Serve It Up: An Analysis of Tennis Attendance at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln

Authors

Mathew Jackson, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

Spring 3-28-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Citation

Mathew, Jackson. Serve It Up: An Analysis of Tennis Attendance at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln. Undergraduate Honors Thesis. University of Nebraska-Lincoln. March 2022.

Comments

Copyright Matthew Jackson 2022.

Abstract

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Men’s and Women’s Tennis programs have had some athletic success in recent years but not the attendance that is usually seen with other teams on the University of Nebraska’s campus. Many see this as a discouraging trend within the program that has the ability to be reversed into something very popular and enriching towards the community. This study is an analysis into what is causing fans to stay away and what can be done to improve their experiences. The analysis touches on key areas of potential growth in this respect. First, analyzing the success of the professional circuit of the sport with an emphasis on the ups and downs of the career of tennis superstar Serena Williams.. An alumna of the tennis program also gave her thoughts on what needs to be done to improve this situation.

A non-random survey was created and directed towards the University of Nebraska-Lincoln community with questions regarding how they felt about the Tennis programs from a fan’s perspective as well as their usual attendance habits. The conclusions drawn from the results pointed to an increased need for social media interaction from the teams as well as a need to reach the younger students of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln community. The gap needed to reach these people was larger than previously thought and it is clear that more can be accomplished in making tennis a priority event for Husker fans to attend. The conclusions reached in this analysis lead to the need to establish the brand of individual athletes through social media, an increased social media presence from the teams themselves and an increased effort to connect with the established tennis community and young athletes in the sport in Lincoln.