Sheffield Shield Cricket Tournament: Community Values, Target Audience, and Event Needs

This document discusses the Sheffield Shield Cricket Tournament in Australia, including its cultural value, popularity, target audience, and event needs. It also suggests ways to improve the tournament and attract more viewers.

Running head: SPORTS EVENTS
SPORTS EVENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SPORTS EVENT
Q1. Identify key community values and organizational philosophy (200 words)
The Sheffield Shield is an Australian domestic first-class cricket competition. The
tournament is played between the teams from the six states or provinces of Australia. The
tournament is a century-old tournament, so the cultural value is pretty good for this
tournament. The popularity of the tournament is immense in Australia, and it brings the
society or the community together. The tournament also allows a number of players to
showcase their talent and to attract the eyeballs of the national selectors to get a chance in the
national team to play in the international tournaments, whether in the senior or junior
tournaments. The competition is played in a twin-round robin format by the 6 teams, with
each team playing the others twice, on home and away format. The final match is played for
five days and the rest all for four says, engaging the people of the society for a good amount
of time. The tournament is held for almost six months, involving many people of the society
in this culturally rich tournament. All the matches are streamed on the official website of
Cricket Australia, thus helping the community to bring together the community. The quality
of the tournament as well as the players are very high, thus helping the country to get filled-
up by good players throughout the year (Hastie, 2019).
Q2. Identify and analyze the target community.
The target society or community for this tournament are the cricket lovers of the
whole country. If segmentation is done on the psychographic factors, the people with attitude,
personality and values the game of cricket are the targeted people. The people who have an
interest in the game with the old-age style and culture and matches the attitudes with the
games are the targeted segment. Segmentation on the geographic factors includes the people
who can view the game irrespective of the climatic change, which may hamper the game.
Climatic conditions play an important role in the game of cricket. Coming to the
demographic factors, the game is popular irrespective of race, age, marital status and

2SPORTS EVENT
educational background. Yes, the income may affect the viewing the game, whether in the
stadium or television. But cricket is on of the most popular sporting events in Australia, and
being more 125 years old, the people who loves the game and possess a passion for it, are the
targeted people for the tournament (Hastie, 2019).
Q3. Conduct an inventory of relevant pre-existing sport event or facility services.
Organizing a cricket tournament like Sheffield Shield is not an easy task. The
tournament cannot be held in the rainy season, so the tournament is held in between the
month of October and April, mainly on the summer season. Selection of the sponsors is an
important risk, as without the help of the sponsors the tournament is impossible to continue.
Currently, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc, or the JLT Group is the prime sponsor if the
tournament. Apart from this, the scheduling is also important as the viewership is an also a
main point which should be kept in mind of Cricket Australia, the organisers of the
tournament. The age limit and the doping tests should be properly maintained by the
organizers, as it may hamper the brand image of this popular cricket tournament. The amount
allocated for the winners and others are also planned before the start of the new season. The
maintenance of the home stadiums of the six participating teams are also a major concern for
the organisers. The selection of the umpires as well as the scorecard providers are also
selected prior to the tournament. The local government along with the event management
teams are selected to provide the fooding and lodging of the away as well as the home team.
Maintaining the first-aid team is also a major important task by the organizers (Barker &
Slater, 2015).
Q4. Categorize or determine sport event needs faced by the community or organization.
Though the tournament is more than 125 years old and one of the popular tournament,
it should be distributed among all the people who lives in Australia. There are people who are

3SPORTS EVENT
passionate about the game and follows the game on a regular basis, but do not have the
capability to view the game in the stadium. So, some complimentary tickets should be
provided for them, which can be distributed to them via some competition like quiz
competitions or some other competitions. This will automatically attract the eyeballs of the
people who are not so much passionate about the game of cricket. The selection should be
clear, and there should be another tournament where the upcoming players who are not
selected for the senior team can participate, and can prove their capabilities to the national
selectors. Though Big Bash League is there, but as the format is totally different, the
Sheffield Shield should be played in the day and night format, so that more number of
supporters can view the game, both from the stadium as well as from the television, to gain
the maximum viewership. And most importantly, the entire tournament should be viewed in
the television to attract more people, and there will be some exciting quiz competitions only
for the television viewers, and the lucky winners should be entitled with couple ticket to
watch their favourite team playing. There can be some meet and greet sessions for the
spectators as well as the supporters, who can win a chance to meet with their favourite
players, and can take some pictures and take autographs with them. People can be allowed to
view the practice sessions of the home and away teams. The winners of the competitions can
receive the tickets or any other prizes won like autographed bats from the players of the
teams. Contemporary tickets can be distributed among the students of some under-privileged
schools who will love to see their players playing the historical tournament. The learners
from the cricket academies can have some sessions with the players before or after the match,
to have some tips so that it can improve their learning as well. The coaches of the teams can
also share some tips with the students, which will help them to grow in the future. More and
more people should be attracted towards the age old cricket tournament, which will improve
the cricket of Australia only (Sarpeshkar & Dhawan, 2018).

4SPORTS EVENT
Q5. Develop a sport event concept.
To improvise the historic tournament of Cricket Australia, the tournament should be
played in both day as well as day and night format. As the teams play with each other twice,
one match can be played in the day format and the other match can be played in the day-night
format. The pitch should be prepared in such a manner, that it neither helps the home team
nor helps the away team. Exciting offers can be given to the bulk booking of the tickets, and
money can be spent on the maintenance of the pitch as well as the stadiums, so that the
spectators can enjoy the best viewing option possible. The seating comfortability should be
maintained and the ticket with highest denomination should be at the best place in the
stadium, where welcome drinks and snacks can be provided, just to retain the spectator base
of the game. Exciting cricket contests can also be arranged to increase the viewership of the
game. Limited number of complimentary tickets can be provided to the students of the school
as well as the cricket academies. One thing should be done Cricket Australia, i.e., to maintain
and honor the heritage-filled cricket tournament of Australia (Steen, 2014).

5SPORTS EVENT
Reference
Balaram, S. (2015). Map Based Tool on History of Cricket Since Its Inception (Doctoral
dissertation, Sciences).
Barker, J., & SLATER, M. (2015). It's not just cricket. The Psychologist, 28(7), 552-557.
Hastie, P. (2019). Competition formats for use during Sport Education. SAVE THE DATE,
30.
Sarpeshkar, V., & Dhawan, A. (2018). The Pink Ball in Cricket: A Call to Investigate the
Impact of.
Steen, R. (2014). Floodlights and touchlines: A history of spectator sport. A&C Black.

6SPORTS EVENT