I had the joy of visiting the Madison Square Garden, which is home to New York’s basketball team New York Knicks during an NBA game. I loved the majestic stadium, which the locals famously refer to as “The World’s Most Famous Arena." The stadium, which is also called “The Garden," is in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is located atop the Pennsylvania Station. The MSG has a versatile space that can host varying activities such as games, concerts, political conventions among other social events.The MSG has ample indoor space. It occupies an area of 76,000 M2 or 820,000 square feet. The stadium has a 100-level lower bowl, a 200-level upper bowl. There are varying seating arrangements such as balcony seating on the 8th avenue side as well as the Chase Bridge seating on the 31st and 33rd street. There are signature suites on the ninth floor. There is a small section of the 400-level with blue seats on the west end of the arena. The media booths are located on the 31st street chase Bridge.
The stadium has a large entrance that is lined with retail stores and kiosks. The inside of the stadium is climate controlled and has bright lighting. A giant LED video system with HDTV is used to display scores. The space inside the MSG has also been modeled to feature unique viewing capabilities. Two pedestrian walkways have been suspended from the ceiling to allow fans especially during games to view the games being played on the courts below. There are portals between sections instead of the conventional walkways.The stadium has multipurpose uses, and its ample space serves the local community as well as national events in several different disciplines. The stadium hosts more than 300 events annually. Some of the events the MSG hosts are boxing, professional basketball, ice hockey, circuses, ice shows, political party conventions for the Democratic, and Republican Parties. Other activities the MSG hosts are the West-minster Kennel Club Show and a variety of musical concerts. The stadium has a variety of amenities to serve people who attend events. These include suites and clubs, food joints and concourses. MSG has the following capacities depending on the event for which it is put to use; basketball-19,812, boxing-20,789, Ice hockey-18006 and 20,000 people for concerts.The MSG plays host to major teams in the basketball and Ice hockey leagues. As such, it excludes smaller basketball and ice hockey teams from New York City that are not participating in the national leagues. The New York Knicks-which participates in the National Basketball Association (NBA) league and the New York Rangers, which participates in the National Hockey League (NHL) are best known to use the MSG as their home ground. Although, many New Yorkers are known to swear allegiance to the big teams in the national leagues, the smaller upcoming teams that try to rival the big teams do not get to use the MSG.
The space also features a variety of events for young people, and they are the main users of the space due to their love for sports and musical concerts. Social events such as musical concerts are a great opportunity for New Yorkers to flock at the MSG to enjoy music performances from international superstars. Since the space hosts varying genres of music, the space, therefore, attracts clientele that varies in age and socio-economic classes.The development of the MSG as a space that can be used for different social activities has several advantages. The space has allowed the New York community and at times national audiences to congregate as citizens of one city, state, or country and this gives people pride in their culture and country. The space has also led to the development of talents in sports since everyone in basketball and ice hockey works hard to get a chance to play at “The garden”. In addition, the MSG has brought about a vibrant economy in the area by providing opportunities for retail stores, food joints among others that benefit the local community. The maintenance of the stadium, as well as the work of organizing the stadium for different events all year round provides employment opportunities for many people. The MSG has rarely been associated with any negatives. The major negative could be the encroachment of businesses by the several renovations that go on in the stadium in order to increase its capacity and suit it to international standards.The MSG is an iconic symbol of America’s sports. MSG is a national heritage that convenes people with widely varying interests. Many young people flock the stadium purely to watch the NBA and NHL games while some senior citizens wait for their political parties to call for national conventions and they flock the stadium in their droves. In other words, the space in the MSG has a heart for all folks in not only the New York neighborhood but also the country at large. The space inside the MSG communicates versatility and vibrancy. The inside of the stadium engulfs one in a carnival mood especially when the stadium is filled as it happens during the NBA games. Dick’s Sporting Goods
Dick’s Sporting Goods is a well-established department for sporting goods with more than 5oo stores across the country. I paid a visit to one of the stores owned by the renowned retailer and I was impressed by what the store offers its customers. The store is Denver, within the Park Meadows mall. In Saudi Arabia, such stores do not exist in many places. In fact, most of them are in large cities and towns spread in various parts of the region. It is not easy to locate them, and they are not as large as the Dick’s store I visited.The store has a variety of sporting products. They range from commodities usable in actual fields and those usable in virtual sporting activities like video games. The store has products for all the sports activities that interest that the consumer. They include accessories, safety garments, fitness products, and video games that provide a source of entertainment for many people across the world especially teenagers. The store makes work easier for a visiting customer by arranging the available products according to different sports. For instance, athletics products are in the same place, same to goods used in skating, mountain climbing, cycling, motorcycling, and racing, and car rallying. On that note, the section for ball games is different from the rest. It is large and secluded from the rest of the sports. Within the compartment, there are different divisions for the ball games. The sections include volleyball, soccer, basketball, rugby, baseball, golf, and American football.Particularly, my interest lay in the soccer section because I am an ardent football fan. On entry, you can see the decorations done by colored balls on every corner of the large compartment.
At the center of this compartment, there is a clear signpost at the center indicating the male and female sections. It hit me at once that the store’s personnel used the signpost to help the customers identify products that are relevant to them instead of walking around the store searching for the goods they wanted. One side of the compartment has balls of different sizes implying that the store does not limit its audience. Small soccer balls are for children who may not enjoy the normal size of a soccer ball because it is rather large for them. The balls have different colors, which gives the customer the option to choose their favorite color.The store also pays attention to the different brands, an important element for customer service. Take the case of Adidas for example. All products manufactured by Adidas are in one place, similar to Nike, Puma, Kukri, and Connate. It has the shoe section, which includes boots used for playing in the field and other sports shoes used for contemporary training and fitness like jogging. Therefore, the soccer sections do not limit itself to soccer products alone. It has other few equipment that an ordinary individual can use as they work on their body fitness.The most interesting section that makes this store in Denver is the soccer fan shop. It has nearly everything a fan would ask for depending on what they would prefer to wear. People can buy jerseys worn by their favorite football teams. In cases where the jersey is not available, the store takes the initiative to make a specific order on behalf of the fan, who can then collect the jersey after a certain duration. In fact, a person can request for a customized shirt in terms of fitting, labelling, and brand. Other products include boots, shorts, jackets, socks, captain armbands, and referee gears. It means that a fan can go to a soccer event dressed like a referee. Interestingly, the store makes an effort to get the products from various famous sports manufacturers, which is a rare thing to find in many stores.
In fact, department stores in Saudi Arabia often prefer to get their commodities from a limited number of suppliers because their stores are not as large as this one in Denver. Lastly, the store has a section for video games offering the latest versions of games by different manufacturers, for soccer, the store offers an updated version of FIFA 14, and the marketers are waiting for the release of FIFA 15 version later this year.Having looked at the arrangement of the products in the store, the marketing strategy of the store is also an important factor. At first, glance, a visitor cannot help to notice the variety in the store. Its products emanate from different suppliers, some of whom are new entries in the sporting market. As such, Dick’s Sporting Goods gives its customers the opportunity to try products recently introduced in the market. Variety is an important element for customers because it helps the store to deal with the challenges of monotony. When customers accustom to certain, they often prefer to change the places they buy their products because they are tired of the same products all the time. In addition, offering a wide range of products from equipment used during work out, normal dressing, and playing on the field helps the store to attract customers who often have varying needs. Another marketing strategy used by the store is the use of descriptive tags. At the top of every shelf containing products by a particular brand, the store has visible tags that describe the location, activities, and duration that the manufacturer has been in operation. As such, the customer can notice that the retail, store has a close connection with its suppliers hence improving the confidence of the customer in the products offered by the store. There are also details describing the locations of similar stores across the country. A marketing strategy enables the customer to know that they can still make a similar purchase in other places of the country.The target audience of the store is people who are actively participate in sporting activities. With growing demand better lifestyle in the United States, many people are keen to improve their lifestyle by taking part in physical exercise. It provides a market opportunity for the store by giving them an incentive to stock a variety of sporting equipment. Sometimes, medical conditions also require individuals to start participating in physical exercise or take part in sports. As such, the store targets such individuals because they need sporting equipment.
Moreover, college and university students also provide an important audience because they are young and eager to engage in physical activities. In most cases, most of them join different games to become members of the team. They are regular visitors of the store in Denver, because it provides them with all the equipment they need.In terms of segmenting its market, the store does not use prices. It uses branding to divide its market into the target segments. Consequently, some products are expensive than others depending on the price of the manufacturer. The store considers the social class of all its customers hence it stocks products from a variety of suppliers. Therefore, if a customer requires anything, their purchasing power will allow them to get it based on them manufacturer whose price is more competitive for them. Furthermore, the store often has seasonal offers where it reduces to prices by a significant margin to the customer. Such offers often enable people to purchase more goods at the store even if they do not have much money. On that note, it is evident that Dick’s Sporting Goods tries to accommodate all people within the society regardless of their financial ability by giving them seasonal opportunities to buy goods at low prices. Moreover, offering goods for both males and females ensures that the store does not discriminate its customers in any way.The selection display communicates competence on the part of the store. It also communicates emphatic quality and good relationship between the stakeholders. Displaying goods from different suppliers shows that the store gives an option to the customer to choose goods that best fit their requirements. In addition, it shows that the store has enough stock to fulfill its obligations when it comes to the condition it states its warranty offers. The communication helps to foster the relationship between the store and the customer, which is important in understanding the specific consumer needs.
