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Page 11 July 2013 The AC Phoenix Stevie Wonder Boycotts Florida Until'Stand Your Ground'Law Abolished By Andrea Billups [continued from page 1 ] "Until the Stand Your Ground law is abolished, I will never perform there again," he said to cheers. Florida, however, is not the only state to feel Wonder's wrath. "As a matter of fact, wherever i find that law exists, 1 will not perform in that state or in that part of the world," Wonder said Sunday at his perfor mance in Canada's Quebec City. Editor's Note: Seniors Scoop Up Unclaimed $20,500 Checks? (See if You qualify) As mass protests continue around the country and other musicians pay tribute to Martin, many are calling for renewed awareness of civil rights and justice as they decry the Jury's decision to find Zimmerman not guilty in the shooting death of Martin, 17. Wonder encouraged his own fans to support him in speaking out against what he sees as an injustice. "The truth is that - for those of you who've lost In the battle for Justice, wherever that fits in any part of the world - we can't bring them back," he said in an emotional video posted on YouTube. "What we can do is we can let our voices be heard. And we can vote in our various countries throughout the world for change and equality for everybody.That's what I know we can do,"Wonder said. DO IT WITH PASSION OR NOT AT ALL. tk AC Phoenix News 336.635.4096 for Subscription Rates & Information We Serve An Awesome God Uhnston Salem Tnr’Tw Spec^Sr^ in CuscomPrinted Appsrel • T-SNrts • C^s - Spo^wesT • Jackets • &c. KEVIN GATES 3714 IndiiUia Avenu9 Winston-Sslam. NC271DS (336) 725-3840 FAX (336) 777-0016 The Business of Sports By Carl B. Smalls [continued from page 1 ] In economics, there is a basic concept that centers on supply and demand as it relates to price and human be havior. For example, if supply exceeds demand then prices decrease; con versely, if demand exceeds supply then prices increase. Regrettably, for many HBCU athletic programs, basic economics appear to have taken a sabbatical and replaced by unsound business practices. Perhaps it is because the majority of FIBCUs are land granted institutions, meaning they are public institutions and these small public institutions generally rely heavily on funding their athletic programs through athletic fees charged to students.Though this simple approach may provide instant funding, this practice has several shortfalls.The first being that athletic programs generally have a tendency to grow much faster than student en rollment. In some cases, the relation ship may be inversely related - mean ing athletic costs go up while student enrollment (revenues from fees) goes down. Secondly, the athletic fees charged to the student increases the overall cost of attending the institu tion. Flence, affecting the institution's competitiveness in the market place. Thirdly, this practice of simply tax ing the student through athletic fees has stifled the creativity to pursue alternative funding sources. Lastly, the decision of whether an increase in student fees will be approved is not the choice of the institution, but at the sole discretion of the board of governors or regents of the particular university system. By The Numbers According to the NCAA Division II for the 2010-11 academic year, the median total expenses for athletic programs with football was $5.1 mil lion for both public (51%) and private (49%) institutions. My estimate is there is not one Division II, FIBCU ath letic program with a budget of $5.1 million.Therefore, how will they com pete or be competitive if program funding is sub par? On average. Divi sion II programs offer 15 sports and approximately half (46%) of them has enrollment of 2,499 and below. Looked at from the present method used by these institutions to generate athletic program funding, students would be taxed at a rate (athletic fee) of $2,041 per student to reach the median budget of $5.1 million (2,499 X $2,041).This is outrageous at best. Moving Forward If, for example, the majority of Divi sion II student athletes pay for col lege through a combination of schol arship money, grants, student loans and employment earnings, wouldn't basic economics suggest that to in crease the demand (assuming every thing else basically stayed the same), you would not mark up the price (tu ition); but would instead increase the demand by offering a better product? So then, the fundamental question is, how does one offer a better product? In business there are best practices that govern day-to-day operations that work toward improving the over all financial health of an organization. It boils down to the customer experi ence. Each time a business and a cus tomer interact, the customer learns something that will either strengthen or weaken the future relationship and that customer's desire to return, spend more and recommend the ex perience to others. As in business, this is equally true for Intercollegiate athletic programs that are trying to maximize attendance, ticket revenues, corporate sponsor ships, suite sales, concessions, licens ing and booster donations. Sadly, for many of the smaller programs, suites are not an option, concessions may not be either, and corporate spon sorships and licensing are generally small contributors or nonexistent. So it is no longer enough to field a winning team. As fans have grown more sophisticated, they want to know how teams and athletic pro grams are evolving to provide con sistent and entertaining products that transcend a team's performance. Now, more than ever, it is imperative to not only acknowledge this per spective but respond to it by build ing, nurturing, sustaining and ex panding your brand. A strong fan base is the most im portant asset an athletic program can achieve. Athletic programs must apply sound business practices to secure the longevity and loyalty of their customers (fans). These prac tices must be built on the powerful relationship between experiences and a brand that generates superior bottom-line results. Though each athletic program is dif ferent, it is critical that they seek the assistance of a sports marketing firm to help them blend their mission and unique strengths with the best prac tices of sports marketing to further differentiate the program and create a targeted message to redefine the ultimate fan experience. Otherwise, they will continue to practice voodoo economics and subsequently experi ence what historically all institutions have experienced when there is taxa tion with no representation, a revolt. Mr. Smalls is a graduate of North Carolina A&T State University and received his MBA from the Atlanta University Graduate School of Business where he was a Volkswagen of America Scholar. He is a graduate of Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government Program on In vestment Decisions and Behavior Finance. Smalls is the President, CEO and Founding Part ner of Morgan Small Sports Consultants, LLC. ! HAVE COME Hull Uiat imw HAVE & HAVE IT TO THE FULL
The AC Phoenix News (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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