Sponsorship Proposal

The Charlotte Hornets and Holiday Inn

Joshua Lee

PRT 466

Spring 2016

February 27, 2016

Vineet Nayyar

General Manager

Holiday Inn

230 N. College Street

Charlotte, NC 28202

Dear Mr. Nayyar:

The Charlotte Hornets NBA basketball team would like to invite Holiday Inn to be an exclusive sponsor of our basketball team. With support and dedication to improve our fans’ experience, Holiday Inn is the type of organization that is best for our team. Due to our large city and fan base, the Charlotte Hornets have the ability to promote Holiday Inn brand to our local community.

Attached is the sponsorship proposal, in which you will find information regarding opportunities to promote events and provide ways to help give a good experience to our fans. We believe our organizations match up regarding our target markets, ability to serve others, and bring brand awareness to both the Hornets and the Holiday Inn.

Here at the Charlotte Hornets we are excited to explore this potential sponsorship. As part of the proposal, we will provide Holiday Inn with increase revenue, increased awareness, provide amenities for local and outside fans, and ways to help raise money for the Hornets.

The Charlotte Hornets has personalized this proposal for the Holiday Inn. We look forward to hearing from you very soon.

Sincerely,

Rich Cho

General Manager of the Charlotte Hornets

OVERVIEW: The National Basketball Association (NBA)The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the premier basketball league in the United States. Headquartered in New York City, the NBA serves as the governing body for all the NBA league teams. Each NBA team is privately owned, but all operate under the umbrella of the league.

BRIEF HISTORY On June 6, 1946, the league was founded as the Basketball Association of America

(BAA). The league adopted the name National Basketball Association on August 3, 1949. In 1969, Alan Siegel oversaw the design of Jerry Dior’s Major League Baseball logo. A

year prior, Siegel created the modern NBA logo inspired by the MLB’s, with the legendary Jerry West based on a photo by Wen Roberts.

On February 1, 1984, David Stern became commissioner of the NBA. On February 1, 2014, Adam Silver became the new commissioner of the NBA.

OVERVIEW

The Charlotte HornetsLocated in Charlotte, North Carolina, The Charlotte Hornets are an NBA team in the Southeast division. From 1989-2002 they were known as the Charlotte Hornets, but from 2005-2014 they became known as the Charlotte Bobcats. In 2015, the Hornets name returned. The Hornets are owned and operated by Michael Jordan. Head coach is Steve Clifford and General Manager is Rich Cho.

BRIEF HISTORY

In the 1988-89 season the Charlotte Hornets were formed From 1988-2005, the Hornets played in the Charlotte Coliseum After being built in 2005, Time Warner Cable Arena became the new home for the

Charlotte Hornets. In 2005, the Charlotte Hornets became known as the Bobcats. Following the 2014-2015 season, the team again became the Charlotte Hornets.

TIME WARNER CABLE ARENA

Opening its doors in 2005, Time Warner Cable Arena is a basketball facility located in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina. With a seating capacity of 19,000+, it has nearly 200 events each year, almost 2 million attendees annually, and over 10 million visitors to date. It has open walkways, terraces, and other unique displays. Time Warner Cable Arena features socializing areas such as Rock the Rooftop and other amenities.

PROMOTIONAL EVENTS

The Winter Hat Giveaway

In December of 2015, the first 7,500 fans received a winter hat at the home game against the Memphis Grizzlies.

Free Mini Locker

At one of the Hornets’ throwback games, if you stopped by the Hornets Fan Shop during the game you received a mini locker FREE with any purchase of a Mitchell and Ness item.

Duffel Bag Giveaway

At the December 12th game against the Celtics, the first 7,500 fans received a duffel bag.

AUDIENCE DEMOGRAPHICS

MARKET DEMOGRAPHICS OF NBA FANS (2015)

(Statistics for Hornets alone were unavailable)

66% males in attendance 34% females in attendance 40.6% are 18-34 years of age (largest percentage) 39.7% have income of $100,000 or more (largest percentage) 100% own a tablet or smartphone 56% use smartphone or tablet while attending game

ATTENDANCE STATISTICS

A total of 704,886 fans visited Time Warner Cable Arena during the 2015 season Game attendance at Time Warner Cable Arena averages 17,192.

MEDIA COVERAGE

NEWS MEDIA

The Charlotte Hornets receive news coverage from the following local television stations and newspapers:

WSOCTV WCCB Charlotte The CW

WCNC Carolinas’ News Connection The Charlotte Observer

SOCIAL MEDIA COVERAGE

As social media grows in both news and sports as a source of information for consumers of all ages, the Charlotte Hornets help fans stay in touch with their team through the following platforms:

Facebook: 1,608,759 fans

Instagram: 498,000 followers

Twitter: 479,000 followers

BRAND ALIGNMENT

ORGANIZATIONAL COMPATIBILITY

The Charlotte Hornets and The Holiday Inn have similar goals and values. Both want customer satisfaction, a unique experience while in Charlotte, and a family environment. The Charlotte Hornets and the Holiday Inn both strive to be active in the local community, working to improve the areas in which they do business. These shared areas of emphasis benefit families and our community, as well as our businesses.

Community

As supporters of the local community, both Holiday Inn and the Charlotte Hornets employ those who live in the Charlotte area. Both businesses strive to find ways to attract fans and visitors to Charlotte by providing promotional events. It is the mission of both the Holiday Inn and the Hornets to provide amenities to fans and visitors to the local area.

Family

The Hornets and Holiday Inn both desire to make their businesses appealing to families. The Hornets provide promotional events for families on game days in a safe and entertaining environment. The Holiday Inn also works to attract families with special rates and amenities such as swimming pools.

Accommodations

Both the Hornets and Holiday Inn desire to make it easy for fans to access the arena on game days. Sleeping accommodations close to The Time Warner Cable Arena would provide convenience and a more enjoyable experience for fans.

Fan support

Fan support is essential for both the Hornets and the Holiday Inn. Having fans come to your hotel to spend a night or two before a game would be huge for Holiday Inn, but also for the Hornets. Having fans stay a couple of days and have close access to the arena would make them want to buy products from the Hornets and Holiday Inn.

TARGET MARKETS

The Charlotte Hornets target families and other diverse groups to their facility by providing a wholesome atmosphere and attractions for all age groups. The Holiday Inn provides a variety of amenities to the local area and for fans of the Hornets. While some

patrons of the Holiday Inn visit Charlotte for business or other reasons, they might take in a Hornets game if it were easy and convenient to do so.

Sponsorship PackageINCREASED SALES OPPORTUNITIES

Customer coupon on each ticket Brochures handed out at each gate entrance with a promo code to use when reserving a

room Halftime contest (drawing for unique number code on ticket) for a free weekend stay

Printing coupons on the ticket will drive fans to want to check out the accommodations at Holiday Inn, and handing out brochures at each gate entrance will entice fans to want to stay there even if they haven’t the night before. Holiday Inn will obtain new market data for fans who participate in the halftime contest.

BRAND AWARENESS

Offer Holiday Inn package deals as part of the Charlotte Hornets season ticket packages Post signage in stadium Feature Holiday Inn logo at games on programs and on side of the stadium Feature ads during Hornets games

An ad with an app to have a way to make a reservation for the Holiday Inn could be displayed and promote Holiday Inn online check-in service. The fan entertainment area will help increase brand awareness as will signage, a permanent logo feature on the Charlotte Hornets website, and announcements made at games, TV, or on social media.

CUSTOMER HOSPITALITY

Provide Holiday Inn employees and customers discounted Charlotte Hornets tickets Provide Holiday Inn employees and customers parking passes for each Hornets home

game Offer in-hotel guest promotion to win Hornets season tickets

CHARITABLE OPPORTUNITIES

Become official supporting sponsor of charitable initiatives, possibly homeless shelters Offer Holiday Inn night in which military families who are staying that night get into

games free Include Holiday Inn as partner with Hornets as Blume night official sponsors

Impact Measurement

SALES

The Charlotte Hornets and the Holiday Inn will both benefit from this partnership. Increased sales revenues will be measured by the following methods:

Calculate the number of coupons redeemed at the Holiday Inn from ticket stubs Compile data on the number of fans that reserved rooms at the Holiday Inn using the

response code on brochure Track the rate of redemption of free weekend stays as prizes at Hornets halftime

contest

BRAND AWARENESS

Part of the successful partnership of the Holiday Inn and the Charlotte Hornets will be increased brand awareness. To calculate:

Take a sample survey of fans at each exit to see if they can ID the Holiday Inn logo and give opinion of the brand.

Calculate the number of people who reserve rooms using the promo code printed on brochures handed out at games.

Calculate number of Holiday Inn employees and patrons who take advantage of parking passes and ticket discounts using bar codes

CHARITY

With a dedication to helping support the local communities and show appreciation to all local charities of the Hornets, we will look at how charitable impact that the Holiday Inn has in relation to its sponsorship with the Charlotte Hornets in the following ways:

Calculate the number of participants in the community who participate in the Blume night event

Calculate the number of military families who take advantage of Holiday Inn night Determine the amount of money raised for charitable organizations such as local

homeless shelters

References

Charlotte Hornets. (n.d.). Retrieved February 29, 2016, from http://sportsteamhistory.com/charlotte-hornets

Charlotte Hornets Staff & Executives - RealGM. (2016). Retrieved February 29, 2016, from http://basketball.realgm.com/nba/teams/Charlotte-Hornets/3/staff-members

Charlotte Coliseum. (2015). Retrieved February 29, 2016, from http://basketball.ballparks.com/NBA/CharlotteHornets/

Hornets Single-Game Tickets On Sale Thursday, September 24. (2015, September 21). Retrieved February 29, 2016, from http://www.nba.com/hornets/press-releases/hornets-single-game-tickets-sale-thursday-september-24

Land Of Basketball.com. (2016). Retrieved February 29, 2016, from http://www.landofbasketball.com/teams/charlotte_hornets.htm

Sports Team History - National Basketball Association. (n.d.). Retrieved February 29, 2016, from http://sportsteamhistory.com/basketball/nba-basketball

Sports Business Research Network. (2014). Statistics retrieved February 29, 2016, from Sports Business Research Network (SBRnet) database.