The Nashville Sports Council created a creative bid package to secure hosting rights for the 2014 NCAA Division I Women's Final Four basketball tournament. The bid package included custom guitar cases and binders with dividers featuring profiles of female basketball players to portray Nashville as a city where women's basketball thrives. A map showed facilities were within 5 miles of downtown. The $23,500 package was presented in person and included water and notepads. Nashville was selected to host in 2014, with the NCAA praising the creative bid package.

1. 2009 NASC Awards
Outstanding Communication & Advertising
NASHVILLE
IL
SP
O
C
RT UN
S CO
presents
Bid Package for the
NCAA Division I Women’s Final Four

2. APRIL 6 - 8, 2014

3. Marketing Objectives
• Successfully secure a bid for the NCAA Division I Women’s Final
Four between years 2012-2016.
• Craft an all-encompassing bid package that markets Nashville as a
destination for women’s basketball and their fans from around the
country, as well as meeting all logistical, procedural and
governmental requirements noted by the NCAA.
• Achieve an extraordinary level of creativity with the actual casing of
the bid documents.

8. The binder dividers were created so that each section of the bid is opened with a female basketball player, a brief description of who she is and
what basketball means to her. Each divider is strategically placed in chronological order from the youngest female basketball player up to a
professional player. We wanted to portray to the NCAA that Nashville is a natural place where women’s basketball thrives throughout all ages and
levels. (See your bid package to view the actual dividers)

9. Map contained in the bid package
illustrates the Nashville “campus”,
where everything you need is within
5 miles of downtown.
(See your bid package to view the actual map.)

10. Method of Distribution
• The bid package was delivered to the NCAA
bid committee in actual full-size guitar cases.
This extra touch offered yet another unique
characteristic to the bid that was very
“Nashville” in style.
• Following the delivery of the bid documents,
Music City Bid Committee leadership made an
in-person presentation that described in detail
the rationale behind why Nashville should host
the NCAA Division I Women’s Final Four.

11. Wrapped bottled water and bid themed notepads accompanied the Music City Bid
Committee leadership’s in-person presentation.

12. Production Budget
• The bid package was developed and produced by the Nashville
Sports Council with creative support from White-Thompson, a local
marketing agency.
• The fee for design was $5,000 cash and $10,000 donated in-kind
from White-Thompson. The cost of production was $8,500 cash paid
to RJ Young printing services.
• $23,500 was the total expenditure for designing and producing 50
binders, dividers and custom cases for each member of the NCAA
Bid Committee as well as members of the Music City Bid Committee.

13. Results
• The City of Nashville was selected to host the NCAA Division I
Women’s Final Four in the year 2014.
• The NCAA Bid Committee highlighted that the creativity of the bid
package was one of the unique qualities Nashville conveyed, which
caused us to stand-out among other candidates. Through that
ingenuity, the Nashville Sports Council was able to solidify
Nashville’s desire to host this prestigious event.

14. APRIL 6 - 8, 2014