1. Jonathan LaDieu
Market Assessment- Introduction
With team relocation, there exists more difficulty with shaping and exploiting
target markets. This challenge is also compounded by the fact that the Las Vegas area
has never hosted a professional sports franchise before. One of the main reasons that Las
Vegas was on the short list of places to relocate the Jacksonville Jaguars was the jump
that it has experienced in population over the past fifteen years. According to Koebler,
the population of the Las Vegas metropolitan area has increased by 36.5%, from 1.39
million to 1.9 million (2010, para.3). With this massive increase, one would be lead to
believe that it is a viable destination for an NFL franchise. An important factor in NFL
fandom is the ability to have disposable income that will allow one to purchase expensive
game tickets and merchandise. According to the Fan Cost Index, the average price for a
family of four to attend an NFL game was $478.59 (2014, Para. 1). This exorbitant
amount of money can only be afforded by wealthy people or extremely dedicated fans
that sacrifice other parts of their lives to afford tickets.
To find out if people within the largest cities in close proximity to Las Vegas
were apt to come to games hosted in a stadium in Las Vegas, a major survey and research
group was hired to collect the primary data that was desperately needed. Over a year’s
time, in 2011, the group did surveys and personal interviews to gauge the interest of
samples in large cities of the surrounding states that were around six hours or less in
distance from Sam Boyd Stadium. In Arizona, Flagstaff was surveyed. In California, San

2. Bernardino, San Diego, and Los Angeles were researched, and the city of St. George,
Utah was also studied.
Primary ResearchInformation
There were several main questions that existed prior to the research. One of
these, obviously, was just how many people would be interested in attending NFL games.
This major move was not something to be taken lightly. Relocating an NFL franchise
does not happen very often and assurance was needed that the market being entered was
viable. Fan avidity was very important for the team because a strong fan base was
lacking in Jacksonville. This, in turn, caused problems with ticket sales. Another major
obstacle that needed to be overcome was getting fans of teams within the Jaguar’s new
market to change their allegiance. Having a team within their area could possibly cause
many people who are fans of the Arizona Cardinals, for example, to switch over. This
new team would have to be more relatable, however, to entice fans to make the change.
To take a step in the right direction, it was asked that the marketing company work a
renaming question into their surveys. In doing so, the Jaguars were looking to become
more identifiable.
The marketing company took the previously mentioned concerns, along with two
million dollars of the budget, and performed a three-month surveying process in the
aforementioned major cities surrounding, and including, Las Vegas. The company chose
to distribute the surveys outside of supermarkets in these cities. A sample of their
thorough survey is exhibited in Figure 1. The company also sent representatives to every

3. UNLV football home game to do surveys with fans. All completed surveys were
incentivized with coupons for discounted Pepsi products at participating supermarkets.
These surveys were very insightful and helped the organization learn a great deal about
the prospective market. To compliment this research, however, secondary data needed to
be gathered. This information was readily available and much cheaper.
Results of Primary Research
After all of the data was collected, and computed from the questionnaire, the
results were:
 Total number of people in areas where survey was distributed: 6,200,000
 Total number of completed surveys: 1,200,000 (20% of total population)
 Question Responses:
o Welcome an NFL franchise to Las Vegas, Nevada
 Yes- 74%
 No- 20%
 Possibly- 6%
o Switching to this new franchise because of proximity to home
 Yes- 36%
 No- 44%
 Possibly- 20%
o NFL games attended in the last five years
 1-8 (31%)
 9-16 (36%)

4.  17-24 (22%)
 25+ (11%)
o Number of NFL games watched on TV
 1-10 (27%)
 11-20 (44%)
 21-30 (29%)
o Fan of teams
 San Francisco 49ers (36%)
 Oakland Raiders (25%)
 Arizona Cardinals (14%)
 Denver Broncos (8%)
 San Diego Chargers (17%)
o Naming of new Las Vegas team
 Las Vegas Aces- 44%
 Las Vegas Bandits- 37%
 Las Vegas Bighorns- 19%
o Sex
 Male- 48%
 Female- 49%
 Other- 3%
o Race:
 White- 49%

5.  African American- 18%
 Asian- 8%
 Hispanic or Latino- 23%
 Other- 2%
Secondary ResearchInformation
The next part of the research process was finding out information about these
people that could not necessarily be found through a survey but could be located with
resources that were readily available and cost-effective. The data was much needed to
figure out the aptitude of people in this region to become fans of the new team and
estimate how much they would be able to spend. This task was handled by an internal
research team, within the Jaguars organization, who located and quantified these
numbers. They broke the information into three subheadings: Age, Median Household
Income, and Education Level. These headings are tailored to coincide with the averages
found in a comprehensive 2004 study done by Street and Smith’s Sports Business Journal
titled “Get to know the NFL fan.” This study gave baselines for finding the exact
markets that this new team was looking to target. The results for each are as follows:
Age

6. The first major piece of information that needed to be gathered for review was the
different amounts of people in age brackets throughout the new market. This information
was readily available, for free, on the Internet from the U.S. Census and is highly
accurate. “Get to know the NFL fan” shows that the age bracket with the highest amount
of fans was 25-44, amounting to 40% of the total respondents (2004, para. 1). According
to the 2010 U.S Census, Clark County, where Las Vegas is situated, contains a
population of 721,292 people between the ages of 25 and 49 out of a total population of
almost 2 million (2010, para. 1). This means that roughly 40% of the population will be
in the largest bracket of average NFL fans.
Moving onto California, the state that offers the largest population of possible
fans to the new team. First, San Bernardino County was found to have 697,731 people
within the desired age bracket of 25-49, about 35% of the total. San Diego County,
where the city of San Diego is located, has 1,111,280 citizens within the bracket, coming
out to 33% of its total population. Finally, Los Angeles County has 3,612,799 people
that fit the desired 25-49 bracket, resulting in 37% of the total (U.S. Census, 2010, para.
1). Even though the locations in California are the furthest away from the location of the
new franchise, they offer too big of an audience to dismiss. In Arizona, Coconino
County is home to Flagstaff. According to the U.S Census, 42,292 people fall within the
ages of 25-49, translating to about 31% of the total population (2010, para. 1). The final
location has a very small population, but it is very close to Las Vegas. Washington
County, where St. George, Utah is located, had 38,344 citizens within the age range of
25-39. This was 27% of the total population (U.S Census, 2010, para. 1).

7. Median Household Income
Buying power is another huge factor for a team relocating to another market. One
cannot know for sure if those in the new market will have disposable income to spend on
an NFL team. After all, the team is relocating based on the fact that the old market could
not support the team financially. This could be for several reasons and lack of disposable
income surely could have been a factor. “Get to know the NFL fan” gives the statistic
that 43.4% of NFL fans has a median household income between $35,000-$75,000 (2004,
para.1). The team’s interest would mainly stay in areas where the median household
income was in the middle, approximately $52,000-$60,000. The three major cities from
California have incomes of $37,000 (San Bernardino), $46,000 (Los Angeles), and
$62,000 (San Diego). In Arizona, Flagstaff’s median income is $48,522, and in Utah, St.
George had an income of $40,299. Finally, Las Vegas, perhaps the most key region for
the new team, held a median income of $47,415 (City-Data, 2012, para. 1). These
numbers were very eye-opening and helped in the culminating decision for the market
segmenting.
Education Level
One of the paramount aspects of appealing to the eventual targeted market of fans
is designing aspects that match their education level. Generally, people would not
appreciate it if they were communicated to on a level that most fits their normal
vocabulary and thought process. Too extravagant and complex would confuse them and
too simple could possibly offend them. Any noise in the communication process could
potentially misconstrue the message that is trying to be delivered, resulting in lost

8. revenue. To avoid this, it is important that a general idea of the education levels in Las
Vegas and the largest surrounding cities
In “Get to know the NFL fan,” it is shown that 38.4% of NFL fans had attended
“some college” (2004, para.1). This means that they had gone to college but had not
earned a Bachelor’s degree. It was desired that the new market had a similar percentage
of people with similar education levels that was +/-6%. Percentages from the five major
surrounding cities and Las Vegas itself were compiled. These numbers included those
who had attended less than one year of college, one or more years without a degree, and
earned an associate degree. After they were combined, Las Vegas has 31.3%, St. George
has 40.4%, and Flagstaff came in with 33.1%. Los Angeles was lowest with 26.3%, San
Bernardino with 33.3%, and San Diego with 31.9% (City-Data, 2012, para.1). This was
the final piece of information needed to allow this relocated franchise to get a sense of the
environment in which they were moving in to.
SWOT/PEST Analysis
Strengths:
 According to Forbes, the Jaguars have the 10th highest operating
income in the NFL, making $56.9 million (2014, p.1).
 The team will be entering a market that has never had an NFL
franchise, giving it some amount of perceived newness. This
should lead to a higher initial interest in the team.
 According to the survey, 74% of the people surveyed said that they
would accept a new team into the area. This is an advantage

9. because it is obvious that people recognize the kind of financial
gain the team will produce for the area.
 The infrastructure for the stadium is already built, meaning that the
renovations needed to make it suitable for an NFL team will be
much cheaper than building a brand new stadium.
 There are several cities within a four and a half hour drive of Sam
Boyd Stadium that have a population of more than 500,000 people.
Weaknesses:
 The team is completely unsure of how the new market will react to
a new team if they start off poorly. There will be low fan avidity,
so people will be more likely to abandon the team rather than stick
through a difficult first season.
 The survey results indicated a low amount of interest in switching
to a team that was closer to the fans’ location (36%).
 There are several attractions in Las Vegas that may hinder the
team’s ability to draw fans.
 The Jaguars have a large lease agreement of around $250 million
to pay off to get out of their current stadium, leaving less money to
advertise, create merchandise, and build infrastructure in the new
location.
 The unemployment rate in Las Vegas has recently reached a six-
year low, possibly making it more difficult for the team to find
employees (Robison, 2014, p.1).

10. Opportunities:
 According to the survey that was distributed, 44% of people
supported the name change of the team to the Las Vegas Aces.
This gives the Jaguars the ability to change the name of the team
and possibly remove the stigma of a struggling franchise.
 The Jaguars have the chance to sell brand new merchandise that
people may purchase for several different reasons. These reasons
could include the color scheme, siding opposite of a rival team
adjacent to the new market, or simply to support the team.
 According to Florio, the salary caps for all NFL teams will
increase by roughly $10 million every year and will be around
$160 million by 2016 (2014, p.1). This means that the team will
be able to afford more than one big-time free agent. From this
point, the team will be able to tailor promotion around these major
players and hopefully garner more interest.
 The team will have even more opportunity, beyond rebranding
itself with a new name and logo, to build a fan base by performing
well on the field. The better the product that is put on the field, the
more people will come to watch.
 The organization will have an excellent opportunity to partner with
local hotels to set up packages for fans. If a fan is able to spend

11. time in a large hotel and gamble while also being able to attend an
NFL game, there will be a large increase in interest for tickets.
Threats:
 The obvious threat to the Jaguars organization is that there are so
many other things going on in Las Vegas that the NFL team could
be a secondary option for people as a source of entertainment.
 The renovation project for Sam Boyd Stadium could overrun the
deadline or some mishap could occur that sets back the project.
This would be catastrophic because the team would not be able to
start the season.
 A major organization always has to factor in the threat of terrorist
attack. Security measures will be in place, but there are many
occurrences in this world that cannot be prevented. There will be
around 70,000 people in the stadium during game day, making it a
prime target for terrorists.
 There isn’t an exit that directly services Sam Boyd Stadium. Fig. 2
shows that the Great Basin Highway has an exit to service roads
that go towards the stadium, but they do not remedy the congestion
of traffic that will occur when thousands of cars are trying to drive
towards the stadium. This kink has been worked over a few times
by the Jaguars’ management.
 There may be opposition or protests from those who live in the
residential areas adjacent to the stadium. The college football

12. games probably have not been an issue because they do not draw
as many people and fans are more than likely not as passionate as
NFL fans.
Political:
 The NFL keeps tabs on action the franchise takes. It has
opposed gambling on the sport of football and will likely be
very vigilant about anything that may corrupt the purity of
the league.
 Local government will have to deal with backlash from those
who voted against paying higher taxes to allow the team to
do renovations on Sam Boyd Stadium.
 Currently, the minimum wage in Nevada is $7.25, and Barack
Obama plans on raising it to $10.10 (Meyers, 2014, p.1). If the
Jaguars were to employ 150 minimum-waged employees, for eight
home games (six hours per game), it would cost the team $57,600.
If the minimum wage were to be increased to the $10.10 figure, the
number would be $72,720, a $15,120 increase. This may not seem
like a lot to a multi-million dollar organization, but it is money that
could be used for several different things.
 If more parking space is found to be a necessity, the organization
may have to battle with the local government to gain the land
necessary to build parking lots.

13.  The concessions are at the mercy of the Nevada Department of
Health and Human Services. If they deem them unhealthy, the
stadium may be forced to go without serving food, a potentially
disastrous loss of revenue.
Economic:
 The team will be moving almost the entire length of the country,
but will remain in the same division. This means that they will
have to spend more on travel to play teams within their division
(Indianapolis Colts, Houston Texans, Tennessee Titans). They
will also have to start games at inconvenient times for locals to fit
TV schedules.
 As of the 2014, the Jaguars had some of the lowest costs across the
board for tickets, concessions, and parking (Team Marketing
Report, 2014, p.1). This puts the organization in a difficult
position because they need to raise their prices to recuperate the
expense of the move and renovation of the stadium. If the demand
to watch them stays low, they will be forced to keep their costs low
and lose out on a faster return on investment.
 Tourism is an integral part of Nevada’s overall GDP. The pie
graph presented by Runyan (Fig. 3) depicts that 12.9% of Nevada’s
Gross Domestic Product came from the travel industry, over 10%
more than the national share (2.7%) (2013, p.2). This means that it
is in the organization’s best interest to work with the travel sector

14. as much as possible to keep revenue flowing into the state and
especially keep the volume of tourists as high as possible.
 Overall, workers in Nevada’s most employed fields earned $1-2
less in hourly wages than the United States’ average (Las Vegas
Economic Summary, 2014, p.2). This most likely means that these
people will have less discretionary income to spend on
entertainment, such as an NFL game.
 The Las Vegas Casino collective has fallen on hard times
financially. According to Stutz, Casinos have not posted a profit
since 2008 (2014, para. 6). This is concerning to the Jaguars
because this may mean that spending is down across the board in
Las Vegas. If the largest money-makers cannot cover their cost of
operation, then an NFL team may struggle to get off the ground in
its first few years of existence.
Sociocultural:
 As previously stated, this region does not have a founded history in
professional sports. This means that it may take some time to
adjust people to the lifestyle of passionate NFL fan because these
people have not had a team that could be identified with.
 The population in Clark County (Las Vegas’s location) is projected
to grow by 377,037 over the next twenty years, 1.5% more than the
national average (Shine, 2013, para. 3). This is good news for the

15. Jaguars, who may need this huge boost to stay afloat in an area that
is struggling economically.
 The organization must strive to build a strong and favorable
reputation with the media to ensure that as much of the attention
towards the team is in a positive light. The more that the team is
perceived as being upstanding, the better chance that people will
associate themselves with the team (the Oakland Raiders being the
only exception).
 The team’s reputation also hinges on the actions of the players.
The NFL has recently been cast into negativity because of its
mishandling of domestic abuse cases. The organization has
created a code of ethics and shared it with the team and the rest of
the staff to guarantee that everyone understands what standard they
will be held to. This should ensure that the public looks at the
team positively.
 The new design of the uniforms, along with the renaming to Las
Vegas Aces, needs to be attractive enough to engage people who
will not be fans in order to draw as much revenue as possible. The
design will not have the heritage that the New York Yankees have,
so it will have to rely on a more contemporary design, much like
the Seattle Seahawks changed to with neon green and clean lines.
Technological:

16.  The team website is of utmost importance to communicate to fans.
It is also important for sales because merchandise is a huge
revenue generator.
 A presence on social media is a requirement in this day in age.
Instead of putting an emphasis on Twitter and Facebook, the new
team uses them as platforms to promote a YouTube account. This
separates the organization from the rest of the league’s take on
social media and allows more accessibility with behind-the-scenes
video features and other more personal insight. Videos are more
engaging than pictures and text and should lead to a stronger
following.
 The 49ers’ new stadium, Levi’s Stadium, is the most advanced in
all of the NFL. It is starting to become extremely important that
technology inside of stadiums is as advanced and convenient as
what an individual can access in their home. This includes WIFI.
Investing in extremely fast WIFI for the stadium was a key part of
the renovation procedure.
 Ticketless entrance to professional sporting events is a new trend.
This takes away the tangible ticket but decreases ticket printing
costs and the chance that tickets are forgotten or lost. The ticket
can be pulled up on an application and scanned for immediate
access.

17.  The stadium is integrating the seat ordering system. This seems to
be a very popular and efficient technology that improves logistics
and consumer satisfaction. The service will be accessed on an
application, and for a small fee, the person will have food
delivered directly to their seat.
Competition (Direct and Indirect)
It is well known that Las Vegas is a vibrant town. There are hundreds of different
attractions throughout the city and in other parts of Nevada that keep the locals and
tourists busy. This may seem to contradict the reason that the Jaguars organization
wanted to move to Las Vegas, but it is believed that people will be drawn to NFL games
simply because of the aura that a professional sports team brings. Below there are some
of the most challenging rivals to the team, both direct and indirect.
Direct
The only direct professional competition that the Jaguars organization faces is
from an AFL team named the Las Vegas Outlaws. The team has its inaugural season in
2015, and was preceded by iterations of an arena team in Las Vegas in 1994 and 2003-

18. 2007 (AFL Communications, 2014, p.1). Although the AFL season barely overlaps with
the NFL season, one can assume that people will possibly spend money to go to their
games and buy their merchandise in lieu of purchasing the NFL team’s offerings.
Although not a professional league, the NBADL’s Reno Bighorns are a part of the
competition with the new NFL franchise. They do play about six hours away from Las
Vegas, but they still may draw fans away from the NFL games because their seasons
overlap quite a bit. Continuing with basketball as competition, there are two major
NCAA Division 1 basketball programs in the state of Nevada, UNLV and University of
Nevada-Reno. UN-R is as far away as the Bighorns and is an average basketball
program. UNLV, on the other hand, is a legitimate basketball program that has reached
the NCAA tournament in seven of the last fourteen seasons (NCAABB Tournament
History, 2014, p.1). Their season coincides with the NFL season, and they generally draw
a large crowd. According to their website, the team drew an average of 15,196 fans per
game on the 2012-2013 season, 14th in the nation (2013, p.1). Since they generate such a
strong following, they are a major competitor to the franchise. There are also several
high schools, most notably Findlay Prep, that are known for their basketball prowess.
They challenge the Jaguars on a lower level, but they still may take away from the fan
base.
Lastly, the competition that possibly poses the largest threat is football at the
collegiate and high school levels. These games usually take place on Fridays and
Saturdays and draw the same sort of people that would potentially attend NFL games.
High school football is obviously a smaller opposition because games generally draw a
200-1,000 people to games. The two Division 1 college football teams in the state,

19. University of Nevada-Reno and University of Nevada-Las Vegas will cause the greatest
amount of competition. The only positive is that both teams aren’t very good. UN-R is
currently 6-5 in a very weak conference (Nevada Wolf Pack, 2014, p.1). The team is also
six hours away from Las Vegas, making its share of football fans in Las Vegas much
smaller. UNLV is even worse, holding a 2-10 record in the Mountain West Conference
and allowing nearly 38 points per game (UNLV Rebels, 2014, p.1). Unless, they see a
large turnaround in performance, the Rebels will likely remain sub-par thus not
generating a large, passionate following.
Indirect
One of the overwhelmingly popular facets of Las Vegas culture is gambling. The
city was built on the revenue that casinos bring in and would not survive without it. The
popularity of the casinos is of great concern to the organization but can be considered an
asset at the same time. If people did not come to Las Vegas for the casinos, the Jaguars
would have a decreased population to market to. According to Ryan, casinos brought in
$11.2 billion in revenue during 2013 (2014, para.1). This is a huge amount of money and
shows the power that casinos hold. It is in the organization’s best interest to partner with
casinos instead of trying to compete with them. If they can set up package deals for stays
in the casinos and tickets to the game, there will be a better chance that the team will be
able to draw its desired amount of fans. Casinos, in addition to gambling, have shows
that are regularly put on to keep people in their buildings. On average, a show ticket in
Las Vegas costs $80.22, with the most expensive costing $123.75 (Yancey, 2013, para.2-

20. 4). If people are paying this much to attend a show, they will most like shy away from
purchasing an ticket to an NFL game, especially if the purchasing is being done by a
family of four.
On top of both of these things, there are many shopping options that will be
drawing revenue away from the franchise. Much like the casino situation, it would best if
team merchandise could get into these shopping areas, as there are 26 separate malls in
Las Vegas (Las Vegas Shopping, pp. 1-2). This large number of avenues to sell the
merchandise could actually be used as an advantage. Restaurants are another part of the
competition equation. There are thousands of restaurants in Las Vegas, and one can
assume that they are quite expensive. People may come to the games and be less inclined
to purchase stadium food if they can eat higher quality food elsewhere.
There are also two massive attractions that draw people to Las Vegas, the Hoover
Dam and the Grand Canyon close by in Arizona. In 2012, the Hoover Dam drew
755,000 visitors (Brean, 2013, para.3). The Grand Canyon brought in 4,564,840 visitors
in 2013 (Grand Canyon, 2014, p.3). This shows that there is a huge group of people who
are interested in landmarks more so than an NFL game. Work will have to be done to try
to win this group of people over, possibly by way of promotions in conjunction with both
sites.
Market Selection

21. The following is a segmentation of all data from the administered survey and
secondary research:
Segmentation:
 Demographic:
 Male- 48%
 Female- 49%
 Ethnic:
 White- 49%
 African American- 18%
 Asian- 8%
 Hispanic or Latino- 23%
 Other- 2%
 Socioeconomic (of the six studied regions):
Median Household Income
o Upper Middle Class-($56,000-75,000 Median Household Income)-
San Diego Region
o Middle Class ($41,000-55,000 Median Household Income)- Los
Angeles Region, Flagstaff Region, Las Vegas Region
o Lower-Middle Class ($30,000-$40,000 Median Household
Income)- San Bernardino Region, St. George Region
Majority Education Level (1-2 years of college):
o Las Vegas Region- 31.3%

22. o St. George, Utah Region- 40.4%
o Los Angeles, California Region- 26.3%
o San Bernardino, California Region- 33.3%
o Flagstaff, Arizona Region- 33.1%
o San Diego, California Region- 31.9%
 Geographic:
 Las Vegas Region- 2,000,000
 St. George, Utah region- 138,000
 Los Angeles, California region- 10,000,000
 San Bernardino region- 2,100,000
 Flagstaff, Arizona region- 137,000
 San Diego, California region- 3,200,000
 Behavioral:
o NFL games attended in the last five years
 Casual Fan Level- 1-8 (31%)
 Moderate Fan Level- 9-16 (36%)
 Avid Fan Level-17-24 (22%)
 Super-fan Level -25+ (11%)
o Number of NFL games watched on TV
 Normal Level Fan- 1-10 (27%)
 Moderate Level Fan- 11-20 (44%)
 Avid Level Fan 21-30 (29%)

23. Target Market:
 Male
 White
 Household income of $45,000 (+/-$3,000)
 Attended 1-2 years of college
 Attended between 9-16 NFL games in last five years
 Watch approximately one NFL game a week during the season
 Lives in California
This target market was chosen because it is believed to encompass the kind of fan that the
organization most desires. Males were chosen because they constituted 48% of the
answered surveys and are known to be more fervent fans than females. The white race
was chosen because of its sheer majority of the market surveyed. The household income
level was chosen because it represents the majority of people in the researched areas.
This level of education was desired to ensure that people would be able to comprehend
and acknowledge the promotions and advertising that the organization plans to put out.
For the level of fandom, the franchise looks to appeal to those who go to 2-3 NFL games
a year and watch at least one game a week on TV. In the eyes of the team, these people
possess the ideal amount of fan avidity because they consume both in-person and on TV
on a regular basis. Finally, the team will put emphasis on people within this group in
California because the population is so much greater than the other places.

24. In terms of the viability of this market, the organization believes it fits the three
criteria of reachability, measurability, and size very well. All of the regions in California
are located 4-5 hours driving distance away from Las Vegas. This means that they are
within television markets and are not an outrageous distance to travel to attend the games.
Also, this distance still permits the ability to advertise and monitor the success of
advertisements. There is quite a bit of area in between these locations in California and
Las Vegas that has very low population, but it is believed that advertising will not lose
strength along the way. Measurability is also straightforward with this market because
most facets represent the majority of each area. To track the growth or decline of the
market, one will simply have to conduct research to see how much these majority
attributes are fluctuating. Finally, the size of the market will be examined. It is estimated
that this market makes up 17% (3,000,000 people) of the total population in the
researched and surveyed regions and potentially 7-8 Million people within a 350-mile
radius of Las Vegas. This is a huge sum of people, and if 1/6 of the market in researched
regions attends the team’s home games, without any other fans, there will always be a
sellout.
Positioning:
As a result of the target market being young, educated, and semi-affluent, the
organization is looking to position themselves as technologically advanced, youthful,
smart, and competitive. It is imperative that the team appeals to a young, male crowd in a
society that is obsessed with technology. The world is becoming consumed with

25. computers and other automated devices that connect mass societies. To champion the
technological aspect, the team will have a heavy influence on social media (Twitter,
Facebook, Instagram, and Vine). This is to ensure that the product is being received, first
and foremost, by the target market. To build on this, the team’s website is hip and
centers on daily opinion articles to make the team more transparent. Anyone, from fans
to players and coaches, will write on the blog and share their insight on the team. Any
television, print or Internet advertisements that the team puts out contains smart humor.
This was done by hiring a marketing team made up of people within the target market.
They were simply asked to create advertisements and promotions that would appeal to
them, and they did so. Even though the team currently has a young, inexperienced roster,
it was determined that the people in the target market expected them to win right away.
To ensure this attribute, management sat down with coaches to ensure that they were
doing everything possible to make the team competitive as soon as they began in Las
Vegas.
Strategy Statement
Based on the research above, the Aces seem to have a strong initial group to
target. Even if they are not successfully connected with, there should be a few other
groups that could possibly be targeted. It may be difficult to survive in such a hectic
town to start off, but eventually, the Aces should be able establish themselves as a
legitimate entertainment option. Since there are so many things going on, it would be in
the Aces best interest to partner with the casinos and other attraction rather than view

26. them as competition. This will increase their credibility and build on the chance for
additional revenue through ticket-hotel packaging.