Una Conducting Economic Impact Survey For Athletics

Oct. 06, 2011

Michelle Eubanks, UNA, at media@una.edu, 256.765.4392 or 256.606.2033

FLORENCE, Ala. - The University of North Alabama is conducting an economic impact survey at its next two home football games, with plans to do similar surveys at other athletic events later in the year. The five-question survey will assess the local spending habits of Lion fans in relation to each home game. "We're trying to put a dollar figure on what a home football game means for the local economy," said Dr. Keith Malone of the Center of Public Policy and Economic Research (COPPER), one of three researchers conducting the survey. Malone said the survey will take about a minute to complete and will be available at tables near the home-side gates of Braly Municipal Stadium before each of the next two home football games. The next home game will be Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. against Delta State University, and the last home football game will be Nov. 5 at 6 p.m. against the University of West Georgia. The athletics economic impact study is part of a greater study assessing the total economic impact of UNA on the Shoals area economy. The study was last conducted in 2008 and determined that UNA's annual impact on the Shoals economy to be $161 million. The complete 2011 study will be complete in December.

About The University of North Alabama

The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree programs through the colleges of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering; the Sanders College of Business and Technology; Education and Human Sciences; and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of NCAA Division I as part of the Atlantic Sun and United Athletic conferences. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: una.edu and una.edu/unaworks/.