Individual Written Assignment 1
The Tennessee Titans are a Class AA baseball team and farm club for the Atlanta Braves. The Titans league consists of eight teams that are all located within a 150-mile radius of Nashville. The Titans ranked sixth of eight last year but have high hopes for the coming season in part because of the acquisition at the end of the last season of a great new pitcher, Don Johnson. Don had the second-best ERA last season.

Johnson is also a popular player, seen frequently in the community, using his humor and occasionally outrageous behavior to develop a local fan club called the DJs. None of the other players come close to Don in popularity. Head Coach Bill Belcher, a 15-year veteran of the Titans, is optimistic for the coming season, noting the teams luck has got to change. The Titans have had only two winning seasons in the last 10 years.

The Nashville baseball park is somewhat typical of AA parks, though somewhat older and a bit smaller. It serves a variety of soda, beer, and nachos to its fans on game days. Also, in a 150-mile radius of Nashville are three NASCAR venues, two outdoor concert venues, 12 colleges with competitive sports teams, one major league football team, and one major league basketball team. There is no major league baseball team.

Martin Barns, the consultant for the Tennessee Titans, has been asked to complete a value-chain analysis of the franchise with a particular focus on a comparison with a nearby competing team, the Memphis Bulls. Martin has been able to collect selected cost data as follows for each of the six steps in the value chain. Single-ticket prices range from $4.50 to $8.00, and average paying attendance is approximately 2,200 for Nashville and 3,400 for Memphis.

Average Cost per Person at Scheduled Games
  Tennessee Titans

    Activities in the Value Chain

Memphis Bulls

$0.45

Advertising and general promotion expenses

$0.50

0.28

Ticket sales: At local sporting goods stores and the ballpark

0.25

0.65

Ballpark operations

0.80

0.23

Management compensation

0.18

0.20

Game-day operations: security, special entertainment, and game-day promotions

0.65

$1.81

Total cost

$2.38

closer-look.pngDeliverables
Provide a brief (2-3 paragraphs) background and history of baseball farm clubs, from a business perspective, and their relationship to the major leagues. (This information does not need to be from scholar sources, you may use information from web sites or other sources)
Analyze the value chain to help Martin better understand the nature of the competition between the Titans and the Bulls and to identify and recommend opportunities for adding value and/or reducing cost at each activity.
Referring to the information provided, regarding the Tennessee Titans, prepare a SWOT analysis for the Titans.
Referring to the information provided, regarding the Tennessee Titans, prepare a balanced scorecard for the Titans.

Paper Specifics
Although this is a working paper it is also a research paper; therefore, it should be developed, organized and presented using APA formatting guidelines including the use of a title page, citations, headings, tables, figures, references and appendices (if applicable); be sure to cite at least three scholarly researched sources.

Any calculations and graphs may be done in Excel, and then transferred to a Word document. All calculations should be clearly explained as to your assumptions and how you arrived at your answers.

Note: Though the names of the teams in the case may be familiar, they are purely fictional; do not use external sources that discuss teams with similar names to support your analysis or any conclusions you draw.

Neither an abstract or running head is necessary for this assignment.

The submitted assignment MUST BE a Word Document. (SLO11)

Paper Writing Requirements
Most classes have a 2 paper requirement per course. Please be sure to address the following requirements when completing your papers:

The cover page and reference page/s are not included in the above-stated page requirement. These should be in addition to page requirements.
Papers need to be formatted in proper APA style.
Each paper requires a minimum of at least three outside peer-reviewed sources for your references.
Acceptable/credible sources include: Academic journals and books, industry journals,  and the class textbook.  You could use credible business website sources in addition to these but avoid Wikipedia and Google. These are academic papers that need to include scholarly research.
Using your textbook is highly recommended to demonstrate that you have read the required material.