prl 3180 - nashville sports
TRANSCRIPT
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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
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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 [email protected]. 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.