For this assignment, students will write a 2022 season preview and develop a communications strategy to increase equity for a professional women’s sports team.
Students will write a 500-750 words season preview for one of the teams in the NWSL (National Women’s Soccer League), WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association), or PHF (Premier Hockey Federation). Students will then write a short 500-750 word essay about a communications strategy to increase coverage for the women’s professional sports utilizing your selected team as an model and drawing supporting arguments from course materials, outside sources, and Rachel Allison’s (2016) Business or Cause? Gendered Institutional Logics in Women’s Professional Soccer.
You have two weeks to complete this assignment. It includes three elements.
A team selection “quiz”: due on BrightSpace on 11/28 at 11:59pm
A 500-750 word team preview for your selected team due on BrightSpace to this assignment page on 12/12.
A 500-750 word essay detailing a communications strategy for increasing coverage of women’s professional sports due on BrightSpace to this assignment page on 12/12.
Your team preview and communications strategy essay should be submitted as one (1) document.
Elements
Team Selection (Due 11/28)- 2 points:
Submit your preferences for team you would like to research and write about using the quiz available in the to do list and on the module. For the “quiz”, choose and rank at least three, but no more than five, teams. The “quiz” will be assessed as complete/incomplete.
2022 Team Preview (Due 12/12)- 14 points
Utilizing skills developed in class create a 500-750 word preview for your selected team as a press release from the point of view of the team.
Elements to consider including in your preview:
A brief recap of the previous season (2021 for NWSL & WNBA; 2020-21 for PHF).
A short summary of changes leading into the upcoming season including key acquisitions or draft picks.
A quick look forward to key match-ups with other teams in the upcoming season (the NWSL and WNBA have not published their exact schedule, the PHF started play in November).
Brief profiles of key players and the head coach.
A short timeline of the most significant past events in the history of the team (founding, championships, individual accomplishments).
Statement addressing how current events including athlete activism, COVID-19, and abuse scandals will be addressed by the team.
Information on how to purchase season and individual game tickets.
Local broadcast information for the team and national broadcast information for the league.
You should not need to include all of these and they do not need to be presented in this order.
Get creative about how to convey this information, part of your decision-making process will be what to include and what to leave out. Consider including graphics, photos, or boxed text to emphasize certain information.
For this part of the assignment the primary assessment will be based on:
1. Showing that you have done thorough research. (Include a short works cited page with links to your research).
2. Indicating that you have a particular audience in mind by creating your preview (i.e. new fans or existing fans).
3. Presenting the information in a compelling way.
Research:
Utilize team websites & previous coverage of the team. Women’s sports coverage is harder to find so utilize Twitter lists, blogs, and alternative media to flesh out your preview. Do not rely solely on the team’s Wikipedia page; it will not count as a source.
Communications Strategy Essay (Due 12/12)- 14 points
Compose a three paragraph essay (500-750 words) that outlines a specific communications strategy for increasing coverage for women’s professional sports utilizing your team as a model. A specific strategy will convey concrete ideas on how to entice media and fans to engage with your team and your sport. A specific strategy is not “get more coverage” or “do more marketing,” rather discuss the details of process that you will undertake initiatives with coverage as the goal.
A successful essay will include:
Paragraph 1:
Outline your communications strategy detailing the ways you will increase interest in your team and women’s professional sports more generally.
Evaluate the team’s current strategy and identify how your strategy will be different from what they are already doing. (i.e. don’t suggest Instagram Live with players if that’s already being done)
Address who your target audience will be (location, demographics)
What media you will target (traditional media? social media? video? print?)
What will the specific content that you create look like? (Include examples)
What are the obstacles you need to overcome and how will you address those obstacles? (don’t just point out low engagement numbers).
What is different about your strategy from the marketing already being done by the team?
Paragraph 2:
Concisely make the argument for the strategy.
Why should your team and women’s sports more generally follow this strategy?
Identify an example from another women’s team where a similar strategy worked (i.e. which teams have the most success using your chosen logic).
How much this strategy will cost in terms of labor and materials?
Remember social media campaigns aren’t “free”
What do you need to pay the people who will carry out this strategy?
Why is the specific audience you are targeting important?
How does gender ideology influence your chosen strategy?
Support your argument with course concepts and materials. Show that you have done sufficient research on your target audience to make the case for appealing to them.
Paragraph 3:
Does your strategy address the business logic, the cause logic or neither one?
Define the logic (business, cause, both, neither) that your strategy follows and include a citation from Allison (2016) that supports this definition.
Identify a passage in Rachel Allison’s Business or Cause? Gendered Institutional Logics in Women’s Professional Soccer that supports the argument that you are making for your communication strategy.
Support your argument with market or academic research from another source.
Research:
Include and cite evidence of the team’s current strategy
Include and cite evidence from another team where this strategy worked.
Include support for your strategy from Rachel Allison’s Business or Cause? Gendered Institutional Logics in Women’s Professional Soccer
Include support for your strategy with market or academic research from another source.
For both the preview and the communications strategy essay you need to include a works cited page.
Deadlines
Team Selection: Sunday, November 28th, 11:59pm
2022 Team Preview: Sunday, December 12th, 11:59pm
Communications Strategy Essay: Sunday, December 12th, 11:59pm
The 2022 team preview & Communications Strategy Essay should be submitted as one document.
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