Analyzed industry trends and consumer feedback, leading to an exciting proposed internal innovation.

1. Intrapreneurial Busines Proposal
By Calvin Wescom
08/29/2021

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Table of Contents
Introduction……………………………………………………. Page 3
External and Internal Business Environment………………... Pages 4-6
Strategic Planning…………………………………………… Pages 6-8
Solving Market Need………………………………………. Pages 8-10
Innovation Implementations………………………………. Pages 11-13
Conclusion…………………………………………………. Page 13
Refferences………………………………………………… Page 14

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Introduction
In this intrapreneurial business proposal I will be going over the history and introduction
of the 49ers. I will write about the beginnings of this storied franchise as if I am employed by
them. I will also talk about the external and internal business environment of the 49ers and our
corporate structure. I will discuss our target market, where our customers are located, and the
product we offer. There will also be a detailed section that involves critical thinking of the 49er’s
top competitors and their business pain-points. The section will also include strengths and
weaknesses of our competitors and how we can position ourselves based on those findings. This
proposal will also include detailed findings of the 49ers market and what our consumer base
needs. That section will breakdown customer feedback and identify the 49ers pain-points. In that
section, I will also include a recommendation for how to address our consumer feedback. Lastly,
this final section of this proposal will include a timeline, cost, how this proposal correlates to
marketing.

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The San Francisco 49ers are a professional football franchise based in Santa Clara
California. We are a five-time Superbowl winning franchise and there has been twenty-two
players that have dawned the red gold that have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. The 49ers
are corporation, owned and operated by the York family. The ownership of the 49ers has
changed over its inception into professional football. The team was first introduced in the All-
American Football Conference in 1946. During that time, the Cleveland Browns were one of the
best franchises of the decade. The 49ers came only second to the Browns in terms of stadium
attendance and wins. In 1950 the 49ers moved to the NFL after the collapse of the AAFC. The
49ers changed ownership five times before we eventually won our first Superbowl in 1982. The
founder of our prestigious club was Tony Morabito, a sports pioneer who brought San Francisco
its first professional team. After multiple attempts in the early 1940’s to join the NFL with no
success, Tony was told to contact a reporter from the Chicago Tribune. This reporter told Tony
that he was trying to form a rival league. Tony Morabito agreed to join the AAFC with the first
meeting being held on June 6th
, 1944, in St. Louis which was D-Day in Europe. The overview of
our business is to serve the fans of our ballclub and the surrounding community.
The 49ers represent the NFL and professional football in North America. The NFL itself,
is a global sports industry giant. The average value of NFL franchises is $2.57 billion in 2018.
(Industry trends, NFL (National Football League): The Biggest Money in U.S. Sports - Plunkett
Research, Ltd., n.d.) The 49ers are expanding, along with every other NFL franchise globally. In
several years you can expect additional teams in London and Mexico City. Professional Football
is not only a sport that is popular in the US but has also garnered interest internationally with
foreign born players becoming stars for different ball clubs. Not anyone can join the NFL or be a
part of the 49ers. For players, there is huge vetting process to see if they can contribute to our

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team, along with our employees. We do have business threats in this industry, some are
internally and most of the rest are externally. When it comes to player personnel and football
related activities, our Manager John Lynch must keep his eyes open and be very cautious about
who he divulges information to. This past April for instance, there was a rumor that we were
going to draft Mac Jones, A quarterback from the University of Alabama. Although this rumor
was categorically false and we knew, we decided not to correct it. Sometimes false information
and external threats can work in our favor. Another external threat that faces professional
football in its entirety is player health and CTE. Up until the early 2000’s we had no idea how
debilitating multiple concussions are on players after they retire. The key to this industry is the
youth and young athletes loving football. If parents decided to not let their kids play this game,
eventually we would run out of players to fill our teams on Sunday and the sport would fail.
(Brown, 2019) Lastly, another threat to this industry is rival leagues forming and gaining
popularity. Although there have attempts in the past 3 years, rival leagues have failed. The future
direction of professional football and the 49ers is very bright. With the Covid-19 epidemic
coming to an end and fans being allowed back into stadiums, there is hope that we can all get
back to normal. As I said earlier, we predict 2 expansions in the next 10 years. We expect those
teams to pop up in different countries. We also expect new technology to shape how fans see and
interact with the 49ers. Some observed business opportunities for our franchise are E-Sports.
New consoles are being launched every year and the popularity among gamers and our fans is
very strong. We expect to venture into the gaming industry and starting our own E-Sports team.
The product that we offer is second to none, nonstop action brought every fall on A
Thursday, Sunday, and Monday night. That product is professional football, brought to you by
some of the world’s best athletes competing on a huge stage filled with 75000 screaming fans.

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We market and sell tickets, memorabilia, and use our amazing stadium for concert venues
and live shows. The 49ers also have a non-profit foundation that helps local kids succeed in the
classroom and on the field. When comparing our ticket prices compared to other NFL teams, we
are significantly higher compared to one of our rivals, the Las Vegas Raiders. Of course, these
statistics are from when the Raiders played in Oakland, and not Las Vegas. It is justifiable
nonetheless when comparing Levi’s Stadium to others. Why? Because Levi’s Stadium has 12000
physical network ports, 400 miles of fiber optic cables, 1300 WIFI access points, 2000 IPTV
connected televisions, ten 4k video cameras, and a smartphone app that allows fans to order food
from their seats and track the length of bathroom lines. (Soper, 2016) Simply speaking, we don’t
want our fans to miss the action of their favorite team. The 49ers are positioned towards using
the most technology as possible to increase the fan experience. Santa Clara is right in the heart of
Silicon Valley; we believe it is important to use the resources available to us. In the next section
of this paper, I will discuss our consumer base, the fan experience we offer, competitors, and
upcoming business opportunities.
As of February 2021, the 49ers have amassed 2.1 million Twitter followers and 4.02
million Facebook fans. (San Francisco 49ers (NFL) social media fans 2021 | Statista, 2021) The
age demographic of an avid NFL fans is 35-44 years old. The gender breakdown is 56% of
females in the US are fans and 74% of males in the US are also fans. Also, the general income of
an NFL fan is high, roughly $75K per year. (Global Web Index, 2015) Upon researching team
specific demographics, it was very challenging to find the exact demographics of our fans. The
reason is because the game of football is so popular and so many individuals love our team, the
49ers. Because our fan base is so huge, we will focus on the residents of California and the

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surrounding area of our stadium. In terms of what our fans want, they want an experience on
gameday. The fans also want to tailgate before the game and avoid pricey parking passes. The
experience is what really sells our product as whole though and is very hard to replicate. Other
hobbies that our fans engage in would be music, foods/cooking, watching movies, and watching
other sports. Levi’s Stadium has a capacity of 68,500 and will reopen to full capacity for the
2021 season. Our team and operations headquarters is in Santa Clara California, which has a
population estimate of 13100. While the Seahawks have most fans in the northwest, and the
Rams and Chargers control the southern regions, the recent departure of the Raiders has opened a
huge fan base through most of northern California and central. This is a great business
opportunity for us to market our product to residents in those areas. If we can successfully
convert or add new fans to the 49ers, we can grow our popularity and can sell more tickets on
gameday.
As of the past few years, popularity in professional sports throughout central California
has grown. With the emergence of our top competitors such as the Golden State Warriors, San
Jose Sharks, and the San Francisco Giants it is important that the 49ers stay as competitive as
possible during this time. Although some of these sports don’t run congruently with our season,
they do pull fans to their events which ultimately cuts into our consumer base income. The NHL
and the NBA offer A fast and exciting product that is action packed, much liked football but less
physical at times. Most of our consumers by the product we offer online, through 3rd
party ticket
purchasing platforms. The same goes for our competitors as well, if fans want to attend a game,
they buy tickets through the same platform. Out of all three competitors I listed above, the
Golden State Warriors are our biggest threat. They are in the Bay Area, so they are close to out
headquarters and have two of most popular players in the league. Also, to mention, they have not

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been as competitive on the court in recent years but will be in the next few. It is apparent that the
best way to outperform our competitors is to offer a elite quality of experience for our fans that
they can’t offer. It helps that this year we will be able to have full capacity and fill our stadiums,
something the NBA is slowly getting back to but, did not this past season.
Our management team is full of individuals with diverse experience from successful
name brands. Alex Chang is our Chief Marketing Officer and before working for the 49ers had
13 years of experience in marketing through various roles for American Express and Samsung.
Our board of directors consists of co-owners of the team that have been involved for the past 20
years, they have experience in running top notch football operation and is spear headed by our
CE) Jed York. In the upcoming section I will write about the 49ers mission statement, our
business pain points, and corporate structure. I will also discuss feedback that has been
researched and evaluated through various online review mediums.
Each gameday of the football season, the mission of the San Francisco 49ers is to take the
field and deliver a win to our fans. We know that without our loyal faithful, we wouldn’t be as
successful as we are and that we wouldn’t be a staple franchise in the National Football League.
The fans drive our success and determination every Sunday; it’s our mission to deliver a product
that they can be proud of when wearing red and gold. We also have the 49ers Foundation, a
nonprofit organization that empowers and educates Bay Area youth through advanced learning
and teaching life skills. We use players and coaches to make impactful lessons learned on the
gridiron and in the classroom. The goal of the 49ers Foundation is to improve the lives of the
next generation and remain a 49er Faithful for our future.

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Our corporate culture and goals for our employees are to inspire, connect and relate. We
instituted these values when we moved our storied franchise from San Francisco to Santa Clara
in 2014. Doing this allowed for less turnover in some of our key positions, and we became a
more collaborative senior leadership team. Plainly speaking, we became more diverse and
evolved into a better corporation to work for.
Transparency can always be tough in any professional sports franchise; through team
decision-making and corporate partnerships, things can be tight-lipped. Transparency throughout
the company with employees has always been open, though. As mentioned above, when we
moved from SF to Santa Clara, we hired Chapman & Co to audit our business and culture.
Through this audit, we realized that we needed to be more transparent with our employees
because of the influx of younger professionals having key roles in this industry.
Social Media is a huge trend that has gone upward since the dawn of the digital age. It’s a
tool that all NFL franchises have used for the past several years. One specifically that is getting
steam is the social media platform Tik Tok. Tik Tok has allowed us to connect directly with our
fans. Through research and data, we have concluded that fans do not want to be left out. They
can be relentless when it comes to supporting our team, so we have made initiatives to start
global hashtags to gain awareness and to increase our consumer base. (Platt, 2021)
Roger Goodell’s main job as the commissioner of the NFL is to protect the NFL shield.
That is a wide variety of issues from player actions to breaking rules; there is a lot going on from
day to day as the commissioner. In terms of the perception of the 49ers, it varies based on lots of
different issues. A huge perception about the game of football and the product we offer is head
trauma. UMass Lowell Center for Public Opinion surveyed 1000 American adults; 77% of those
surveyed said that head injuries cause long-term health issues and believe that is a major problem

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for the game. There are some aspects of Levi’s Stadium that we could be more efficient in, but I
will touch on that subject in the next paragraph. (NFL Attitudes & Viewership | Center for Public
Opinion, 2017)
Our consumers experience our product through paid television and in person. During the
Covid-19 Pandemic, no one was allowed to attend any games in Santa Clara, and we had to
finish our season out in Arizona. That was very costly for the franchise, and the move was
difficult for the players. We have received mixed reviews on the layout of the new stadium and,
more specifically, parking and gaining access to the stadium. Fan safety is also a huge priority
for us and can be difficult to manage throughout the game. We have also received mixed views
on that issue as well.
Many of the issues we face at Levi’s Stadium are also issues other professional sports
franchises face as well. Managing the logistics of attending sporting events is very complicated
and tricky for our competitors. One aspect that we feel we lack is response time to incidents in
the stands with fans getting into altercations with one another. This issue does not happen as
often for our competitors, the Golden State Warriors, because they play inside, and there is
plenty of security around. It seems very apparent to me that we need to put the fans first; out of
all the reviews I have read through, transportation to and from the stadium takes precedents over
all other issues. I think it’s imperative that we partner with A transportation company that can
shuttle fans to and from the stadium for an affordable price. In the last and final section of the
proposal, I will go over the proposed solution in detail, the strategy in which it will take place,
and resources, timelines, and indicators of success.

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The state of California has always been the leader in using technology and
revolutionizing people's lives. When Levi's stadium was first built, it was one of the most
technologically advanced arenas in the United States. While there is plenty of other cutting-edge
features of Levi's, fans still struggle with transportation and parking every Sunday. We are not
the only franchise that this issue, but we could be the one franchise that makes it easier for our
consumers. Our pain point is the logistics of our parking plans and transportation. I recommend
that the 49ers invest in our fans and include transportation when fans buy seats for our games.
The positives of this recommendation outweigh the negatives ten-fold. For one, this will
reduce pollution from vehicles traveling to the stadium. Levi's can hold up to 68000 people at
full capacity; the parking at the stadium has a max capacity of 21000 parking spaces. This would
allow us to help climate change and pioneer a difference in the United States. Also, California
has been rated the most polluted state in America; vehicles contribute 40% of the state's total
greenhouse gas emissions. (California Smog Check Rules: What You Need to Know, 2020)
Another positive about this recommendation is that it reduces traffic in the surrounding
area, saves energy consumption, and we can partner with a transportation company that will help
a local business. Not only does this show the fan base that we are to here help them, but other
sports franchises have done this as well, and it has increased ticket sales tremendously, most
notably, the Golden State Warriors. There is a realm of possibilities that can come from this
recommendation too, with fewer vehicles in the parking lot, we can offer parking spaces for
vendors to set up, promote local businesses in the Santa Clara area, and tons more.
The first step in this recommendation would be fan feedback through email surveys. The
survey would incentivize individuals to fill it out; then, the person would get a voucher for one
free concession meal at a home game of their choosing with an expiration date of one year. After

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the feedback is accounted for, we should begin to look for a transportation agency that we can
partner with for the 2022 season. That date gives us enough time to pre-plan routes and
pickup/drop-off points. After we choose our transportation liaison for the 2022 season, we need
to iron out the cost for six home games and choose a plan that will benefit both parties. Through
research and various findings, we can expect that amount to be $95 to $180 per hour. Over the
course of the 2022 season, we could expect to pay a charter bus $5000-$10000. That is figuring
in $180 per hour for 4 hours on game day, times by six home games. Using this transportation
for six home games will allow us to not only roll this program out, but we would also look at the
statistics in ticket sales.
We would measure the 49er's success by looking at games that include transportation and
home games where there isn't transportation included. This would give our finance department a
key indicator in which we will be able to know if this plan is working or not. Through various
research, there are countries in Europe that include travel to and from sporting events that have
worked well.
The network of individuals that I will use for this plan will be the stadium events
operations manager and the senior project manager. Levi's stadium already includes
transportation, but it does not come with game tickets when purchased. I chose these
professionals because they will have the most information and skill set to see the logistics and
planning. After careful review, this plan will then be proposed to the manager of partnership
sales. The optimal time to take this risk and propose this strategy would be shortly after the 2021
season, which would allow for individuals to have time to review because the season will be
over.

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Personally, I don't have anything to lose from this representation; our mission statement
is to give the fans a great experience when they come to our games. This recommendation is for
the fans and for our storied franchise to increase value. Not only are we setting a precedent, but
we are putting the NFL on a platform to change global warming and the fan experience.
I don't believe that I will give up on this idea unless I am directly told to do so by my
superiors. The mentor I would choose for a project such as this would be someone who has
intrapreneurial experience and can coach me through how to present. I would take my mentor's
suggestions into account since they have more experience than I.
Conclusion
This plan correlates to marketing because it will allow more of the 449ers
consumers to attend home games while also creating less of a hassle coming to and from the
Levi’s Stadium. This proposal not only helps our ball club, but also increases environmental
awareness. As study have shown, more and more younger age groups spend their money on
brands that promote environmental advocacy. I hope that the timeline and finds available show
that this is a very feasible proposal that will require outside sources. In closing, the faithful is
what propels our organization. Without fans buying into our brand and product, the 49ers would
not be as successful as an organization.

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References
PlunkettResearch.com. n.d. Industry trends, NFL (National Football League): The Biggest
Money in U.S. Sports - Plunkett Research, Ltd..
<https://www.plunkettresearch.com/trends-analysis/nfl-national-football-league-the-biggest-
money-in-u-s-sports/>
Brown, L., 2019. CTE Risk More Than Doubles after Just Three Years of Playing Football.
bu.edu.
<https://www.bu.edu/articles/2019/cte-football/>
Soper, T., 2016. Behind the scenes at high-tech Levi’s Stadium, where the WiFi is never more
than 10 feet away. GeekWire.com.
<https://www.geekwire.com/2016/behind-scenes-high-tech-levis-stadium-wifi-never-10-feet-
away/>
Global Web Index, 2015. NFL Fans. Audience Report Q1. [online] London: Global Web Index,
pp.5-6.
https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/304927/file-2395712248-
pdf/Reports/NFL_Fans_Audience_Report_Q1_2015.pdf?submissionGuid=e7c143b7-d707-41eb-
b9ca-24d2264b2766
Statista. 2021. San Francisco 49ers (NFL) social media fans 2021 | Statista.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/334108/facebook-fans-twitter-followers-of-san-francisco-
49ers/
Uml.edu. 2017. NFL Attitudes & Viewership | Center for Public Opinion.
https://www.uml.edu/research/public-opinion/polls/2017/nfl-viewership.aspx
Platt, J., 2021. How NFL Teams Use Social Media to Engage Fans — Bbg, Inc. | A Marketing
Education Firm. [online] Bbg, Inc. | A Marketing Education Firm.
https://thebbg.com/how-nfl-teams-use-social-media-to-engage-their-fans/
Chapman & Co. 2015. Read Our Case Study: San Francisco 49ers • Chapman & Co..
https://www.ccoleadership.com/resource/san-francisco-49ers/
a-ztechautomotive.com. 2020. California Smog Check Rules: What You Need to Know.
https://a-ztechautomotive.com/california-smog-check-
rules/#:~:text=In%20California%2C%20smog%20checks%20are,will%20need%20a%20smog%
20check].
Shoup, D., 2020. Bloomberg - Hate Stadium Parking and Game-Day Traffic? An Idea.
Bloomberg.com.

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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-31/the-case-for-free-public-transit-to-sports-
events