Case Study: Syracuse Athletics Focus Group

Drive Research recently partnered with Advance Media New York (AMNY) to conduct a focus group with Syracuse Athletics.

The focus group was held with the Cuse Council or Fan Council for Syracuse University. The Cuse Council is a group of select individuals recruited to share feedback on Syracuse Athletics on a monthly basis.

The monthly meetings are typically an informal gathering to share thoughts on several topics, however the design for this latest session was modeled to mimic a focus group discussion (FGD).

Objectives

The Fan Council focus group was held on Monday evening, October 9 at 6:00 p.m.

The discussion lasted for 2 hours. AMNY and Syracuse Athletics were responsible for emailing participants and offering directions to the location.

The focus groups were held in the main conference room at AMNY with simulcast viewing on a large HDTV in a separate room.

The goal of the focus group was to use a third-party market research company to guide an unbiased discussion and obtain objective feedback on Syracuse Athletics.

Approach

The focus group covered a variety of topics over the 2-hour meeting.

The rundown included a welcome, introduction, name game, football, basketball, other sports, marketing, administration, fan council, and a wrap up.

Throughout the discussion, the focus group moderator in Upstate NY used the whiteboards provided to record words and activities as listed by participants.

A total of about 15 participants came to the focus group session.

Outcomes

Although the results remain confidential with Syracuse Athletics, a high-level executive summary report was created to recap the findings.

The session was both audio and video recorded for the client.

The focus group covered a variety of topics including the fan experience, ticket sales, marketing strategies, feedback on administration, and questions around how to improve the Cuse Council membership for attendees.