(**** disclaimer!****  This was a project for class and in no way was official in any way)
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Dear Mr. David Stern,

As a fan of the National Basketball Association, I feel that a new approach is needed to bring fan excitement and love back to the professional level of hoops.  Over the past four years a staggering drop in attendance, television ratings, and overall interest in the game has been present. As president of Grady Public Relations and Marketing, I believe that my team can restructure the current plan and improve it to help lift the game to a whole new level.

Background
The game of professional basketball was at one time the most exciting sport to watch. However, after the retirement of Michael Jordan the league has been in dire need of a saving grace.  The league now ranks fourth out of the main four pro sports in growth, behind football, baseball, and hockey.  The NBA isn’t exactly broke at this time, but it does indeed need to be fixed.

Proposed Plan
The league needs to regain its once proud and prominent reputation and high fan interest.  After speaking with fans and handing out surveys, we believe that we have some ideas that will help the game improve. We feel that these ideas are very achievable and will improve the game significantly.

At this time more than ever before, the league has young stars on the brink of superstardom.  These young players need    to  be marketed more by the NBA itself and not by shoe companies. The NBA has a powerful advertising history and they    should work on making it even better.
  With the recent increase of many college athletes leaving early to go to the professional level, something has to be done.  To ensure that these players are around longer than a year or two, a system needs to be set up comparable to that of farm systems in baseball.  Each team should be able help these young athletes grow as players and young men.
  An average NBA ticket is simply too expensive. A seat in the top tier of NBA arenas will cost a fan at least  $50. With 41 home games a year (not including the playoffs), how can a family afford more than one game a year? Tickets must be lowered to give lower-income fans more chances to attend more than one game a year.
  The game is centered too much on one-on-one moves.  The game needs to mimic the college game in order to reinforce team play.
  Time-outs should be shortened to almost half of what they are now. Television time-outs already prolong the game enough as it is.  Fewer time-outs equal more action for the fans.
  With fans paying a great deal of money to attend games, they should be able to get their money’s worth.  The league does a decent job with this but only a certain number of fans are included.  More events and contests will make more fans feel that they are part of the game.
 

Methods
My committee will meet with league representatives, the players association, and coaches to ensure they understand the reasons for changes.  Everyone must believe in the new system and accept the hard work it will take to improve the game.  Details will be available upon request once we get started.

Personnel
We will need new personnel. We will want to hire knowledgeable individuals who know a lot about the game of basketball and understand the importance of hard work and dedication.  Our ideas will be stated clearly to ensure that possible employees fully understand our goal of a better all-around league.

Cost
Improvement in the league will not come cheap in the short term. However, when everything starts to pan out, the move will be a very lucrative one.  When the new marketing system is in place, when fans start to fill up the arenas, and the minor league system gets under way, money will start to flow through the league at a high rate once again.
 

Conclusion
The NBA needs to make this very important move and there is no better time than now to do this.  The league has been constantly losing interest from the public and has slowly been deteriorating.  The NBA needs a new image that is dedicated to making this league the best in professional sports. The proposed plan will work if the recommended steps and goals are closely looked at and enforced.  By addressing the six goals above, fans will return in hordes, television ratings will go through the roof, marketing will be second to no other organization, and the NBA will once again reign supreme in the sports world.