 people, an increase of over 6% since the last official census of 2010. Comparatively, Salt Lake City ranks as the 48th largest MSA in the country, and also as the 58th fastest growing of all cities. With more people lies more opportunity for success, especially when you consider SLC as the second-biggest market for Division I lacrosse West of the Mississippi. The Utes will be the closest team at their level for the entire West Coast of the country, all the way from San Diego to Seattle and everything in between.

[Figure courtesy of Statistical Atlas, Greater Salt Lake City Area]

Demographics The factors that have potential to help or impair the success of the program in terms of demographics can and will be race, income, sport trends of the area, religion, et al.. Lacrosse is predominantly played by white athletes, and Salt Lake is 75% white. Lacrosse was invented

by Native Americans, where a relatively decent sized population reside in Utah with around 2.6%. Lacrosse players and fans tend to be wealthier than other sports, and while Salt Lake City isn’t one of the wealthiest places in the country, the city’s population only has 10.4% of families below the poverty line. The Latter Day Saints make up the bulk of religion in the area, where games could potentially not be played on Sundays due to religious reasons. The city and surrounding area have built up a reputation for their outdoor recreation department. While not directly affecting a lacrosse team, it shows that people in the area are certainly not averse to being physically active.

Psychographics An important topic for the psychographic would be the Mormon influence in the Salt Lake City region. Mormons take pride in their high moral fiber, their value of decency, and their respectability towards other people. Lacrosse as a sport does not have an entirely bad reputation in regards to how people view the people involved in the sport. Of course, there have been scandals in the sport, like any other, but there isn’t anything inherently vile within the world and culture of lacrosse enough to think it would be rejected by the overall populous of the region.

Salt Lake City prides itself on being very accepting of all types of people, and in recent years they have taken an influx of immigrants from all over the world with open arms. There is obviously a big difference between reactions to different cultures than to sports, but clearly as a whole SLC is not hesitant to welcome new additions to their landscape.

Behavioristics The Salt Lake region only has one professional sports team, which leaves plenty of pride and loyalty to be had within the lower levels of sport, such as collegiate and minor leagues. Due

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University of Utah Men’s Lacrosse

to the University of Utah being right in the middle of Salt Lake City, there is a humongous following of Utes supporters, as well as their biggest rival, Brigham Young University (BYU).

Schools that are located in more secluded places see their graduates move onto other locations when they graduate, leaving a big portion of what should be their biggest supporters out of their grasp. That is not the case with the Utes, as they are located right in the heart of their alumni base and the biggest city in the state. The lacrosse team will not have much of an issue with brand familiarity as so much of the surrounding region is already ingrained to Utah Athletics. The only issue that would arise would be the familiarity with the sport of lacrosse itself; however, the sport is rapidly growing in the area.

Activities and Methods Methodology 1 In regards to a quantitative aspect of our study, we tried to focus on the monetary aspects of attending a sporting event. We asked questions that would give us a grasp on how much people are willing to pay for tickets to games in the area, but also questions that give us an idea of how much they are willing to spend beyond the initial ticket price such as parking, food, and merchandise. Once we get an idea of the monetary limitations our fans have, we can set a reasonable price level for tickets, merchandise, food, etc.

Methodology 2 The Salt Lake City market isn’t overcrowded with sports teams - as it only has one of the major four leagues - but there is still a decent amount of competition in the lower levels that Utah Lacrosse will have to compete with. That competition includes minor league hockey, minor league baseball, other college teams, and professional soccer. We asked questions in our quantitative methodology in order to get a reasonable grasp on team loyalty in the area, and how likely people are to choose a lacrosse game over another sport. We also asked questions to try to get an idea of what important factors makes people in Salt Lake City go to games: is it how good the team is? how great is the atmosphere? because of how cheap it is? etc.

Mixed Methodology The two different sets of methodology can really give us an understanding of how Utah men’s lacrosse will be reacted to once entering the market. Using quantitative research we can get an idea of how much money fans in Northern Utah are willing to spend on a typical sporting event. That can be cross-examined with the pecking order of sports teams in the area to really understand not only who dominates on a sport level, but also on a collegiate versus professional level. With college loyalty and pride in the equation - since Utah is the biggest school in the state - it is at an advantage of having an athletic brand that is already dominating the landscape. With these methodologies we can get a data-driven idea of just how much of an advantage that truly is.

Representative Sample There are around 1 million and 100 thousand people within the Greater Salt Lake City region

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University of Utah Men’s Lacrosse

of Northern Utah. Obviously, not every one of those is a sports fan, let alone a lacrosse fan even at a casual level. Lacrosse tends to be a sport where participation leans towards white and wealthy. The sport is undeniably growing in the area, and that growth is coming from the youth participation and their parents. We would like to have a focus group of parents and coaches of these young lacrosse players so that we can get an idea from them and they can describe in detail what will drive them to attend games on a more than regular basis.

Sample Size If we could compile a list of anyone who is involved with the youth level of lacrosse in any way, from coaching, being a parent, or just volunteering, that would be our most likely respondents of a sample size. Another channel we could pursue would be from people who have willingly given their emails to sporting teams in the region for information on tickets, deals, etc. Combining these lists, we would hope for a pool of roughly 500 potential participants and a response rate of 5 to 10%.

Ethical Considerations The emails addresses we compile would have been acquired through channels where they have given those willingly to whatever institution we get them from. Of course they have no obligation to do our survey, and nothing will come from it if they do or do not complete it. The survey is completely anonymous and confidential; we will never use their emails for anything beyond the initial plug. People who are going to be receiving the email survey will have a certain level of interest in the product because they are either big lacrosse supporters or big Utah Utes supporters, and sometimes both.

Limitations With a lot of potential people attending games given that there are over a million people in Northern Utah, there are obvious limitations on the number of responses we get being representative of the area as a whole. Nowhere in the questionnaire do we ask if they have a strong like or dislike to either the sport of lacrosse or Utes Athletics. There could be people who do the survey who come up as someone that could attend lots of games, but have a certain distaste for Utes Athletics because of their BYU pride or something of that nature. There are also sport-lovers who follow some sports religiously but abhor some particular sports, and would never attend a men’s lacrosse game but still have season tickets to baseball, hockey, etc.

Participants and Context Quantitative Survey Recruitment For our qualitative research study we plan to reach out to individuals who fall into the following categories, as well as meet our criteria laid out in the Focus and Topics section.

• Current Utes Athletics season ticket holders • Current BYU Athletics season ticket holders

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University of Utah Men’s Lacrosse

• Fans and attendees of other Salt Lake City sports teams • 18 to 35 year olds residing in the Northern Utah area • Parents of youth and high school lacrosse players Quantitative Recruitment Email Below is template of the email that would be sent to all potential participants.

Bcc: All Quantitative Participants Subject: Research Study Opportunity Dear _________ , I am writing to let you know about an opportunity to participate in a research study about the entertainment options available to you in Northern Utah. This study is being conducted by Cooper Gillogly, a graduate student at Ohio University. I received your name and email from ________ . This study is aimed to understand one’s affiliation and level of interest behind attending and/or not attending sporting and general entertainment events in the Northern Utah area. This online survey will take roughly 7-10 minutes to complete.

If you would like additional information about this study, please contact Cooper Gillogly at: cg720016@ohio.edu or (410) 570-1755.

Thank you in advance for considering participating!

Cooper Gillogly

Qualitative Survey Recruitment For the qualitative study, we plan to reach out to coaches and parents of youth lacrosse players, current Utes athletics ticket holders, and residents of the greater Salt Lake City area. In addition, we plan to leverage the current network of the Utah men’s lacrosse program and reach out to their current fanbase and overall attendees. Therefore, the list of target participants is as follows: (Additionally, please note all participants must fall under the details outlined in the Focus and Topics section.)

• Parents of youth and high school lacrosse programs • Coaches of youth and high school lacrosse programs • Individuals who have signed up to receive the Official Utah Men’s Lacrosse newsletter (via their website and social media platforms) • Members of the Utah Chapter of US Lacrosse

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University of Utah Men’s Lacrosse

• Current Utes athletics ticket holders • Current Utah men’s lacrosse program supports and fans While we, unfortunately, cannot offer any payment for participant’s involvement, in addition to a free box lunch all participants will have the option to be added to the Utah Athletics database and receive information regarding discounted ticket packages and first-looks at upcoming events and promotions.

Qualitative Recruitment Email Below is template of the email that would be sent to all potential participants.

Bcc: All Qualitative Participants Subject: Research Study Opportunity Dear ________ , I am writing to let you know about an opportunity to participate in a research study about the entertainment options available to you in Northern Utah. This study is being conducted by Cooper Gillogly, a graduate student at Ohio University.

I received your name and email via _________ . Due to your current involvement with ____________ , we believe your insights would help us gather information to better understand the attitude towards the sport of lacrosse in Utah, as well as feelings towards University of Utah Athletics Bcc: All Participants introducing an NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse program in the 2018-19 season. In particular, we Subject: Research Opportunity are looking to see Study participant’s current involvement/attendance to all Utes athletic events, and their potential interest in learning more about the men’s lacrosse program. This study will take 60 minutes to complete; lunch will be provided.

While we, unfortunately, cannot offer any payment for your involvement, all participants will have the option to be added to the Utah Athletics database and receive information regarding discounted ticket packages and first-looks at upcoming events and promotions.

If you would like additional information about this study, please contact Cooper Gillogly at: cg720016@ohio.edu or (410) 570-1755.

Thank you in advance for considering participating!

Best regards, Cooper Gillogly

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University of Utah Men’s Lacrosse

Research Milestones and Schedule Below is the schedule we have and will continue to follow regarding the execution of our research methods. Please note that the timeline has been altered because this project will not be continuing into the Revenue Generation class, and could, therefore, be completed sooner.

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University of Utah Men’s Lacrosse

Survey Instrument For report inclusion purposes, the following questions have been exported from the Qualtrics survey, Entertainment in Northen Utah.

Entertainment in Northern Utah Q1 Disregarding monetary or time limitations, which sporting event are you more likely to attend? Please rank from most likely (1) to least likely (6).

Ranking: ______ Utah Utes Athletics (NCAA) ______ Utah Grizzlies (Hockey) ______ Utah Jazz (Basketball) ______ Real Salt Lake (Soccer) ______ BYU Athletics (NCAA) ______ Salt Lake City Bees (Baseball) Q2 How much money are you willing to spend to attend Salt Lake City sporting event per ticket? Check all that apply. ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢

Free $1 - $10 $11 - $20 $21 - $35 $36 - $50 $51 - $75 $75 - above

Q3 What level of Salt Lake City sports fan do you consider yourself?

▢ Avid Fan ▢ Casual Fan ▢ Interested Fan ▢ Non-Fan

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University of Utah Men’s Lacrosse

Q4 Are you affiliated in any way to any of the following universities? Check all that apply.

▢ Brigham Young University ▢ University of Utah ▢ Utah State University ▢ Weber State University ▢ Westminster College ▢ Utah Valley University Q5 Of the following teams, which ones have you attended a game, watched on television, or listened to on the radio within the past 12 months? Check all that apply. ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢

Real Salt Lake Utah Grizzlies Salt Lake City Bees BYU Cougars Utah Utes Utah Jazz

Q6 Does your sport interest vary when comparing professional and minor leagues to the collegiate level? ▢ ▢ ▢

Prefer professional and minor leagues over collegiate sports No preference Prefer collegiate sports over professional and amateur

Q7 To what extent do the additional costs to attend sporting events such as parking, food, merchandise, etc. effect your decision on whether or not to attend? ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢

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A Great Deal A Lot A Moderate Amount Not Very Much Not At All

University of Utah Men’s Lacrosse

Q8 To what extent does the on-field success of your favorite team determine whether or not you attend games? ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢

A Great Deal A Lot A Moderate Amount Not Very Much Not At All

Q9 Are you more likely to attend a game of a local team you’ve seen before, or seek out a team that you haven’t seen for a new experience? ▢ ▢ ▢

More likely to attend the game of the team I’ve seen before More likely to attend the game of the team I have not seen before It depends

Q10 How often do giveaways such as food and merchandise entice you to attend a sporting event? ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢

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A Great Deal A Lot A Moderate Amount Not Very Much Not At All

University of Utah Men’s Lacrosse

Discussion Guide Starting the Interview Thank you for joining us today. My name is ____________ and I work for ______________ .

The purpose of our interview today is to gather your thoughts and opinions and help us to better understand the attitude towards the sport of lacrosse in Utah, as well as feelings towards University of Utah Athletics introducing an NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse program in the 2018-19 season. In particular, we are looking to see participant’s current involvement/attendance to all Utes Athletic events, and their potential interest in learning more about the men’s lacrosse program. Before we begin the session, I’d like to go over a few logistical details.

The interview will last roughly 60 minutes and is for market research and new product testing purposes only. Everything that is discussed today will be kept confidential, and your personal information will not appear in any of our results. That being said, please do your best to be open and honest when responding to questions.

We would like to both video and tape record the session to ensure that we capture all thoughts, ideas, and insights from the group discussion. These tapes will not be distributed and will be destroyed once transcribed.

Consent Agreement The purpose of the discussion and the nature of the questions have been explained to me.

I consent to take part in an in-depth interview about my experiences. I also consent to be taperecorded during this discussion. My participation is voluntary. I understand that I am free to leave the group at any time and I may decide not to participate at any time during the discussion.

None of my experiences or thoughts will be shared with anyone unless all identifying information is removed first.

The information that I provide during the discussion with be grouped with answers from other people so that I cannot be identified.

Printed Name

Witness Signed Name

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Signed Name

Date

University of Utah Men’s Lacrosse

Supplies Needed to Conduct Session · Focus Group Discussion Guide for the facilitator · Sign-in sheet · Consent forms (1 for each participant) · Evaluation sheets (1 for each participant) · Pens and pencils · Name tents (1 for each participant) · Video recorder · Tape recorder · Box lunches (1 for each participant) Summary of Flow 1. Distribution of Box Lunches – 5 MIN 2. Introduction & Warmup – 5 MIN 3. Utes Athletics – 25 MIN 4. Understanding of the Utah Men’s Lacrosse Program – 10 MIN 5. Game Experience – 10 MIN 6. Closing and Thank You – 5 MIN Distribution of Box Lunches – (5 MIN) Turn on video and tape recorder.

Introduction & Warmup – (5 MIN) · Background to the group, no right or wrong answers, open discussion format · Tell us about yourself – place of work; how long you’ve been in the area; hobbies and leisure activities · Review the following points – o Who we are and what we’re trying to accomplish o What will be done with the information that’s being collected o Why you specifically were asked to participate Utes Athletics – (25 MIN) · Do you have any ties to either the University of Utah or, specifically, Utes Athletics? o Relationships to other universities in the area? · Have you ever attended a Utes Athletics game? o Which sport? o How often? · Is anyone currently a Utes Athletics season ticket holder for any respective sport?

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University of Utah Men’s Lacrosse

[PROJECTIVE EXERCISE] Put the following list on the board: University of Utah, NCAA Sports (Pac-12 Conference) Baseball (M) Golf (M) Soccer (W)

Basketball (M/W) Gymnastics (M/W) Softball (W)

Track & Field (M/W)

Volleyball (W)

Cross Country (W) Lacrosse (M) Swimming & Diving (M/W) Beach Volleyball (W)

Football (M) Skiing (M/W) Tennis (M/W)

Imagine that the University of Utah gives you one (1) voucher that can be redeemed for four (4) tickets to any sport listed here.

Discussion: · Which one Utes sport would you choose to redeem your voucher on? · What would your answer be if both Football (M) and Basketball (M) were no longer an option? o For those who chose Football (M) or Basketball (M) during the first question, why did you do so? · Did cost come into play with anyone’s choice of sport to attend? · Did anyone choose their respective sport for a personal reason: i.e. former Utes college athlete, have a relative/family friend · Was your initial thought to take yourself and three (3) other individuals? Or to give all four (4) tickets to someone else after redeeming?

Understanding of the Utah Men’s Lacrosse Program – (10 MIN) · Open ended question: what do you know about Utah’s men’s lacrosse program? · Had you heard about them before their announcement to become an NCAA Division I affiliate? · Have you ever attended a game? If so, when and why.

Even prior to their becoming an NCAA Division I team, Utes men’s lacrosse program hosted lacrosse camps and clinics for boys ages 8 to 18. · Were you aware of these camps and clinics being offered? · Has your child or anyone else you know ever participated and if so, can you describe their experience?

Game Experience – (10 MIN) · What do you think about having youth exhibition games played by local clubs during the half-time break? · Would you be more likely to attend if your child’s team was asked to participate in such an activity?

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University of Utah Men’s Lacrosse

o Would you pay to attend, or would the tickets have to be provided to you? · Is that an opportunity you think coaches/players/parents would want to participate in? · If your child were to participate, what add-ons would most interest you/them? Examples could be: a facilities tour, meeting the players/coaches, receiving Utah men’s lacrosse merchandise, etc.

Closing & Thank You – (5 MIN) Thank you for donating your time and participating in today’s session. Your feedback was incredibly valuable and will be used in our recommendations to help not only the Utah men’s lacrosse program but the sport in Utah collectively. Again, thank you for your time!

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