COMMUNITY OUTREACH in SPORTS and ARTS: a PILOT STUDY on the COLUMBUS CREW and OPERA COLUMBUS a Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfi

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COMMUNITY OUTREACH IN SPORTS AND ARTS: A PILOT STUDY ON THE COLUMBUS CREW AND OPERA COLUMBUS

A Thesis

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

The Degree Master of Arts in the

Graduate School of The Ohio State University

Jerome S. Socolof, B.M.

Graduate Program in Arts Policy and Admnistration

The Ohio State University

2009

Master’s Examination Committee:

Dr. Wayne P. Lawson, Advisor

Dr. Candace J. Stout

ABSTRACT

Sold out venues, throngs of adoring and devoted fans, annoyingly high ticket prices; while these things might evoke thoughts of one’s favorite sports team, they could just as easily stir images of an arts organization. Although they are commonly thought of as contrary and/or mutually exclusive, sports and arts have a good deal in common. However, almost across the board, sports teams thrive while arts organizations struggle. This thesis serves as a pilot study into why this phenomenon occurs, and what information can be shared between the two fields for their mutual benefit. While later research will look at a wide spectrum of topics, this study is focused on how the two fields go about making themselves part of their home community through community outreach programs and initiatives. By utilizing document analysis, two organizations are examined that serve niche markets of increasing popularity: Opera Columbus and the Columbus Crew. By looking at how these two groups have made themselves part of the fabric of Columbus, conclusions are arrived at with implications beyond the fields of soccer and opera and the city of Columbus.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am forever grateful to my advisor, Dr. Wayne Lawson, for providing both his wisdom and experience to this project. He agreed to take me on as an advisee fairly late in the game, and then gave me the push and guidance needed to get this piece completed.

I am eternally indebted to Dr. Candace Stout, who helped me lay the groundwork for this research and guided me through early tribulations. That this document exists is a testament to the advice and guidance she has imparted on me.

I would be remiss if I did not offer my grateful thanks to the rest of the faculty and staff of the Art Education Department. Over the past two years, I have been given immeasurable knowledge, insight, and opportunity. I look forward to great things with them as I pursue my doctoral studies.

This thesis would not have been possible without the support and cooperation of the front office staffs of both Opera Columbus and the Columbus Crew. Their help in procuring data and giving context and insight into its use was invaluable. A deep and sincere thanks to

Francisco Terreros and Robin Ungerleider of the Crew and Eric McKeever of Opera Columbus.

Through this process, several friends have played key roles in keeping me on track, sane, and on my feet. Thanks to Tim, Kenny, and Colin for making coming home a constant adventure, and Tim especially for many hours of free tech support. Thanks to the brothers of the Beta Xi chapter of Phi Mu Alpha for giving me ample opportunity to step back, take a

iii breather, and come back to this refreshed and ready to go. A very special, deep, and appreciative thanks to Brea, Molly, and Kristi for two years of bitching, beer, and brainstorming.

The guidance and support you three have given me has been priceless.

I would also like to thank my previous mentors who have gotten me to this point. I am indebted to Mark Bunce for over a decade of guidance and for getting me to take music from a hobby to a passion. I am incredibly appreciative of Kickie Britt’s guidance through my somewhat errant years as an undergrad, never quite sure what I wanted to do. I also offer deep thanks and gratitude to Drs. Deborah Massell and Carleen Graham, who spent four years making vocal music and opera come alive to me.

Lastly, I would like to thank my family. Thanks to Bubbe Cantor, Bubbe Socolof, Bubbe

Steirn, all aunts, uncles, cousins, and assorted hangers on who have been supportive of my academics and me. Thanks to Rebeccah for never failing to remind me that, no matter how stressed I am and how over-worked I am, I am still her little brother and should therefore shut up. Lastly, thanks beyond words to my parents, for giving me life, giving me love, giving me support and encouragement, and for still taking my phone calls, no matter how scatter-brained, panicky, on indecipherable. You are why I am where I am, and I can’t thank you enough.

VITA

February 18, 1986…………………………………………..Born, Ilion, New York

Summer 2006…………………………………………………General Administrative Intern Lake George Opera

May 2007………………………………………………………..B.M., Business of Music SUNY Potsdam

2007-Present………………………………………………….Central Ohio Student Advocates for the Arts Member, Board Member

Summer 2008………………………………………………….Company Intern Gotham Chamber Opera

Summer 2008………………………………………………….Graduate Administrative Intern OPERA America

FIELD OF STUDY Major Field: Arts Policy and Administration

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ...... ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...... iii VITA ...... v LIST OF FIGURES ...... viii LIST OF GRAPHS ...... ix LIST OF TABLES ...... x Chapter 1: Introduction ...... 1 Background ...... 1 Personal background ...... 1 Statement of Purpose ...... 2 Definition of Terms and Research Questions ...... 4 Scope and Limitations of the Study ...... 7 Significance of the Study ...... 9 Chapter 2: Literature Review ...... 10 Structure ...... 10 Soccer ...... 11 Opera ...... 27 Parallels and Final Thoughts ...... 44 Chapter 3: Methodology ...... 47 General Overview ...... 47 Design Overview ...... 48 Data Collection ...... 50 Data Analysis ...... 52 Conclusion ...... 53 Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Discussion ...... 55 Data Presentation and Analysis ...... 56 Discussion...... 73

Chapter 5: Conclusion ...... 85 Findings ...... 85 Implications and Applications ...... 87 What Comes Next? ...... 90 Grand Finale ...... 91 Works Cited ...... 92 Appendix A: Program Information ...... 97 Columbus Crew ...... 97 Opera Columbus ...... 104

vii

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: Sectors of the Sports Industry (Ferrand, 2009) ...... 21 Figure 2.2: Sporting Stakeholders (Ferrand, 2009) ...... 23

viii

LIST OF GRAPHS

Graph 4.1: Age Group Distribution, The Columbus Crew………………………………………………………….70 Graph 4.2: Age Group Distribution, Opera Columbus……………………………………………………………….71

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1: Programs List by Age Group…………………..…………………………………………………………………69

Chapter 1: Introduction

Background

“Would yee both eat your cake and have your cake?” – John Heywood (1546)

The above adage, which survives today in the popular form of “you can’t have your cake and eat it, too,” admonishes the reader that they cannot both possess their cake and consume it; two options may exist, each equally possible, but the two are mutually exclusive. To extrapolate this concept beyond being a food metaphor, let us replace cake with time. In this light, the adage tells us that we cannot be doing two mutually exclusive things at the same time, as this is physically impossible. Moving completely away from the original cake, let us replace having and eating with two things that are commonly conceived by many of as being incompatible: sports and arts. In this final form, “Would yee both play your sports and participate in your arts?”, we find ourselves asked two very important questions. First, are sports and arts really mutually exclusive, and, second, are they different enough to have warranted this perception in the first place?

Personal background

The formulation of these questions, as well as their initial examination, occurred at a locale that both sports fan and arts advocate would find familiar: a bar. During a conversation with a friend, I lamented the fact that when a sports team experiences failure, particularly after a prolonged period of success, they are subject to newspaper articles, blog posts and news segments analyzing every aspect of their performance and offering ideas as to what it will take to bring about change; when an arts organization fails, the result is a series of impassioned pleas

1 from their supporters and perhaps an article or two, but nothing on the scale of the response afforded sports teams. My friend expressed his dismay about the problems facing arts organizations, such as lack of funding and closures, but suggested that maybe the difference in reaction was due to sports and arts not having that much in common.

After all, he said, people like the uncertainty of a game, whereas nobody wins a ballet.

Instinctively, I said that sports and the arts do, in fact, have much in common. I pointed out that both tend to attract large, enthusiastic crowds, both handsomely compensate their star performers, and both are integral parts of what gives any city its unique character. After all, I asked, would New York be the same without either the Yankees or the Metropolitan Opera? My friend conceded the point that sports and the arts do, in fact, have a fair amount in common.

So, he asked, why is that you never hear about interaction between the two? I had no answer. Sports and the arts do have a great deal in common, so why was it that the two fields operated in separate orbits? It is not uncommon for related fields to work together for their mutual benefit. The arts and humanities have been associated fields for some time, various sciences work together, and at the federal level, combinatorial agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms exist. Surely it had to be possible for the arts to embrace a thing or two from the thriving American sports scene, and there is no reason to believe that they could not share some wisdom of their own, too. This, I realized, might be, if not a solution to the problem, at least a source for new insights

and ideas; this is how Heywood could both have and eat his cake. As a sign of gratitude towards

my friend, I covered the tab.

Statement of Purpose

The ultimate goals of this research are to both highlight the inherent similarities

between sports and the arts and to indentify what and how the two fields might learn from each

2 other. Combinatorial interaction of sports and arts already exists in a number of forms: the singing or playing of the national anthem before sporting events, the use of sport as subject matter for art (for example, the use of baseball in Richard Greenberg’s Take Me Out ), and the incorporation of visual art into sporting venues (such as Michael Keropian’s tiger sculptures in and around Tiger Stadium in Detroit) amongst others (Keropian, 2000; Greenberg, 2003).

However, being able to foster interaction between the two fields requires more than just the direct use of one by the other. In fact, the necessary ideas behind such interaction may involve yet another field: science.

Scientist and philosopher Thomas Kuhn (1962) refers to such necessary interaction as a revolution, stating that the instances where such a thing is necessary are “…taken to be those non-cumulative developmental episodes in which an older paradigm is replaced in whole or in part by an incompatible new one”. The idea here is that, when the status quo cannot support new developments, it becomes necessary for the status quo to be replaced by something that will. This is an applicable mindset to the interaction between sports and arts. The prevailing mindset that guides current state of interaction between the two, the status quo, does not make fruitful interaction a possibility. By applying a “revolutionary” mindset, the existing paradigm is replaced by one in which sports and the arts may freely interact to the benefit of each. Bearing this in mind, the purpose of this research becomes clear: to inspire what Kuhn classifies as the third type of phenomenon about which new theories might be developed, those

“…whose characteristic feature is their stubborn refusal to be assimilated to existing paradigms.” In other words, this research is meant to inspire a revolution, one that will lead to change the way that sports and arts organizations operate by themselves and with each other

(Kuhn, 1962).

Definition of Terms and Research Questions

With the intent of this research having been established, it becomes necessary to clarify the questions which the research seeks to answer. While the questions mentioned in the background above, those asking if sports and arts are mutually exclusive and if they are different enough to warrant that perception, are interesting, to be sure, but do not guide the direction of this research. Rather, they set up this work, providing a reason for it. They may have their own answers, but they are not the ones that I seek to find. The questions that I seek to answer focus not on the nature of the relationship between sports and arts (that is to say, whether one can exist with the other), but rather the content thereof. The essence of this research can be boiled down to two questions: how do the internal structures, techniques, and programs of sports organizations and arts organizations compare to each other? and what can each field learn from the other’s structures, techniques, and programs?

Definitions

While both of these questions, by nature of their being macro-questions, require some

measure of deconstruction, there is first a necessary measure of clarification of terms. By

“internal structures, techniques, and programs,” I refer to the various aspects of how an

organization is set up and how it functions. “Internal structures” refers to organizational

structure, such as chain of command, committee structure, balance and placement of power,

and the like. “Techniques” refers to the methods utilized by an organization, such as methods

of management and plan formulation. “Programs” refers to the specific initiatives that an

organization undertakes in support of their mission, such as fundraising, community outreach,

and audience building efforts. It should be noted that these terms are not scientific, nor do they

come from specific existing literature, but they are the parlance that will be utilized in this

research, and therefore their meanings need to be clearly understood.

Also requiring some clarification is what is meant by sports, arts, and organizations, as all three terms will be used throughout this document. A “sport”, while something that one may feel they know when they see, a la Potter Stewart, requires three defining characteristics: physicality, competition, and an objective measure of outcome (Quinn, 2009). As such, baseball could be considered a sport, as it meets all three criteria, but figure skating could not, as the measure of outcome is subjective rather than objective. “Arts”, perhaps one of the trickiest words in the language to concisely define, will be used in the broad yet succinct sense put forth by Monroe Beardsley (1982): arrangements of conditions that are intended to be capable of affording an experience with specific aesthetic character, or an arrangement belonging to a class or type of arrangements that is intended to have that capacity. In other words, if something is capable of providing an experience with a distinct aesthetic character, some sensory experience that makes it uniquely identifiable, it is an art. Lastly, an “organization”, according to Slack and

Parent (2006), is “a social entity…it is goal-directed, with a consciously structured activity system and a relatively identifiable boundary”.

Questions

Having now established the specific meanings given to the terms used herein, it is now necessary to examine the research questions as they stand and examine how they can be both deconstructed to divine specific use and intent and expanded upon to find additional questions.

The first question, how do the internal structures, techniques, and programs of sports organizations and arts organizations compare to each other, is relatively straightforward. As the intent of this research is to examine the content of the relationship between sports and the arts, it is helpful to examine the content of each field first. By understanding how each field is constructed, it becomes possible to understand what each brings to the relationship. This question, in turn, leads to a set of supplemental questions. First, what parallels exist between

5 the internal structures, techniques, and programs utilized by sports and the arts? By examining the similarities between the two, it allows one to better understand the extent to which the two fields are not that dissimilar, as well as utilize concepts and terminology for both as a uniting factor to the research. Second, what additional insight is gained by examining specific types of programs utilized by each? While one may find similarities in the aforementioned three categories, it seems more likely that, the tighter a focus the examination is conducted with, the more meaningful the results will prove. For example, a broad comparison of programs utilized by both may reveal that both use the same sorts of programs to achieve similar goals. However, an examination of specific types of programs, such as community outreach, leads to a better understanding of the similarities and differences in how these programs are utilized and the extent to which they are. This understanding, however, does not tell us what the two fields can share with each other.

The second research question, then, is what can each field learn from the other’s structures, techniques, and programs? This question aims to take the understanding taken from the first and parlay it into meaningful conclusions that may then, in the Kuhnian sense, be utilized to foment revolution. It is by answering this question that this research moves beyond merely clarifying the existing knowledge base to making a distinct, positive contribution to it. As with the first research question, this, too, leads to supplemental questions that beg answering.

First, to what extent will the information garnered about each field be applicable to the other due to their nature? Professional sports organizations are, with very rare exception, for-profit entities, whereas a substantial portion of arts organizations are non-profit entities. The differing nature of for-profit and non-profit entities (different economic goals, funding sources, stakeholders, etc.) may or may not prove to be a hindrance to the useful flow of information between the two. Second, how willing would either side to embrace ideas and suggestions

6 derived from the other? Intensive research is all well and good, and it may provide wonderful ideas that could greatly benefit either side, but if they are unwilling to embrace these ideas, this aspect of the research is rendered moot. In that instance, it becomes imperative to either seek out those willing to implement the results of this research and let the ideas spread organically, or alter the research until it renders ideas that the two fields are willing to implement.

As is true with all qualitative inquiry, while there are, potentially, additional questions that may be raised, during the course of researching, they will be addressed as they are raised.

As a basis for beginning, it is the above mentioned macro-questions, as well as their derivative questions, that will be researched. Through them, I hope to shed light upon the content of, and the potential content of, the relationship between sport and the arts so as to establish a new operational and cooperative paradigm, one that might serve to benefit both.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

The aforementioned research questions provide a solid basis for research regarding the

parallels sports and the arts, but they are, in current state, too broad. A full and proper study of

the existing questions would be ample basis for a dissertation, far more depth than fits the

nature of this research project. To scale this study to an appropriate level for a thesis, a series of

limitations must be put in place to make the work manageable, as well as leave room for further

exploration at the doctoral level. The first limitation to enact is one that brings the scope of this

study down from a broad look at entire fields that will constitute later research to a more

limited, focused approach. As such, this work will serve as a pilot study, thereby paving the way

for later, expanded work on the same set of questions and ideas. As is necessary with a pilot

study, additional limitations must be put in place to further focus the work to this manageable

scale. Such a limitation to consider is a geographical one. By limiting the area of focus to a

specific area, it becomes possible to examine organizations within that area rather than an olio

7 of organizations from various areas. To satisfy this limitation, from here out this study will focus on the city of Columbus, Ohio. As a sizeable city with numerous professional organizations in both sports and the arts, Columbus makes an ideal setting for this study.

Having limited this pilot study to the city of Columbus, it next must be decided if this research will address the city’s sports and arts scenes in their entirety, or focus on specific organizations. In the spirit of this being a pilot study, the latter option will be chosen, and the specific organizations of focus are Opera Columbus and the Columbus Crew. The rationale behind the choice of these two organizations is multi-faceted: both represent the highest level of professional organization within their disciplines, both represent disciplines (opera and soccer) that have niche but sizeable and devoted markets in the United States as evidenced by attendance and viewership, both are relatively young organizations, and, perhaps most importantly, both are disciplines and organizations that I personally enjoy. (Street & Smith,

2008; National Endowment for the Arts, 2008)

With a locale and organizations set, the last limitation that needs to be set is the exact area of focus that will be examined with Opera Columbus and the Crew. The reason for this final limitation, as discussed above as a supplemental research question, is that it allows for greater insight into the role and relevance of specific programs conducted by both organizations. Both organizations may participate in niche market activities, but this has not prevented them from undertaking efforts to reach out to and impact the broader population of

Columbus. To this end, the focus of this pilot study will be the community outreach programs utilized by both organizations throughout their existences to help make themselves integral parts of the Columbus community. This focus will allow for examination of areas such as educational outreach, minority development, fan clubs, and other points that will hopefully provide insight and information transferable between the two groups.

With all limitations to the scope of study set, this work can now be summarized as a pilot study, centered in Columbus and focusing on Opera Columbus and the Columbus Crew, which will examine each organization’s community outreach programs in hopes of coming to meaningful conclusions which may then offer new and useful ideas to each organization regarding their outreach efforts. By offering this insight, it may well be possible for each organization to establish a new paradigm with their outreach efforts, thereby moving one step closer to a Kuhnian revolution.

Significance of the Study

The potential significance of this study is substantial. On one level, as it is a pilot study, it will serve to lead into further research along the same lines, removing the artificially imposed limitations so that a broader, more universally applicable study may be completed. In this sense, this study serves as a forerunner. On another, potentially more significant level, this work may be a first foray into previously ignored territory. As will be discussed in following chapters, while both sports and the arts have independently vast literature bases, the literature relating specifically to community outreach, particularly within opera and soccer, is very thin. By making this initial study, I hope to both establish a precedent for research on the topic as well as draw attention to both the topic and the potential interaction between sports and the arts that it might lead to. By establishing that sports and the arts are not only compatible, but can serve to teach each other, this study will show that we can not only have our revolutionary cake, but eat it, too.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

In establishing the proper context in which to explore the relationship between sports and the arts, both on the whole and in the limited scope of this pilot study, it is necessary to offer a review of the existing literature. This review offers a look not only at what research into the topic already exists, but also helps to frame this new work by showing what existing information gap it addresses. In this particular instance, the literature review takes on a somewhat abnormal form and function. The reason for this is that, although each area has served as the basis for a substantial literature base, they are rarely linked together (Seaman,

2003). To compound this problem, even when examined individually, the two areas’ literature yields little with regards to community outreach programs.

Because of this, it is somewhat impractical and extraordinarily difficult to approach the literature review as is generally done, by distilling repeated themes and ideas from vast quantities of scholarly works. The limited nature of the literature instead lends itself to a different format of review, utilizing an annotated bibliography. This approach allows for examination and review of what relevant literature there is rather than distilling copious amounts of irrelevant literature.

Structure

Utilizing an annotated bibliography format makes this literature review a great deal easier and, perhaps, more directly relevant to the topic at hand. However, some clarification as to the structure of the annotated bibliography is necessary so as to better justify its use. As

10 there is almost no literature that addresses both sports and the arts, and that which does has no relevance to the topic at hand, the two areas will be reviewed separately. However, since one of the abiding goals of this research is to show parallels between the two fields, their individual literatures will be presented in parallel.

To this end, literature will be examined for both that addresses two main topics: the history of the discipline in America, and patron interaction within that discipline. In each case, the topic will be discussed through the review of scholarly books (although, it should be noted, several of the books used cite articles, and they will be cited as such). After each field is reviewed, there will be a brief discussion of repeated ideas and themes within that set of literature. Following the review of both fields, there will be a brief examination of recurring ideas and themes between the two fields. Through this examination, as well as the parallel way in which the two sets of literature will be presented, not only will a succinct yet meaningful look at each field emerge, but parallels between the two should begin to make themselves evident. With these parallels established and evident, it will then be time to present and examine the data germane to this particular study.

Soccer

History in America

American sports: from the age of folk games to the age of televised sports , Benjamin G. Rader

Rader’s contribution to the literature regards, as his book’s title suggests, the history of

American sports, ranging from the early colonial settlements through the current age of television. To clarify the title, Rader (2009) addresses sports in America, not just those sports that were created in America. With the first permanent settlers from England came the traditional games from England. These games, as well as the culture that supported them were part of the “festive culture” developed in England, the result of the confluence of ancient pagan

11 customs, religious practices, and the communal nature of life in small agricultural villages (Holt,

1996). The transfer of culture was largely due to similar circumstances in the American colonies

(save the history of paganism). Amongst these early sports was football, a common ancestor to both the modern games of soccer and football. A popular village sport in England, where its violent nature led to it being banned no fewer than 30 times over the course of the 300 years leading up to colonization, it retained its popularity in the colonies (Rader, 2009). Although the sport retained its violent nature, it also was an early source of village unity and pride, a trait that it has retained to the present day. The sport even enjoyed a measure of support from authority figures when football was considered as a “lawful sport” by Puritan leaders in New England

(Rader, 2009).

Far from being just a northern occurrence, these early games also flourished in the southern colonies. In contrast to the northern colonies, however, those of high social stature in the southern colonies often patronized the sporting events put on by those of lower standing.

The violent nature of sport was maintained, however, by a regional taste for blood sports, including cock fights and gander-pulling (Rader, 2009). Similar tastes pervaded the backcountry of the colonies, albeit in more civilized forms such as wrestling. These regional trends show a distinct correlation between the distance from New England and the prevalence of violent sport.

In post-colonial America, sport retained its popularity. Thanks to the concept of

“rational recreation”, the idea leisure activities being used to refresh the mind and body, vigorous exercise was a cornerstone of Victorian life (Rader, 2009). Although the Victorian ideal was for non-competitive athletics, the desire for a life of greater physical strenuosity was all the reason necessary for football, a suitably strenuous activity, to flourish. Similar support for physical activity (and, implicitly, football) came from “muscular Christians”, those who thought of physical vigor and spirituality to be necessary counterparts (Rader, 2009).

The next major development for sport in America was the development of a group

known as the “sporting fraternity” in the mid-19 th century. More a loose group than an organization with a distinct home base, it is this group that first began to seek profit from sport

(Rader, 2009). At the urban sporting events they would present (rural people still largely pursued traditional pastimes), they would make money through sale of liquor, taking bets, and charging gate fees. While most of this money went to promoters, occasionally athletes would also be compensated for their participation, leading to the creation of American professional sport. This ultimately led to, in 1869, the formation of the Cincinnati Red Stockings, a baseball club that was the country’s first all-professional team (Rader, 2009). The success of the Red

Stockings spurred the formation of professional teams in the cities where they had played, ultimately leading to a professional baseball league (Rader, 2008).

While the “sporting fraternity” was creating professional sports, contrasting social groups were establishing sporting communities that were devoted to amateur endeavors. On one end of the social spectrum were the social elite, who supported amateur sport because it excluded those of lower social standing who could not afford to devote time to it. To quote

Rader (2009):

“The wealthy, therefore, tended to look upon sports requiring merely a field and a ball with contempt; these were the diversions of ordinary people. Instead, they lavished their attention on thoroughbred horse racing, yachting, polo, track and field, cricket, tennis, and golf, games that required large amounts of free time, costly facilities, elaborate equipment, and sometimes travel to faraway places.”

At the other end of the social spectrum were poor immigrants, who supported amateur sports because they could not afford to attend professional events. With these immigrant communities came the games popular in the homelands, leading to the appearance in urban areas of sports that had previously been kept to rural areas. It is at this time that soccer (at this

13 point distinctly different from football, thanks to further development in Britain) first appears in urban areas.

At the same time that these contrasting sporting communities were coming into their own, collegiate sports were starting to gain popularity. In 1869, several months after the Red

Stockings concluded their first season, teams from Princeton and Rutgers faced off in the first intercollegiate “football” game (although it bore the name football, the game was very similar to soccer) (Rader, 2009). This brand of football gained early popularity in the northeast at many

Ivy League institutions (with the notable exception of Harvard, which preferred a form of the game much closer to modern football). Harvard leveraged their prominence amongst other colleges into their brand of football becoming the dominant form of the game.

In the decades following the popularization of collegiate football, youth leagues in various sports began to form in cities around the country. Although youth participation was nothing new, it had generally occurred either in games that the youths had themselves organized, or as part of teams consisting largely of adults (Rader, 2009). This proliferation of youth leagues not only served as a training ground for future collegiate athletes, but also allowed organizations to exert some form of moral influence through sponsorship, reminiscent of the “muscular Christianity” movement.

With little change, these various components have remained unchanged over the last century, leading to the current structure of youth leagues, high school and collegiate sports, recreational leagues, amateur leagues, and professional leagues. It is through this structure that soccer has maintained a place in American sport. After years as primarily a scholastic and youth sport, soccer made a grand entrance into America at its highest level when the country played host to the 1994 World Cup (Rader, 2009). This event served to bring a sport that had a long history in America to the forefront, only to have its placed cemented by the highly publicized

14 victory of the country’s national team in the 1999 Women’s World Cup. By this point, soccer was firmly established at all levels of sport in America, even if not necessarily at the same level as baseball or its cousin football.

Patron Interaction

Sports and their fans: The history, economics and culture of the relationship between spectator

and sport , Kevin G. Quinn

As this work’s title implies, and in contrast to the other piece that discusses patron interaction, Quinn writes about the relationship between spectators and sport in terms of the relationship’s history, the economical implications of the relationship, and the unique fan culture that has risen out of it. To this end, Quinn (2009) begins by establishing what constitutes a sport, stating that for an activity to be a sport it must have physicality, competition, and some objective measure of outcome. He also establishes that to be a fan in America is a common occurrence. According to a Pew Research Center (2006) poll, 46 percent of American adults follow sports at least “somewhat closely”, and this statistic holds fairly consistently regardless of age, race, education, income, or location. This same poll reveals that, while being a fan is fairly consistent, which one is a fan of varies depending on race. For instance, baseball, cited by 13% of all respondents as their favorite sport, was only pegged as a favorite by 4% of African-

Americans. Conversely, only 3% of all respondents claimed that soccer was their favorite sport, but 24% of Hispanics taking the poll said it was their favorite.

The numbers taken from the Pew study mirror those taken from a study conducted by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in 2002. According to this study, similar percentages based on gender attended at least one sporting event a year as claim they follow sports. Unlike the Pew study, however, which showed that being a fan was largely unrelated to factors such as location, education, and income, the NEA study found that those attending sporting events were

15 more likely to be better educated and have a higher income than non-attendees, and they are more likely to be white than African-American or Hispanic (National Endowment for the Arts,

2004).

This interest and attendance at events helps fans turn sports into a significant part of the American economy. The four major sports leagues, the National Football League (NFL),

Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), and National Hockey

League (NHL) account for a combined $16 billion in annual revenue, not counting revenue generated indirectly by individual teams or companies that have licensing agreements (Plunkett,

2008). Even the combined revenue generated by the lesser professional sports leagues, such as minor league baseball and hockey, Major League Soccer (MLS) and Major League Lacrosse

(MLL), is a still substantial $3 billion per year (Plunkett, 2008). Most of this revenue is generated by fans attending events. It is interesting to note that, while the revenues generated by MLS and MLL do not compare to those of the four major leagues, their attendance figures are almost on par with those of the NHL and NBA and, in some cities, are actually higher (Plunkett, 2008).

This seems to indicate that, while they may not be large-scale money makers, these leagues do enjoy healthy fan bases.

These fan bases have lead to the building of stadiums and arenas to host the sporting events. While the venues are of various sizes and purposes (some are single purpose whereas some are multi-purpose), there is some correlation between popularity of a sport and the size of the venues built for it. Football, named by 34% of people as their favorite sport, boasts 144 stadiums with seating capacity greater than 30,000, and baseball has 28 (Pew Research Center,

2006; World Stadiums, 2007). Even soccer, which has relatively few sport-specific stadiums in

America, has one stadium that falls into this range. These venues, while generally paid for at

16 least in part by fan-based revenue, also draw on public funding, setting them up to be sources of civic pride as well as arenas for sport.

The factor of civic pride became an increasingly important matter immediately following

World War II. While professional and collegiate sporting events had been popular spectator events for almost a century prior to the war, it was during the post-war years that sport facilities became increasingly important social venues. This was due in large part to the migration of urban populations to cities’ suburbs. With this move to the suburbs, sporting venues became a place for fans that had formerly all resided within the city they were cheering for to come together again and find a source of pride in their city. As cities and their suburbs grew following the war, new sports teams sprung up, bringing not only stadiums to be a source of pride, but also teams to play in them. In some instances, the inability of certain cities to land new franchises led to even further growth. When Lamar Hunt was incapable of securing an NFL franchise for Dallas in 1959, he established a new league, the American Football League, ultimately comprising seven new teams (Quirk, 1997).

It was also during this post-war era that television was first utilized to bring sports to fans en masse. Radio had already been in use for some time to broadcast sporting events, but the proliferation of television allowed fans to actually see the events as they were occurring.

Television was first used to broadcast sports in the late 1930’s, beginning with a baseball game between Columbia and Princeton broadcast NBC in the New York area (Quinn, 2009). After the war, with the establishment of the NBC and DuMont networks, sporting events became available on a scale greater than local. The national expansion of these networks helped to cultivate fan bases for sports in western states, driving up demand for professional franchises in that part of the country. This came to fruition with the move of the New York Giants and

Brooklyn Dodgers to San Francisco and Los Angeles (respectively) for the 1958 season (Quinn,

2009). This reflects that, even though fans do not directly impact the sporting events that they watch, they can have a vast impact on sports themselves.

Although fans have adapted to and embraced sports broadcasting, it has not prevented them from attending live events. During the 2006-2007 and 2007 season, the four major leagues drew approximately 140 million spectators, a number that is almost half of the US population; NCAA football and basketball add another 89 million (Quinn, 2009). Non-major sports leagues, such as minor league baseball and hockey, arena football leagues, MLS, MLL, and the WNBA bring in approximately 61 million fans per year, and these figures do not account for sports such as auto racing, tennis, horse racing, and golf. It is possible, especially with these non-major sports leagues, that the prevalence of sports broadcasting (it constitutes roughly 25% of all American television viewing) has helped to expose fans to new sports, thereby driving them to attend these events (Szymanski, 2003).

This high level of fan participation does seem to have basis in psychology. The involvement of other of their team’s fans, be it at an event, around a TV, or at various other functions, creates a sense of community. This like-minded group, sharing a history, a passion for a team, and their desire to be around others similar to them, seems to occupy a place with fans not dissimilar to religion (Quinn, 2009). Similarly, the connection that fans have with their teams, including their reactions to their teams’ wins and losses, mirror the impacts (to an extent) of taking certain drugs (Quinn, 2009). To clarify this point, the anticipation of a big game can elevate the mood and create a rush of adrenaline, whereas a tough loss can negatively impact a fan’s mood, reflecting “coming down”. These phenomena have been dubbed the BIRG and CORF effects, acronyms for “basking in reflected glory” and “cutting off reflected failure”

(Cialdini, 2001).

This American fan culture, as well as the psychological factor that it entails, encompasses all sports played in this country. However, the simple fact that a sport is played in

America makes it subject to a unique “Americanization,” making it subject to the culture and mentality that we ascribe to sports. Perhaps no sport is a better example of this than soccer.

While soccer is the world’s most popular sport, its professional incarnation in the US is distinctly different from other countries. Spectator violence is fairly commonplace in international soccer, occurring in approximately 10% of matches (Quinn, 2009). In some of these instances, fan violence reaches such proportions that security forces must employ tactics generally reserved for combating terrorism (Goss, 2003). In the United States, however, no substantial spectator violence has occurred during a professional soccer match (Quinn, 2009).

Soccer has also been marketed differently in America than it has been abroad.

Internationally, soccer does not have a target demographic; it is targeted to all ages and social classes. In America, soccer is geared towards two primary groups: young children, via youth leagues such as AYSO; and members of Generation Y, also known as the millennial generation, via MLS (Quinn, 2009). These group are young, have gained exposure to the international world through technology, and, in the case of Generation Y, tend to have some measure of disposable income, and (Quinn, 2009). This international exposure has helped to drive demand for soccer and its stars. This is why, in a professional league with one of the lowest average salaries of a sports league in America and professional soccer globally, David Beckham (a European superstar) was signed to a five-year deal worth $250 million (ESPNsoccernet, 2007). This is merely one example of the combination of soccer as an international game and the American fan and sporting culture.

Marketing the sports organisation: building networks and relationships , Alain Ferrand and Scott

McCarthy

As suggested by the title, Ferrand and McCarthy address the marketing of sports organizations. In contrast to most similarly intended works, which focus on marketing through means of advertisements and the like, this book focuses primarily on the use of relationships, especially with patrons, to market a team or sports organization. A particular benefit of using this book, in addition to the fact that it addresses patron interaction, is that, due to it being written by two Europeans, soccer is one of the main sports they focus on.

The authors begin by explaining that, to examine the marketing of sports organizations, it is necessary to understand what exactly is being marketed. Rather than simply marketing the idea of the organization, what are actually marketed are the products and services that the organization provides. To clarify this, they explain that products and services refer to tangible and intangible (respectively) offers from the organization that have some value to the consumer

(Normann, 1998). It is by conveying to consumers the values of their products and services that sports organizations market themselves. It also bears mentioning that the authors consider a sports organization to be an entity that provides products and services “that allow participation in sport and activities directly linked to entertainment provided by sport (e.g. clubs, federations, etc.)” (Ferrand, 2009). It is also pointed out that, while many people perceive sports organizations to be the primary component of the sports industry, they are only one of four sectors that comprise the industry. The other sectors (those who provide supplies, those that provide support services, and private and public organizations that collaborate with sports organizations) serve ancillary functions (Figure 2.1).

Figure 2.1: Sectors of the Sports Industry (Ferrand, 2009)

To successfully market themselves, sports organizations need to aim their endeavors at their stakeholders. An organization’s stakeholders are “any groups or individuals who can affect or are affected by the achievement of the organization’s objectives,” meaning that any entity that has a relationship with the organization is a stakeholder (Freeman, 1984). Traditionally, sports organizations have marketed themselves from a transactional point of view, where the core phenomenon is exchange of value. From this viewpoint, marketing is about creating and facilitating the exchange of products and services for money, meaning that the major focus of marketing programs has been to make consumers purchase things (Grönroos, 2000).

Increasingly, sports organizations are shifting away from transactional marketing and embracing a relationship-marketing approach (Ferrand, 2009). This approach shifts financial transactions from being the core objective to being a result of strong, long-term relationships with an organization’s stakeholders. An organization may utilize this approach to build a relationship with its fans, as AC Milan has done with their Cuore Rosso Nero program (Ferrand,

2009). This online community serves to unite people with similar passion for the team.

Registration to the community is free, and data are collected from each registrant to help the services rendered them be tailored to them. The service includes a mobile blog that fans can upload pictures to from their cell phones, a chat room that allows fans to chat with each other

21 as well as current and former Milan players, a download center where fans can access photos and videos, a program for sending e-cards, and a contact page for requesting information on topics ranging from autographs to interviews.

AC Milan has also introduced a number of programs based on collaborations with partners, like the media, regional authorities, and sponsors. For example, the AC Milan Youth

Programme is a coordinated set of activities and events aimed at children under the age of 18

(Ferrand, 2009). This program covers all of AC Milan’s Youth Sector teams, all associated youth teams belonging to Galassia Milan and the AC Milan Soccer School, several camps, and pure entertainment events, such as Mgeneration Park and Milan Party. The objective for this program is to introduce soccer to youths and promote a positive life model (Ferrand, 2009).

These two examples show how AC Milan has embraced relationship marketing. The

Cuore Rosso Nero program exemplifies relationship marketing with a market orientation, as it is focused on building loyalty by strengthening AC Milan’s relationship with their supporters. The

Youth Programme is an example of relationship marketing with network orientation, as it is based on the collaborative efforts of several parties. In both examples, the relationship between parties or stakeholders constitutes the core phenomenon, and marketing is about managing these relationships. This approach allows the club to work with its nebulous group of stakeholders (Figure 2.2) better than the transactional approach would.

Figure 2.2: Sporting Stakeholders (Ferrand, 2009)

Utilization of relationship marketing also allows sports organizations to connect with their stakeholders in multiple ways. These ways, referred to as “links,” cover the five aspects inherent in successful relationships: commercial, functional, social, emotional, and semantic

(Ferrand, 2009). Commercial links are those based on the notion of exchange and the construction of relationships that provide economic benefits. Functional links are those related to the use of products or services offered by the organization. Social links are those that link a person to social groups (such as fan clubs) or to society in general. Emotional links are those that produce some emotional response to the organization’s actions (such as a win or loss).

Semantic links are those that give purpose to an organization’s product or service and to its consumption. By addressing these links in particular order, organizations can increase loyalty amongst their fan base, moving those who may start with only a passing interest to those who openly and passionately advocate on behalf of the organization (Christopher, 2004).

Although the use of relationship marketing focuses primarily on the direct relationships between an organization and its stakeholders, it also includes indirect interaction through the

23 use of social marketing. Rather than focus on the stakeholders themselves, social marketing instead seeks to influence their behavior by improving their personal welfare or the society of which they are part (Andreasen, 1994). Two examples of this come from European soccer clubs

Barcelona and AC Milan (Ferrand, 2009). Barcelona’s Fundació Futbol Club Barcelona is a cultural charity operating primarily in Catalonia. Its main purpose is the promotion of the sporting, cultural, and social dimensions of the Barcelona soccer team within the sporting and cultural communities in general. Milan’s ONLUS Foundation is geared towards promoting social welfare, education, training and sports instruction in Italy. The ONLUS Foundation is also actively involved with disadvantaged minority populations. These programs serve to help reinforce the links between a club and its community of stakeholders.

The use of relationship marketing allows sports organizations to build brand communities, specialized communities not defined by geography that are based on a set of social relations among admirers of a brand (Muniz, 1996). These communities, essentially brand-specific social networks, are formed through direct contact between members. Within these communities, members can assume one of four roles: adherents, or devotees, of the institution; participants in both formal and informal gatherings (games, tours, etc.); practitioners who have an almost daily involvement in organizational activities; and sympathizers who go with trends and share the social identity and imagery of the organization but are not closely tied to it (Cova, 2001). The communities provide organizations with stakeholders not only in their immediate vicinity, but also wherever fans may abide.

The culminating impact of an organization using relationship and social marketing and connecting with their brand communities is that it allows them to build strong and personalized fan experiences for their supporters. Through developing and maintaining strong relationships, an organization can build long-term. These relationships can be cultivated in any number of

24 ways (special offers, gatherings, etc.), and the response of individuals to these cultivation efforts allows the organization to keep track of their tendencies and actions, thereby allowing a more customized experience. In addition to this, an organization can keep track of individuals’ purchasing habits, requests for information, and the like, further refining the individual profile.

By offering consumers the most personalized experience possible, sports organizations then reap the benefits of strong customer relationships.

Repeated and Prominent Points

While reading the aforementioned literature, there were several points that stood out, either due to their prominence within their specific piece of literature or because they were repeated across multiple sources. Just as the pieces of literature serve to frame the data examined for this work, these points provide the ideas that inform the methodology and analysis of the data.

Point 1 – It is all about community

As first noted in Rader’s book, sport began in the American colonies as a function of community. Athletics served as not only as an opportunity for communities to come together as part of a “festive culture,” but also as a way for regions to differentiate themselves, creating a sense of regional identity. Quinn points out the role that sports arena played in developing civic pride in post-World War II America. The stadiums gave their home cities something to point to and to compare against other cities while the sporting evens they hosted help to create a unified community amongst populations that were increasingly shifting from urban to suburban.

Ferrand and McCarthy discuss at length the increasing popularity of relationship marketing and social marketing, both of which cater directly to the concept of fan bases as communities of like- minded individuals rather than as collections of solitary individuals. In all three instances, the case is made that it is communities, not just individuals, that derive the greatest benefit from

25 sport and that sports organizations try to interact with. As such, in examining the data collected regarding the Columbus Crew and Opera Columbus’ community outreach program, it is relevant and important to look at how and whether these programs either foster a community or cater to a specific community.

Point 2 – Amateur is as important as professional

Although Quinn does not address them, the two other texts both discuss the role of amateur and recreational sports. As noted above, Rader discusses at length the history of sport in America, which existed in an amateur format until the mid-1800’s. Even as professional sports formed and became popular during that time, amateur athletics still served as an outlet for community involvement and activity. While professional sports are very prominent today, amateur and recreational sports are still popular and important for those of all ages, whether they want to learn a game, be part of a team, or use it as an avenue to an eventual professional career.

Ferrand and McCarthy discuss, as part of AC Milan’s Youth Programme, the role that amateur youth sports play in the marketing of sports organizations. While the primary purpose of AC Milan is to field a professional soccer team, they also have their youth program that not only serves to get youths involved in the sport and the positive lifestyle it promotes, but to make these youths loyal at an early age to AC Milan. This duel purpose makes amateur youth soccer a very important tool for AC Milan, both in promoting their sport and promoting their organization. These examples bring to question to what extent the outreach programs being examined address the amateur aspect of their respective disciplines.

Point 3 – Transactional marketing is giving way to relationship marketing

Although this final point is made only by Ferrand and McCarthy (presumably due to it not being necessarily relevant to the other works), it is presented in such a fashion as to be a

prominent point. The authors explain that, in the past, transactional marketing was the norm,

making the financial transaction between supplier and consumer the core phenomenon.

However, in the present, this is giving way to the increasingly popular relationship marketing,

which instead focuses on cultivating strong relationships between suppliers and consumers as

the core phenomenon, and then letting those relationships lead to financial transactions.

Presumably, the reason that transaction marketing was popular in the past was that means did

not exist to successfully cultivate relationships with consumers en masse, making it far easier to

focus on getting them to purchase tickets and merchandise. With recent advances in

technology, however, it has become easy for organizations to cultivate relationships with their

consumers through online communities, personalized services, and the like. As this approach

becomes progressively easier, it is hard to imagine an organization sticking with a method that

does not make their consumers feel more directly in touch with their team. Bearing this in

mind, it seems worthwhile to look at the outreach efforts being examined in terms of whether

they represent transactional or relationship marketing, and how they exemplify that particular

approach.

Opera

History in America

Opera in America: a cultural history , John Dizikes

As implied by the name of this piece of literature, it is focused on tracing the history of opera as an art form in America. The work is structured into six time periods (the author refers to them, embracing the lingo of the subject matter, as acts) that follow opera’s progression from the mid-1700’s to present day. The author points out in the preface that, when referring to opera, he uses the word in the sense “of its Italian originators, drama by means of music.”

(Dizikes, 1993) This broad definition allows for the inclusion of operetta, the musical, and

27 musical comedy. The author also clearly states that this work is a broad history intended for general reading, not a completely comprehensive tome geared towards specialists. Despite this, the book does still provide a thorough and enlightening history of opera in America.

Although it is alluded to that operas in English were performed earlier, Dizikes begins with the first full season of Italian opera presented in America. Beginning in November of 1825 and spanning into 1826, a family of Spanish singers, the Garcías, produced nine different operas, all in Italian (Dizikes, 1993). The family consisted of the father, Manuel (a well-established opera singer for whom Rossini had written multiple roles), his wife Joaquina (also an accomplished singer, but who mostly tended to raising the children), their son Manuel (a high baritone who had yet to sing opera in public), and their daughters Maria Felicia (who had already made her operatic debut in London) and Pauline (still a baby). The Garcías brought with them their full company of singers and musicians. The season was made possible by three men: Lorenzo Da

Ponte, Mozart’s librettist who was living in New York and used London connections to bring the

Garcías there; Stephen Price, the manager of the Park Theatre in New York, where the season went on; and Dominick Lynch, an opera aficionado who provided financial guarantees. The season consisted primarily of operas by the elder Manuel’s friend, Rossini, but also included two works by García himself and a work by Mozart (Dizikes, 1993). After concluding in July of 1826, the season provided itself both a critical and financial success. Following the season, there was debate as to whether it was, in the long run, a success, as it had not led directly to the creation of a permanent company. However, the popularity of the Garcías’ season helped to create a demand for Italian opera in America.

While the Garcías’ season in New York established a demand for Italian opera in New

York, it was far from the first example of opera in America. Before that season, and, in fact, before America united as a nation, it had served as a venue for the performance of English

28 opera (Dizikes, 1993). English opera, derived from a combination of Italian opera and the

English masque, was a substantial step towards rebuilding the state of English music following the Puritan Commonwealth. Although the first English opera, The Siege of Rhodes , was composed by five people, none of them had heard Italian opera, only the concepts behind it

(Dizikes, 1993). As such, a distinctly nationalistic sound emerged in both theirs and subsequent works. This distinctly British style, epitomized by the likes of John Blow and Henry Purcell, is the form that first brought opera to America.

Although there is no clear record of where and when the first opera performance on

American soil was, the first of which there is certain record occurred in Charleston, South

Carolina, in 1735 (Dizikes, 1993). The work performed was Colley Cibber’s Flora, or Hob in the

Well . It is theorized that the reason for the performance taking place in South Carolina as opposed to the more metropolitan northern colonies is that the southern colonies were not as rife with Puritanism as the northern ones were. As such, opera had an opportunity to gain a footing in the colonies. In subsequent years, touring troupes of singers began to spread opera throughout the colonies. One work in particular, John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera , spread quickly, being the first opera performed in New York and the first presented in America with orchestral accompaniment (Dizikes, 1993). By 1800, this piece had been performed throughout the entirety of the country.

While English opera was the primary influence on American opera, it was not the only one. Due to the large French population in New Orleans, French opera became popular there.

By 1796, there were confirmed performances of works by French composers Grétry, Dalayrac, and Dezède (Dizikes, 1993). Unlike English opera in the northern states, much of the French opera performed in New Orleans was performed by amateur musicians. The operatic tradition of the city was bolstered when the United States made the Louisiana Purchase. As more and

29 more Americans moved into the territory and English became the dominant language, French opera became a source of pride and unity for the Creole community. This influence spread throughout the country when, in 1824, an impresario named John Davis took a company of New

Orleans musicians on tour performing French opera throughout the country, including the northeast (Dizikes, 1993). In the same way that the Garcías’ season the following year created a taste for Italian opera, Davis’ tour created a demand for French opera.

Amongst the first distinctly American contributions to opera, even before the combination of European influence into new works, were the theaters where they were performed and the audiences which they drew (Dizikes, 1993). In early European opera (the exception to this being English ballad operas), the audiences were primarily royalty and nobility and the works were performed at court. In America, beginning with New York’s Park Theatre

(following an 1821 renovation, the first venue specifically designed for the staging of opera, although New York’s Italian Opera House was the first one originally designed for opera), performances were given in venues that allowed anyone capable of paying for admission to watch (Dizikes, 1993). The result was that the audiences drawn to early performances came from different social classes and backgrounds, a melting pot of an audience.

The next discernable era in the American history of opera occurred in the 1850s during the California gold rush. Whereas opera had previously been performed only in cities on the east coast, at this time it began move westward, expanding its territory along with the country.

In San Francisco, the center of the gold rush, not only were there companies performing

European opera, but there were several companies performing Chinese opera (Dizikes, 1993).

San Francisco also became a major performance venue for European-born singers, many of whom developed strong followings amongst their countrymen (one singer, Kate Hayes, inspired

30 such frenzy in San Francisco’s Irish community that a single seat to one of her recitals was auctioned for $1,200).

While opera was expanding westward, it maintained a strong presence on the east coast. As large European immigrant populations came to the country in the mid-to-late-1800s, they brought with them both the singers and operas which they had grown used to in Europe.

When P.T. Barnum brought Swedish singer Jenny Lind to New York in 1850, the reactions to her performances were such that the “honor” of purchasing the first ticket to one of her concerts was auctioned off in each city, often for over $500 (Dizikes, 1993). Although Lind never performed in an opera during her stay in America, she did help to popularize the works of many contemporary European composers amongst American audiences, leading to greater demand for both their works and European singers to perform them.

It was this demand for European performers that ultimately led to opera being perceived as a foreign and/or aristocratic art rather than as entertainment for all, as it had been seen since arriving in America. At the center of this transition were two actors, Edwin Forrest and William Macready. Forrest, an American, was the chief rival of Macready, a Brit. Their styles were opposite of each other (Forrest was bombastic and intuitive, whereas Macready was more introspective), and neither received a warm welcome in the other’s country (Dizikes,

1993). Things came to a head when Macready agreed to an additional performance of Macbeth in May of 1848 at the Astor Place Opera House. Rumors circulated that British sailors were prepared to come ashore and protect the performance and that the New York militia might be called on to do the same. The evening of the performance, the militia did appear (although no

British sailors) and, when fighting broke out both inside and outside of the theater, they fired on the gangs that had assembled in support of Forrest. The Astor Place Opera House had been built to display the wealth and standing of New York’s elite, and in the wake of this Macbeth

fiasco, it became a symbol amongst the street gangs and other non-elites in New York of an art

that was foreign and upper-class (Dizikes, 1993). These events cemented in public perception a

comment made by a New York Herald reporter in 1844: “The opera – the ballet – the acted

drama – are all abominations maintained by foreigners, and imported into this country by

‘foreigners,’” (New York Herald, 1844).

As the 19 th century came to a close, major cities competed to build the grandest opera houses to show the newest European works. Philadelphia and New York opened their respective Academies of Music and Boston opened the Boston Theatre, each designed to show the wealth and standing of both the cities in which they were located and the patrons who attended performances there. The works of Verdi, Gounod, and Offenbach were being premiered and popularized across the country’s major cities. It was also during this time that

German opera came into the fold of American operatic tastes (German composers had already had their works heard in America, but they were in other languages and musical styles) (Dizikes,

1993). The final major contribution to opera in America during this period was the building of

New York’s Metropolitan Opera, built by the rich for the rich (it was conceived of after a wealthy family’s request for a box at the Academy of Music was declined) and to this day a standard- bearer in opera in America.

In the early years of the 20 th century, European works still dominated American stages.

Although arguably the three most important opera composers of this era (Puccini, Debussy, and

Strauss) all hailed from different European countries, they all borrowed heavily from the

Germanic (specifically, Wagnerian) tradition of the late 1800s: through composition, grand plots, and grandiose presentation (Dizikes, 1993). American opera audiences also developed a taste for verismo opera, a form that favored realism over fantasy. The popularity of verismo helped

to re-establish Italian prominence in opera (the two most famous verismo composers were

Puccini and Leoncavallo) after the rise of German opera a generation earlier.

It was Puccini who helped to usher in opera that was not only American in presentation,

but American in subject matter. Although it was written in Italian, his La Fanciulla del West (The

Golden Girl of the West ) was premiered at the Metropolitan Opera and was set in the American

West. True to its setting, the opera included folk melodies that were popular in the west, as

well as polka, whiskey, and a Wells-Fargo agent (Dizikes, 1993). Interestingly, when the

Metropolitan Opera presented its first opera by an American composer, Horatio Parker’s Mona , it was a story of English revolt against Roman rule (Dizikes, 1993). It was not until the

Metropolitan Opera premiered Charles Wakefield Cadman’s Shanewis, or The Robin Woman in

1911 that an opera by an American about an American subject was presented by a major opera

house, and it was not until Scott Joplin composed Treemonisha several years later that an opera existed written by an American, that was about Americans, and that utilized strictly American musical forms (Dizikes, 1993).

Following the stock market crash 1929, the presentation of opera in America underwent several changes (Dizikes, 1993). First, whereas the previous decades had been largely devoted to premiering new works, revivals became very popular as they could be produced very cheaply.

Second, ticket prices began to fall. Although operas still cost a great deal to produce, producers realized that they would fare better by lowering prices and bringing in larger crowds than they would by maintaining higher prices and having small audiences. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, producers were beginning to feature American singers who had been trained in

America. While the use of American singers was not new, in the past they had all traveled to

Europe to seek training. That American-trained singers were being hired at major houses

33 indicated maturation amongst American music schools such that they finally provided training on par with European institutions.

During the period between the two World Wars, even as the Great Depression continued, new American works continued to be written. Two works in particular embraced both operatic tradition and America’s musical idioms: Virgil Thomson’s Four Saints in Three Acts and George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess (Dizikes, 1993). Thomson, who had studied lived in

Paris, was well-acquainted with modernist musical language, but chose to ignore it for a distinctly American sound, drawing on the music he heard in church as a child. Although the libretto (by Gertrude Stein) was confounding, the work was and is seen as a masterpiece of

American opera. Gershwin, classically trained but primarily a composer of popular music, combined elements of both jazz and American folk music in setting the tale (written by Dubose

Heyward) of an African-American fishing community in South Carolina. The work was groundbreaking at the time due to its all-black cast. Although Gershwin died before his work was deemed a success (it lost money in its original production), it has since become one of the seminal works of American opera.

Also during the time between the wars, radio became a player in American opera.

Previously, one could only hear opera if they could to attend a performance or if they purchased a record of one. However, with radio, people could listen to live opera while staying at home.

The first house to offer these broadcasts, New York’s Metropolitan Opera, gave its first broadcast on Christmas, 1931. The performance was of an abridged version of Hänsel und

Gretel , introduced on air by Milton Cross (who would remain the voice of these broadcasts for over 40 years) (Dizikes, 1993). By bringing live opera of the highest caliber into people’s homes, radio helped to bring opera back to the place it first occupied in America, entertainment for the masses.

During the last half of the 20 th century, American opera enjoyed a level of growth that was almost unforeseeable. American singers could now train in America and expect to sing in the most prestigious houses, and many non-American singers now came to America to study at the numerous high caliber schools. A crop of composers (Bernstein, Floyd, Moore, Barber,

Adams and the like) began to write operas that were not only American by creation and in topic, but that also saw performances outside of America. Major cities and small towns alike established opera houses, bringing the art form to every corner of all 50 states. Thanks to this growth and production, opera has truly established itself as a major component of America’s cultural heritage.

Patron Interaction and Marketing

Marketing the Arts , edited by Michael P. Mokwa, William M. Dawson, and E. Arthur Prieve

Rather than examining patron interaction and marketing separately, as was the case with the soccer literature, this work addresses patron interaction as a function of marketing.

Also setting this book apart from those in the soccer literature is the fact that this is a compilation of scholarly chapters from different authors rather than a broad study by a uniform writer. Although the work is somewhat antiquated (it was published in 1980), the concepts introduced and explained hold true almost 30 years later.

The book begins by establishing that arts marketing is meant to address four major problems: attendance stimulation (how many people are in the seats? how do they draw more?), audience development (how do they build a consistent audience base rather than those who only attend sporadically? is it better to bring high art to the masses, or make a better experience for a small number who will then bring it to others?), membership development

(how do they turn patrons into members?), and fund raising (how do we get those who are members or patrons to give more? how do we get those who aren’t to give? how do they make

35 these into long-term relationships rather than one-time donations?) (Kotler, 1980; Fromm,

1978). An effective solution to these four problems creates a ladder of participation for an organization’s patrons, wherein they start as occasional attendees and are ultimately molded into donating members. From this point of view, marketing is the process of engaging patrons rather than a single, distinct action.

The first section, on managing the arts market, begins with a brief discussion of the arts and marketing. The case is made that arts organizations require marketing because they create financial deficits by under-charging for tickets (Dawson, 1980). By creating these deficits, organizations and their administrators end up in a situation where they must seek outside funding, be it from donations or subsidies. Although subsidies from the government may be easier to come by, it is ultimately financial development of an organizations audience that grants it both success and administrative autonomy. To stir this development, it falls on organizations to market themselves, to exchange their product or service for something of value from their audience, be it time or money.

Integrating marketing into an organization’s business plan requires an understanding of what marketing entails (Mokwa, 1980). Marketing does not involve telling an artist how to create, but rather is a means of bringing that creation and an appropriate and appreciative audience for it together. Marketing is a necessary investment of both an organization’s tangible and intangible resources. Marketing need not be brash and loud, but can be accomplished with grace, subtlety, and sophistication. Lastly, marketing can (and should be geared to) persuade, encourage, and lead, but cannot compel people to attend, purchase, or participate.

With these points in mind, one must understand that marketing is about addressing unmet wants and needs. The organization wants/needs patrons, and patrons want/need the aesthetic experience offered by an organization. In bringing these two together, marketing goes

36 through five distinct steps: seeking, matching, programming, consummating, and auditing (Enis,

1979). Seeking involves identifying potential patrons for an organization by finding those whose wants/needs are met by that organization. Matching involves refining both the product offered and the previously identified audience so that they not only meet each other’s wants/needs, but also create an audience that wants to consume the product. Programming is when the organization creates an appropriate and successful mix of artistic offerings such that they fulfill their mission while attracting and satisfying the patrons found through the first two steps.

Consummating involves the actual exchange between producer and consumer, when the organization gives a product and the patrons in turn give their time or money for it. Lastly, auditing is the act of, after consummation, evaluating the success of the first four steps and finding points that could benefit from further refinement until an ideal balance is struck between the organization and its audience.

A major purpose of arts marketing is helping people overcome obstacles to appreciating the arts. The obstacles are not physical impediments, but are actually issues tied to perception of the arts and of the temperament of those who enjoy them. To those who have not received exposure to the arts, they can be perceived as elitist, requiring an expert knowledge to enjoy, feminine, or intimidating (Levy, 1980). To overcome these perceptions, there must be avenues to participation for those who are averse to it. The inclusion of the arts in education, for instance, helps to not only turn children on to artistic experience, but also helps to bring the arts into their homes where their parents can then be exposed to them. Similarly, the availability of the arts on television and on recording or in books helps to bring the arts to those who either do not feel comfortable with attending a public event or who may find cost or distance prohibitive.

By promoting and utilizing these avenues, arts organizations can market themselves to groups that would otherwise remain out of their reach.

In implementing marketing plans to reach potential patrons, organizations should keep in mind five basic principles to guide their efforts (Searles, 1980). First, the quality of the product being produced is of the utmost importance. Second, organizations must find the one thing that they do well and stick to it. Third, organizations must know their audiences and make it possible for their audiences to know them. Fourth, the success of marketing is contingent upon the wholehearted commitment of both people and funds. Lastly, organizations should target those who have characteristics similar to those already supporting the organization. By following these principles, organizations can better engage potential patrons in through marketing efforts.

Market the arts! , compiled by Joseph V. Melillo

This final piece of literature sets itself apart in two ways. First, the individual sections are broken down by discipline, allowing an examination of only the opera chapters. Second, rather than containing scholarly writing, the book contains a combination of writings by and interviews with professionals in the field. While this may not make the piece as scholarly authoritative, it does give a view point based on experience rather than theory.

The first section on opera is an interview with Gary Fifield, former managing director of

The Washington Opera (now known as Washington National Opera). Rather than focusing on a specific topic, the interview covers issues with defining opera as a field and creating a direction for a company to move in. Fifield states that part of the reason that opera is so hard to pigeon- hole, and therefore difficult to identify a target audience for, is because it a comprehensive art form, encompassing music, visual art, dance, and drama (Melillo, 1983). This difficulty manifests itself when an organization is trying to establish a clear artistic purpose or mission, as the organization must find a balance between the musical excellence that is the heart of opera production and the additional artistic elements inherent in the art. Similarly, with a company

38 such as Washington, a balance must be found that engages and stimulates not just an urban or governmental audience, but also those patrons who live outside of the metropolitan area.

Fifield identifies that, to attract and engage these diverse audiences, the company must partake in marketing efforts (Melillo, 1983). His take on marketing is that it is, or at least should be, focused on drawing more people into involvement with the company, not just taking their money. As such, he advocates marketing that is geared towards increasing subscription rates rather than marketing that goes after individual performance patrons. He also makes it clear that, while persuading people to subscribe is the goal of his company’s marketing, the primary method for this is positioning the company within the local arts market as a company that can meet the wants and needs of potential patrons.

Fifield acknowledges that there is an interconnection between marketing that leads to new donors (contributed income) and marketing that leads to new subscribers (earned income)

(Melillo, 1983). Both cases provide funding for the organization, and both create some measure of relationship between the patron and the organization. Both also require patron information, allowing the organization to cultivate donors and subscribers who either are currently uninvolved but potentially could be, or those who could be involved at a greater level. To this end, he mentions the use of patron lists and direct mailings (tools on both fronts) to raise an additional $150,000 one season by appealing to those who had already subscribed or given

(Melillo, 1983).

The interview is concluded by Fifield giving advice on marketing opera in areas where it has not previously been introduced (Melillo, 1983). His first piece of advice is, if the community is not receptive, if they do not want opera there, move along. While they may become receptive later, resources are better allocated where they can do good now. Second, he suggests conferring with the people who are already there. If you are making inroads to a new

39 community, work with those who caused you to look there in the first place. Aside from giving you valuable insight into the community, these people are also likely to be your first volunteers and subscribers from the area. Lastly, he suggests studying the area. To successfully market to a community, it is necessary to understand what is already offered, how receptive the community is to the offerings, and how these resources might be utilized to the new organization’s benefit. By following these suggestions, one may find more success in moving into new areas with their organization than they otherwise would have.

The second opera piece is written by Edward Corn, former general director of the

Minnesota Opera Company. In it, Corn addresses the issues surrounding perception of opera.

He asserts that one of the major challenges facing marketing directors in opera is that many people who are not already fans of the art form have erroneous pre-conceived notions about it, such as it is boring, it is nothing but fat ladies in body armor screeching, and that you need some sort of special equipment or training to enjoy it (Corn, 1983). Although opera performances are not entirely devoid of the behavior that begets stereotypes, they are far from the norm.

Corn surmises that opera moved from being the theater of the people (which it is in

Europe) to the butt of jokes when, in the late 19 th and early 20 th century, European immigrants gave up their native tongues in favor of English and assimilation (Corn, 1983). With this transition, the wealthy began to flaunt the foreign nature, and foreign languages, of opera as a sign of station, separating it from the masses and associating it with the wealthy. For a long time after this happened, opera became an event for those who were lovers of the arts and for those who attended as a function of social status. Both sought to isolate opera from the general public, perhaps as a way to maintain the “purity” of the art. It is this division and isolation that the modern marketing director is charged with repairing so that not only can they build their audience base, but they can create new enthusiasts for opera.

In addressing this issue, Corn offers several suggestions for combating these preconceptions (Corn, 1983). First, he brings up the proliferation of smaller, regional opera companies. When the only companies that came to people’s minds when they thought of opera were the major houses in large cities, it was difficult to think of opera as an art form for the masses as opposed to one for the wealthy. However, by bringing opera to all corners of the country with small regional houses, the art form becomes much more approachable. Another approach Corn suggests is the integration of new works into the repertory of classical standards.

If a company only produces the 10 or 12 best known operas, they may draw fans of those works, but also run the risk of feeding into stereotypes regarding both music and presentation. By incorporating new works, companies offer people the opportunity to experience new sights and sounds that they might not have previously identified with opera.

In concluding his piece, Corn offers two final suggestions regarding marketing efforts themselves (Corn, 1983). First, he suggests plainly stating in advertising materials that the company exists for the people. This can be enhanced by backing up the claim by performing in non-traditional or public venues. Second, he says that marketing should be geared towards not only those who are already arts patrons, but also those who enjoy attending live events, such as sports. By making opera appear to be a viable option for an evening of live entertainment rather than just going to the ballpark, an organization can engage a potential audience base that might not have even been on their radar. Although Corn recognizes that marketing is an evolving art form, much like opera, these steps can serve to help change minds about opera, and therefore make the marketers job of bringing in people much easier.

Repeated and Prominent Points

As with the literature regarding soccer, there are a few points that come up in this opera literature repeatedly or that are of particular prominence. Again, as with the opera literature,

41 these points provide the questions that will help inform the methodology and data analysis found in the latter parts of this study.

Point 1 – Opera is for the people

As the only point that comes up in all three pieces of literature, this one brings to light the fact that, while it is seen as an elitist art form (see next point), opera is currently and has in the past been an art form intended for broad audiences consisting of many different demographics. Dizikes mentions that early opera performances in America were often attended by both the wealthy and the lower class, and that opera was not seen as an elitist art until it had been performed in America for a century. Mokwa, Dawson, and Prieve gear the writings that they compiled for their book to show that it is important for opera to be targeted to all, not just existing audiences or the wealthy. This importance is derived from opera being an art form that is accessible to all, and therefore makes all people potential patrons. The writings in Melillo’s book similarly address the fact that opera is both accessible and enjoyable to anyone, and that people merely need to be introduced to it.

Although this point is, to some extent, intrinsically tied to point two, it must also be taken as its own distinctly important idea. The concept of opera as an art form for all people is what drives the concept of opera marketing and community outreach. After all, if opera were not suitable for these people, what point would there be in trying to both bring opera to them

(community outreach) and bring them to opera (marketing)? This begs the question, then, of whether the community outreach programs being examined actually serve to involve both a greater number and more diverse group of people in the discipline.

Point 2 – Opera has perception problems

As addressed by both Dizikes and the Corn chapter of the Melillo, opera faces a major hurdle in reaching many people, and that is the issue of how it is perceived. Although both

42 piece of literature discuss that opera, for the first century that it was being performed in

America, was a populist at form, they also both address the change in perception following both the Macbeth debacle in 1848 and the immigration boom at the turn of the century (Dizikes,

1993; Corn, 1983). At that point, opera began being seen in America as an art for the wealthy and powerful.

Even with efforts in the recent past to make opera approachable to all people, perception problems still remain. For every patron who decides to try attending a performance, there is at least one person who sees opera as stuffy, foreign, and boring. Battling these preconceptions is one of the main goals of most, if not all, marketing efforts. People must see opera as something they can enjoy before they will be willing to attend, donate, or subscribe.

To this end, one wonders what role the community outreach programs serve in framing perception of the discipline.

Point 3 – Opera is as American as any other contemporary art form

Although this point is primarily made by Dizikes, it is alluded to in the other works.

Dizikies discusses, at length, not only the creation of but the popularization of American opera, as well as American singers. In the last 50 or so years, it has become possible to hear singers that were both born and trained in America sing works that were written by Americans, and may well have American content at the center of their plot. Even at the turn of the last century, opera was moving towards Americanization, as Puccini wrote an opera based in the American west that was premiered in America. Thanks to the preponderance of both small opera companies that can take a risk on such works and quality music schools training composers, new

American operas are both common and well-received. Although the allusions to this point in the other works center around such ideas as appealing to governmental funding structures for

43 subsidies and the shift in the perception of opera during the immigration boom, they still manage to frame these problems as problems in American opera, showing that there are unique challenges to opera in this country (Corn, 1983; Dawson, 1980). This leads one to wonder in what way the community outreach programs examined emphasize the uniquely American nature of the discipline.

Parallels and Final Thoughts

As stated in the introductory chapter, the overarching goal of this research is to establish that sports and the arts are not that dissimilar, and can therefore serve as valuable sources of ideas for each other. Even though this pilot study is limited to the fields of soccer and opera, and therein focused on community outreach, a review of the existing literature highlights parallels between the two fields that make it clear they are compatible.

First, both soccer and opera have far-reaching roots in America. Quinn (2009) discusses early colonists playing games that are closely related to modern soccer, and such games remained popular straight through the early day of collegiate football. Dizikes (1993) brings to light the popularity, even before America was an independent nation, of the popularity English operas and of ballad operas. In both cases, the discipline has existed in America since before we were an independent nation, far preceding other sports and arts that are seen as more

American, such as baseball and jazz.

Secondly, both began as populist forms of recreation. Dizikes (1993) tells of early performance venues being frequented by both the wealthy and the poor, finding common ground in opera. Similarly, Quinn (2009) brings to light the use of soccer and similar games as forms of community socialization in the early days of America. The two differ in that soccer has remained a largely populist sport whereas opera has been saddled with the perception of being an elitist art form (although this image is being combated).

Third, both fields are interested in marketing through the creation and management of relationships. Ferrand and McCarthy (2009) discuss at length the move by many soccer teams to relationship marketing rather than transaction marketing, allowing them to give fans a sense of belonging which will then lead to financial gain for the team through ticket and merchandise sales. Although the latter two pieces of literature regarding opera are somewhat antiquated

(both date from the early 1980s), they discuss the need to engage patrons in meaningful, long- term relationship that involves moving from occasional attendee to subscriber and donor (Corn,

1983; Dawson, 1980; Enis, 1979; Fromm, 1978; Kotler, 1980; Levy, 1980). The two fields differ slightly in that relationship marketing in soccer keeps profiting from the relationships in the background, focusing on making fans feel a sense of community and belonging, whereas opera makes financial gains the main purpose for the relationship. Although it cannot be determined for certain, this difference is likely related to the differing natures of the two fields, with soccer being for-profit and opera being non-profit.

A final parallel between the two regards the nature of the literature itself. Although sports and the arts, as whole fields, have substantial literature bases, the literature specifically regarding these two disciplines, and especially with regards to community outreach, is incredibly thin (Seaman, 2003). The reason for the annotated bibliography format of this literature review is that substantial, relevant literature does not exist to create a traditionally formatted literature review. As such, literature was utilized that both gave context to each discipline and helped to highlight parallels between the two. It is interesting to note, however, that the usable literature for opera was significantly less scholarly than that for soccer. Of the three pieces presented for opera, one consisted of interviews and pieces based on experience, one consisted of scholarly research presented for popular consumption, and one consisted of scholarly research intended

45 for the same. In contrast, the literature regarding soccer was across the board scholarly in nature.

As stated previously, this review of the literature is not comprehensive, but rather is a focused and useful sample intended to both support this pilot study and establish the connections between soccer and opera. Although there are some points of contrast between the two fields, and their associated literature, the parallels between them are undeniable. The parallels allow the two fields to be studied in comparison to each other, while the contrasts give reason to this study (after all, if there was no contrast between the two, a comparison would be moot). With this review of what is known for these fields done, it is not time to move on to what is not yet known.

Chapter 3: Methodology

General Overview

The purpose of a methodology chapter is to establish the theory behind how specific inquiry should proceed. As Schwandt (2007) notes, a methodology serves to, amongst other things, both explicate and define the kinds of problems that are worth being investigated, what makes a researchable problem, how to frame a problem, and how to select appropriate means of generating data. The result of establishing a methodology is the development of a sort of guiding mindset, informing the methods chosen for data collection, analysis, and discussion. To this end, this methodology chapter will be structured as a step-by-step look at the construction of this research, discussing the methods chosen and why they were selected. By presenting this information, I not only provide the reader with a better understanding of my choices, but I also give myself a roadmap for the remainder of this work.

The study is being conducted with two purposes in mind. The first purpose is to help to remove the commonly perceived dichotomies between the worlds of sports and the arts. The second purpose is to make an initial examination into what information the two fields might share between themselves for their mutual benefit by looking at community outreach programs utilized by both a professional soccer team and a professional opera company. A history of each field in American culture is provided in the literature review, as is a look at patron interaction and marketing. In addition, and the programs and initiatives offered by each subject

organization will be examined through the use of organizational documents. The information

derived from both the review of existing literature and the analysis of

organizational documents will provide the necessary background to address the focal research

questions:

how do the internal structures, techniques, and programs of sports organizations and arts organizations compare to each other? what can each field learn from the other’s structures, techniques, and programs?

The ultimate goals of this research are to both highlight the inherent similarities between sports and the arts and to indentify what and how the two fields might learn from each other.

As the information covered in the literature review serves to contextualize both the past and current practices of soccer and opera, this chapter will address how the information from this study will be generated, organized, and analyzed. The two subject organizations, Opera

Columbus and the Columbus Crew, were selected based on their similar natures as niche fields with growing audiences, geographical proximity, and diverse slate of community outreach programs offered. At no point will these programs be assessed in terms of their success, but rather will they assessed based on the section of the community they target and what the purpose of the program is. The entirety of the information used for this purpose will be taken from organizational documents taken from a variety of sources, including printed programs

(such as playbills), web sites, and internal documents.

Design Overview

This research will employ a comparative case study methodology to examine the

community outreach programs and initiatives offered by both Opera Columbus and the

Columbus Crew. This methodology provides for the use of multiple cases (in this instance,

Opera Columbus and The Crew) as sources for data which are then compared to each other as a

basis for analysis (Schwandt, 2007). I chose to utilize case study methodology because it allows

48 for making the cases themselves the center of research rather than variables (Schwandt, 2007).

In other words, emphasis is placed on appropriate and reasonable selection of cases rather than on identifying a set of variables. This is ideal as the data being examined are set and are related to programs that already exist and are fixed in their current form, not changing. The fixed nature of the data is well-aligned with case study methodology which, according to Robert

Stake, emphasizes creation of knowledge based on the particular, a specific example rather than a conglomeration of examples and ideas (Stake, 1995). Similarly, from Robert Yin’s viewpoint of appropriate use for case study research, this study meets the qualifications of the inquirer having no control over what is being studied, the object of study being a contemporary phenomenon, and it being desirable to use multiple sources of evidence (Yin, 2002). The choice to use comparative case study methodology in this study was a design choice derived from what

Yin (1989) refers to as replication logic: the idea that additional cases are chosen for study because they will yield similar information or findings.

The benefit of this code-and-compare methodology is that it allows for a result that is not shaped by additional program descriptions or explanations regarding the intent of a program. By avoiding this additional input, two benefits are derived. First, the results of this study stand for themselves, rather than relying on subsequent explanation by myself or a representative for one of the subject organizations. Second, this study was able to be completed in a relatively sort amount of time. The inclusion of additional data through interviews would have required time for the interviews, their transcription, and clearance by the institutional review board. The methodology I have employed has led to a result that is similar in validity, but took a fraction of the time to complete.

The relatively objective (such that qualitative research can be) nature of case study research is also well-suited to the fact that I have no connection to either organization beyond

being a ticket buyer. By not having a particular connection to or vested interest in either

organization, I am able to examine both cases with the same outsider’s point of view. This will

also serve to isolate the information from the context of the organizations, preventing

additional interactions or inputs from shaping perception of the programs being examined. The

benefit of this is that, by comparing the programs rather than the organizations that offer them,

the results of this study can be more easily applied to outside organizations within sports and

the arts. Although it can be argued that case studies are not suitable for generalization,

presumably due to the fact that even similar other cases are in some way different, the results

of this research will at least serve to inform other organizations, if not directly apply to them.

Data Collection

Data for this research were collected using qualitative comparative case study methodology. These qualitative data, program descriptions from organizational documents, give information regarding the intent, execution, and intended audiences for the outreach programs being examined. Although there are quantitative aspect to the data in these documents, and they are discussed in this study as well, the original form is qualitative.

The data for this study were collected from three sources: the internet, internal documents, and external documents. The internet was the primary source of data, as both organizations’ websites included information on the majority of their programs. The internet was also useful in collecting data from sources other than the organizations’ web sites, such as fan groups. The internal documents of each organization, such as The Crew’s Hispanic development plan and Opera Columbus memos, were collected in instances where programs existed that were not listed on the internet and were not discussed in external documents. This was the primary source of data collection for the Hispanic outreach programs offered by The

Crew, as these programs are detailed in the aforementioned Hispanic development plan, but

receive almost no mention on the team’s website. External documents, in the form of playbills

and game programs available to those attending events, were the final source of information.

These were primarily used with Opera Columbus, whose web site has information on their

current programs, but offers no insight into past efforts. It should be noted that, as of yet, The

Crew have not discontinued any community outreach programs.

The sources of the data collected, as well as the methods by which the data were

collected, were purposely utilized not only because they yielded the needed information, but

also because they were accessible and understandable to an outsider’s eye. Since my hopes are

for this to pilot study to not only serve as a lead-in for my own future research, but also to

provide insight and methods useful to others, I opted for data sources that were available to

anyone. The majority of the data for this study were collected from the internet, which is

openly accessible to anyone with a connection. The internal and external documents from

which data were collected were all procured with little more than a phone call and a request for

information. By using these clearly defined methods, methodologically similar studies become

easier and more welcoming to conduct in the future without compromising the validity of their

results.

It should be noted that the data collected refers only to the nature of the programs

rather than offering any indication, be it qualitative or quantitative, of their success. By avoiding discussion of whether a program is a “success” or “failure”, the focus remains on the content and structure of the outreach programs offered by the organizations rather than whether the program is popular in this locale or whether their administration of the program is well executed. This, in conjunction with the data collection methods, will help to make continuations of this, as well as similar but unrelated, research both focused and convenient.

Data Analysis

In order to come to an answer regarding similarities, and the potential for the sharing of information, between opera and soccer community outreach programs, I have used organizational documents in conjunction with a history and patron interaction overview of each field in my review of literature. The documents for each organization were subjected to document analysis and coding, with emphasis placed on content of the documents. I also used comparative case study methodology to analyze the two organizations in comparison to each other, rather than as separate and unrelated cases.

Document analysis allows for the use of multiple forms of documentation (playbills, game programs, memos, development plans, and websites) in establishing a data set. These various document forms, both public (in the case of those procured on the internet and external documents) and private (internal documents), fall inside the parameters that Schwandt establishes for documents on which this analysis technique may be used (Schwandt, 2007). The method used in this particular example, as opposed to the form-focused nature of discourse analysis or the broad concern of narrative analysis, is focused on content analysis. This form of analysis involves “comparing, contrasting, and categorizing a corpus of data,” making it ideal for the available data sources (Schwandt, 2007). Although the analysis employed herein does not contain a statistical component, it does adhere to several of the central procedural steps that

Neuendorf (2002) and Weber (1990) lay out for content analysis:

• Create a set of codes

• Apply these codes in a systematic nature to some set of textual data

• Analyze the results

As the first step in my document analysis, I established a set of codes meant to organize and clarify the raw data. The codes were created in the content-specific scheme described by

Schwandt (2007), meant to be applied to specific parts of the textual data in order to type them into distinct categories. The coding I used sorts each of the programs based on three factors: target age, target segment of the population, and stated content of the program. The use of target age, split into distinct age brackets, shows which age groups each organization is gearing their programs towards. Similarly with targeted population segments, this makes it possible to show what groups that the two organizations are serving and which may be underserved. These two categories allow for the possible identification of over or underserved segments of the population. Examining the content of the programs makes it possible to see what sorts of programs each organization if offering and how it is being delivered. With these three categories in place, it is possible to make a direct comparison between the scope and intent of the programs offered by the two organizations, and therefore see both similarities between the two organizations and areas in which one might learn from the other. Although there are other factors to consider than those on which the coding system is based, such as administration, fund raising, and advertising, these do not tie directly into the content of the outreach programs that this study is based on. However, these are concepts that will be explored and developed as this study is expanded in the future.

Following the application of these codes as part of the document analysis, comparative case study methodology was employed to compare the resulting data generated through the coding process, as well as a final comparison taking into account not only the document-based data set, but also the information presented during the review of the literature.

Conclusion

In this thesis I seek to examine the community outreach programs offered by the

Columbus Crew and Opera Columbus and determine what ideas and information the two organizations may share between themselves for their mutual benefit. These outreach

53 programs consist of both programs run by the organizations as well as partnerships and participation with other organizations intended to make each organization an intrinsic part of the Columbus community. I will identify the segments of the Columbus population that each organization targets, as well as the primary outreach focuses of each organization. Employing document analysis, I will code the programs offered by each organization and organize them based on the variables of target age, target community segment, and intended purpose.

Following the construction of matrices, I will use comparative case study methodology to compare the programs offered by each organization.

The use of easily available documents has not only provided a base of data substantial enough to render this study valid, but has also led to the formation of a fairly straightforward, repeatable research methodology. As this study is very specific to its two subject organizations, and therefore does not necessarily lend itself to the creation of generalizations that could be applied to other organizations, my intent behind using a clear and accessible methodology is based in the hopes that it might encourage others to conduct similar studies. By conducting similar studies in different locales and with different organizations, I hope that other organizations can benefit and other researchers can help to build a stronger literature base, ultimately leading to a stronger connection between sports and the arts.

Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Discussion

With a methodology for this work in place, the next steps in the process involve the presentation and analysis of data and the discussion of the findings. Due to the nature of the data used in this work, which exists in forms both quantitative (the targeted age groups and the distribution of programs amongst them) and qualitative (the content of the obtained documents), the ways in which the data are presented and analyzed must take into account both forms while keeping the presentation clear and the analysis concise. A benefit of presenting the data in terms both quantitative and qualitative is that it gives a better-rounded view of the programs that constitute the data set, allowing the reader a more thorough understanding of their nature and making the subsequent discussion of findings easier to write on my part and more meaningful to the reader.

The presentation and analysis of the data will be split into two sections, the quantitative data and the qualitative data. Each section will contain both the presentation of the applicable data and the accompanying analysis. The qualitative data deal with the content of each organization’s programs, and will be broadly organized into the segments of the community that the programs target. For each organization, the programs for each targeted group will be written about and analysis will be based on the offerings of the organization as a whole. The quantitative data deal with the age groups that the various programs target. As described by the documents from both organizations, the programs fell naturally into six distinct age groupings: early youth (K-6th grade), late youth (7 th grade-12 th grade), youth (inclusive of both

55 groups), young adult (19-35), adult (open ended and inclusive of young adult), and general (all inclusive). Again organized by the segments of the community at which the programs are aimed, the data will be presented through both a table and graphs that show targeted age bracket distribution; a brief analysis of these data will follow. Although this chapter contains the relevant data pertaining to the organizations’ programs, it does not present all data. To address this, I have added an appendix (Appendix A) which contains information on each program, including targeted segments of the community and ages as well as the intent and description of each program.

It should be noted that at no point will the matter of a given program’s effectiveness be considered or discussed, as it is not germane to this particular study. Rather, the focus is on the content of each organization’s outreach programs and what ages/segments of the community they are targeting. The analysis and discussion of this information is where the answers to my research questions will come from, and hopefully will prove to be the genesis point for some ideas that would make Kuhn proud.

Data Presentation and Analysis

Qualitative

Columbus Crew

The community outreach programs offered by the Columbus Crew can be sorted into three groups based on whom in the local community they are geared towards: Hispanics, inner city/disadvantaged/special needs, and general (not geared towards a specific group). The first of these, the Hispanic-targeted programs, offer a variety of ways in which the team reaches out to the local Hispanic community. The largest, in terms of visibility, is the annual Copa Victoria tournament (Terreros, 2009). This event brings together teams from five Hispanic soccer leagues in and around Central Ohio (both men’s and women’s) in a single-elimination

56 tournament, with preliminary games played at The Crew’s practice facility and the championship played on the field at Crew Stadium (Columbus Crew, 2009). The games are free and open to the public, creating a social event in addition to the competition. To enhance the social aspect of the tournament, a draw party was added in 2009 which allowed not only coaches and captains of the involved teams, but also other players, friends, and family to come together for the tournament draw, dinner, and dancing (Columbus Crew, 2009; Terreros, 2009).

For Hispanic fans who not only enjoy playing soccer, but also enjoy following the game,

The Crew has created the Asociacion Internasional de Futbol Crew (AIFC), an association that allows members to not only keep track of The Crew, but also information regarding local leagues and foreign leagues of interest (Terreros, 2009). The AIFC website is designed in a user-friendly blog format, intended to increase interaction amongst members. Also, members of the AIFC get membership cards, entitling them to discounts at local businesses that sponsor the group.

Another, non-web based, outreach program offered involves The Crew’s away game remote radio broadcasts. Whereas the games used to be broadcast from a studio, which did not provide any of the fan noise of an actual game, they are now broadcast from Garcia

International (a restaurant on High Street). The restaurant subsidizes the cost of broadcasting from their restaurant rather than from a studio, and Hispanic fans are invited to come to the restaurant to watch/listen to the game, giving the broadcasts a more authentic atmosphere

(Terreros, 2009).

The Crew utilize a text message program, which they perceive to be the best way to reach their Hispanic fans, to allow said fans to receive updates on the go (Terreros, 2009). Fans only need to text the word “futbol” to a specific number and they thereafter receive updates about the team in Spanish. By joining, fans also give the team a usable database of contact information. Another benefit of joining the text message program is that those who are

57 registered are eligible for drawings held at Crew home games, games of local Hispanic leagues, and other local events of particular interest to the Hispanic community (Terreros, 2009).

The final outreach program that The Crew target towards the local Hispanic community is their TRASH Chivas USA program. This program, meant to drive up tensions between fans before annual games between The Crew and Chivas USA, also allows Crew fans to generate charitable donations (Terreros, 2009). Chivas was chosen for this program because they are the sister organization of a team located in Guadalajara, and therefore have a strong Hispanic following around the country. This program is sponsored by three local Hispanic markets that subsidize the cost of several hundred tickets to the game between the two teams in Columbus.

Tickets that normally sell for $15 are sold for $5 to any fan who any Chivas (USA or Guadalajara) item and throw is in the “trash”. The collected items are then donated to the Chivas USA

Foundation, which helps needy children in both Los Angeles and Mexico (Terreros, 2009).

The second targeted group consists of inner city residents, the disadvantaged, and those with special needs. They are combined here for two reasons: the natures of the programs that target them are similar enough to justify it, and taken individually they only have a few programs each whereas combining them creates a group large enough to easily organize and analyze. The first two of these programs, which work in conjunction with one another to help bring organized soccer to the inner city, are the soccer field development and referee scholarship programs. The former is an initiative through which The Crew help to keep soccer fields in urban Columbus sodden, mowed, and covered in proper field markings (Columbus

Crew, 2009). The latter is a program, created in 2008, that helps youths in Columbus that have the desire but not the means to obtain referee training, certification, and equipment (Columbus

Crew, 2009). In addition to giving these youths a marketable skill and potential source of

58 income, this program also helps to make sure that there are qualified referees available for the inner city youth leagues that the team works with.

Since 2007, The Crew have worked with two inner city youth leagues in Columbus, Near

East Inner City Youth Soccer and Kids Inner City Developmental Soccer (Ungerleider, 2009).

With both leagues, The Crew helps in recruiting players as well as qualified coaches. In addition to donating tickets to players in these leagues through their Kicks for Kids program (which is discussed later), Crew players and the team’s mascot donate their time to practices and league games. To help supply these and other local youth leagues with equipment that players may not otherwise be able to afford, The Crew participate in the U.S. Soccer Foundation Passback

Program. Each year, the team designates a home game at which fans may donate new or gently used soccer equipment. The collected donations are given to a different local youth league each year, and have been used in the past to help the two leagues the team works directly with

(Ungerleider, 2009).

The Crew have two additional programs geared towards the youths in this particular segment of the community. The first, the ColumbusReads HOSTS Program, is a program that connects professionals from around Columbus with at-risk kindergartners to provide reading tutoring (Ungerleider, 2009). In particular, Crew staffers work with students at Windsor

Alternative Elementary School. Each tutor devotes an hour of time each week for an entire school year, allowing them to have tutoring sessions with two students. The second program is a partnership between The Crew, Easter Seals, and Dick’s Sporting Goods called “Shop with a

Player.” Dick’s donates $100 shopping cards and youths that Easter Seals work with are brought to a store where they have the chance to use the cards with Crew players, the team mascot, and members of the Crewzers dance team (Ungerleider, 2009). In addition to giving the youths a

59 chance to meet Crew players, this program also allows some recreational spending for youths whose families are financially constricted by medical expenses.

The final two community outreach efforts that The Crew offer to this segment of the community are a partnership with Habitat for Humanity and participation in the St. Stephen’s

House holiday drive. The former, a partnership spearheaded by Crew play Jason Garey after seeing the devastation in his native Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina, brings together Crew players and staffers to help build houses in Columbus (Ungerleider, 2009). In the two years that the partnership has existed, volunteers from The Crew have helped to build four new homes for

Columbus families. The latter is an annual effort during which Crew employees have collected canned food items to donate to St. Stephen’s House. St. Stephen’s House is a non-profit community center serving an area near Crew Stadium which, amongst its various programs, also houses a food pantry which the collected items are donated to.

The final set of programs, those that target the community in general, provide a diverse set of avenues through which The Crew interact with Columbus. Three of these programs,

GOALS for KIDS, the school assembly program, and Kicks for Kids, help to bring both The Crew and the game of soccer to public school children in and around Columbus. GOALS for KIDS is a program based around a life skills curriculum that is delivered through schools, community centers, and youth soccer programs. The curriculum is presented in a guidebook that combines team imagery with quizzes and games to promote personal wellness, community service, leadership, character building, and scholarship (Columbus Crew, 2009; Ungerleider, 2009). The school assembly program allows Crew players and staffers to interact with school children, giving soccer demonstrations and allowing the students to practice what they have learned

(Ungerleider, 2009). The assemblies also serve as an introduction point for the GOALS for KIDS curriculum. The final of these programs, Kicks for Kids, allows individuals and companies to

60 donate money which is used to purchase tickets that are then distributed to local youths. The distribution points range from schools to community centers to youth soccer leagues, and the program is intended to make sure that deserving youths have the opportunity to see a live professional soccer match (Columbus Crew, 2009; Ungerleider, 2009).

Included in this set of programs are three that have medical foci. The Crew raise funds for the Mid-Ohio chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund (JDRF) through their annual

Soccer Aid campaign, a month-long auction of autographed jerseys that has brought in $30,000 over the last six years (Columbus Crew, 2009; Ungerleider, 2009). The Crew also partner with the Red Cross and local hospitals to help support blood and bone marrow drives. The team donates free ticket for those sponsoring the drives to give to donors as incentives to donate

(Ungerleider, 2009). The Crew also participate in monthly visits to Nationwide Children’s

Hospital during the MLS season. In addition to spending time with the children in the hospital, the participating personnel bring gifts such as signed cards, soccer balls, game tickets, and t- shirts (Ungerleider, 2009).

The final two programs are aimed at serving the city of Columbus and recognizing those who do. The Crew have an ongoing partnership with Keep Columbus Beautiful (KCB) that has led, over the last six years, to players and staffers working to clean up public recreation spaces around the city (Ungerleider, 2009). The Columbus Crew Heroes Program is a way for the team to recognize those who make significant and lasting contributions to the Columbus community.

Community members can nominate someone whom they feel has made a significant contribution to the community, thereby working to enhance the quality of life in and around

Columbus (Columbus Crew, 2009).

Opera Columbus

The community outreach programs offered by Opera Columbus can be sorted into two groups: those geared towards youth and those aimed at the general populace. The first of these groups, the one consisting of programs aimed at youths, is made up of programs that bring opera to school children and combine, in different ways, study, performance, and participation.

Three of these programs are aimed specifically at students in elementary school, and adjust their offerings accordingly. Tales from the Opera combines the reading of the story of an opera with the performance of excerpts from the work in a format that is approachable and enjoyable for the youngest students (Opera Columbus, 2009). Following the performance, students are given a chance to reflect on the experience and interact with the storyteller. Opera Columbus on the Go! is aimed at a slightly older group than Tales from the Opera and consists of a complete performance of either a children’s opera or an abridged version of a regular opera

(Opera Columbus, 2009). Professional singers perform the principal roles, and a select group of students are prepared to participate as the chorus. This program also includes an hour-long workshop in the school on the day of the performance. The Opera Residency Program is a longer program, allowing students to get involved with and understand all aspects of putting on an opera performance. A group of opera professionals work with students over the course of two or three weeks and help with students with aspects of production such as performance, design, stage management, and marketing (Opera Columbus, 2009). The culmination of this program is a performance that involves both professionals and students.

The other two programs aimed at youths are intended for a slightly older or general student audience. The Romeo and Juliet Project is aimed at middle and high school students whose curriculum may include study of the play. This program is meant to familiarize students with the work, both as Shakespeare’s play and Gounod’s opera (Opera Columbus, 2009).

Students work on the first part of this program with their teachers, who prepare them with the help of a study guide that includes information on both Shakespeare and Gounod, as well as their respective versions of the story. After preparation, the students see a performance that combines Shakespeare’s text with Gounod’s music in a presentation intended to be accessible to modern youth audiences. Improv Opera is meant for all school students, giving the students the opportunity to not only learn about the art form, but also have a hand in creating an original and unique work (Opera Columbus, 2009). This program begins with a quartet of singers explaining to the students about the different operatic voice types and some basic opera terminology. After the students are given this background information, the students interact with the artists through the use of fill-in-the-blank and multiple choice to create a work with unique characters and situations that the singers then perform.

The remaining three programs offered by Opera Columbus are intended for general audiences. The first of these programs is a series of open evening dress rehearsals. The final evening dress rehearsal for each of Opera Columbus’ productions is open to school students (for free with chaperone) and senior citizens (for a small fee). In addition to seeing the final rehearsal, those in attendance are given a pre-rehearsal talk by the company’s director of education and, during intermissions, have the chance to see how opera comes together by means such as talking with artists, seeing scene changes, or watching the orchestra tune (Opera

Columbus, 2009; Minken, 2007). I’m into Opera is a multi-media lecture given by the company’s director of education. The presentation uses recordings and images to not only introduce the audience to the different types of operatic voices, but also some of the famous singers who have possessed those voices (Opera Columbus, 2009). Opera over Lunch/Opera at the North

Market are programs that give local shoppers and diners a taste of Opera Columbus’ singers and their repertoire. The programs bring small groups of Opera Columbus singers to public location

63 to perform short sets. Opera at the North Market is offered six Saturdays per year, with singers performing two 45 minute sets. Opera over Lunch is offered at local shopping centers

(Worthington Square Mall and Easton Town Center) on occasional Fridays throughout the year, with singers performing one 45 minute set (Opera Columbus, 2009; The University Women's

Club of The Ohio State University, 2009).

Qualitative Analysis

In examining the content of the organizational documents used for this study, several points of note made themselves evident. First amongst these is the intent of the programs offered by the different organizations. Opera Columbus offers a total of eight programs identified as community outreach (more are offered, but do not fall under this classification and will be discussed later). Of these eight programs, seven of them are intended to educate participants about opera. The remaining program, Opera at the North Market/Opera over

Lunch, is meant to increase exposure of the art form. In comparison, the Columbus Crew offers a total of twenty-one outreach programs, of which only five are educational in nature, combining both educating about soccer (school assemblies, referee scholarship) and general education (ColumbusReads HOSTS Program).

Another point of note is the difference in the segments of the community targeted by each organization. The Crew cast a wide net, reaching out specifically to Hispanics, inner city residents, the disadvantaged, and those with special needs in addition to programs intended for the general populace. In comparison, Opera Columbus only has programs aimed at the youth of

Columbus in addition to the general populace. This is not to say that their programs ignore the groups that The Crew target, but rather that they are not given as intensive a focus with Opera

Columbus as with The Crew. For instance, two of the institutions that Opera Columbus works with in its education programs, Ohio Avenue Elementary School and Bending Brook After School

Program have a large number of minority students and serve many Somalian immigrant families, respectively (Ohio Elementary School, 2009; Bending Brook After School Program, 2009). Also,

Opera Columbus used to have a Minority Outreach Committee, but it has since been disbanded.

Both cases show that Opera Columbus has, and continues to, interact with these segments of the population, but only as part of a more general program.

The final point of note deals with the programs in terms of marketing efforts. The programs offered by Opera Columbus serve to educate participants about opera and increase their exposure to the art form. While this may help to create future audiences for opera, it does not seem to establish a sense of brand loyalty to Opera Columbus. In other words, just because someone is turned on to opera by Opera Columbus does not mean that they will make that their primary opera company. The one program that may specifically help increase brand loyalty, the open evening dress rehearsals, is still primarily an education program and could conceivable prevent some participants from being paying audience members (why see the same performance twice?). The programs offered by The Crew, however, due to their wider range of purposes, serve multiple purposes. Programs such as school assemblies and the referee scholarship program help to educate about soccer, but many of the other programs fall into the realm of relationship and social marketing. Programs such as TRASH Chivas USA, the away game remote broadcasts, Kicks for Kids, and the team’s work with urban youth leagues represent what Ferrand refers to as relationship marketing, where the primary intent is to establish a positive relationship between fan and team that will ultimately yield financial benefits for the team (Ferrand, 2009). Similarly, programs such as soccer field development, GOALS for KIDS, and partnerships with Habitat for Humanity and St. Stephen’s House are what Andreasen calls social marketing, whereby the organization seeks to influence fan behavior by working to better the community of which they are part (Andreasen, 1994). This utilization of relationship and

65 social marketing allows The Crew to both better their community and establish a loyal fan base, a stark difference from Opera Columbus.

As noted above, there are efforts with each organization which are not outreach programs, therefore excluding them from this study’s data, but which still facilitate interaction between the organization and the public; these are supporters’ groups. These groups allow for interested individuals to seek out involvement with the organization rather than the organization offering up their side first. Both organizations maintain a roster of supporters’ groups intended to unite those with a passion for the organization, and it is in these groups that the two organizations have the most in common regarding interaction between organization and the community. The Crew have three supporters’ groups that interact with each other and the organization to optimize fan experience: the Crew Union, a general interest supporters’ group that also has branches (“locals” identified by area code; Columbus’ group is Local 614) in other cities; the Hudson Street Hooligans, a group of primarily younger fans centered in

Columbus that was created through a split with the Crew Union in 2007; and La Turbina

Amarilla, a predominantly Hispanic (specifically Salvadorian) group known for bringing trumpets and drums to home games (Crew Union, 2008; Hudson Street Hooligans, 2008; La Turbina

Amarilla, 2009).

Opera Columbus has its own bevy of groups for supporters, as shown on the Supporter

Group page of their most recent program (Opera Columbus, 2008). The Opera Columbus

League is a group still in formation, with membership open to any individual who contributes at least $50 annually to Opera Columbus. Repertorio, the newest of Opera Columbus’ fully-formed support groups, is open only to high school and college level students. It allows members the opportunity to meet with music professionals and community leaders to help support educational opportunities. Impresarios is a group whose aim is to promote awareness of both

66 the company and opera as an art form. This is accomplished through several day trips to nearby cities for performances as well as overnight trips to opera destinations such as New York and

Chicago. The group also hosts pre-performance dinners, opera roundtables, and a holiday party.

Les Claqueurs is a group made up of senior citizens who do volunteer work for Opera Columbus.

They host social occasions throughout the year to enhance camaraderie and develop new financial resources for the company. The Supers’ Guild is another volunteer group, although not limited by age. Members of this group often assist backstage through means such as assisting dressers and stage managers. Members also appear on stage as supernumeraries, non-speaking actors in productions. The Women’s Guild is the oldest of these support groups. Their aim is to assist the company in growing by supporting its local activities, and, as such, members volunteer many hours throughout the year. The group raises money through an annual silent auction and dinner, and they also co-run The Theatre Shop at the Ohio Theatre.

Quantitative

The above qualitative data only tell part of the story taken from examining the two organizations’ documents. The rest of the story is told by a second set of data, those of a quantitative nature. Whereas the qualitative data focused on the content of the programs each organization offered, this set of data looks at the distribution of programs amongst the different identified age groups. These data were compiled either by extracting the ages included in the reviewed documents (as was the case with the programs of Opera Columbus) or by divining the intended ages based on the text of the documents (as was the case with the programs of the

Columbus Crew).

A problem arises in clearly showing these data due to the fact that some of the age groups are inclusive of other age groups. For example, the designation “youth” includes both

“early youth” and “late youth,” meaning that showing a program as being for youth would

67 preclude it being identified with the two groups that designation includes. To remedy this, I am presenting these data in a table (Table 4.1) that signifies which age groups a program covers by marking an “x” in the appropriate columns. “Youth” and “general” have not been included as options, but rather, programs that qualify as the former will be marked as both youth categories and those that qualify as the latter will be marked as all four categories. This makes it possible to clearly see, by looking in a horizontal line, what ages a particular program addresses.

Early Late Young Youth Youth Adult Adult Columbus Crew Hispanic Copa Victoria x x AIFC x x Away game remotes x x x x Text message program x x x x TRASH Chivas USA x x x x Inner City/Disadvantaged/Special Needs Soccer field development x x Referee scholarship x ColumbusReads HOSTS Program x Shop with a Player x x Inner City Youth Soccer x x Passback Program x x Habitat for Humanity x x x x St. Stephen's House x x x x General GOALS for KIDS x x School assembly program x JDRF x x x x Blood/Bone marrow drives x x Nationwide Hospital visits x x Keep Columbus Beautiful x x x x Kicks for Kids x x Heroes Program x x Opera Columbus Youth Tales from the Opera x Opera Columbus on the Go! x Opera Residency Program x Romeo and Juliet Program x Improv Opera x x General Evening dress rehearsals x x x x I'm into Opera x x x x Opera at the North Market/over Lunch x x x x

Table 4.1: Programs List by Age Group

The presentation of the above data set in Table 4.1 shows which age groups different programs target, but still leaves the data in a format that focuses on the individual programs. To aid in the initial analysis of these data (as well as, ultimately, the discussion of the data), the data are shown below in a format that, rather than showing the ages targeted by individual programs, shows the number of programs that target the different age groups within the

69 different segments of the community. This helps to clarify a bit the aforementioned bevy of program names and “x”s. Graph 4.1 shows the breakdown for The Crew, and graph 4.2 shows the breakdown for Opera Columbus.

General 7

Adult 6

5 Young Adult

4 Youth

3 Late Youth 2 Early Youth 1

0 Hispanic Inner/Disadvantaged/Special Needs General

Graph 1: Age Group Distribution, The Columbus Crew

5 General

Adult 4 Young Adult Youth 3 Late Youth Early 2 Youth

0 Youth General

Graph 2: Age Group Distribution, Opera Columbus

Quantitative Analysis

Although the quantitative data may not yield quite as much analytical information as the qualitative, largely due to it being a smaller data set, it still brings to light some points of note. The most evident of these deals with the age groups targeted by the two organizations.

Opera Columbus currently offers eight community outreach programs. Of these, three (37.5%) are targeted at general audiences, another three (37.5%) are targeted at early youth, and late youth and general youth are each the targeted bracket of one program (12.5%). None of the programs offered by Opera Columbus are specifically intended for adults, and almost two thirds are meant for children. In comparison, The Crew offer 21 outreach programs. Of these programs, two (9.5%) are intended for early youth, one (4.75%) is intended for late youth, seven

(33%) are targeted at general youth, four are geared towards adults (19%), and seven (33%) are

71 meant for general participation. Like Opera Columbus, The Crew do not target any program to young adults, but they do manage to have at least one program aimed at each of the other identified age brackets.

It is also interesting to note the specific age targeting within age groups. While both organizations focus 100% of their adult-targeted programs on the general adult group (that is inclusive of young adult), the breakdown for programs aimed at youths is not as uniform. The

Crew have a total of ten programs that fall into the early youth, late youth, or youth categories.

Of these, seven (70%) are intended for general youth, while two (20%) are meant for early youth and one (10%) is aimed at late youth. Opera Columbus has five programs that fall within those three categories, and of those three (60%) are meant for early youth, and late youth and general youth are each targeted by one program (20%). Although it is difficult to directly parallel the two due to the difference in the number of programs, proportionally Opera Columbus seems to do a much better job of targeting their programs to specific age groups, with 80% of their programs being intended specifically for either early or late youth as compared to The Crew’s

30%.

This data set also seems to show an age jump in the targets of the programs. The Crew seem to do a fairly good job in offering programs that benefit all ages within the community.

Even though they do not specifically target young adults, many of their adult and general programs are attractive to this segment of the population (as a matter of personal experience, I have known several young adults who have given blood in order to receive free Crew tickets).

The result is a constant slate of offerings, taking fans from youth straight through adulthood.

Opera Columbus, however, seems to miss out on this age group. Of the three programs they offer intended for general participation, one (open dress rehearsals) is restricted within the

72 adult range to senior citizens, one (I’m into Opera) requires a sponsoring group, which many young adults may not belong to, and one (Opera over Lunch/Opera at the North Market) takes place half of the time while many young adults are either in class or at work. The result is an age gap, from the end of high school until roughly the mid-30’s, where Opera Columbus does not really have a program meant for these people. This could potentially lead to a situation where the company works with youths to gain their attention and create a relationship with the company and the art form and then loses these people in the gap, putting the company in a position where it has to work hard to recapture this group when they are in their mid-30’s.

A final analytical point of note is that, while Opera Columbus may not specifically focus on minority groups with their programs, these groups are involved in their education programs.

As noted in the qualitative analysis, Opera Columbus works with an elementary with a high minority population and an after school program that serves many Somalian immigrant families.

By comparison, The Crew only specifically focus their minority efforts on Hispanics, and none of the programs targeted at them is intended for youth. This is the only area of focus for The Crew where they d not have youth-oriented programs and seems to provide an area for improvement.

Discussion

The above presentation of data has shown the nature of the two organizations’ outreach programs, and the subsequent analysis discussed several key points that an examination of the data reveals. With these two sections covered, it now becomes necessary to discuss the findings. Rather than focus this discussion specifically on one element, such as elaborating the analysis or addressing the research questions, this discussion will be split into three sections: areas for improvement, learning from each other, and recommendations. The

73 first section will examine areas for improvement in each organization’s slate of programs. The second section will address the prominent research question, looking at what the two organizations can learn from each other’s programs. The third section will be a set of recommendations, informed by the previous two sections, about how each organization can bolster its community outreach efforts. By breaking the discussion into three sections, it helps to allow for a clearer look at the topic at hand as well as create a logical flow from the first topic through the third. Keeping the discussion topics separate is also helpful because this is the section of this work where original thoughts take center stage, and a multi-section approach will aid in keeping thoughts clear and organized. While the body of the discussion is found here, the final ruminations on the discussion, as with this work as a whole, will be found in the next chapter.

Areas for Improvement

To identify the areas for improvement with each organization’s slate of outreach programs, I examined the above data and, taking into account content of programs, targeted community segments, and targeted age groups, created a short list for each organization of areas which could be expanded or strengthened. In keeping with my previous approach of not addressing the success of current programs, this will avoid discussion of whether or not a particular program can improve its success. Rather, it will focus on areas that will allow each organization to expand and strengthen their slate of outreach programs, particularly in ways informed by the other organization’s programs.

The first organization I examined was The Crew. As noted previously, The Crew currently offer a fairly comprehensive slate of offerings. They offer programs that target five of the six identified age groups (the exception being young adult) and three groups within the community (Hispanics, inner city/disadvantaged/special needs, and general). For the most part,

74 the distribution of targeted ages is spread across the three targeted segments of the community, with the exception being the lack of youth-oriented programs geared towards

Hispanics. Also, their programs have a wide variety of content, ranging from education (school assemblies, referee scholarship) to social (AIFC, away game remotes) to community enrichment

(Habitat for Humanity, Keep Columbus Beautiful). Similarly, the programs they offer serve as examples of both relationship and social marketing, helping to create brand loyalty through connecting with fans and the local community (Andreasen, 1994; Ferrand, 2009).

With a set of programs as comprehensive as those offered by The Crew, it was difficult to identify areas where they could improve. However, while difficult, it was possible to find a few areas that would enhance their offerings. The first area deals with youth. While The Crew do offer several programs aimed at youths, they do not currently have one in place as part of their Hispanic programs. This may be due to an assumption that Hispanic youth are already well acquainted with the game, but it still seems strange that a total of 10 programs would be targeted at youth and none would be geared specifically at this group that they aggressively target with other programs. Also regarding youth is the issue of age specification in youth programs. As previously noted, The Crew currently offer 10 programs targeted at youths, and seven of these fall into the general youth category, rather than focusing on early or late youth.

Some of these programs (soccer field development, youth league participation) make sense as general youth initiatives. However, with a program such as GOALS for KIDS, which bases its curriculum on a single document distributed to all participating youths regardless of age, there seems to be a missed opportunity to target early and late youth individually in ways that they may be more responsive to. It is difficult to imagine a high school senior and a kindergartner both reacting in a positive and constructive manner to the same thing, signifying the

75 opportunity to target each group separately and find what will work best for each rather than expecting them all to work with the same thing.

The other area that seems like an evident opportunity for improvement deals with the content of the programs aimed at adults. While roughly half of the programs The Crew offer to children feature some measure of education about the game of soccer, none of the programs intended for adult participants do. Many of these programs focus on socialization or serving the

Columbus community, seemingly assuming that adults are already familiar enough with the game that they do not need to be educated about it. However, in an area that is as dominated by football (between the Ohio State Buckeyes, Cincinnati Bengals, and Cleveland Browns) and baseball (the Columbus Clippers, Cleveland Indians, and Cincinnati Reds) as Columbus, it is conceivable that some community members beyond the age of 18 may need some education about the game of soccer to feel comfortable embracing the sport and The Crew.

In contrast to The Crew, finding areas for improvement with Opera Columbus was relatively easy thanks to both the comparatively small number of outreach programs that they offer and their heavy focus on education. While this set of programs certainly serves the company well, it also leaves many gaps where they could expand their offerings to better serve the community. The primary area for improvement appears to be in terms of offerings for specific age groups. Of the eight programs that Opera Columbus offers, five are specifically aimed at youths. Of the three that are intended for general participation, one (evening dress rehearsals) is limited in adult participation to senior citizens, one (I’m into Opera) only benefits those who are served by whatever organization is hosting the lecture, and one (Opera over

Lunch/Opera at the North Market) excludes those who work on Fridays (many young adults) half of the time. The result is a set of programs that, while technically intended to serve a general audience, can exclude many young and middle aged adults. While turning youth on to opera is

76 surely important to keeping them involved with the art form later in life, and senior citizens are the staple audience for opera, there is a lot of missed opportunity with young adults to cultivate them as audience members and patrons (Haithman, 2008).

Another area for improvement with Opera Columbus is with the content of their programs. Of the eight programs they offer, six are purely educational (the five youth programs and I’m into Opera), one is partially educational (the evening dress rehearsals, in addition to performance, feature a pre-rehearsal talk and educational experiences during intermissions), and one is performance-based. This represents a distinct lack of diversity amongst program content and a substantial area for improvement. By diversifying away from such a heavy focus on education, Opera Columbus could also help address a lack of relationship and social marketing in their outreach. While their programs may, particularly with older participants, create a sense of brand loyalty to Opera Columbus, such a focus on understanding opera as an art form may ultimately lead to being a fan of the art form, if not necessarily the company.

Similarly, while education-oriented programs certainly benefit those participating, only Opera over Lunch/Opera at the North Market constitutes a free program that enhances life around

Columbus.

A final area for improvement concerns Opera Columbus’ interaction with the community’s minority population. As previously noted, Opera Columbus works, through some of its youth programs, with both an elementary school that has a high minority population and a community center that serves a large number of Somalian families. However, beyond these instances, the company does not have any efforts aimed specifically at minorities. In light of the fact that Columbus has significant minority populations (approximately 35% of Columbus residents are non-Caucasian, and the city is home to one of the largest Somalian communities in the country), this seems like a substantial group that is not being addressed (US Census Bureau,

2008; El Nasser, 2003). Making an effort towards the area’s minority populations would also most likely help to reinforce the work being done with minority children at Ohio Elementary and

Bending Brook.

To concisely summarize, the potential areas for improvement for each organization are as follows:

Columbus Crew: targeting Hispanic youth, targeting more youth programs to specific age groups, and educating adults about soccer.

Opera Columbus: offering programs for young adults, diversifying offerings beyond education, embracing relationship and social marketing, and reaching out to minorities.

Learning from Each Other

As stated in the introductory chapter, one of the primary research questions guiding this work and, ultimately, the expanded research that will follow it is what can each field (soccer and opera) learn from the other’s programs? More specifically, in this instance, how can each organization learn from the other in order to address their potential areas for improvement?

Having established what each organization’s potential areas for improvement are, it now becomes time to examine how these areas line up with the other organization’s existing programs and how these programs may help shape improvement.

Starting again with The Crew, there are three potential areas for improvement: targeting Hispanic youth, tailoring youth programs to specific age groups, and educating adults about soccer. The targeting of Hispanic youth would allow The Crew to target local Hispanics from youth through adulthood, making life-long fans rather than letting them be fans of what teams they will as youths and only later making an effort to make them Crew fans. In this example, The Crew can actually follow what has been identified as one of Opera Columbus’ areas for improvement, in that they can make certain that they target, with their existing youth

78 programs, schools and/or community centers that serve high Hispanic populations. Seeing as

Hispanics, like other minority groups in Columbus, live primarily in the same area of the city, bringing existing programs to these areas would include Hispanic youth and offer the team an inroad before the youths reach adulthood (El Nasser, 2003).

Similarly, tailoring their existing youth programs to specific age groups would help The

Crew make an impact on youths by avoiding the problems inherent in using the same materials for students in kindergarten through high school. This problem is particularly evident with the

GOALS for KIDS program, which uses one booklet to teach the program’s curriculum to students of all age levels. While the characteristics and lessons that the program seeks to impart

(leadership, scholarship, teamwork, etc.) are no doubt beneficial to all ages, it seems counterintuitive to think that all age groups would have positive and constructive reactions to the same document. Again, this area for improvement lines up well with one of the techniques

Opera Columbus applies to their youth programs. While there is some overlap of age groups, for the most part Opera Columbus’ programs are targeted to a few grade levels, creating a structure where students can move through appropriate programs every few years, still learning the same lessons about opera but in a fashion that is always appropriate with their current age, maturity, and intellect. By adopting this structure, The Crew would still be able to teach and reinforce the GOALS for KIDS curriculum while adjusting the delivery method so that it is appropriate to specific age groups rather than a 13 year age range.

Lastly for The Crew, there is the matter of educating adults about the game of soccer. A substantial portion of The Crew’s programs are devoted to educating youths about the game of soccer, but there seems to be an assumption that adults do not require such education about the game. This may be because the team feels that education efforts are best geared towards youths, for whom there are more opportunities to play the game, or because it is thought that

79 programs aimed at adults are better meant to create loyalty to the team than to create a love and understanding of the game. This is an area for improvement that I can speak personally to, as I grew up with only vague ideas about soccer. It was not until a friend took the time to explain the rules and intricacies of the game that I began to appreciate and love the sport. To this end, it seems sensible that The Crew would create a program meant to educate adults about soccer, the same way that Opera Columbus has created I’m into Opera to help introduce opera to adults in an approachable, engaging fashion. This may even serve a double purpose by educating adults about soccer, thereby making them more familiar with the game and more comfortable attending live games, which would lead them to The Crew.

Looking next at Opera Columbus, there are four identified areas for improvement: offering programs for young adults, diversifying offerings beyond education, embracing relationship and social marketing, and reaching out to minorities. The first area is actually unique amongst areas for improvement with either organization in that there is not a particular way in which The Crew does this that might inform Opera Columbus. Both organizations lack programs that are specifically geared at young adults. However, despite a lack of programs targeted at young adults, The Crew can still inform how Opera Columbus might address this matter. Unlike Opera Columbus, which, as previously noted, offer programs for general participation that largely exclude young adults, The Crew offer programs for general participation that are very accessible to young adults. With programs like away game remotes and tickets for blood or marrow donations, The Crew provide options that both fit into schedules and provide incentive for young adults to participate. If Opera Columbus adopts this approach, perhaps through means such as a tickets for donation incentive or just by having programs that are more conducive to people’s schedules, then they may succeed in attracting

80 young adult participants. Interestingly, Opera Columbus used to have a supporter group for young professionals, OPERAzzi, but that group no longer exists (Opera Columbus, 2004).

Diversifying Opera Columbus’ program content beyond education, while seemingly easy to improve, is actually fairly complex. The reason why education is the dominant content of their outreach programs, and the same is true at other companies based on personal experience, is because opera is a much-maligned art form. There is a lack of understanding about opera, leading to misconceptions such as it being, in the words of the drinking buddy from the introduction, “a bunch of fat chicks singing things written by a bunch of dead white guys.”

With misconceptions such as this running rampant, it is imperative for opera companies to educate people about their art form so that they can understand and appreciate opera for what it is. As such, the challenge becomes to diversify program content beyond just education while maintaining a strong educational aspect. To this end, Opera Columbus could follow The Crew’s lead by diversifying their offerings by diversifying who is offering them. Currently, all of Opera

Columbus’ programs are presented through their department of education and outreach. In contrast, The Crew offer programs through their Hispanic development and community relations department as well as through the Crew Soccer Foundation, allowing each to present a unique slate of programs and resulting in a diverse set of offerings for the organization as a whole. Opera Columbus could conceivably replicate this approach, allowing different department heads to lead outreach efforts related to their work. Also an option would be the establishment of a complimentary non-profit intended solely to sponsor outreach programs, as

The Crew have done in establishing the Crew Soccer Foundation.

A corollary to the diversification of program content is the embracing of relationship and social marketing. As stated by Ferrand and Andreasen, the purposes of these two types of marketing are, respectively, the creation and management of a relationship between the fan

81 and the organization and the betterment of the surrounding community as a means of increasing community support (Ferrand, 2009; Andreasen, 1994). While Opera over

Lunch/Opera at the North Market can be seen as social marketing (they are free performances meant to enhance the experience of eating or shopping at the performance venue), the rest of

Opera Columbus’ programs fail to qualify as either. It could be argued that education-based programs are a form of relationship marketing, but they create a relationship between participants and the art form, not necessarily the company. The Crew have embraced both forms, offering programs that both establish a relationship with the team and better the

Columbus community. While it would be difficult for Opera Columbus to replicate The Crew’s relationship marketing efforts (as it is hard to find the balance point between creating a relationship with opera and with Opera Columbus), but adopting The Crew’s approach to social marketing would not be difficult. The social marketing programs The Crew participates require either minimal investments of time as individuals (such as the one hour per week requirement for ColumbusReads HOSTS) or short spurts of activity as a group (such as the one day commitment of Keep Columbus Beautiful). Opera Columbus could opt to participate in one of these programs or establish a similar one of their own, addressing this area for improvement while not requiring a substantial time commitment.

The final area for improvement with Opera Columbus is the targeting of minorities. As previously noted, Opera Columbus does serve some minority populations by offering their youth programs at locations with large minority populations, but they do not have anything beyond that. Conversely, The Crew have established a Hispanic development department whose purpose is to work with this key minority population. This is a replicable approach for Opera

Columbus, especially in light of the fact that they used to have a committee that dealt specifically with minority outreach. By re-establishing their Minority Outreach committee,

Opera Columbus would have a body within the organization dedicated to working with the third of Columbus’ population that can be called minorities. This would also be a possible tie-in to the diversification of program content beyond education.

Recommendations

Having now examined the programs offered by Opera Columbus and The Crew, found areas within these programs for improvement, and most importantly, identified ways in which the two organizations can learn from each other to address these areas in need of improvement, I conclude this chapter with a succinct list of recommendations for each organization. These recommendations are based on the above research and grounded in the belief that sports and the arts are, in fact, similar enough to inform each other’s efforts to improve their outreach programs.

For the Columbus Crew, there are three recommendations. The first is to make sure that at least some of the schools being involved in their youth programs have high minority populations, with a primary focus on Hispanics. This would require, at most, a small addition to an existent program, and yet it would expand their slate of Hispanic-oriented programs from being geared only to adults to covering Columbus Hispanics throughout their lives. The second is to take current programs that are aimed at youth in general and retool them to address specific age groups. This way, six year olds are not being taught about things such as leadership and scholarship with the same materials that sixteen year olds are. The final recommendation is to create some way to educate adults about soccer. This may take the form of free clinics or beginners’ leagues or the like, but will allow adults who have had little to no previous exposure to soccer to come to understand and enjoy the game.

For Opera Columbus, there are four recommendations. The first is to either create a new program geared towards young adults or tweak existing programs to make them more

83 accessible to this age group. The current slate of programs that the company offers largely ignores this age group, and creating or changing a program to target this group will eliminate the gap that leaves locals untargeted from the end of high school until they are past middle age.

The second and third are tied together, and they are to add programs that are not education- based and that utilize relationship and social marketing. By moving away from strictly educational programs, they might reach people whose interests are not necessarily in learning about opera, and by utilizing relationship and social marketing, they can both create loyalty to the company and show that the company actively contributes to making Columbus a better place. The final recommendation is to reach out, in some purposeful way, to Columbus’ minority populations. To this end, reinstating the Minority Outreach committee is a good first step towards developing and offering these programs.

As a final note, it should be understood that these recommendations are written with the understanding that the Columbus Crew are a for-profit organization and Opera Columbus operates as a non-profit. This is why the recommendations for The Crew reflect a higher enactment cost (such as that associated with developing and printing age-specific educational materials) than do those for Opera Columbus (such as reinstating an internal committee). Also, the recommendations for Opera Columbus are in-line with their mission statement, hopefully making them more agreeable to the organization. Although these are only recommendations, I feel that they are solid, well-reasoned steps for each organization to strengthen their hold in the

Columbus community.

Chapter 5: Conclusion

This study, and the larger-scale research of which it will eventually be part, began with a conversation about problems facing the arts in a bar. From that rather inauspicious beginning, it proceeded to develop into first an inquiry about the relationship between sports and the arts, and then an examination of what the two fields might ultimately learn from each other.

Although this work is only a pilot study intended to lead into a research work on a larger scale, I feel that it has laid a solid enough base to both inform and justify continuing this stream of inquiry.

Findings

In the introductory chapter, I presented two research questions that the broader study aims to answer, and that this pilot study makes in-roads on. The first question, how do the internal structures, techniques, and programs of sports organizations and arts organizations compare to each other, is only addressed in part here. However, one of the sub-questions that came from it, what additional insight is gained by examining specific types of programs utilized by each, ended up proving one of the driving question behind this work. Rather than attempt to examine a wide range of programs, this question led to the specific examination of community outreach programs, an approach that yielded both interesting and meaningful data and findings.

The second major research question, what can each field learn from the other’s structures, techniques, and programs, served as the other driving question behind this work.

After deciding to focus on community outreach programs, it was the decision to focus on what

85 the two organizations could learn from each other that helped whittle down this work from a broad research project to a focused pilot study. This research questions also spawned two ancillary questions. The first, regarding what sort of impact the for-profit/non-profit contrast between the organizations would have, ended up proving itself a moot point, at least for the focus of this work. The other, regarding the willingness of each organization to embrace ideas from the other, is of yet unresolved. I intend to distill the results of this study into a brief document to be presented to each organization. Whether or not they will pay any heed to or act on these findings remains to be seen.

The result of letting these questions guide this study has resulted in three primary findings. The first of these is that, at least with soccer and opera representing their respective fields, sports and the arts do actually have a great deal in common. These similarities were evident upon examining the relevant literature, which showed that both fields have similar histories in America and that both have an intrinsic tie between patron interaction and marketing. This finding was reinforced after examining the data and finding that many of the programs the two organizations offered have similar purposes and structures. The fact that this work focused only one specific type of program almost certainly helped with this.

The second primary finding is that not only is there ample opportunity for each organization to learn from the other, but that they are extremely complimentary. With Opera

Columbus and The Crew, each identified area for improvement proved to be a strength with the other organization, allowing a direct sharing of ideas between the two. This seems to show promise for the idea that not only are sports and the arts similar, but that each may learn from the other for their mutual benefit. It is possible that these particular examples are abnormal in the extent to which they compliment each other, but that then becomes a topic to examine as this research continues.

The final primary finding is that young adults are a neglected age group. While The

Crew has some programs for general adult participation that might appeal to young adults,

neither organization has programs specifically intended to target this group, making it the only

age bracket that does not get addressed. Both organizations make some effort to reach out to

this group, with The Crew relying on its supporter groups and Opera Columbus utilizing social

networking such as Facebook and Twitter as well as their Impresario group, but none of these

can be said to fall into the realm of community outreach.

While three main findings may seem like a fairly light set of conclusions from a research

work, it should be kept in mind that this is but a pilot study. The intent of this work was not to

delve deeply into a topic and emerge with all possible insight and answers, but rather to test the

waters and see if it is worth jumping in. From these results, I am very optimistic that continued

research on the arts and sports will only lead to more findings that can and will benefit both.

Implications and Applications

Having established what the findings of this study are, and that they seem to justify continued research into this topic, it now becomes necessary to examine the implications and potential applications of this research. There are several implications that come from this work.

As a matter of personal experience, when an arts organization or an artistic discipline is struggling, they tend to turn to other organizations of disciplines. Such inter-disciplinary cooperation was even the topic of a recent monograph issued by Americans for the Arts, detailing the cross-sector ideas and collaborations that came from a series of forums over the course of several years (Dunstan, 2009). Similarly, the course of study that has accompanied this research project to comprise my graduate work thus far has emphasized interaction between artistic disciplines as a way to formulate new ideas or partnerships. The addition of sports as a realm from which ideas may originate could prove, for lack of a better term, to be a

87 game changer. Rather than necessarily look to other arts organizations, those that are experiencing problems might turn to their local sports team for ideas. Conversely, a sports team looking to bolster their standing in the community may now think of talking with their local arts organizations rather than immediately looking to their competition for ideas.

Another implication of this research is that getting patrons of sports and the arts to stop viewing the other as a mutually exclusive options will hopefully become easier as there now research to back it up. By showing that the two are fairly similar in this work, and by expanding on both their similarities and their ability to benefit each other in continued research, I hope to encourage more interaction and better relationships between sports and arts organizations as well as present each as a legitimately worthy option to the other’s patrons. Hoping that long- time season subscribers will now take up regular attendance at a Crew or Blue Jackets game may be a lofty ambition, but getting them to see it as a legitimate option rather than a contradictory one must be seen as a victory of sorts.

A final implication is that the arts may now begin to look to other, non-artistic sources of ideas. Conversely, outside fields could now begin to look to the arts as a legitimate source of inspiration. Flow of inspiration from the arts to other fields is not a new concept. In fact, it is one of the main ideas that Daniel Pink, Richard Florida, and other advocates of the creative class hit upon regularly. However, my research has turned up little in terms of arts groups that have looked far outside of the arts for fresh ideas. Hopefully this research will serve to open up that flow of ideas so that the arts can both benefit other fields and benefit from them.

Potential applications for this research are as numerous as the implications. The primary application for this work, of course, is to complete a course of study that leaves me with some measure of expertise about arts policy and administration. To this end, this study has served me very well in that it not only brings together many of the ideas that have come up

88 throughout my course of study thus far, but also in that the result is a work delving into a field that is largely unexplored so far. As a result, I have gained a unique set of knowledge and ideas within the context of arts policy and administration that can hopefully be parlayed into articles and/or presentations that will spur others on to begin similar research.

Another application for this study is to serve as the launching pad for a broader, more in-depth study comparing sports and the arts. While this work offers a good amount of detail in examining community outreach programs and how two organizations might learn from each other, the fact that it is limited to that scope provides ample opportunity for expansion. This expansion may be vertical (sticking with the same two organizations and building on existing knowledge), horizontal (stay with outreach programs, but look at more organizations), or a combination of the two. Either method would, without doubt, yield interesting and important findings just as this pilot study has. The knowledge that either approach would yield such results is what has kept the pursuit of this research both fresh and fun for me over the course of writing this thesis.

The final application for this work, and the one I am perhaps most optimistic about, is the use of the methodology I have employed by other researchers to conduct similar studies.

The methodology employed was selected not only for effectiveness, but also for its straightforward nature, making it replicable. Beyond the realm of academia, I also have hopes that this methodology can and will be applied by sports and/or arts organizations in efforts to bolster their outreach programs. The use of easily accessible documents as a data source will hopefully serve as a further enticement to give this work legs beyond academia or theory. With a bit of effort, this work will hopefully end up benefiting organizations well outside of the Columbus area.

What Comes Next?

Having now identified possible implications and applications for this research, it is also necessary to consider what comes next. Simply put, what comes next is getting this information out there, not only to The Crew and Opera Columbus, but also to other organizations in and around Columbus, as well as in other cities. With the two organizations used in this study, it comes down to meeting with staffers and explaining the findings of this study. The Crew will be informed that they need to address age specification within their youth programs, and Opera

Columbus will be told about their need to keep people involved during the years between youth and adulthood.

The messages that this research could bring to other organizations, as well as the two subject organizations, are less specific, but more important. Although this study is intended to foster a flow of information between sports and the arts, these ideas are all based on things that sports organizations do well that arts organizations need to improve upon. First, these organizations need to establish their public value. People are hesitant to support an organization, be it in sports, the arts, or some other realm, if they do not see what it contributes to the community. To address this, organizations need to embrace the concept of social marketing, meaning that they focus not only on presenting their discipline to their community, but also work to enhance the community itself. If people see an organization not just as, say, an opera company, but the opera company that helps to clean up parks or build houses or enhance the community in some other way, then public value has been established.

The other message is to grow the audience and keep them involved. When organizations focus on narrow segments of the community, they miss large potential audiences.

Similarly, when organizations focus on specific age groups, they risk alienating or losing those whom they do not target. For example, if an organization heavily targets youths and adults, but

90 ignores young adults, they run a serious risk of losing these people in the time between youth and adulthood. They must then expend more effort to recapture this audience because they did not maintain them. This is a part of realizing that organizations need to concentrate on broadening, deepening, and diversifying their audiences. This means that it is not enough to focus on one age group or one ethnicity or one socioeconomic group. Organizations, if they want to survive and succeed, need to be able to keep audiences involved continuously and create a varied set of patrons. This will not only help with continued growth, but also means they do not have to try to win the same people multiple times in their lives.

What can we do? As those with vested interests in the arts, we can make organizations aware. For those who currently, or will one day, work for an arts or sports organization, bring these ideas to the table and make your organization aware. For those who are merely patrons or enthusiasts, catch the ear of someone at an organization. By making these organizations aware, we strengthen not only the organizations, but also the futures of sports and the arts.

Grand Finale

From a bar conversation to a fleshed out pilot study, this research has followed an interesting path to fruition that it is sure to continue upon as it is expanded into a dissertation.

The intersection and interaction of sports and the arts have proved to be fertile ground for new ideas and perspectives thus far. In continuing to explore how these two seemingly dissimilar fields are not that dissimilar after all, I can only hope that they continue to provide ideas and insights that both challenge and enlighten. When all is said and done, hopefully the perceived wall between the arts and sports will be, if not torn down, at least breached to the point that interaction between the two becomes the rule rather than the exception. If this research can work towards that, I cannot help but think that Kuhn would be proud.

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Appendix A: Program Information

Columbus Crew

Hispanic Community

Copa Victoria

Targeted Age: Adult

Intent: Bring together teams from various Hispanic soccer leagues to increase competition, foster a sense of camaraderie, and strengthen ties to The Crew

Description: Copa Victoria, a 24-team tournament, was the first and most visible part of The Crew’s Hispanic outreach. The tournament was founded in 2003 and brings in teams from five Hispanic soccer leagues from in and around central Ohio. Beginning with the 2009 tournament, a women’s bracket (four teams) has been added to the tournament. All preliminary matches are played at The Crew’s training facility and are free to the public, and the finals of the respective brackets are played on the pitch at Crew Stadium after a home game. Also new to the Copa Victoria in 2009 was the addition of a draw party. Previously, the draw had only been open to the coaches and captains of involved teams. The draw party is open to all members of involved teams, as well as friends and family. A complimentary dinner is served and a DJ provides music for dancing to increase to social aspect of the event (Columbus Crew, 2009; Terreros, 2009).

Asociacion Internasional de Futbol Crew (AIFC)

Target Age: Adult

Intent: Create an association of Latino fans around the state with a focus on The Crew

Description: The AIFC is an association created for Latino soccer fans in Ohio that lets them keep tabs on leagues, pick up games, try outs, Crew information, and other items of interest via the AIFC website/blog. The social atmosphere of the AIFC is augmented by membership cards (complete with photo and barcode) that entitle holders to discounts through sponsors of the AIFC, companies of particular interest to Latino customers who are advertised on both the website and on the back of the membership cards (Terreros, 2009).

Away game radio remotes

Target Age: General

Intent: Provide a social occasion for Hispanic fans to watch/listen to away games

Description: Rather than broadcast away games from a studio, they are now broadcast from Garcia International (a restaurant on High Street in Columbus). The restaurant subsidizes the cost of broadcasting from their location ($200 per game) and invites all Hispanic fans to come to the restaurant and watch/listen to the games. The result is not only a more authentic atmosphere than the austere nature of a studio, but also creates a social occasion for fans that are unable to travel to the game (Terreros, 2009).

Text Message Program

Target Age: General

Intent: Create a way to keep fans aware of Crew happenings while establishing a usable database of fan contact information

Description: The Crew have partnered with TXTWire (a service that allows mass text messaging) to create a program where fans subscribe by texting the word “futbol” to a certain number and thereafter they receive updates about the team in Spanish. The fan information also provides The Crew with a usable database of contact information. Those who are registered with the text message program are also eligible for raffles held by the team at Crew home games, games of local Hispanic leagues, and other occasions of Hispanic interest (Terreros, 2009).

TRASH Chivas USA

Target Age: General

Intent: Create tension leading up to the match between The Crew and Chivas USA while creating charitable donations.

Description: In an effort to create tension between fans of The Crew and Chivas USA (a sister organization to the Chivas team based in Guadalajara, based in Los Angeles and with a large Hispanic following), three local Hispanic markets will subsidize several hundred $15 tickets which will be sold for $5 to anyone who brings any Chivas (USA or Guadalajara) item to throw in the “garbage”. All items put in the “trash” will be donated to the Chivas USA foundation, which helps needy children in both Los Angeles and Mexico (Terreros, 2009).

Inner City/Disadvantaged/Special Needs

Soccer Field Development

Target Age: Youth

Intent: To create fields in the community suitable for both recreational and league use.

Description: As part of the Crew Soccer Foundation’s efforts to make soccer available to disadvantaged youth, this endeavor helps to make existing fields usable for both recreational and league use. This includes such acts as keeping fields sodden, mowed, and covered in proper field markings (Columbus Crew, 2009).

Referee Scholarship

Target Age: Late youth

Intent: Assist youths in completing referee training and provide them with necessary equipment

Description: This program, created in 2008, assists youths who have the desire but not that means to obtain referee training, certification, and equipment. In addition to providing disadvantaged youths with a marketable skill and source of income, this program also helps to provide qualified referees for the youth leagues that The Crew work with (Columbus Crew, 2009).

ColumbusReads HOSTS Program

Target Age: Early youth

Intent: Provide at-risk kindergartners with reading tutoring over the course of a school year.

Description: A part of the Help One Students to Succeed (HOSTS) program, ColumbusReads connects Crew staff members with kindergartners at Windsor Alternative Elementary School. Each participating tutor volunteers one hour per week over the course of a school year, giving two 30 minute tutoring to students (Ungerleider, 2009).

Easter Seals and Dick’s Sporting Goods “Shop with a Player”

Target Age: Youth

Intent: Give youth with special needs a unique experience with players

Description: Through a partnership with both Easter Seals and Dick’s Sporting Goods, youths with special needs are given the opportunity to go shopping at a Dick’s store with Crew players, Crew Cat, and members of the Crewzer Dance Team. In addition to giving these youths the opportunity to meet the Crew personnel, the donation of $100 gift cards from Dick’s allows youths whose families are financially constricted by their medical expenses to do some recreational spending (Ungerleider, 2009).

Near East Inner-City Youth Soccer Program/Kids Inner-City Developmental Soccer Program

Target Age: Youth

Intent: Help to recruit players and coaches, as well as help supply needed equipment.

Description: Since 2007, The Crew has worked in conjunction with these two youth soccer programs, helping to recruit both players and qualified coaches, as well as provide equipment needed to play the game. The Crew also donates tickets through their Kicks for Kids program and donates the time of both its players and its mascot to league games and practices (Ungerleider, 2009).

U.S. Soccer Foundation Passback Program

Target Age: Youth

Intent: Collect donations of new and used soccer equipment to distribute to disadvantaged local youth.

Description: For the past four years, The Crew have designated a game each year at which fans can donate new or gently used youth soccer equipment. Each year, a different youth program is named the beneficiary of the program and receives all donated items (Columbus Crew, 2009; Ungerleider, 2009).

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Habitat for Humanity

Target Age: General

Intent: Provide volunteer labor to build houses for the disadvantaged in Columbus.

Description: In an effort headed by Jason Garey, a Crew player and native Louisianan who witnessed the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina, both players and staff members donate their time to help build homes in the city of Columbus. In the two years that the partnership has existed, the players and staff have helped to build four houses in Columbus (Ungerleider, 2009).

St. Stephen’s House Holiday Drive

Target Age: General

Intent: Collect non-perishable food items to be distributed to the needy during the holiday season.

Description: For the past four years, Crew employees have collected canned food items to donate to the St. Stephen’s House annual drive. St. Stephen’s House is a non-profit center, serving the Linden neighborhood of Columbus, that includes a food pantry where all donation are given and through which they are distributed to those in need (Ungerleider, 2009).

General

GOALS for KIDS

Target Age: Youth

Intent: Promote personal wellness, community service, leadership, character-building, and scholarship amongst Columbus-area youths.

Description: This program, inaugurated in 2008, brings a life skills curriculum to youths in and around Columbus. The curriculum is conveyed through a guidebook given to all participants that heavily employs Crew Cat and other team imagery while engaging youth through quizzes, games, and a bookmark design contest. The curriculum has been delivered through local schools, community centers, and youth soccer programs (Columbus Crew, 2009; Ungerleider, 2009).

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School Assembly Program

Target Age: Early youth

Intent: Introduce both the game of soccer and the GOALS for KIDS curriculum to elementary students.

Description: Started in 2006, the school assembly program has allowed Crew players and staff members to interact with over 10,000 public elementary students in the Columbus area. At each assembly, Crew players treat children to soccer demonstrations and then give them opportunity to practice what they have learned. The assemblies also serve as an introduction point for the GOALS for KIDS curriculum, with Crew personnel emphasizing the importance of leadership, teamwork, literacy, and staying in school (Ungerleider, 2009).

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF)

Target Age: General

Intent: Help in raising funds for the JDRF.

Description: The Crew have partnered with the Mid-Ohio chapter of the JDRF to help in raising research funds for juvenile diabetes. Through their annual Soccer Aid campaign, a month-long online auction of autographed jerseys, The Crew have managed to raise over $30,000 for juvenile diabetes research in the last six years. Winning bidders in the auction are invited to participate in a mini-game at Crew Stadium and are recognized on-field before a home game (Columbus Crew, 2009; Ungerleider, 2009).

Blood/Bone Marrow Drives

Target Age: Adult

Intent: Use the Crew brand as incentive to increase donations in blood and bone marrow drives.

Description: Since 2007, The Crew have partnered with the American Red Cross and local hospitals to provide incentives for donors. The Crew regularly donate free tickets to the organizations hosting the drives to distribute to donors as a token of thanks (Ungerleider, 2009).

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Nationwide Children’s Hospital Visits

Target Age: Youth

Intent: Bring joy to children hospitalized with severe illness or injury.

Description: For the last four years, Crew players and staff members have visited children at Nationwide Children’s Hospital every month during the Major League Soccer season. In addition to spending time with the children, the Crew personnel also give gifts such as signed cards, soccer balls, game tickets, and t-shirts (Ungerleider, 2009).

Keep Columbus Beautiful (KCB)

Target Age: General

Intent: Partner with KCB to provide cleanup services at public parks around Columbus.

Description: The Crew have partnered with KCB over the past six years, with both players and staff members donating their time to clean up public recreation spaces in the city. Most recently, they worked to clean Driving Park Recreation Center following a wind storm that had caused substantial damage to the facility (Ungerleider, 2009).

Kicks for Kids

Target Age: Youth

Intent: Donate tickets to a variety of children’s organizations, allowing children to experience live professional soccer.

Description: Kicks for Kids is a program that allows individuals and companies to donate money, which in turn buys tickets to be distributed to Columbus area youths. The organizations that receive the ticket donations range from schools to community centers to youth soccer leagues. The program aims to make sure deserving youths have the opportunity to experience a live professional soccer match (Columbus Crew, 2009; Ungerleider, 2009).

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Columbus Crew Heroes Program

Target Age: Adult

Intent: Recognize individuals who have made significant and lasting contribution to the community.

Description: The Heroes program is a part of The Crew’s ongoing commitment to enhancing the quality of life in central Ohio. To this end, they accept nominations of “heroes” from the community to be recognized on-field at a home game. The heroes can be anybody who has made significant contributions to the community, thereby working to enhance the quality of life in and around Columbus. In addition to being recognized on-field, selected individuals are given four tickets to the game at which they will be recognized (Columbus Crew, 2009).

Opera Columbus

Youth

Tales from the Opera

Target Age: Early Youth

Intent: Engage young students in an opera by focusing on the story.

Description: This program combines the reading of the story of a famous opera with performances of musical excerpts from the opera. All students work on story comprehension through a post-performance reflection, and some students have the opportunity to interact with the storyteller and performers (Opera Columbus, 2009).

Opera Columbus on the Go!

Target Age: Early Youth

Intent: Introduce young students to opera through full performances of children’s opera or abridged performances of regular operas

Description: This program brings professional singers into schools to perform either operas based on children’s fairy tales or abridged versions of operas that are suitable or children. The professional singers perform the principal roles, and a certain number of selected students get

104 to participate by singing in the chorus. The program also includes an hour-long student workshop on the day of the performance (Opera Columbus, 2009).

Opera Residency Program

Target Age: Early Youth

Intent: Integrate young students into the opera production process over an extended period of time.

Description: The Opera Residency program offers students the opportunity to work with opera professionals over several weeks to help put on a production. The students prepare a specific opera each year and work with professionals and each other in aspects of production including performing, design, stage managing, and marketing. The culmination of the program is a performance that features both professionals and students (Opera Columbus, 2009).

Romeo and Juliet Project

Target Age: Late Youth

Intent: Familiarize students with the Romeo and Juliet story as well as Gounod’s interpretation of it.

Description: This program combines Shakespeare’s text and Gounod’s music in modern presentation format accessible to modern students. In addition to seeing the performance, students are prepared by teachers via a resource guide which gives information on Shakespeare, the play, Gounod, and the opera (Opera Columbus, 2009).

Improv Opera

Target Age: Youth

Intent: Introduce students to operatic voices and terminology, as well as involve them in the creation of a unique work.

Description: This program brings four singers and a pianist to local school. The singers begin each session by explaining to students the different types of operatic voices and some operatic terminology. Following this introductory material, the students use fill-in-the-blank and multiple choice to create a work with unique characters and situations that the singers then perform (Opera Columbus, 2009).

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General

Evening Dress Rehearsals

Target Age: General

Intent: Allow youths and senior citizens to see a dress rehearsal as well as demystify opera through talks and tours.

Description: The evening dress rehearsals program allows senior citizens (for a small fee) and chaperoned school students (for free) to attend the final rehearsals for company productions. In addition to viewing the performance, those in attendance are given a pre-rehearsal talk by the company’s director of education and have the opportunity during intermissions to see how an opera comes together by talking with artists, seeing scene changes, or watching the orchestra tune (Opera Columbus, 2009; Minken, 2007).

I’m into Opera

Target Age: General

Intent: Provide information on the different operatic voice types and some of opera’s great singers.

Description: This program is a traveling lecture delivered by the company’s director of education. The lecture utilizes sound recordings and images to not only introduce the audience to the various types of operatic voices, but also some of the famous singers who possessed those voices (Opera Columbus, 2009).

Opera over Lunch/Opera at North Market

Target Age: General

Intent: Provide diners and shoppers with a sampling of Opera Columbus’ singers and repertoire.

Description: This program brings small groups of singers to public locations to give free performances. Opera at North Market is presented six times a year, with singers performing two 45 minute sets on Saturdays. Opera over Lunch is presented throughout the year at local shopping centers (Worthington Square Mall and Easton Town Center), with singers performing

106 one 45 minute set on Fridays (Opera Columbus, 2009; The University Women's Club of The Ohio State University, 2009).

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