Swot Analysis For Final Four

Final Four in Houston Texas
Introduction
Sporting is one of the universal activities that brings people from different backgrounds together and is viewed as an income generating activity that creates revenue for the participants as well as the location where the activities are held. The NCAA Final Four Basketball Tournament is one of the most anticipated sporting events in the US that attracts a high number of fans in the cities where it is held. Before the Final Four is held in given location, it is imperative for the organizers to have a detailed understanding of the venue so that they can introduce marketing strategies that are in line with the demands of the fans (Snipes & Ingram, 2007). The host committee is charged with the responsibility to come introduce an exhilarating experience for the locals and visitors. Owing to the interest generated

by sporting events, this paper looks into the Final Four to be held in Houston Texas.
A Brief Background on Both the Final Four and the City of Houston
Houston was a suitable city to hold the Final Four event because it is a populous city with a rich culture. It follows that Houston is the city with the highest population in the American South as well as Texas (Chelton & Young Adult Library Services Association, 2000). In fact, it is the fourth most populous city in America meaning that it would be an appropriate venue to hold the Final Four as it would attract a high number of fans. It has an interesting history that states that it was established in 1836 and incorporated the following year. Houston was given its name after Sam Houston who was the leader of the Texas Republic. Sam Houston was famous as he lead and won the war at San Jacinto. The constant population growth in the city can be attributed to the growing railroad sector and the port that was established in 1901.
The city’s health sector is advanced and the location of the Texas Medical Centre is known to have the highest number of research and health care organizations. The economy has a major industrial base that specializes in transportation, energy, aeronautics, and manufacturing. The Port of Houston is the second largest in the US. It is also referred to as Space City and its strong points include sports, science, fashion, media, culture, technology, entertainment, international trade, and business (Chelton & Young Adult Library Services Association, 2000). The population is made up people from different religious and ethnic backgrounds making it the leading city in diversity in the US. The entertainment sector is vibrant and the Museum District receives over seven million tourists annually.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association abbreviated as the NCAA is a popular basketball competition played by major teams every spring. It is also commonly referred to as the Big Dance or March Madness. Harold Olsen who was the coach at the Ohio State University established it in 1939 (Coombs & Batchelor, 2013). The tournament features sixty-eight teams that are divided into groups of sixteen teams according to their region. The best teams from the four regions that are known as the Final Four compete during the first weekend in the month of April.
Sport Marketing or the Fan Identification Model
The information about the background of the NCCA and the city of Houston can be used by the host committee to take reach the objectives that have been stated in the fan identification model.

The first objective is involvement and before anyone can be referred in relation to property, he or she should have a high level of participation in a given sport. If an individual is not well informed about basketball and they have never been to a game, they will not identify with the teams to take part in the Final Four that may include Texas Southern University and University of Houston teams. There are two involvements that fans may have which are situational involvement and enduring involvement (Snipes & Ingram, 2007). To start with, enduring involvement refers to a situation whereby the fans closely watch a given sport, the results as well as the events that take place during the season. On the contrary, situational involvement refers to the situation whereby the fans have a heightened interest in the event owing to the circumstances. As a result, individuals that lack enduring involvement may have enduring

involvement.
The host committee can work towards improving situational involvement in a move to lead to a successful event both financial and in terms of attracting a significant market. There are different fans that have situational involvement (Dalakas & Phillips, 2012). There are those that attend the game for the sake of it while there are those that attend the game owing to the sales promotion held on a weekly basis.
The host committed will need to introduce ways to attract the different fans that demonstrate situational involvement. Price discounts and pre-game concerns can be held to improve participation. The committee should make use of well-coordinated efforts while come up with sales promotions events in a move to reach the target audience and avoid wasting resources. It follows that they will need to assess the impact of sales promotions of fans. The host committee will be required to introduce ways to improve situational involvement such as providing a comprehensive evaluation of the matches to increase interest in the fans that are interested in the teams (Dalakas & Phillips, 2012). They should also work on activities that improve team identification and social exchanges.
The second objective is performance and it is clear that in any game, the winners generate more attention than the losers do. Various studies in the sporting world have shown that winning attracts a high number of fans as well as improves attendance and team identification. While better performance in the standings results in improvements in attendance, the perceived attendance leads to an upgrading in the number of individuals that are present at the sporting events (DeSarbo & Madrigal, 2012). It follows that the history of teams determines the attendance to the sporting events. Successful teams in the NCCA are said to be non-performing if they do not win while losing teams may be said to be performing well if they win some games and lose some. The host committee should use the teams’ history while advertising the Final Four matches in a move to attract high numbers of fans. They can do this by concentrating on the performance and achievements of the players, the progress made from past year, and referring to the organization of the teams that perform well and isolated success. Promotional campaigns should be held to attract a high number of fans and they should be prepared before a season starts.
The other objective that the host committee should work on is attractiveness. In essence, attractiveness is termed as the social value of being linked to an individual or a team. It involves bringing together and individual’s perceptions of all the traits that one links with a team or an individual. What matters in this aspect are the peoples’ thoughts about the group or a person If an individual is the only one that finds a given team or player attractive, they have a problem. As previously mentioned, people are attracted to winners; therefore, the host committee should introduce ways to inform the fans about the winners (Buhler & Nufer, 2012). The more that the fans think that a team is likely to win, the more they will be associated with the team. This being said, there are other aspects that are significant to attractiveness which are contact and similarity. Similarity may take various forms such as demographics, personality, and values. The level of contact is termed as the intensity and amount of exposure that the fans have about the player and the duration of the exposure (DeSarbo & Madrigal, 2012). The host committee should focus on the level of contact that the fans have with players that it can facilitate through direct and indirect contact such as autograph signing and interviews that link the players with the fans. In summary, the host committee in the Final Four can organize a proper promotional campaign as well as feature attractive players
The host committee should concentrate on the distinctiveness of the event as it is clear that fans are attracted to what is viewed as different and unique. It follows that distinctiveness is regarded as the way individuals differ, was a source, which acts as self-esteem and it promotes social status (DeSarbo & Madrigal, 2012). Finally, the committee should focus on the social prestige of the event. It comes from the community, peers, and family and it can be at the national, city, and city level. The committee can achieve this by involving the fans in team management, coming up with effective marketing campaigns, involving players with local links, and conducting research about the teams that will part of the tournament.
Achieving Attractiveness
The host committee of the Final Four event in Houston will be required to ensure the attractiveness of the event to appeal to spectators. It can be carried out by coming up with advertising campaigns aimed at enticing spectators to the event. It can also be done through holding interviews with famous players that will take part in the event. Social occasions such as autograph signing will boost the attractiveness of the event (Snipes & Ingram, 2007. Coming up with these initiatives will require the collaboration with different media houses and pay various advertising companies to publicize the event.

Conclusion
The above discussion gives a detailed evaluation of the Final Four to be held in Texas by looking into the objectives that the host committee should consider. It is clear that the success of the event is dependent on the demographics of the city such as the high population and cultural diversity. The host committee should publicize the event in a move to attain high profits and satisfy the needs of the fans.