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Nashville Sports: College Students’ Perceptions of the Nashville Sounds

Alison C. Burry, Aubrey N. Considine, Danielle E. Fairwether,

Justine S. Morris, Sarah E. Roberts, & Kelsey J. Stewart

Belmont University

Author Note

Correspondence concerning this research or paper may be directed to the author at

kelsey.stewart@pop.belmont.edu

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Nashville Sports: College Students’ Perceptions of the Nashville Sounds

Nashville, Tennessee is known for being the music city of America. When people think

of Nashville country music comes into mind for most, but Nashville is also home to well-known

professional sports teams, such as the Tennessee Titans and the Nashville Predators. However,

what probably does not immediately come into mind about Nashville is their Minor-League

baseball team: the Nashville Sounds, who earned their name from the city’s association with the

music industry. The Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics provides a family-friendly

atmosphere for fans of all ages, but one market to look at in particular is Nashville’s college

student community.

It is no doubt that Major League Baseball gets the majority of the attention during the

baseball season, but without a team at the Major League level in Nashville baseball enthusiasts

support the Sounds. 2014-2015 provided the Sounds with many changes that include

construction of a brand new stadium, First Tennessee Park, and a rebranding of the team. With

these improvements one would hope for a rise in ticket sales. One market that the Sounds can

take advantage of is the large population of college students that Nashville has, since there are

five major universities all within less than a ten mile radius from the new stadium location.

Uncovering the Nashville college student market’s perception of the Sounds, as well as other

Nashville professional sports teams, would help understand the current standing the Sounds have

with that specific market. Also taking a close look at what would motivate that market to

purchase tickets and attend the games can provide good insight to help further drive sales.

This study dove into the minds of Nashville college students in order to gain

understanding of their perceptions of Nashville sports, with the main focus being the Sounds.

Exposing what would motivate college students to purchase tickets and attend a Sounds game is

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also discussed. The end goal of the study was to discover these perceptions and motivation

factors in order to drive the Nashville college student market to the Nashville Sounds games.

Literature Review

Minor League Baseball

To this day, Minor League Baseball is used for its initial purpose: To feed up-and-coming

baseball players into more popular, higher paying baseball clubs in order to benefit both the

player and the franchise he is signed to. Patrick T. Powers founded Minor League Baseball in

1901 in Chicago, Illinois (2015). Although the league had struggles at first it eventually

prospered into a successful business and entertaining spectacle. Minor League Baseball currently

has 30 Double-A teams and 46 Triple-A teams, which includes the Nashville Sounds. In 1978

the Nashville Sounds became an official minor league franchise in Nashville, Tennessee who

feeds into the Major League Baseball team, the Oakland Athletics (2015). After reviewing

literature from several sources, statistics and trends may be observed in order to assess what

motivates a person, specifically a college student, to attend a Minor League Baseball game and if

the availability of a new baseball stadium is a factor of motivation.

Motivating Fans To Attend Games

Baseball, or at least forms of it, has been around for centuries. Thus the existence of its

fan base has been around for just as long. Whether it’s the city they came from (e.g. New York,

Boston, Atlanta, Colorado, etc.), or a special story behind a team, most baseball fans are loyal to

a specific team (e.g. The Yankees, The Red Sox, The Braves, The Rockies, etc.). Therefore,

being a fan is the first factor in motivating a fan to attend a game. However, there are other

factors that would guide or misguide a person to attend a baseball game. In terms of the

Nashville Sounds (Nashville’s Triple-A baseball team) one of the newest factors in motivating

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fans to attend games is the recent construction of First Tennessee Park (Mayor). The idea behind

the park’s construction was to place the stadium in a more accessible area of Nashville. The

previous park, Greer Stadium, was in an area of Nashville that deterred fans from attending

Sounds games because of the surrounding communities reputation (Brock). Although ticket

prices, the success of a team, and the love of the game are all strong factors in what will or will

not motivate someone to attend a game. Notifying the community of the Sounds new stadium is

an automatic tool to motivate the citizens of Nashville to attend games (Eckstein).

Sports and College Students

Having large target audiences is crucial for Minor League Baseball teams because

without them their success would be almost unlikely. Nola Agha states:

The smaller towns where minor league baseball teams are located help avoid an

econometric issue that has plagued major league research. Because major league teams

are located in roughly the 50 largest metro areas, there is a collinearity problem between

population and the presence of a team. On the other hand, between 1980 and 2007 there

were 269 metro areas that hosted a minor league baseball team with 2006 population

ranging from 15,469 to 18.9 million. Thus, minor league baseball offers the opportunity

to dramatically increase not the variance in population but also the size of the sample (Pg.

2).

Therefore, Minor League Baseball can be a big financial boost to a community, and if the team is

in the right community it could attract thousands of college students, especially in a larger city

such as Nashville, Tennessee. Agha is suggesting maybe Major League Baseball is more of a

risky investment than Minor League Baseball because their costs are so much higher than Minor

League’s.

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Incentives For College Students

One of the most successful ways in human history to persuade someone to do something is by

using incentives. Many researchers have suggested that although incentives are typically

successful, they do not always work. However, as far as baseball stadiums go, it appears they

have the highest success rate for attendance. Though, even after a certain amount of time, the

thrill wears off and something new must come. Waldron (2012) suggests:

New stadiums do not improve team attendance long-term. Studies show that only

new baseball stadiums result in increased attendance initially, and even then, the

“novelty” dissipates within a few seasons. Once the novelty of a new stadium

wears off, team attendance and profits decrease, which results in the eventual

demand of a new or upgraded facility.91 After all, “[I]t is a buyers’ [sic] market

for professional sports franchises looking for [new] facilities (Pg. 11).

Based off of this information, the Nashville Sounds wanting to build a new stadium to persuade

fans to attend their games is not a bad idea. It is also a strategy by baseball team owners that has

been put into action before. Therefore, with the new sounds stadium being built, the Sounds

should look into the college community as a potential target market. Rosentraub and Swindell

(1998) suggest that people in the cities that the professional teams are in do economically benefit

from their presence. So, if college students decide to spend their money on baseball tickets, it is

indirectly helping the team’s city.

The Future of Minor League Baseball and College Students

Based off of the reviewed literature, it seems as if minor league sports are becoming a

more frequently talked about subject. Siegfried (2000) discusses how new sports facilities could

either hurt or help the community. If the new Nashville Sounds stadium is a success, more

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college students will likely attend and the colleges in the Nashville area and the Nashville

Sounds can develop a sustainable relationship. However, if the building of the new facility

creates no impact on college students in Nashville, or the entire community in general, its

success may be very minimal and short-lived. Researches have noticed that in Major League

Baseball new facilities are a large lure for audiences, but unless the team is successful it does not

take a long time for the fans to become uninterested (Clapp). Even though this is the case with

Major League Baseball stadiums, it could very easily be the case with other new stadiums,

including the Nashville Sounds. Therefore it could be highly beneficial for the Sounds staff to

reach out to the college market of Nashville.

Research Question

If the Nashville Sounds were to begin considering marketing more to the college students

of Nashville, they could have a higher attendance rate, therefore, a larger revenue stream. Since

professional and minor league sports are a business it would motivate front office staff members

to try to reach as many possible markets as they can. The literature researched has shown that the

topic of stadium and fan development have been changing over the years, but in some ways

staying the same. Teams go through being successful and unsuccessful, which means the owners

of the teams must alter their methods of attracting customers. Being in a younger demographic

city, the Nashville Sounds should steer themselves towards a college market. This observation

posed the research question of: How familiar are Nashville college students with Nashville sports

and what would incentivize them to attend a Nashville Sounds game?

Methodology

There are various studies that have researched the effects new sports stadiums have on

increasing the attendance at games. However, the resources and time required to gain specific

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research on the Nashville Sounds was limited, therefore the engagement in secondary

quantitative and qualitative research was necessary to find answers to each of the research

questions.

Research Design and Sample

An online survey questionnaire, created via Qualtrics, was developed to gain insight on

the knowledge that college students in Nashville have about the Sounds and the development of

their new stadium. This survey was created with different questions to gauge students’

understanding of local sports, and was distributed via free social media, including Facebook and

Twitter. In the limited time the survey was active and available for participation, 143

questionnaires were opened and 115 had been submitted for their responses to be tallied.

Instrument

The Qualtrics questionnaire was made up of ten questions and opened with an

introduction inviting participants to partake in a short survey conducted at Belmont University

by the Public Relations Research course. The introduction also defined the study, stated

participation is voluntary, and all results are to be kept confidential. Once the subject chose to

begin the survey they were prompted to respond to ten questions. The first were general

questions designed to gauge the audience age and what school they attended. Questions three

through eight asked subjects about their knowledge of Nashville sports teams. There were also a

few trick questions inserted to test how much people were actively participating. Lastly,

questions nine and ten asked surveyors about how various incentives would entice them to attend

games at the new Sounds stadium. There were no open-ended questions in an effort to keep

responses consistent and to easily gauge the collection of data.

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An interview with Michael Brock, who is the Corporate Partnership Manager of the

Sounds, was conducted to gather information from the organization’s point of view. The

interview consisted of eleven questions to assess what the organization already has in place for

promoting and advertising to college students. The interview also helped gather information on

how the organization would promote and advertise the new stadium that is being built and if their

tactics for promotion would change due to the opening of the new stadium. The questions were

mainly open-ended in order to collect enough information to understand the organization’s

current and future plans for promoting the Nashville Sounds and the new stadium.

Data Collection and Handling

After data collection period from March 26, 2015 to April 3, 2015, the survey closed and

the data was exported and analyzed. While the survey had a good opening response of 143, only

115 surveys were actually completed and submitted for analysis. Due to the amount of surveys

that were not completed in their entirety, those were discarded and a total of 80% of submitted

surveys were collected for analysis.

Findings

This study aimed at finding how college students perceived Nashville’s Minor League

Baseball team, The Nashville Sounds, and to explore ways to combine the team and college

students to have a mutually benefiting relationship. Once the data from the survey had been

analyzed, the results were analyzed to answer the hypotheses to the initial grand research

question, which was split into two for an easier analysis.

RQ1: How familiar are Nashville college students with the Nashville Sounds?

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The majority of individuals who took the survey indicated that they were unfamiliar or

very unfamiliar with The Nashville Sounds, as shown in Graph 1. Only thirty-four survey

responders expressed that they were familiar or very familiar with the team.

Graph 1

RQ2: What is the most influential incentive for college students to attend games?

Although many individuals who took the survey were unfamiliar with the team, there was

a pretty clear consensus that students would attend the game with incentives. Looking at Graph 2

it is clear that college discounts on tickets, or a college night, would increase the chances of

students to attend the games. Upon interviewing, Michael Brock, we asked, “How do you

advertise games to college students?” to which he responded, “Sounds tickets start at just seven

dollars. This makes it the perfect price for college students on a budget. In addition to baseball,

North Nashville’s new ballpark will be equipped to host year-round events, such as corporate

meetings, private parties, concerts, 5k runs, and more. We also have Throwback Thursdays with

discounted beer prices make the Sounds the perfect pregame destination before college students

kickoff their weekend.”

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Graph 2

H1: The majority of Nashville college students are not familiar with the Nashville Sounds.

The results correlated with the hypothesis of believing that the students would not have a

familiarity with the team. Students from all over the country come to attend Vanderbilt, Belmont,

and Middle Tennessee State University, three schools that had students participating in the

survey. Belmont, the university with the most participation, has students represented from all

fifty states, showcasing that general Nashville knowledge may not be known. With students

coming from all over the United States there may not be as much team loyalty or even a wanting

to find a new team for some. Since that may be case with a lot of students, the lack of familiarity

with the Nashville Sounds is not unpredicted.

H2: Discounted items, such as tickets, food, drinks, etc., would incentivize the majority of

Nashville college students to attend a Nashville Sounds game.

Referring back to Graph 2, hypothesis two was supported. It seems that there may be a

disconnect between the Nashville Sounds and college students. Most students want to attend a

college night or have a student discount, when in reality the tickets are discounted to an

affordable price and Thursday nights are essentially a college night with discounts for all who

attend.

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Additional Findings

With the individuals who took the survey who stating that they were unfamiliar with the

Minor League Baseball team illustrates that the public relations team is not publicizing to the

college communities very effectively. Our interview questions with Michael Brock mainly

focused in on this topic. One question that was asked was “what has been the best tactic to

motivate students to come to games?” Brock replied, “Simply having a great outdoor location

and very affordable prices. Our season is during the summer month while students are out of

class so they are already looking to spend their time uptown at a Sounds game.” Providing this

information in a more accessible way to college students would be a good plan of action to help

increase student attendance.

What students do not realize is how catered the Sounds are towards students already. A

question to Brock asked, “Do you have any other discounts or promotions that aren’t geared

toward college students, but could be?” His response was, “T-Shirt Tuesdays, Throwback

Thursdays and In-Game Promotions on the field are all currently targeted at the 18-35 year old

demographic which fits perfectly with the college students”. College students are not aware of

these promotions, yet they would be a great way to increase their attendance.

Discussion

This study discovered that there is an overall detachment between college students and

their knowledge of Nashville’s Minor League Baseball team, the Nashville Sounds. Participants

of the survey were aware of collegiate and professional athletics in Nashville, which lead us to

believe that the Sounds marketing and public relations efforts were lacking. The college

community could be an important asset to the profits and reputation of the Sounds. For these

reasons it would be in the best interest of the organization to further their research on ways to

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reach out to the college community and understand what incentives would increase the odds of

them attending games.

After discovering a rather large hole in the collegiate community’s awareness of the

Nashville Sounds, the method of research and the lack of engagement it required were taken into

consideration. Distributing an online survey via Qualtrics was a convenient way to ask questions

in an easy-to-understand format while making it quick and simple for respondents to provide the

feedback needed. However, due to the fact that the survey was distributed online, much focus

was not necessary to answer the research questions; even the trick question that was asked to see

how much participants knew about Nashville sports, particularly its baseball team(s).

Organization-Public Relations Aspects

Overall, this study showed that the hypotheses were correct in that the majority of college

students were not familiar with the Nashville Sounds, as well as the fact that more incentives to

go to the games would greater the chances of their attendance. It is something to consider that the

majority of the Minor League Baseball season occurs when college and university classes are not

in session. This puts an even stronger emphasis on the importance of the relations that the

Nashville Sounds have with the media and the strategies they need, in order to develop

awareness and desire to be a part of this community experience.

Engagement and Satisfaction with the Organization

This study, specifically the interview with Michael Brock, proved that there is nothing

being done to target the college community as possible attendees of Sounds’ games. Their low-

ticket prices, occasional drink specials, and T-shirt deals, appear to be information they believe

the surrounding community already is aware of. Based on the responses received from college

participants to the inquiry on their knowledge of Nashville’s Minor League Baseball team, and

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whether or not certain incentives would entice them to attend games, most agreed they would

attend if they knew about them. If this organization put more effort into using modern

communication techniques with the younger population that engulfs this town, relationships

would build, a fan-base would grown, and the brand new stadium in downtown Nashville would

be filled with their targeted 18-35 year old demographic. There are opportunities for the Sounds

to take advantage of, and the college community would be a great place to start.

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References

1. Agha, N. (2013). The economic impact of stadia and teams: The case of minor league

baseball. Journal of Sports Economics, 14(3), 227-252.

2. Brock, M. (2015, April 7). Nashville Sounds Interview [E-mail interview].

3. Clapp, C., & Hakes, J. (2005). How Long the Honeymoon? The Effect of New Stadiums

on Attendance in Major League Baseball. Journal of Sports Economics, 6(3), 237-263.

4. Eckstein, R., & Delaney, K. (n.d.). New Sports Stadiums, Community Self-Esteem, And

Community Collective Conscience. Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 235-247.

5. Mayor wants city to pay $65M for new Nashville Sounds stadium. (n.d.). Accessed April

20, 2015, from

http://archive.tennessean.com/article/20131111/NEWS/311110057/Mayor-wants-city-

pay-65M-new-Nashville-Sounds-stadium

6. Siegfried, J., & Zimbalist, A. (2000). The Economics of Sports Facilities and Their

Communities. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 14(3), 95-114. Accessed April 16,

2015, from JSTOR.

7. Swindell, D., & Rosentraub, M. (1998). Who Benefits from the Presence of Professional

Sports Teams? The Implications for Public Funding of Stadiums and Arenas. American

Society for Public Administration, 58(1), 11-20. Accessed April 15, 2015, from JStor.

8. The Beginning of a Great Tradition. (n.d.). Accessed April 10, 2015, from

http://www.milb.com/content/page.jsp?ymd=20100201&content_id=8006386&sid=t 56

&vkey=roster.

9. The History and Function of Minor League Baseball. (n.d.). Accessed April 10, 2015,

from http://www.milb.com/milb/history/general_history.jsp.

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10. Waldron, Pat G. "If You Build It, They Might Not Come: The Risky Economics of

Sports Stadiums." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 07 Sept. 2012. Web. 15 April

2015.

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Appendices

Appendix A

Survey: Sports Interests in Nashville College Community

We invite you to participate in a research study conducted at Belmont University by Public

Relations Research course. Your participation in this study is voluntary. You should read the

information below before deciding whether or not to participate. This study is designed to better

understand how strong student interest is with local sports. The survey should take about 5

minutes to complete. The questions in this survey are to remain confidential and not shared with

anyone. If you have questions or concerns about this study, please contact one of the

investigators, Kelsey Stewart, at kelsey.stewart@pop.belmont.edu. Your participation is greatly

appreciated!

Q1 Which school do you attend?

# Answer

Response % 1 Belmont University

106 94%

2 Vanderbilt University

4 4% 3 Lipscomb University

0 0%

4 Middle Tennessee

State University

2 2%

5 Trevecca

0 0%

6 Nashville State Community College

1 1%

7 Tennessee State

University

0 0%

Total 113 100%

Q2 What is your current student standing?

# Answer Response %

1 Freshman

19 17% 2 Sophomore

27 24%

3 Junior

28 25% 4 Senior

38 34%

5 Graduate Student

0 0%

6 Adult Degree

1 1%

Total 113 100%

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Q3 How familiar are you with Nashville's sports community?

# Question Very

familiar Familiar

Neither familiar

or unfamiliar

Unfamiliar Very

unfamiliar

Total

Responses Mean

1 Professional Football

21 44 14 17 16 112 2.67

2 Professional

Hockey 29 52 11 12 7 111 2.24

3

Major

league Baseball

9 4 22 39 37 111 3.82

4

Minor

league Baseball

6 28 9 32 36 111 3.58

5 Collegiate Baseball

10 32 22 18 29 111 3.22

6 Collegiate

Basketball 38 49 6 11 7 111 2.10

7 Collegiate

Football 21 38 12 24 15 110 2.76

Q4 Which Nashville sporting events do you attend, if any. (Check all that apply)

# Answer

Response %

1 Professional Football

29 29%

2 Major League Baseball

4 4%

3 Professional

Hockey

60 61%

4 Minor League

Baseball

16 16%

5 Collegiate Sports

75 76%

Q5 On a scale of 1-10, how aware are you of the Nashville Sounds? {0 being not at all and 10 being #1 fan}

# Answer Min Value Max Value Average

Value Standard Deviation

Responses

1 Awareness 0.00 10.00 3.61 2.85 96

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Q6 Have you ever attended a Nashville Sounds game?

# Answer

Response % 1 Yes

30 27%

2 No

83 73%

Total 113 100%

Q7 Did you know there is a new stadium being built?

# Answer

Response % 1 Yes

60 53%

2 No

53 47%

Total 113 100%

Answer If Have you ever attended a Nashville Sounds game? - Yes Is Selected Q8 On a scale of 1-10, what was your overall experience at the old stadium? {0 being disappointed and 10 being overly satisfied}

# Answer Min Value Max Value Average

Value Standard Deviation

Responses

1 Click to write

Choice 1

3.00 9.00 5.90 1.59 29

Q9 What would influence you to attend a game at the new Sounds stadium? (Choose all that apply)

# Answer

Response %

1 Student discount

102 91%

2 Free

merchandise

71 63%

3 College night

93 83%

4 Food specials

58 52% 5 Drink specials

53 47%

6 Audience

participation

23 21%

Q14 What is your gender?

# Answer

Response % 1 Male

14 13% 2 Female

98 88% Total 112 100%

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Appendix B

Nashville Sounds Interview with Mike Brock, conducted by Danielle Fairwether

DF: Where is the new Nashville Sounds baseball stadium located and why was that location

chosen?

MB: Located in North Nashville, First Tennessee Park will highlight both the past and the

future of the organization. Baseball will return to its original Nashville home, historic

Sulphur Dell. In the 1870’s the first Sulphur Dell Park, known as Athletic Park, was built

on the exact spot the Sounds will call home. Legends who played at Sulphur Dell include

Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Ted Williams, Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron.

DF: How do you advertise games to college students?

MB: Sounds tickets start at just $7. This makes it the perfect price for college students on a

budget. In addition to baseball, North Nashville’s new ballpark will be equipped to host

year-round events, such as corporate meetings, private parties, concerts, 5k runs, and

more. We also have Throwback Thursdays with discounted beer prices make the Sounds

the perfect pregame destination before college students kickoff their weekend.

DF: Do you keep track of how many college students attend each season?

MB: We do not specifically track college students but we keep statistics of our demographics.

Our largest fan base is between the ages of 18-35.

DF: Do you offer any discounts or promotions to college students?

MB: We may as the season progresses but with this being the first year in the brand new

ballpark and tickets already starting at $7 there is no college discount in place.

DF: What has been the best tactic to motivate students to come to games?

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MB: Simply having a great outdoor location and very affordable prices. Our season is during

the summer month while students are out of class so they are already looking to spend

their time uptown at a Sounds game.

DF: Do you have any other discounts or promotions that aren’t geared toward college

students, but could be?

MB: T-Shirt Tuesdays, Throwback Thursdays and In-Game Promotions on the field are all

currently targeted at the 18-35 year old demographic which fits perfectly with the college

students.

DF: What struggles do the Public Relations/Marketing staff for the Sounds face when it

comes to advertising to college students?

MB: The Sounds are not viewed as a professional game experience as much as the Titans and

Predators so simply making students aware of the new ballpark and affordable tickets is

often a challenge for our department.

DF: Do you think that the new stadium will attract more college students? (Because it’s in a

“nicer” location)

MB: Absolutely. With the new stadium in North Nashville just blocks away from Broadway

we anticipate an influx of students coming to Sounds game throughout the season.

DF: What will the Sounds as a franchise do to keep the Nashville college community

satisfied?

MB: Continue offering the very most affordable prices in professional sports in Nashville.

DF: Do you see any large competition between the Nashville Sounds ticket sales and the local

collegiate ticket sales? And if so, how do you set yourself apart from the competitors?

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MB: There isn’t a huge competition for the Sounds ticket sales and other local sports teams. A

huge part of this is because there aren’t any college sports going on from May-August,

which is the biggest part of our season.