Assignment 2

In analyzing and critiquing the leisure delivery services of the different organizations that our group reported on in class we found that it would be best to compare and contrast those that would provide us with the most variety. Knowing this we chose to discuss the similarities and differences between the Chicago Bears, which is a type of sports management,; Marklund, a type of therapeutic recreation; and the Canopy Club, a type of commercial recreation. Although all three of these serve the public, they each provide recreational services from far ends of the spectrum. By investigating how each correlates to one another despite their difference we should be able to get a much better grasp on leisure service delivery as a whole.

While Canopy Club, the Chicago Bears, and Marklund all have a few similarities in their goals and objectives, ultimately, each service’s goals are unique. As one of Champaign’s premium concert venues, Canopy Club’s ultimate goal is to provide entertainment to the Champaign-Urbana area. On a more specific level, they hope to provide a wide variety of music so that they can please as many people as possible. The Chicago Bears also hope to gain as many people’s involvement as is possible. More specifically they hope to give local football fans an outlet for them to express their interest in the team. They hope to provide Chicago and all of Illinois with an excellent form of entertainment. Whereas Canopy Club and the Chicago Bears both try to provide a service to the masses, Marklund’s goals are to enrich the lives of those with special needs. They want to promote a meaningful life for those with special needs, as well as nurture a community environment. They hope to do this through 24 hour skilled nursing care, dental services, meal services, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and recreational therapy. While each of these three services clearly has different goals and objectives, one goal that all three programs share is giving back to the community. The Canopy Club holds social and environmental benefits that raise money for the community. The Chicago Bears have many different programs that give back to the community such as “Bears School Outreach” where Bears players visit and speak at public schools in the area. Marklund gives back to the community, by providing a community within the community for people with special needs. The Canopy Club, being a private commercial leisure organization, is funded through ticket and drink sales to the public. Because they exist solely for profit, they do not receive any funding through tax dollars and rely on their sales to customers. The Canopy Club offers several types of shows and events, many of these to not have a cover charge or fee that must be paid upon entry. Examples of no cover charge shows would be “The Piano Man”, “Pizza, Pitcher and a Movie”, or “One Dollar Wild Mondays.” During no cover charge events, The Canopy Club relies on the sales of drinks from their bar and food sales from their restaurant, Manolo's, to cover their costs and turn a profit. Most of the other events, including concerts by touring bands, require a cover charge in order to cover the additional costs associated with hiring the bands and performers. Overall, The Canopy Club has become quite a successful venture in the Champaign/Urbana area. Their unique venue offers entertainment that brings in repeat customers to ensure that they will remain profitable in the future. Marklund operates with a budget of about $17 million and receives all of its funding through donations and through funding from the government. According to their website, Marklund receives 80% of their funding through grants from the state of Illinois. The funds provided through tax dollars cover the basic needs of all patients living at the facility. The remaining 20% of Marklund's costs are not covered by the government, but by the donations of individuals and private organizations. These donations cover the costs associated with the specialized programs and therapy services offered by the clinic. Because Marklund is non-profit by nature, they rely on the grants and donations by charitable organizations and individuals to keep them running. Because the Chicago Bears are such a large organization, with an equally sizable budget, it is of no surprise that their sources of funding are quite diverse. Much of the team's funding comes from ticket sales to the football games. The team's stadium, Soldier Field, has a capacity of 61,500 fans and is divided into 9 separately priced sections. Prices for tickets range from $68 all the way to $350, with the majority of the stadium being in the $68 tier. The highest end of ticket prices are for the executive suites, which provide a comfortable upper class viewing experience. Because of the Chicago Bears's range in prices, they can accommodate customers with a diverse range in income levels. Of course, ticket sales do not make up the entirety of the Chicago Bears' funding. The sales of concessions and also merchandise help to cover the enormous cost of running the stadium. There is a lot of variation in the type of individuals that are targeted by each of the three agencies we’ve chosen. Out of our three organizations, the Chicago Bears unquestionably serve the largest and most varied audience, since it appeals to people of all ages and backgrounds. It is very clear that many people place high importance on spectator sports due to evidence given by phenomenal television rating and high broadcast fees, player salaries and franchise values, and high attendance at events. The NFL is amongst the highest in these ratings and has millions of households tuned in on Sunday and Monday nights. Thus, the Chicago Bears serve a multitude of people that are either attending the game or watching it in the comfort of their home on television. The Bears appeal to people of every age and background. The one limiting factor may be that costs of attending a game are increasing. The fan cost index shows that the average cost of attending an NFL football game for a family of four can be well over $300 after including tickets, food and drink, programs, and souvenirs. This may mean that people of the upper and upper middle classes may be the regular attendees of the football games, whereas people of a lower socioeconomic class may seek entertainment by watching the Bears on television or attending games infrequently for special occasions.
The Canopy Club does not serve nearly as many people as the Chicago Bears, but still does target a pretty large group. However, due it’s location and the nature of the organization, the Canopy Club primarily attracts students from the University of Illinois. Since the Canopy Club offers many different types of concerts (ranging from Lucky Boys Confusion to Girl Talk), many people may travel to the Canopy Club from other areas to see an event. For this reason, the Canopy Club might attract different groups of people each night depending on what the music will be. There are nights without concerts that include a movie night, or a piano man night. These nights may attract a different group of people as well (for example maybe the movie night may be more appealing to those that don’t like a loud atmosphere or don’t prefer to drink alcohol). The Canopy Club serves many people that like to relax, listen to music, and socializes for recreation, by offering different types of entertainment every night.
Recreation at Marklund is very different from both the Canopy Club and the Chicago Bears. Marklund serves a very select portion of the population and only focuses on individuals with special needs. Many disabled individuals from various situations (such as those with complications during pregnancy, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, genetic disorders, or acquired disabilities due to accidents) may come to Marklund in attempt to better their lives. Marklund serves people of every age and background, so for this reason the recreation is very specialized depending on the individual and their condition. Recreation can range from wheeling children around the campus in wheelchairs to turning on a movie for a 50 year old man to watch before bed to taking everyone on a field trip to the Shedd Aquarium. The main focus of both the Canopy Club and the Chicago Bears is to provide entertainment, fun, and relaxation, whereas at Marklund it is much more than that. Every type of activity builds ways for the client to improve their communication, learning, and sensorimotor skills, with the goal being to help them to develop into a more functional person. Each agency has its own key program elements that distinguish it from others.

Programs offered by Marklund center aim for flexibility and expertise. They provide various programs and flexible services to promote a meaningful life and nurturing community environment for their clients. Each client’s level of functioning ability varies. Therefore, to fit every individual’s need, they offer different equipments, which assist clients in daily living and recreational activities, and flexible services to different clients. Also, they provide specialized services, such as 24-hour skilled nursing care, dental services, physical therapy, recreational therapy, and etc. The specialized services, professional staffs with certifications, and their effort to satisfy every customers set Marklund center apart from other agencies.

The Chicago Bears have many programs that are not only entertaining, but also meaningful. They offer numerous activities at games to entertain the fans. Fans can participate in events, such as giveaways, halftime games, promotions, and etc. Aside from games, the Chicago Bears try to give back to the community. They provide programs like “Bears School Outreach” (players visit Chicago public schools), “Hello to our Heroes” (players assist middle school students in writing letters to members of the military), and “Bear Hugs” (Staley the Bear, the mascot, visits children sick in hospitals). Also, the Chicago Bears participate in various volunteer programs. All members of the organization are involved in events, such as an annual coat drive with partner Jewel-Osco, “Paws for Cause,” in which the organization addresses helping needy children and their families, and many additional programs focusing on community service. Their numerous entertaining activities and contributing to society distinguish Chicago Bears from other agencies.

The key program elements of Canopy Club are diversity and entertaining. Canopy Club covers a diverse array of music, ranging from rap, electronic, pop, and many other, pleasing anyone’s personal tastes. Canopy Club is mainly a place to listen to live music, but they also host many different benefits and informational gatherings to promote positive social and environmental change. They have some special weekly programs: “Pizza + Pitcher and a Movie” on Sunday nights, “Piano Man” on Tuesday nights, and “Physical Challenge” on Wednesday nights. Canopy Club becomes one of the most crowded bars on campus, especially on Tuesday nights, because of the “Piano Man,” who sings and plays almost every genres of songs. Wednesday night’s “Physical Challenge” is a newer happening at the Canopy Club, and is a dance party as indie-rock D.J.’s play music similar to the styles of “Girl Talk.” Such a wide variety of music played, and many programs helping students socialize and have fun set Canopy Club apart from other agencies.

Each of the three chosen service providers have prevalent strengths and weaknesses. A strong point for the Chicago Bears are that it’s a very large organization that can serve a vast amount of people. Due to the stadium seating at Soldier Field, it allows for the delivery of entertainment to nearly 62,000 people on a given game day. Another strong point for the Bears is that they do quite a bit to give back to the community with the different A negative for the Bears, similar to the statistics given about the New England Patriots, is the costs of attending games. Tickets to a Bears game run from $68-$350 and food, drink, and souvenir prices are usually outrageous. For someone to go to a game and have an average experience, the bill will be quite high. Due to this, the lower middle class, and lower class may not be able to enjoy the services the Bears offer.

Marklund finds its strengths in the type of leisure service its provides. By offering therapeutic help to those with disabilities, Marklund is enabling those individuals that it serves to achieve a better quality of life that would not normally be possible. They also provide its patrons with a community that is made up of individuals who can relate to one another. By doing this it allows members to become socially involved with people in a less stressful environment as might normally be possible. The weaknesses present with Marklund include the fact that it needs to adapt to the needs of every individual. This may pose as a problem in the case that a very special individual was presented to them. Marklund also requires workers to be CTRS’s, or have further education. Because of that, employment is much more selective than would be at many other organizations providing leisure services.

Lastly, the major strengths associated with the Canopy Club are its variety in given entertainment along with its atmosphere that differs from the normal college hangouts. The ever-changing list of headliners offers musical performances that will fit even the most diverse auditory needs. The establishment provides a place that differs from the normal bar/dance club scene that is present in most of the other campus bars. A downfall to the Canopy Club is that because they have a bar, the establishment is normally geared towards an older crowd. By making the age limit 18 and over it is limiting itself from delivering a leisure service to all age groups. The prices for tickets can sometimes be a weakness as well. When higher caliber artists visit the venue, the cost to enter is often higher than it normally would be. People who attend the Canopy Club on a regular basis may see this as a turn off.

The Canopy Club, Marklund, and the Chicago Bears all share the same ultimate goal, which is to serve the population that they target in the best way possible. While this goal is more difficult to measure, their individual goals can be criticized more easily. The goal of Marklund is to better the lives of their clients and make them more functional people. Marklund does an excellent job of fulfilling this goal. They incorporate a great deal of learning into all of their recreational activities. For example, they use wedges, and different toys that the clients can experiment with to enhance their ability to touch and feel. They also use special rules and equipment when playing games, such as baseball (they use much larger balls and wheelchair friendly rules). Marklund provides different types of recreation for different people and they are divided into groups based on their level of functioning. Lower functioning groups will be provided with movies and bean bags to lay on, whereas higher functioning groups may go on a trip to the zoo, eat in a circle, or play a board game. With this high level of versatility Marklund meets the goal of fulfilling needs of each individual client in the center.

The Canopy Club’s primary goal is to provide entertainment to the Champaign-Urbana area. The Canopy Club also does a great job in meeting its goal because it offers such a range of music and adds variety to each night. Although it is primarily entertainment for college aged students that enjoy drinking and socializing, there are other types of entertainment provided. For example, on Sunday nights a movie and pizza are offered. Canopy club caters to the interests of more students than most campus bars do because there is more offered instead of just loud radio music and drinks. Nights like the “piano man” night offer something different to campus students and may encourage more people to come over to Canopy Club and check it out.

The Chicago Bears hope to gain as much involvement as possible from a wide range of people. The Chicago Bears do well in fulfilling their goals as millions of American households enjoy watching football games. Television ratings are very high and many sports fans look forward to the games and get a lot of enjoyment from them. The one thing that could improve the goal of the Chicago Bears would be to lower ticket prices. Since sporting events have become incredibly expensive to attend, fewer families are willing to give the money out of their paycheck for a day’s event. For this reason, it seems as though spectator sports have leaned more and more toward commercial leisure since it is very profit oriented. However, people of all classes frequently turn on their televisions to watch a game and will still make it a fun day for the family.

Comparing and contrasting different aspects for only three out of the six organizations we researched has really shown how different areas of leisure service can be. We saw some similarities as well as some major differences while looking at businesses in the sport management, commercial, and therapeutic recreation. The similarities are that each of these three businesses aim to serve their target groups in the best way possible. However, the people that they target, the ways they go about providing the service, and the steps it takes them to get to where they are now vary greatly. Each organization has it’s own method of funding, target group, strengths and weaknesses, and other elements that make it unique. Although each of these organizations bring something a little different to the table it makes it all the easier for every type of person to find a good recreational fit in American Society.