Southern Miss Sport Management Partners with NCS4 on Marketing Project
Wed, 05/11/2022 - 08:31am | By: Van Arnold
As part of the spring 2022 curriculum, the University of Southern Mississippi (USM)
Sport Management program partnered with the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety
and Security (NCS4) in a real-world marketing project. The project included the graduate Sport Marketing
and Public Relations class working with NCS4 staff to develop specific marketing plans for various areas.
Dr. Stacey Hall, Executive Director and Professor of Sport Management, and Daniel Ward, Director of Training and Exercise, provided an in-class training session on NCS4, its background, and their organizational needs. Specific marketing plans were developed for NCS4 Membership Recruitment, CSSP Recruitment and Awareness, Product Reviews/Operational Exercises, and E-Learning Courses (Crowd Safety Fundamentals, Certified Sport Security Professional, and Senior Leadership).
The students worked in small groups throughout the semester to develop a proposed marketing plan in their specific organization category. Components included initial analysis of the area, SWOT analysis, marketing strategy, targeted populations, and social media. All student group information was presented to NCS4 staff for possible consideration for implementation in the future.
“We are very fortunate to work with the College of Business and Economic Development and the Sport Management program on real-world projects,” said Hall. “The outcomes of these projects help us with our strategic marketing efforts and building the NCS4 brand.”
Noted Dr. Chris Croft, Assistant Professor of Sport Management: “We are extremely thankful to Dr. Hall and staff for inviting us to collaborate with NCS4 to develop marketing plans for their targeted areas. It was an extremely beneficial experiential learning opportunity for our students to engage with their organization, become more familiar with the sport security industry, and incorporate marketing techniques in a real-world project.”
Housed at USM, NCS4 was established in 2006 and after the 9/11 aftermath and is the world’s leading academic research institution focused on addressing sports venue and event risks and threats. NCS4 is partially underwritten by grants from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and its mission centers around three key pillars: training, research, and outreach. It is the only sport security center in the nation. For more information, visit their website at https://ncs4.usm.edu/.
The University of Southern Mississippi and NCS4 currently offer graduate-level sport security classes that are connected to both the Master’s in Sport Management and Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs to offer an emphasis on sport security management. Additionally, a Graduate Certificate in Sport Security Management is offered. For more information, visit Academic Programs at https://ncs4.usm.edu/training/.