A Study on Student’s Opinions of Developing a Football Team at Saint Mary’s University

1. A Study on Student’s Opinions of Developing a Football Team at Saint Mary’s University Abby Ayotte Jake Wanek Chris Sanstead Public Relations Research December, 2010

2. Research Needs Reason for project: We believe school spirit is an essential aspect to a college campus and that there is a high correlation between school football teams/games and school unity. We wanted to explore current Saint Mary’s students’ opinions on school spirit and research what students think the effects establishing a football team would have on our campus. Main Clients at Saint Mary’s: -Athletic Director- Nikki Fennern -Vice President of Student Life- Chris Kendall -Vice President of Admissions- Tony Piscitiello

3. Secondary Research According to our secondary research, Saint Mary’s had a football team until 1955, but the president ended the program due to the high cost and poor performance of the team. Members from the 1937 SMU Football Team

4. Secondary Research Findings • Secondary Research • Interviewed Chris Kendall and Tony Piscitello • - Co-chair members of a committee who revisited the idea of a football team at Saint Mary’s in 2005 • 2005 committee: made up of 20 people including faculty, staff, alumni, and students • At the time, reevaluate the topic as a way to raise student enrollment, especially males • -18 month long study • MIAC strongly supported the idea • Estimated the total cost to create the program would be between 12 and 15 million dollars • Number is based on the need for a field (at the time), maintenance, and equipment, staffing and coaching • The Board of Trustees stressed the need for resources in already existing sports programs at SMU - Therefore, they did not go through with the project.

5. Goals and Objectives To find out which SMU sports students most attend and how frequently To determine the main reasons behind students attending or not attending game To provide our clients with information relevant to the current student’s present opinions on school spirit To determine whether student’s think a football team would bring a positive addition to the campus and improve school spirit To find out if students thought SMU should invest the money into a football team

6. Our Hypothesis • We predicted that students would feel that the school spirit at Saint Mary’s needs to be improved and that adding a football team would be a step to help achieve that goal. • Overall, we felt that the majority of students would like SMU to at least re-explore the idea of investing in a football team.

7. Research Strategies • Quantitative: • Created e-mail survey • Used systematic random sampling • Surveyed all grade levels • Sent to 671 undergraduate students total • Sent reminder e-mail and gave incentive of $20 Ground Round Gift Card • Received emails back from 202 students • Response rate of 30% • Qualitative: • Conducted focus group • 12 students invited • 6 participated • Both males and females • Variety of grade levels • No required criteria • Further discussed in research results

8. Limitations/Challenges • - Did not reach goal of 50% return rate on surveys • - Overlooked baseball and tennis on survey • Some questions were not answered by respondents • Did not leave a space at the end for surveyors to leave open-ended comments (suggestion by senior respondent)

9. Of all our responses: 142 females/ 56 males 4 did not include their demographic information 68 participate in a varsity sport Research Results Questions 3 & 4 Determine student’s reasons for attending/not attending sporting events Question 1 As we predicted, men’s basketball, men’s hockey, and volleyball show highest levels of student attendance

10. Research Results cont. Why do you attend games/meets? Why do you not attend games/meets? 64 percent said they do not attend games because they are not interested in the sport 79 percent said they attend games because they know the players on the team 60 percent said they do not have enough time 80 percent said they enjoy watching the sport 38 percent said because of the record of SMU sports 40 percent want to show school spirit 25 percent of the people they do not know when the game/meets are.

11. Research Results cont. Question 5: Do you think the school spirit at SMU needs improvement? All respondents Athlete Respondents only 78% 81% 5% 3% 16% 17%

12. Research Results cont. The estimated the total cost to create a football program at SMU would be between $12-15 million Question 7: Should Saint Mary’s invest money into a football team?

13. Research Results cont. All respondents Question 8: Home Football Games = Reason to stay on campus on weekends? 51% 38% 6% 5% Question 9: Football Team and games= Better school spirit? All respondents Athlete Respondents Only 41% 40% 32% 33% 14%

14. Research Results cont. Question 10: Football Team= Positive Addition? Athlete Respondents only All Respondents 34% 38% 28% 24% 24% 18% 16% 10% 4% 4% Focus Group Results: - Concluded that a football team would be a positive reason for more students to stay on campus on the weekends - Consensus was that students were in favor for SMU developing a football team as long as the tuition wasn’t significantly raised. And if tuition was raised, five out of the six were still for a football team.

15. Research Implications  • Majority of students (78%) felt that school spirit needs to be improved in some way. • The ultimate recommendation would be for SMU to re-open its committees and once again explore the possibility of adding a football team, however, we see the circumstances that could prevent that. • Our recommendation for now is to have the University explore ways to raise school spirit on campus. Some ideas would be to institute a pep band, have the dance team perform at more events, and decide on a school song. • - Connect with other colleges across the region and state, and investigate what they do as well.