Instructions
Many in baseball have suggested that the MLB is long overdue for adding expansion teams (although the $2.2 billion expected price tag may make it difficult to happen anytime soon!). Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred has said repeatedly that MLB will not consider expansion until the Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays get new ballparks. The Athletics have proposed a stadium in the Howard Terminal area of downtown Oakland, and the Rays have said they will pursue splitting seasons between the Tampa Bay area and Montreal starting in 2028, after the expiration of their lease at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. (Note: there are many reports that the Oakland A’s are looking to relocate; no plans for those teams have been finalized or announced). But, in considering the possibility of expansion opportunities, Manfred has mentioned possible expansion city candidates (which is similar to a 2017 list from The Sporting News hypothesizing eight potential landing sites for MLB expansion): Charlotte, North Carolina Las Vegas; Nevada Montreal Nashville, Tennessee Portland, Oregon Vancouver, British Columbia. For this assignment, I’d like for you to select one of the above six cities for a proposed expansion team for the MLB. Using what you’ve learned so far in this class, you should provide: A rationale for city selection (3 points) This section requires you to do some research. Use resources like the US Census Links to an external site.for demographic data, city guides for location information, and this article from SB Nation Links to an external site.has interesting data on several of the cities for expansion opportunities. An environmental analysis (city information/demographics/socioeconomic information for your selected city). (3-5 sentences) SWOT analysis (for your selected city). Minimum of 3 elements per category. Target customer segmentation (what aspect of this city’s population is your target market?) (3-5 sentences). Brand Development (3 points) Team Name – Develop a team name with an explanation of how you’re using the team name to foster emotional branding or connection to your city. (2-3 sentences). Logo Development (I know you’re not graphic designers – but there are a number of free logo makers online. Try Canva Links to an external site., logomakr, or logojoy. This section is for you to practice being creative and try your hand at designing something. I’m not expecting perfection, only that you try. I’m also not expecting something that you found in a google search. This should be an original created by YOU. Visual Appearance standards – provide two fonts to be used by the team and 2-3 colors that will be used in their branding and marketing efforts. Explain your decision-making process for selecting these fonts and colors. (2-3 sentences). Sponsorship Proposal (4 points) You’ll need to identify TWO potential sponsors (think big – for stadium naming rights, for example). For each, I’d like to know: Explanation of your reasoning for selecting each sponsor and why it would make sense for the team and the city. Minimum of 2-3 sentences for each sponsor. Sponsor benefits (at least TWO benefits for EACH potential sponsor) – clearly identify what objectives a potential sponsor would gain from the partnership and how the partnership would benefit both your team and the company). This is different than your explanation in the above question. Please be specific here (i.e. “our team’s target market matches Pepsi’s target market” isn’t specific enough. In this case, if you used the target market as part of your explanation, I’d want you to articulate what that target market consists of). Minimum of 3-5 sentences for each sponsor. Sponsor activation: tell me one way that you’d activate your sponsorship for each of your two potential sponsors. Minimum of 3-5 sentences for each sponsor. Just so we’re clear here, this section should be: Potential sponsor #1 —> explanation, benefit, benefit, activation Potential sponsor#2 —> explanation, benefit, benefit, activation You can draft this assignment in a traditional Word document, or you can build the elements in another program if it’s easier to manipulate the logo, etc. Please use headers for each section so that I can be sure that you’re covering all of the assignment components.