IntroductionThere is a tremendous amount of planning that goes into preparing for an NCAA Division I football game. Between considering stakeholders and the legacy of the event, marketing and branding the school's image, and ensuring the event itself runs smoothly, there is a lot for sports managers to be aware of they plan an NCAA football game. Scheduling a Boston College football game is no different and offers unique challenges. As a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), one of the "Power 5" conferences in Division I football, the Eagles are considering top-tier college football programs and, as such, the events and games held at the Eagles' Alumni Stadium must reflect this prominent status. BC's unique position in the pro-saturated Boston sports market also presents a significant challenge to overcome. Additionally, as a college sporting event, it is critical to consider how the game connects to the school itself and brands the school's image. Planning a Boston College football game requires a clear organization of strategies related to a number of areas including consumer experience, vendor management, personnel management, event mission, marketing plan and a legacy plan. It is essential that these strategies are clear and developed; each season Boston College only has six or seven games to host in three months and there is no room for error during that time frame. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Boston College's athletic director, Brad Bates, is ultimately responsible for the results of each home game and how it affects the school and fans, the ACC and NCAA at large, and the rest of the stakeholders involved. If even one of these stakeholders was unhappy with how the event turned out, it could cost Bates his job; this is why strategies must be formulated and planned well in advance of each event. Consumer Experience Planning the consumer experience is one of the most important parts of any sporting event. Consumers are the central focus of all for-profit sports organizations, as without consumers there will be no profits. Ensuring consumers have the best possible experience is critical to earning revenue both now and in the future, as consumers become lifetime buyers of the brand (Rick, 2015). For Boston College, this takes on even greater significance. The school's alumni make up the vast majority of fans who attend home football games. While the student section of about 2,000 will struggle without being at 100% capacity, filling the rest of the 44,500 seats at Alumni Stadium is left mostly to alumni and their families. Because Boston as a sports market is incredibly pro-oriented with the common fan having almost no interest in college athletics, which is surprising given the large number of colleges in the area, BC marketers are limited on this basis of available fans who are interested in attending playhouses (Gordon, 2014). While this is something that obviously needs to be addressed by Boston College's marketing department, given the enormous potential of having the full support of a sports-mad city like Boston, it is necessary to plan for the current limitations in the meantime. Since most non-studentsfans in attendance are season ticket holders or repeat attendees, the consumer experience of a Boston College football game is critical to ensuring they remain that way. If the experience becomes sub-par, the school risks those fans not renewing season tickets the following year and, given the controversial lack of available fan base, there would be a catastrophic hit to the number of tickets sold. This is why BC offers patrons a standard college football experience, complete with on-campus tailgating and pre-game fanfest, as well as halftime marching band performances to provide that well-known sense of game day atmosphere university. In addition to this standard experience, BC offers a unique experience in the intangible aspects of attending a game at Alumni Stadium. In its 58-year history, it has hosted numerous historic games and was the home of the 1969 Boston Patriots. It has seen three capacity improvements over its lifetime and aesthetic improvements most recently in 1994. These factors add character to the stadium it has an intangible value to fans and evoke nostalgic feelings in alumni, similar to the way Fenway Park operates for Boston Red Sox fans. . Overall, the consumer experience plan must take advantage of these aspects of stadiums and provide opportunities throughout game day to keep consumers satisfied and returning for every game and season. Supplier Management Boston College employs a variety of suppliers for each home football game, particularly food service providers, merchandise suppliers, and equipment suppliers. Each vendor must coordinate with event staff to ensure they provide supplies correctly and efficiently (Masteralexis, 2015). The catering service provider must ensure that its products are distributed evenly between stadium stands and street vendors; as well as ensuring they don't run out of stock. They also must provide staff to work the concession stands, as Boston College does not employ staff for that role. Boston College merchandise vendors must also ensure prior to the game that their supplies are available in each merchandise booth and that there is a consistent assortment of products. However, they do not need to maintain a full inventory of products or provide staff. Finally, equipment suppliers, as in the case of football equipment for players, must have their supplies available well before the match, as well as ensuring that the equipment is in excellent condition. There are other smaller suppliers that need to be managed, for example if pre-match ceremonies include fireworks displays, the supplier of these needs to coordinate with staff to ensure they go off correctly and, importantly, safely. Vendor coordination and management is an important aspect of running a college football event smoothly and ensuring a great customer experience. Personnel Management Another important part of managing a college football game is personnel management. There are different areas of event staff that have their own tasks and duties and each needs to be managed to ensure they are handled correctly. Security personnel, health officials, game coordinators, and booster club volunteers are just some of the areas where the event requires staff (Masteralexis, 2015). As discussed, sometimes vendors will need to send their own staff to the event who also need to be managed. It is important that all these areas are in communication with each other during the event to ensure that there is no confusion in the casewhere there are problems to address. This communication occurs through managers, who also monitor their staff to ensure their work is being done correctly. Concessions workers may need to be in communication with security, for example, if a fan ordering food is disruptive. Other areas definitely need to be in communication, especially the game coordinators with the referees, how managing the game clock and knowing when there is a media timeout are vital to the smooth running of the game itself. Event Mission Boston College's event mission for each home football game is to provide the best possible consumer experience while marketing the school's image in a positive manner. This is a common mission across all college football teams and athletics in general across all for-profit organizations. Providing a great consumer experience brings revenue, which is the main goal of for-profit organizations, and improving the school brand indirectly has the positive effect.Same. An excellent example of how improving sports brand image directly generates revenue for schools is “Hail Flutie.” In 1984, Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie threw a Hail Mary pass to beat Miami in the final seconds of a nationally televised game. The Eagles earned a win in the Cotton Bowl, and Flutie was named the Heisman Trophy winner. The following year, Boston College's enrollment increased dramatically as a result of the attention brought to the school's athletics (McDonald, 2003). This example is so well known that it is called the “Flutie effect” when referring to how sports can increase awareness and interest across colleges and universities. Every game, Boston College, and schools around the world, try to make sure the team's brand image is enhanced so that it positively impacts the future growth of the school overall. Marketing Plan As with the event mission, the overall marketing strategy for Boston College football games is geared towards increasing the overall brand image of the team and school. However, this is not the sole responsibility of the marketing plan, but only its overall objective. The main purpose of Boston College marketers is to promote marketing campaigns to engage fans in the game. These need to be tailored to specific segments to attract those specific fans to participate (Rick, 2015). As discussed, the majority of event attendees are alumni, so the marketing plan is tailored to attract that group of fans. BC's marketers do this by providing family-friendly tickets, so alumni feel enticed to bring their kids and spouses, giving them the atmosphere of Boston College football. The marketing strategy must also consider marketing to students, although this is not incredibly difficult to achieve. Students will show up in force even without a marketing campaign, but they guarantee 100% capacity by offering the Gold Pass, which is student access to all sporting events. However, it offers more than just a ticket; rewards students who attend more games, arrive first and offers prizes to the most “lively” students (Kolva, 2013). BC knows that students contribute greatly to the atmosphere at college football games through their loud presence and cheering, which helps ensure the best consumer experience for alumni looking to relive their days at the school, as well as for college football fans who simply,.