The document provides details about the Murderball event that was organized by students to raise money for Special Olympics Minnesota. The event was originally planned as a quad rugby tournament but faced challenges in getting team commitments. It was reworked into a community carnival featuring demonstrations by the Minnesota North Stars quad rugby team. A total of 50 people attended the event, which included games, food, auctions and the exhibition scrimmage. Through sponsorships, the event raised $325.61 for Special Olympics Minnesota. The students learned valuable lessons in event planning and management.

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Sports Marketing
Professor Newberry
Spring Semester 2012
By:
Becky Addabbo

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Caitlin Stephenson
Courtney Rishavy
Derek Kasper
Jamie Richter
Table of Contents
Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………….Page 3
Event Mission and Fundamentals………………………………………………………..Page 5
Target Market…………………………….………………………………………….…...Page 6
Event Management Components…….……………………………………………….….Page 8
Games Management………….………………………………………….……………….Page 9
Post Event………………………………………………………………………………...Page 11
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….…..Page 11
Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………Page 13
Appendix………………………………………………………………………………..…Page 14

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Executive Summary
Our event was titled; Murderball. This event had many different phases throughout its
evolution. The event started off as a tournament style for Quad Rugby teams here on our campus
in Talbot Gymnasium. We started calling teams in order to gage their interest level and ask them
if they would like to participate. We called 15 teams to try and get them to commit to our event.
Here is where we encountered one of our many obstacles. Teams would not answer the phone,
nor return our calls when messages were left. From here we decided to make it a Round-Robin
style of an event. This helped us lower the participation level from 6-8 teams to 4 teams. We then
hit a snag here as well. Teams were not willing to commit that much time and money to coming
to our event. It was very close to Nationals and many teams were weary about the event because
it may have lead to unnecessary injuries. After encountering this, we decided to take a whole

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different approach to what we were trying do for our event.
We decided to make this a learning opportunity for children of the Winona community.
The Minnesota North Stars team was the only team that was willing to commit to come to the
event and we decided to use that to our advantage. We came up with the idea for a meet and
greet with the players along with a carnival type theme before they gave us a demonstrational
scrimmage. We had games for children such as; polish golf, bean bag toss, pop bottle ring toss,
obstacle course, face painting, and guess the gumballs. We also had a 50-50 raffle at the event as
well as a silent auction where a signed ball was the top prize. At the event we sold Domino’s
pizza by the slice, for $1, and bottles of water also for $1.
On the day of the event, we arrived 2 hours before hand to start setting everything up that
we needed to for the event. These things included, but not limited to; setting up all the games for
the children to play, testing the speaker system, setting up tables and chairs, making signs,
posting signs around the building to let people know where to go, and catered to the team by
helping them transport from their vehicles to the gym as well as helping them tend to their
wheelchairs. The event started at 11:00 a.m. For the first two hours, our guests were able to play
different games and get their face painted. At 1:00 p.m., we started the scrimmage to show the
fans the intense game of Quad Rugby. It came to a surprise to us when Ryan, the captain of the
team, asked me to find some people to play in the game with them. They were down a player and
brought some extra chairs for abled-bodied people to test out. We then went scouring the seats to
find people willing to play for one of the four quarters. The players ended up playing great and
having a fun time. At halftime of the event, we announced the winners to the silent auction, the
gumball jar and let everyone know about Steve’s performance at Brewski’s later that night.
When the event wrapped up, we cleaned up the entire gym and helped the team load up their

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vehicles.
We sought out sponsors for our event not only to donate money, but also to donate
material and promotional items that we could give away to the fans at the event. Our sponsors
included; Sport & Spine, Papa Murphy’s, Hy-Vee, Domino’s, W&C Printing, Carol Ebert, 3E
LOVE and HBC. Sport & Spine donated $100.00 to the Special Olympics of Minnesota for our
event. Papa Murphy’s donated 10 free pizza coupons. Hy-Vee donated $30.00 worth of bottled
water. Domino’s donated 30 free pizzas to us for our event, which we then sold to the public.
W&C Printing donated 50 free advertising posters that we designed for the event. Carol Ebert, an
independent sales rep for USANA, donated $50.00 to the Special Olympics of Minnesota and in
turn we gave her a booth at our event. 3E LOVE, a company out of Illinois, donated 300 “silly
band” packages to our event. Lastly, HBC donated commercial airtime to televise a commercial
promoting our event that we created. The commercial was worth $250.00.
The event, overall, was a success in our minds. Although we did not reach our goal of
200 people and $1000.00, we still managed to get 50 people at our event and raised $325.61 (See
appendix for expense sheet and our confirmation letter for the donation). Not only did we raise
money and awareness for the team/sport, we also got praise from the team and they said they
would love to do an event like this again.
Event Mission and Fundamentals
Our motivation for holding the event was to raise money for the Special Olympics of
Minnesota all while raising awareness for the sport of Quad Rugby and the Minnesota North
Stars. We also wanted to do something different besides the baseball/softball game. We wanted

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something that was challenging. We had to create and plan every aspect of this event from the
ground up and we saw this as a unique opportunity to familiarize ourselves with the game and
experience all the stages of event management.
In order for our event to succeed, we needed the team to commit to coming. Without the
team, we don’t have an event and that was the biggest reason for our success. The team did not
benefit as much as we would have liked because they did not receive any of the money that we
raised for the event. All of that went to the Special Olympics of Minnesota. They benefited
because of the partial awareness that we generated for them. We did get 50 people in the stands
at our event and this raised awareness for their team and sport. Also, one fan was really touched
by this event. He was 10 year old and diagnosed as a paraplegic. He was very interested in what
the team members were doing. He proceeded to ask the team questions and wanted to know how
he could get involved and at what age he could start playing. This was a really special thing to
see.
The sponsors also benefited from this. They benefited because of the promotion they got
with the advertising we had done with the event. We also helped the sponsors reach out to a
target market that they might not have touched before. Our sponsors being tied to this event also
gives them a good reputation because their donations went to a good cause.
Target Market
For our event, we needed to get a team to come so that we could actually have the event.
Because of this, our first team that we needed/wanted to come was the Quad Rugby team from
Minnesota, the North Stars.

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Demographics: Men and Women
Ages 16+
Must be diagnosed as a quadriplegic (Seattle Wheelchair
Rugby Association, 2007)
Personal Income Level ($30,000+)
Geographics: Live somewhere close to a team
Must be willing to travel
Psychographics: Have love for the game
Enjoy action packed sports
Willing to spend personal money on travel
Secondly, we will break down our target market for our sponsors. We had a total of 8
sponsors which included, Sport & Spine, Papa Murphy’s, Hy-Vee, Domino’s, W&C Printing,
Carol Ebert, 3E LOVE and HBC.
Demographics: Winona Business (mostly)
Have excess income for donation
Geographics: Winona, MN (1 company from Illinois)
Online (Personal Websites & Social Media)
Psychographics: Willing to donate for a good cause
Interested in giving back to community

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Third, we will break down our target market for our volunteers. Because we were a group
of five people, we didn’t need as many volunteers. We had about 3 volunteers for our event.
Demographics: Winona State Students and Alumni
Ages 22-25
Geographics: Live in Winona
On Campus at time of the event
Psychographics: Enjoy volunteering their time
Interested in the sport
Looking to give back to school/community
Lastly, we will be breaking down the target market for our spectators. We decided to
target two groups of people: students that attend Winona State University and families located
close to Winona.
Demographics: Winona and Surrounding Communities
All Ages
Families with school aged children
People with a disability
Geographics: Cities within 20 mile radius from Winona
Students on campus

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Psychographics: Curiosity of sport
People interesting in events of this nature
Interested in donating to a good cause
Kids seeking a fun new experience
Benefits Sought:
The individuals that made up our target markets were looking to learn more about the Murderball
game. They were also interested in giving to a great cause and supporting a unique and
entertaining game.
Situational Conditions:
The same day as our event, there was an event at the Winona Mall targeted towards our exact
target market -- families with young children. This probably had a negative effect on our
attendance since our event was not as well known to the public. The weather was also not the
greatest, which might have caused some families to stay at home or partake in other indoor
events, like seeing a movie.
Event Management Components
The location of the event was in the Talbot Gymnasium located on the Winona State
University campus. It took place March 31, 2012 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. One professor,
Dr. Decker accompanied by a friend, came and showed support at our event. Kristi Smith also
helped us by reserving the gym and getting us the correct amount of chairs and tables for our
event. For the event to happen, we sought sponsorships to help cover the costs incurred by

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putting on this event.
We approached multiple companies and ask how/if they were willing to support the
event. After lots of research and great elevator speeches, we were able to get many different
sponsors. Sport & Spine donated $100.00 to the Special Olympics of Minnesota for our event.
Papa Murphy’s donated 10 free pizza coupons. Hy-Vee donated $30.00 worth of bottled water.
Domino’s donated 30 free pizzas to us for our event, which we then sold to the public. W&C
Printing donated 50 free ad posters that we designed for the event. Carol Ebert, an independent
sales rep for USANA, donated $50.00 to the Special Olympics of Minnesota and in turn we gave
her a booth at our event. 3E LOVE is a company out of Illinois and they donated 300 “silly
band” packages to our event. Lastly, HBC donated commercial airtime to televise a commercial
promoting our event that we created. The commercial was worth $250.00.
This event was free to get in but donations were encouraged. We had one volunteer that
asked to participate because it was a requirement for one of her classes. We had other volunteers
that helped us put on this event and have it run smoothly. They were friends of ours and grasped
the opportunity to help us out.
To promote the event, we had multiple things set up to get the word out. We had posters,
a newsletter, save the date cards, a Facebook event page, a commercial and word of mouth.
W&C Printing made us 25 posters and 325 save the date cards (See appendix for actual
documents). We also sent out 2,000 newsletters to children from 7 different schools, 3 daycares
and 1 night of swimming lessons within Winona. The schools in Winona approved our letter and
we were able to place our newsletter in the children’s take home folders. In this letter, we
explained the event and invited them to come join us (See appendix for actual document). While

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doing those things listed above, we also created a Facebook event page to try and get some
college aged people to attend. Lastly, we created a commercial that HBC aired 10 times
throughout the week prior of the event.
Overall we felt that we used all our resources in order to connect and reach our target
audience. We figure we had a ratio of 40:1. For every 40 people that saw one of our
advertisements, one person attended to the event.
Games Management
In order for us to use the gym, we had to get approval from the athletics office. We had to
fill out a form and get it signed by our professor. We also had to have one faculty member there
at all times during the event. Once it was approved, we had to get the equipment for the event.
Tables, chairs and the speaker system had to be rented from various places around campus. After
the event, we had to make sure the gym was left in the condition we received it in and clean up
all the garbage. We also had to return and put away all equipment that we used.
Pre-event we had to set everything up that we needed to run the event. These things
included, but not limited to; setting up all the games for the children to play, testing the speaker
system, setting up tables and chairs, making signs, posting signs around the building to let people
know where to go, and catered to the team by helping them transport from their vehicles to the
gym as well as helping them tend to their wheelchairs. During the event, we each had a station to
man and control. One of us was working the door and taking donations upon entry, selling raffle
tickets and watching over the silent auction. A few of us were free roaming, watching over the
event as a whole and interacted with fans. One person was heading the selling of pizza and water

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to the fans. Another one of us was doing the face painting and controlling the gumball guessing
game. We also had someone announcing the game and the things that were happening during the
game. A mother for one of the players was kind enough to talk a little bit during the game
explaining what was going on, why they were doing what they were doing and things of that
nature. After the game, we all did our part in taking down the games, signs, and packing up the
left over items.
During the event, each group member was required to have their cell phones by their side
at all times, ready to call 911 in case of a severe emergency. There was also a mother in the
stands, whom we talked to prior to the event, who knew what to do in case of one of the players
tipping over during the game. We didn’t have a disclosure form for abled bodied people to sign
prior to participating in the scrimmage but they were informed before hand that we were not
accountable for any injuries that occurred during the game. We are happy to report there were no
injuries from our event.
Post Event
After the game, we took down everything that we had set up in the beginning. We broke
down the tables and chairs, the games, and the posters we had put up. We also helped transport
the team to their respective vehicles. We decided to take the liberty to send all of our sponsors,
and the team, a thank you letter for supporting us and the event. (See appendix for team thank-
you).

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Conclusion
After conducting this event, we have a much greater respect for event planners. The time
and effort put into planning just one event is far beyond anything we could have imagined. In
retrospect, we can find many things that we would do differently when planning the event. We
would start our advertising earlier then we did (two weeks ahead of time instead of one). We
would also ask for money from our sponsors instead of the material items that we received. By
doing this, we would have more to show and give to the Special Olympics of Minnesota. With
these sponsorships, we would set up a hierarchy system for donations such as gold, silver and
bronze. We heard this idea in class and really thought it was a great way to create composition
with sponsors. This way we feel that sponsors will donate a higher amount due to that fact that
they don’t want to be seen as cheap. We would also like to make the event more beneficial to the
team. If we did this event again, we would have all donations go to the team to help them cover
their costs instead of donating it to a third part, like the Special Olympics. Another idea we
thought to possibly do would be to charge an entrance fee to get into the event. The last few
things we would do differently have to do with scheduling. We would like to talk to the teams
much earlier in their season so that they could put this into their schedules right away and we
would also like to hold the event not so close to the National Tournament. This would hopefully
free up more teams and be able to come.
There were some positives that came out of this event and we did learn a few things to
help us in the future. We learned that sponsorships are fairly easy to get. Companies and
community members are surprisingly more generous then we thought. Companies are often
looking for events to sponsor that promotes them in a good, positive image. From getting
sponsorships, we learned to not let someone telling us “no” impede us from going to other

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places. The biggest thing that we gained from putting on this event was how we saw the impact it
made on some of the fans. Like mentioned before, there was a child who was intrigued by the
guys playing and said he wants to enter the sport when he turns of age. This in itself made the
event worthwhile in our eyes and we would do it again in a heartbeat.
Bibliography
Elevated Third Denver. (2012). United states quad rugby association. Retrieved from:
http://www.quadrugby.com
Minnesota north stars quad rugby. (n.d.). Retrieved
from: http://sites.google.com/site/minnesotanorthstarsquadrugby
Seattle Wheelchair Rugby Association. (2007). Seattle slam wheelchair rugby. Retrieved from:
http://seattleslam.org/faq.cfm
Special Olympics Minnesota. (2010). Retrieved from: http://www.specialolympicsminnesota.org

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Appendix
The poster below was placed in local businesses in Winona. We had about 25 posters.

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The Save the Date Cards below was handed out to students on campus. We had about 325 of
these.

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The letter below was placed in seven different Elementary Schools around the Winona Area. We
had about 2,000 of these letters.

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Expenses
Candy $36.39

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Container (3) $3.00
Rings (6) $6.00
Poster Boards $2.00
Wooden paddleball $2.00
Jump Rope (3) $3.00
Sport Ball (2) $2.00
Face paint $10.00
Paint brushes $2.00
Gumballs with jar $10.00
Dinosaur (4) $4.00
Plates $4.00
Napkins $1.00
Volley Ball $10.00
Total $(95.39)
Money from Sport & Spine $100.00
Money from Carol Ebert $50.00
Money from the Event $271.00
Total money given to the Special Olympics $325.61
This is the thank you letter we sent to the team via e-mail.
Dear Minnesota North Stars,

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Thank you so much for coming to our Murderball Charity Event! It was a huge success in our eyes and
we appreciate you guys for taking time out of your busy schedules and coming down right before
Nationals. With your help, we are happy to report that we raised over $320. We couldn’t have done it
without you!
We also wanted to thank you for bringing down those extra wheelchairs so that some able bodied fans
could get the unique chance to participate in your grueling sport. After talking to the fans afterwards,
we found that they have a whole new perspective on the sport.
Also, thank you guys for being so cooperative and understanding with us. You made the event fun and
easy to plan. Although we ran into some obstacles with trying to coordinate the other teams, with your
guys support and willingness to come down we were still able to put on this event and affect the lives of
many.
We mentioned to our professor that you guys are willing to do this event in the future and he was very
pleased about this. We appreciate you guys and everything you have done for this event and us as
people. Thank you so much.
Sincerely,
Murderball Coordinators
The following is a recipt for our dontations. This donation was just the cash rasied at the event.
We also recived to checks from our sposors that were sent through the mail. More money could

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be added to this account because our donation window is still open.
Dear Rebecca,
Thank you for your generous donation of $176.00 to Special Olympics. Your Confirmation Number is 135570308.
Your support makes a huge difference in the lives of athletes and their families in MN and around the world.
If your donation is in tribute or memory of someone and you would like to let them know, click here to customize and
send your e-card.
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answer questions and welcome feedback so we can serve you better. I also would love to hear about your involvement
in Special Olympics - please share your personal stories about how our organization has impacted your life or your
community.
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way to increase the impact of your support of Special Olympics athletes. Find out if your employer participates and
will match your donation to Special Olympics.
On behalf of everyone here at Special Olympics, including our athletes, I salute you.
Gratefully,
Michele Anastasia
Donor Services
Special Olympics
Tel 1 (800) 700-8585 and press 2
Email: donorservices@specialolympics.org
Special Olympics is exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS and this gift is tax-deductible. Please keep this
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