In this presentation, we examine the institutional influences impacting the marketing and fundraising processes of a major intercollegiate athletics boosters program. The importance of booster departments to college and university athletic programs cannot be understated. As sources and amounts of public funding to higher education have become proverbial lightning rods within many current political and ideological debates, athletic programs are under increased pressure to exhibit their financial independence from the parent university. For this presentation, an institutional approach was used to examine the unique setting in which the Big South Boosters (BSB, a pseudonym) department is located. This approach was utilized because the department had a unique institutional structure in that (1) it promoted the only major sport organization within a two-hour radius, (2) was dependent on and provided funding for the Big South athletic department (3) while sitting as a separate non-profit organization.
Method:
The interviews and observations below are part of data collected from an organizational ethnography conducted within BSB. The presenting author spent four months as a participant observer within the department and collected observation and interview data throughout the period.
Analysis/Results:
The goal of this presentation is to delve into the impact of the relationships BSB had with Metro City (a pseudonym), BSU, and BSU athletics. This is in line with the suggestions of Perrow (1986) who stated, “specific processes are, of course, analyzed in detail, but it is the nesting of these processes into the whole that gives them meaning” (p. 158). Through this discussion, we will reveal the impact the institutional framework in which BSB operated had on the marketing and fundraising process. In this presentation, the advantages and disadvantages of the departmental relationships with the above described entities will be detailed.
Conclusions:
In short, the university’s place within Metro City provides the department with inherent fundraising advantages: (1) limited competition from other entertainment options, (2) ability to capitalize on civic pride in the university and athletic department, (3) and leverage in negotiations with buyers and sellers. Similarly, the BSB department is a non-profit organization that works outside of the constraints placed on the state funded university and athletic department. The tangible fundraising benefits of this infrastructural arrangement are obvious. Executives at BSB are able to use university-generated products (e.g., tickets, parking, booster benefits) as incentives to attract membership without having to adhere to the guidelines by which the university and athletic department are hamstrung.