The Phoenix Suns Final Report-1

The Phoenix Suns Final
Report
Pristina Benally
Arizona State University
JMC 436
December 5, 2021
Phoenix Suns Final Report 1

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3
PHOENIX SUNS CLIENT BACKGROUNDER 4
PHOENIX SUNS COMMUNICATION AUDIT 9
INTERVIEW REPORT 24
SURVEY REPORT 27
TARGET AUDIENCE REPORT 37
FINAL MEMO 46
CONCLUSION 52
WORKS CITED 53
APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT 58
APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW CONSENT FORM 62
APPENDIX C: SURVEY QUESTIONS 63
APPENDIX D: MEMO 1 68
APPENDIX E: MEMO 2 72
APPENDIX F: MEMO 3 77
APPENDIX G: MEMO 4 82

Executive Summary
This report will include assignments one to five, along with a final traditional memo report, and
appendices of the intreview transcript, interview participant consent form and survey questions.
The Phoenix Suns client backgrounder will give an overview of who the Phoenix Suns are. The
backgrounder will go more in-depth of their history, social media platforms, the industry, relative team
management members, main competitor, the Arizona Cardinals and how they are staying connected with
their target audience.
The Phoenix Suns communication audit will go over their social media platforms such as Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. The audit will include their amount of followers, engagement rates,
most-liked posts with pictures, and how their main competitors, the Arizona Cardinals, are keeping
engaged with their audience.
The interview report was conducted mid-October with an individual who has been a Phoenix Suns’ fan
since 2005. The interview will include an introduction, partipcant background, methodolgy, limitations of
the study, analysis, key observations, common themes and notable quotes from the interviewee. The
transcirpt of the interview and the signed consent form will be inlcuded on page 58 and 62.
The research team conducted a 15-question-survey report to get a better understanding of who their target
audience are and how they view the Suns’ social media profiles based on their content and interactions
with fans. The survey was targeted to those who are fans and follow the Suns’ social media accounts. The
survey questions will be included on page 63, and the graphs will be provided in the survey report with
each question.
The target audience report was conducted by the research team to go more in-depth with the Phoenix
Suns’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats based on its communication practices. In addition,
the report will identify stakeholders, influencers, and the organization’s target audience.
The research team analyzed the Suns’ traditional media coverage from September 6 – November 14,
2021. The online database, Muck Rack, was utilized by the research team to gather quantitative and
qualitative data. The final memo report will include graphs and data to show the consistency of earned
media coverage. Memo’s one to four are located from Appendencies D to G. These reports conists of data
from two-week periods from September 6 – November 14, 2021.

Phoenix Suns
Footprint Center
201 E. Jefferson St. Phoenix, AZ 85004
Phone: 602-379-7656
Fax: 602- 379-7873
Website URL: https://www.nba.com/suns/#
Client description:
The Phoenix Suns is an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The team was
established in 1968, the Suns play in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the
Western Conference Pacific Division. (Sports Team History, 2021). The team is the 17th most valuable
franchise in the NBA with having an estimated $1.625 billion value. (Arizona Sports, 2020).
Mission:
According to the Suns official NBA webpage (NBA, 2021), their mission is the following:
Our mission is to Provide the Finest in Sports, Entertainment and Community Leadership and our
goals are to “Win Championships and Create Sustained Success. By uniting around the following
Suns Family Values, we will advance our mission and reach our goals together (NBA, 2021, pp.
1, Paragraph 4). – The Phoenix Suns
Additional locations:
• Suns Team Shop
o US Airways Center, 201 E. Jefferson St., Phoenix, AZ 85003
o Hours: Monday – Saturday: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Sunday: Closed
o Team Shop location: 602-514-8321
Social media platform URLs/handles:

• Facebook: @ suns (https://www.facebook.com/suns)
• Instagram: @ suns (https://www.instagram.com/suns/)
• LinkedIn: @Phoenix Suns (https://www.linkedin.com/company/phoenix-suns/)
• Snapchat: @phoenxsuns (https://www.snapchat.com/add/phoenixsuns)
• TikTok: @phoenixsuns (https://www.tiktok.com/@phoenixsuns?lang=en)
• Twitter: @Suns (https://twitter.com/Suns)
• YouTube: @Phoenix Suns (https://www.youtube.com/suns)

History:
The Suns are the third-oldest team in the Western Conference of the NBA. Since 1968, they have won
three Western Conference titles – in 1997, 1993 and 2021.
The Suns’ nickname was chosen from among 28,000 entries in a “Name the Team” contest held by
general manager Jerry Colangelo at the time sponsored by the Arizona Republic. The winner of the
contest was awarded $1,000 and season tickets in 1968. Everyone who submitted a potential name would
receive a free ticket to an upcoming game. Some of the entries included “the saguaros, scorpions,
tumbleweeds” (Graf, 2021, pp. 1, Paragraph 5). Selinda King won the honor of naming the NBA Phoenix
Suns team.
The Suns’ have played in two different arenas with five different arena names since it has been
established.
• 1968 – 1986 / Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
• 1987-2006 / America West Arena
• 2006 – 2015 / US Airways Center
• 2015 – 2020 / Talking Stick Resort Arena
• 2020 - Present / Footprint Center

The five most important Phoenix Suns players in history are Kevin Johnson, point guard (1988-2000),
Charles Barkley, power forward (1992-1996), Steve Nash, point guard (1996-1998, 2004-2012), Chris
Paul, point guard (2020-current) and Devin Booker, shooting guard (2015-current), according to an article
from AZBigMedia (Schaum, 2021). These players listed had a big impact on the Phoenix Suns over the
years.
In 47 years of play, they have made the playoffs 29 times, posted 19 seasons of 50 or more wins, made
nine trips to the Western Conference Finals, and advanced to the NBA Finals three times in 1976, 1993
and 2021. “As a result, based on their all-time win-loss percentage, the Suns are the team with the highest
winning percentage to have never won an NBA championship.” according to a sports team history
website (Sports Team History, 2021, pp. 1, Paragraph 2).
Industry:
The Phoenix Suns’ primary industries include sports and entertainment. The NBA made a record $1.46
billion in sponsorships revenue in 2020-21 according to estimates by IEG, a sports partnerships
consultancy firm. (Young, 2021). IEG states that the figure is up 6% year over year, and up from the $1.2
billion the NBA made form partnerships after its 2018-2019 season. NBA games on ESPN averaged 1.19
million views down 10% from 2019-20 and -25% from 2018-29 according to Forbes 2020-21 NBA
season in review. (Adgate, 2021). The ratings for the NBA in 2021 rebounded from 2020. With the
pandemic, revenue during the NBA in the 2019-20 season dropped year-over-year by 15% to $8.3 billion,
according to Adgate.
The Phoenix Suns vs. Milwaukee Bucks final series viewership increases by 50% from 2020 according to
Arizona Sports. (Arizona Sports , 2021).
Game six of NBA finals between the Suns and Bucks was watched by an average of 12.52 million
viewers, peaking with 16.4 million between 8:30 p.m. and 8:44 p.m. (Arizona Sports , 2021).

The pandemic affected many bars and restaurants, but when the Phoenix Suns played Western
Conference Finals and NBA Finals game in the valley, they helped to bring in lots of fans, according to
Fox 10. (Nielsen, 2021). Overall, the Suns have had many new trades and are welcoming back most of
their star players for the upcoming 2021-2022 NBA season.
Relevant management team members:

• President/CEO: Jason Rowley • Head Coach: Monty William
• General Manager: James Jones • Ownership: Robert Sarver
Major market(s):
Market size matters when it comes to running a professional sports franchise. According to an article
about NBA team market size rankings for 2021, it says “There are several distinct advantages to running
an NBA team in a ‘large’ market, such as local advertising and sponsorship opportunities, free agent lure,
and partnerships with impactful local celebrities.” (Burns, 2021, pp. 1, Paragraph 1). The Phoenix Suns
are number 12 with a TV market size of 2.158 million and a metro population of 4,948,203. The top 12
are the Large NBA markets with over 2 million homes. It is the 10th largest in the U.S, but Phoenix is still
considered a small market in the NBA according to sideline sources. (Bell, 2021).
Business/operating model:
The Suns are majority-owned by Robert Sarver, but he allows investors to own a piece of the team. The
company went public with a value of $1.55 billion US dollars. The organization make majority of their
money from selling tickets, merchandise, television, and sponsorships. The 30 teams that make up the
NBA set the record $1.46 billion in sponsorship revenue this season. (Young, 2021).
Some of the major sponsors for the Phoenix Suns include PayPal, Kia Motors, Southwest Airlines and
much more. There are partners that are serving the communities during uncertain times due to the
coronavirus pandemic. Phoenix Suns and PayPal announced multi-year global partnership was built on
elevating fan experiences through innovation. (NBA, 2018).
Major Investors:
• Robert Sarver – Robert is an American businessman, co-founder of Southwest Value Partners, a
real estate development, and the owner of the Phoenix Suns.
• Dyal Capital – Dyla Capital is a private equity industry has historically been known for buying
struggling companies and attempting a turnaround. (Lewis, 2021). Purchased a stake of less than
5% in the Phoenix Suns through a deal that values the NBA franchise at approximately $1.55
billion.
• Larry Fitzgerald – Arizona Cardinals wide receiver has purchased a minority stake in the Phoenix
Suns by managing partner Robert Sarver.
Financials:
Over the years from 2003 to 2021, their franchise value has increased according to Statista. The franchise
had an estimated value of 1.7 billion U.S dollars in 2021. (Gough, 2021)

Sponsors:
• Coca Cola • Southwest Airlines
• Harkins Theatre • APS
• Century Link
Main Competitor: Arizona Cardinals

The Arizona Cardinals is an American professional
gridiron football team based in Phoenix, Arizona.
The Cardinals are the oldest team in the National
Football League (NFL), but they are also one of the
least successful franchises in league history.
(Augustyn, 2021). The establishment date for the
Arizona Cardinals is in 1898.
Cardinals are the 27th most valuable franchise in the
NFL, according to a report from Forbes (Mike Figure 1: Arizona Cardinals team logo.
Ozanian, 2021). Forbes listed the franchise’s value at
$2.65 billion. The Suns have an estimated value of
$1.7 billion U.S. dollars. The two franchises have a large difference in their value. According to Arizona
Sports report it says, “In 2021, the Suns and the Cardinals will compete simultaneously, bonding us as
sports fans in wonderful ways. “ (Bickley, 2021, pp. 1, Paragraph 5).
The Phoenix Suns, Arizona Coyotes and Arizona Cardinals sports teams are based in Arizona. A report
made by AZ Central says that their fan bases are among the most miserable fan bases in sports according
to ESPN’s ranking. (Cluff, 2019). Selling tickets, merchandise, and having sponsors how both teams earn
their revenue. All sports teams, NFL, NBA, NHL, etc., use similar strategies to accumulate money.
Situation analysis:
It’s been 28-years since the Phoenix Suns been to
the NBA championship. Over the years, they been
at the bottom of the league rankings. Following
the 2020-2021 NBA season, many say that the
scope of this turnaround is impressive. AP news
stated that, “The Suns had by far, the worst record
in the NBA over a five-year span” before heading
to the 2020-21 season finals. (Reynolds, 2021, pp.
1, Paragraph 6). However, it was not an easy
journey to attempt to win the NBA title. The Suns
played against the Milwaukee Bucks, who had
MVP, All-star player, Giannis Antetokounmpo.
There was miscommunication, fouls, injuries, no
defense and missed shots throughout the seven Figure 2: The Phoenix Suns face-off against the Milwaukee Bucks in the
games. It is not supposed to be easy for both teams, 2020-21 NBA Finals

NBA final sweeps are rare, but the Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks had a close matchup this past
season.
The Suns can now prepare for the upcoming 2021-22 season – they are well-experienced in what they
need to accomplish to have another successful season. Learning from the mistakes that were made can
help improve odds against their future opponents. The potential issue with this upcoming season is that
they are spending millions of dollars to assembler their roster, but sources say that it is still looking
unstable and incomplete. (Jain, 2021). This collection of methods can be used to analyze what their next
big moves are during pre-season and the 2021-22 season.
Recent Campaigns:
In August 2021, the Phoenix Suns announced their new Aztec
symbolism jersey design for the upcoming season. They
announced new jersey design concept on all social media
platforms. The concept behind the design is to honor their
Mexican and Mexican American fans. According to ESPN, “the
uniform features the Aztec Sun Stone on the front of the jerseys,
the Aztec Death Stone on the back and jaguar armor on pants leg.”
(Lopez, 2021, pp. 1, Paragraph 2). To get opinions about the new
design from their fans, they insisted fans to give their feedback via
e-mail. The Aztec design is not currently set for the new season,
but they are still receiving feedback on whether to push the design
forward.
Recent major news:

Chris Paul, also known as “CP3” has re-signed with the Phoenix
Suns. After the tough battle for the NBA championship, he has
signed a four-year deal worth up to $120 million dollars. His main
goal is to win a championship with the Suns. Figure 3: The Phoenix Suns announced the new jersey
th, concept on Twitter.
The Suns training camp opens September 28 and they will face-
off against the Sacramento on October 4, 2021. The journey to its
first NBA title begins on October 20, 2021, when they play against the Denver Nuggets at Footprints
Center in downtown Phoenix.
Research questions:
1. Which social media platform do the Suns use the most for off-season updates?
2. What can the Phoenix Suns do to become more connected with their fans across the U.S.?
(Campaigns, food drives, COVID-19)
3. How well do the Phoenix Suns follow its missions for their audience?

Phoenix Suns Communications Audit
Introduction:
The Phoenix Suns 2020-21 season ended on July 20th. Since the season ended, the Suns stayed engaged
with their fans through social media. Since pre-season will begin early October, they have been active in
the past few weeks to update their audience about important news for the upcoming season. This
communications audit will analyze the Suns’ social media and communications strategies from July to
October 2021. It will also include quantitative and qualitative data of traditional media and digital media
research from various analytic and search tools such as Muck Rack, Rival IQ, Social Blade etc. From July
1 - October 1, 2021, the Phoenix Suns have been mentioned in national traditional media 40,149 times.
Current Strategy:
• Social Media: Despite the season ending in July, the Phoenix Suns continued to stay active on all
social media platforms to update their fans about the upcoming season. During the regular season,
their content covered highlights from games they played and updates on upcoming games, and
now it is more focus on fan engagement, giveaways, and heritage celebrations.
• Traditional Media: Over the past four months, the Phoenix Suns earned approximately 1,500
mentions, according to Muck Rack. A large majority of those mentions vary from the NBA
Championship finals highlights, Team USA Tokyo Olympics, pre-season, and regular season
predictions. However, the season will be starting soon, there will be more coverage for the
Phoenix Suns.
• Press Releases: The Phoenix Suns have a news media section on their home page called, The
Vault (Phoenix Suns, 2021). This section of their website keeps fans updated about the latest
news about the team roster, remembering memorable coaches in Suns’ history, partnerships,
heritage celebrations/dedications, and more news from the NBA Championship Finals. The
researcher examined press releases from July to September to develop a more in-depth view
about what kind of news they release for their audience.
Key Messages: The Phoenix Suns key messages to their audience varies from their social media
platforms to the way they release news. By staying active on social media when the season ended
shows that they like to stay engaged with their fans along with continuing to keep their audiences
informed about news releases about upcoming events/ season.

Social Media Assessment – Facebook
@Suns
As of September 2021, the Phoenix Suns have

1,916,091 likes, 1,899,204 followers and a total
engagement of 827,000 on Facebook, according to
Rival IQ.
According to Rival IQ, the topmost engaged

postdates to July 20, 2021, when the Milwaukee
Bucks defeated the Phoenix Suns. The Phoenix
Suns wanted to thank their fans for the love and
support they gave through the entire 2020-21
season. The caption says, “Thank you Suns fans Figure 1 Facebook "Total Likes" data for September 16 - 28, 2021.
for EVERYTHING this season.
Everything we want is on the other side of hard”
(Phoenix Suns Facebook Page, 2021).
The post was engagement with a total of 42.9K, with

36.9K reactions, 2.68K comments and 3.33K shares. In
addition, Facebook has a reaction option for users to
react to the post by how they feel about it. There were
22.6K LIKES, 13.6K LOVES, 392 HAHAS, 317
SADS, and 61 ANGRYS. The engagement rate lift
shows how many times better this post did compared to
the average of the other posts, for this specific post, the
engagement rate lift was 10.8x. Meaning that their
Facebook followers had 10.8 times more engagement
with the post than the rest of their media uploads.
Figure 2 The Phoenix Suns top engaged Facebook post from July
2021.
The Facebook post from September 9, 2021, has a
caption of, “Honoring a Valley Legend. Cotton
Fitzsimmons to be inducted into Naismith Memorial
Basketball Hall of Fame this Saturday. #21HoopClass”
(Phoenix Suns Facebook Page, 2021). After analyzing
the data, they have an engagement total of 536 with 503
reactions, 15 comments, and 18 shares. The engagement
rate lift has a -7.78 x, which is a major decrease from
the previous post that mentioned above.
Figure 3 Facebook post from September 9, 2021.

Social Media Assessment – Instagram (@suns)
The Phoenix Suns Instagram account has 2,213,232

followers, is following 146 accounts, and has shared
10,831 media uploads as of September 2021. Their
media uploads consist of highlight pictures of current
players, promotions of future events held by the Suns,
celebrations of events such as heritage months, video
clips of plays, the 2021-22 pre-season schedule, and
welcoming of new players who are an addition to the
roster.
According to Social Blade, the Phoenix Suns have a

total grade of B+, this is a visual representation of the Figure 4 Visual representation of monthly gained followers,
“Social Blade Rank” based on the ranking of their following, and media for "Phoenix Suns" from September
data base. (Social Blade , 2021). They have a total 2018 to September 2021.
engagement of 0.60% within their last 20 media
uploads, with an average like of 13,186.00
and average comments of 90.38. (Social
Blade , 2021).
Phoenix Suns player, Devin Booker, played

for the Team USA basketball team in the
Tokyo Olympics. During this time, they
used the hashtags #Tokyo2020 and
#RallyTheValley in their 10 most engaging
posts. Figure 5 shows an Instagram post
from July 27, 2021, with a caption of,
“Olympic Book 🇺🇸, 16 PTS, 4 REB, 1 AST,
#Tokyo2020, #USABMNT” (Phoenix Suns
Instagram, 2021). According to Rival IQ, Figure 5 Devin Booker playing at Tokyo 2020 on Team USA
the post has 181K total engagements with
180k likes and 701 comments. (Rival IQ, 2021).
The most recent engaging post from the Phoenix

Suns is shown in Figure 6, from August 31,
2021. According to Rival IQ, it has 60.6K
engagements total, with 60.3K likes and 298
comments. (Rival IQ , 2021). The post caption is
“Certified Valley Boy” with pictures of #25,
Mikal Bridges. (Phoenix Suns Instagram Page ,
2021). This is in reference to Canadian rapper,
Drake, who release his latest album, “Certified
Lover Boy.” The picture is very similar to
Drakes’ “Certified Lover Boy” album cover.
Figure 6 Most recent engaged Instagram post from August 31, 2021.

Social Media Assessment – TikTok @Suns
The Phoenix Suns are staying current with younger audiences

by creating a TikTok account. TikTok is the newest
entertainment app that presents an alternative version of
online sharing. It allows users to create short videos with
music, filters, and some other features. ( (Mohsin, 2021).
According to Mohsin, TikTok is one of the fastest growing
social media platforms in the world. The Suns have 312,400
followers, while following 32 users, with 77 media uploads,
and a total of 1,700,000 likes. Social Blade has given them a
B- grade based on the ranking in their database. (Social Blade Figure 7 TikTok monthly gained followers, likes and video
uploads from March to September 2021.
, 2021).
TikTok is used by NBA teams to give their fans

both important and funny content to keep them
entertained. They were active during the NBA
Championship Finals and the last time they
uploaded content was on July 16, 2021. They
first created their account in 2020, and most of
their content is game highlights, game practices,
and content based on celebrations of the effort on
making it to the Finals.
Figure 8 Phoenix Suns TikTok upload from July 16, 2021.
Their most-liked video is shown in Figure 8, it
has 167.8K likes, 3,245 comments, and 1.1
million views. In this video, they celebrated the
win of the Western Conference Finals, this video
was uploaded on July 1, 2021. This video is
approximately 47 seconds long with a caption
saying, “More to do, more to come…but on the
way, SOAK in every moment!” (Phoenix Suns
TikTok, 2021).
The video in Figure 9 was uploaded prior to the

one in Figure 8, on June 14, 2021. It has 143.1K
Figure 9 Phoenix Suns TikTok upload from June 14, 2021.
likes, 1,465 comments, and 1.1 million views.
This video shows the Phoenix Suns advancing to the
Western Conference Finals. The team landed back in Phoenix and is leaving the airport with fans lined up
congratulating them on their advancement. The caption of the video says, “Thank you fans for showing
your love & support. We couldn’t do it without you. The work for Western Conference Finals begins
NOW. Everything counts.” (Phoenix Suns TikTok, 2021).

Social Media Assessment: Twitter @Suns
The Phoenix Suns use Twitter every day. They have shared a
total of 82,413 tweets since they first made their account on
December 30, 2008. According to Social Bearing, they tweet
approximately 18 times a day, they have 1,393,583 followers
and they are following back 748 other accounts. Within the
past two months they have shared a total of 200 tweets
including retweets and replies, with 1,393,633 estimated
accounts reached, 209,0357,500 impressions, total retweets
of 37,079, total favorite tweets of 423,939 and 50 replies.
(Social Bearing, 2021). The data indicates that they are more
active on Twitter than their other social media platforms.
Figure 10 illustrates the sentiments, type, source, and

language of each tweet within the past two months. The Suns
Twitter account shares the same posts as the other social Figure 10 Phoenix Suns Twitter analytics from the past two month
media platforms. The only difference is the audience on from Social Bearing
each platform. Since they have more followers and
engage more with their fans through twitter, they have more
data for this platform.
The design of their Twitter page is put together very well. Their
images are shot in high resolution and look very professional.
Their profile picture and cover photo are images of their team
logo. Most of their content is related to their team. Some
examples of what their content is like include photos of their
players for media day, promoting for their “Suns Showcase”
taking place on October 8, 2021, welcoming new players to
their team such as Chasson Randle. These are only some
examples from the past week (September 26-28, 2021).
After reviewing the Phoenix Suns profile on Rival IQ, the

highest engaged tweet is similar to the Facebook post. Figure
11 has a 21,098-engagement total. The tweet itself has 17,209
likes, 445 quote tweets and 2,598 retweets. This tweet was
created to thank their fans for all the support they gave during
the finals. They put together a collage of all fans who wore
their team merch while attending in-person Suns games. Not Figure 41 Most engaged Tweet from the
only does this tweet show their appreciation, but it also shows Phoenix Suns
how engaged they are with their fans.

Hashtags:
Hashtags are important to use when putting

content out on social media platforms. Using
hashtags help you reach your target audience and
makes it easier for your audience to find your
content. The Phoenix Suns use a variety of
hashtags such as #valleyproud, #ralleythevalley,
#wearephx and much more. See figure 12 for more
hashtags that they used recently across social Figure 12 Hashtags that the Phoenix Suns used on their social media
media platforms to reach their target audiences. platforms.
Successful Campaign:
The Phoenix Suns have a marketing campaign called, “We are Phx” that
was released in 2015. The Phoenix Suns played with black uniforms
with WeArePhx written across the jersey. It was designed to, “represent
the strong connection between the franchise and the City of Phoenix.”
(Arizona Sports, 2015, pp. 1, Paragraph 8).
According to an article from AZLatinos, “The Suns developed

WeArePHX as a platform for reinforcing the bond between sports fans in
the Valley and the City’s original professional sports franchise”
(AZLatino, 2015). It embraces the Sun’s rich history of success on and
off the court, while engaging with fans of all ages. This multi-year
campaign was designed to take the Suns into their 50th anniversary Figure 13 Phoenix Suns 'PHX' Jersey from
season in 2017-18. 'WeArePHX' campaign.
Traditional Media:
National traditional media has the Phoenix Suns mentioned in their headline or body of the articles,
updates about other basketball games being played for pre-season and articles about previous games
played. Some publications who cover the Phoenix Suns the most are AZ Central and KMVP-FM
(Phoenix). The reporters that I’ve seen frequently reporting about the Suns are, Duane Rankin from AZ
Central, Kellan Olson and Kent Zimmerman from KMVP-FM (Phoenix, AZ).
The Phoenix Suns have a press release section on their main home page called, “The Vault”. As of
October, their trending topics are, Devin Booker, Project 201, The Bubble, Don’t Sleep on Basketball,
The Outlet, Mikal Bridges, and Monty Williams. They also have four options for their readers to choose
from if they would like to only see news releases, videos, photo galleries or all sections on one page.
The latest news release was published five days ago on September 26. This news release talks about the
signing of free agent guard, Chasson Randle. The flow of this release is very descriptive, it is telling its
readers his age, height, weight, career games he has appeared in, and his career stats. It is well put-
together, the information given gives the audience a better impression of Randle and what he has to offer
for the 2021-22 season.

An exciting news release was published on
September 9, 2021, about FanDuel’s group
bringing Sportsbook to Arizona at the Footprint
Center in partnership with Phoenix Suns. The tone
of this release makes it exciting for Arizona sports
fans by mentioning, “The retail sportsbook is the
first of its kind to be located inside an NBA arena
bringing added excitement to Suns games and
downtown Phoenix year-round.” (The Vault, 2021,
pp. 1, Paragraph 1). Arizona Governor Doug
Ducey, Phoenix Suns alumni Channing Frye and
NBA veteran Richard Jefferson cut the ribbon and
officially opened the newest addition FanDuel
Sportsbook at the Footprint Center in Phoenix,
Arizona. This kind of new business operation will
help the Phoenix Suns engage more with their fans.
Figure 15 Press Release about new addition FanDuel Sportsbook to the
Footprint Center in Downtown Phoenix.
Influencers:
The Phoenix Suns have many influencers who

cover their content, post about them on social
media platforms, and to give them recognition to
hopefully promote the team.
Duane Rankin is an award-winning journalist who

traveled cross country to cover the Phoenix Suns
for Arizona Central. He has a total of 9,455
followers on Twitter and is following 5,697
accounts back. Rankin has a big following
platform on his twitter, he has thousands of people
looking at his tweets and news updates on the
Suns. He has reached 5,229,288 unique visitors
according to Agility PR Solutions (Agility PR
Solutions, 2021).
Greg Esposito, @espo, is a blogger and

Figure 14 Press Release about newcomer Chasson Randle to the Phoenix Suns.
influencer who is the talk show host of the
@PHNX_Suns and Head of Content for
@PHNX_Sports. He has a total of 14,357 followers on Twitter and following 6,144 accounts back. His
main audience is residents of Arizona and Phoenix Suns fans. He also has an Instagram account with
6,573 followers and following 945 accounts with a total of 946 posts. According to Phlanx, his
engagement rate is 0.91% with 59 likes, and 4 comments. (Phlanx, 2021).
These two are examples of many influencers, journalists, bloggers, etc. These people are the one who
focus on the Phoenix Suns by creating content on different social media platforms. Their man audience is
to interact with fans to keep the conversation going for the Suns.

Competitive Analysis – Background:
The sports industry is very competitive. It commands loyalty and drives passion like no other industry.
The average television viewership of a regular season NFL game in 2020 was 14.9, according to Statista.
(Gough, 2021). The ratings for NBA viewership averaged 1.19 million viewers. According to Forbes, “It
was down 10% from 2019-20 and -25% from 2018-19. TNT averaged a slightly better 1.22 million
viewers, a decline of 7% from last season and -18% from 2018-19.” (Adgate, 2021, pp. 1, Paragraph 5).
The Arizona Cardinals have lots of fans across Arizona, they are currently doing well in the current 2021-
22 season. Both teams have competition by having to be in the same city and with a different target
audience. In this section, the researcher will compare the Phoenix Suns and Arizona Cardinals traditional
and social media platforms.
2021 Social Media Followers/

2020-21 NBA & NFL The Phoenix Suns The Arizona Cardinals
Viewership Followers Followers
Facebook
1,899,204 1,355,492
Instagram 2,213,232 1,009,094
TikTok 312,400 537,700
Twitter 1,393,583 1,017,048
Viewership 2020-2021 NBA: Average of 1.44M viewers NFL: Average of 15.4M viewers

Competitors Social Media Assessment: Facebook (@Arizona Cardinals)
The Arizona Cardinals created their Facebook page on July

23, 2009. There are 1,355,492 followers with 1,404,845 likes
on their Facebook page. The comparison between the two
teams’ Facebook accounts is between the dates September 20
– October 4, 2021. According to Rival IQ, the Phoenix Suns
have an audience of 1.92 million, and Arizona Cardinals have
1.40 million. The Suns has 3 posts per day while Cardinals
has 8.14 posts per day. Cardinals has a higher average
engagement total with 1.38K and Suns has 748K. This
signifies the average number of reactions, comments, and
shares on any post. So based on these numbers, Arizona
Cardinals takes the lead for receiving around 600 more
engagements per post than Phoenix Suns. Arizona Cardinals
posted every day of the week while suns only posted 5.5 days
a week. Arizona Cardinals received 4.2x more shares per post
than Phoenix Suns, which explains how they’re leading the
post engagements (Rival IQ, 2021).
Figure 16 Arizona Cardinal's Facebook page.
These results may be a result of the Cardinals season just
started and as of October 4, 2021, they are 4-0, the only team
undefeated in the league. Phoenix Suns pre-season just started, and
they are slowly seeing their numbers increase as the season
progresses.
The flow of their Facebook page is very engaging and informative.

They post frequently throughout the day. They upload content about
football games, overall game highlights, and photos of players.
The recent most-liked Facebook post that they have for September
26 – October 3, 2021, is a flyer of them winning against the Los
Angeles Rams that was posted on October 3, 2021. The post had
14.0K reactions, 668 comments, 4.84K shares with an engagement
total of 18.8K and an engagement rate of 1.34%. The more a team
succeeds in the beginning of the season, the more engagement they
will receive from fans.
Figure 17 Most liked Facebook Post for the

week of September 26 - October 3, 2021.

Competitors Social Media Assessment: Instagram (@azcardinals)
The Arizona Cardinals have 1,009,094 Instagram

followers and are following 234 accounts back with
10,032 posts. The Phoenix Suns have more followers
than the Cardinals. The Suns share 1.79 posts per day,
and Cardinals share 5.79 posts per day. The Suns prevail
with the engagement total on this platform. They have
18.6K engagements per post while the Cardinals have
18.4K engagements per post. This is within 1% of each
engagement per post, they are close to each other. The
Phoenix Suns have 2.2x more followers than they do.
Both handles receive around 150 comments per post,
according to Rival IQ.
The flow and design of their Instagram account consists

Figure 18 Dot plot for Arizona Cardinals total Instagram followers,
of photos from game highlights, photos of players, pre-
following and media for the past months.
game attire, and players of the week with quotes.
According to Social Blade, their engagement rate is 1.55%,
average likes of 15,423.30 and average comments of
121.56. They have a total grade of a B+ (Social Blade ,
2021). Figure 18 shows a monthly graph of total
followers, total following and total media for the Arizona
Cardinals. As you can see, it has increased over the past
few months.
The top performing Instagram post represents what that

the Arizona Cardinals use to in their posts such as colors,
image, patterns, copy, hashtags that helps keep the posts
engaging for their target audience. In this case, the
Arizona Cardinals top performing post is a picture of the
NFC West Standing with them standing at number one
with a record of 4-0 (see Figure 19). The post has 74.2K
likes and 773 comments. The caption of the post reads,
“The current state of the NFC West ” (Arizona Figure 19 Arizona Cardinals top performing post from October 3,
Cardinals Instagram Page , 2021). It has an engagement 2021.
total of 75.0K and a 7.43% engagement
rate.
According to Phlanx, the Cardinals have

more Instagram engagements per post
than Suns. The pie chart gives the
Arizona Cardinals a 2.95% engagement
rate and the Suns a 0.78% engagement
rate. (Phlanx, 2021).
Figure 20 Instagram engagement rate comparison between Phoenix Suns and Arizona
Cardinals.

Competitors Social Media: TikTok (@azcardinals)
The Arizona Cardinals have 537,700 TikTok followers and follow 116
accounts. They have 218 uploads with 5,800,00 likes. Cardinals has a
bigger fan platform than Phoenix Suns. They have more content including
videos about game highlights, interviews, team practices, and they have
more player interactions by asking personal and business questions to get a
look into their life. According to Social Blade, based on their content they
have a total grade of B-. (Soical Blade, 2021).
The Arizona Cardinals most engaged media upload on TikTok is from

September 20, 2021. The caption reads, “Post-game interviews don’t get
any better than this. #nfl #cardinals #fans”. The stat on this video is
good compared to their previous uploads. The video has a 129K Figure 21 Arizona Cardinals most engaged video
engagement total with 128.7K likes, 355 comments and 329 shares. With on TikTok from September 20, 2021
the number of followers that they have, their engagement rate per follower
is 24.1% with a 10.7x engagement rate. The video itself has 766K views.
(Soical Blade, 2021).
Their TikTok team creates animation videos about their well-known stories of
the Cardinals. The video has a story element about Pat Tillman’s locker almost
being demolished during the facility renovation. It is based off their “Folktales”
the legendary locker of Pat Tillman. Folktales is the Arizona Cardinals
historical season; it has been in the making since the 2020 season and will have
11 episodes. The post has a caption of “The story of how Pat Tillman’s final
locker was rescued seconds before being demolished.” (Arizona Cardinals
TikTok, 2021). The video has a 55.8K engagement total, the post has 55.5K
likes, 140 comments, and 126 shares. It also has 331K views, and the
engagement rate by follower is 10.4%.
The Cardinals usually post to their page between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily. Their Figure 22 Arizona Cardinals Pat Tillman's
engagement rates increase between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Folktale story from TikTok.
because most TikTok users are on the app at that time of
day. According to a graph provided by Rival IQ, they post
throughout the week, but they usually have higher
engagement activity on Sundays and Fridays. (Rival IQ,
2021). Their engagement rates are high on Mondays, with
9.88% by followers. This could be based off the Cardinals
playing on Sunday’s and fans will most likely see their
content posted the next day.
Figure 23 Arizona Cardinals average activity by hour and day.

Competitor Social Media: Twitter (@AZCardinals)
The Arizona Cardinals have a large following on Twitter, and they created this account in October 2011.
They use this account more frequently than they use Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. They have
1,017,048 followers and are following 399 accounts back and have 53,573 tweets.
Looking through their page, they post daily about their rosters,
players, and game highlights. They post approximately the same
amount as the Phoenix Suns, but the Suns have more followers than
the Cardinals. According to Social Bearing, they post approximately
15 times a day. The account has had 200 tweets within the past nine
days, and they have reached 1,017,078 accounts with 176,967,074
impressions from accounts across Twitter. (Social Bearing , 2021)
The design of both team’s account pages are neatly organized, they
are very fan-friendly and informative, and easy for their audience to
engage with their account. With the number of followers, they have
and based off the engagement rate, both teams are doing well with
posting and keeping their audiences informed.
Based on sentiment data provided by Social Bearing, they have Figure 24 Pie charts demonstrating type of
63.5% neutral, 21.5% good, 6.5% great, 6.5% bad and 2.0% terrible content uploaded on Arizona Cardinals Twitter
page.
tweets from September 3 -October 3, 2021. Also, they have 65.5%
tweets, 21.5% retweets and 13.0% replies on their Twitter account. (Social
Bearing , 2021) This data will help give an overview of what type of
tweets they have on their page.
The Phoenix Suns is their competitor in this audit but their top tweet within
the past three months is a picture of the well-known Suns fan, Nick
McKellar who had the popular quote, “Suns in 4”. The tweet has an
engagement total of 10.4K with 9.29K likes, 1.08K retweets and 37 replies,
according to Rival IQ. (Rival IQ, 2021) Nick McKellar was trending
during the 2020-21 game three playoff series when an altercation broke out
with a Nuggets Fan. This has been their highest engagement tweet over the
past three months. They continued to support the Phoenix Suns throughout
the journey to the NBA Finals.
Hashtags:
To improve engagement with their followers the Cardinals use hashtags,
so their followers have an easy access to their posts on all social Figure 25 "Suns in 4", Nick McKellar, highest
media platforms. Some of their popular hashtags include #redsea, engaged post on their Twitter account.
#azcardinals, #cardinals, #cardsfolktales and much more. They use
the majority of these hashtags on their posts on Facebook, Twitter,
TikTok, Instagram and others. This is, in part, how they reach their
target audiences.
Figure 26 Variety of hashtags the Arizona Cardinals use in their

social media posts to reach their target audience.

Successful Donation:
The Arizona Cardinals donated $1 million dollars to AZ

Coronavirus Fund. The fund launched in early 2020, by
Governor Doug Ducey, to aid those battling against
COVID-19. In an article from the Cardinals’ press release
section of their main website, Arizona Cardinals chairman
and president Michael Bidwill says, "Like so many in our
community, this unprecedented crisis has us asking what we
can do to help and what might have the greatest impact.”
(Urban, 2020, pp. 1, Paragraph 3). They made a
commitment to helping their community through hardship
times against the pandemic.
Traditional Media: Figure 27 Press release from Arizona Cardinals about $1

million donation to AZ Coronavirus Fund in 2020.
From July 1 - October 1, 2021, the
Cardinals have been mentioned in 26,313
national traditional media articles. The
majority of their mentions are about their
pre-season games, regular season wins,
players’ injuries, news, and updates about
the Cardinals.
Some of the media outlets include AZ

Central, Arizona Family, KMVP-FM and
much more. When we compare the
Phoenix Suns media coverage to the
Arizona Cardinals, the Suns have more
since they had their season still going in
July. Arizona Cardinals 2020-21 season
ended January 3, 2021, so this is one of the
main factors as to why they didn’t have as
much coverage.
Figure 28 Arizona Cardinals press release section from their main home page.
The Cardinals have a section on their
website where fans can read more about
their news updates. They also have a “Words from the Birds Blog” that has articles from Darren Urban
about past games, players, and other information. Urban is the Director, Editorial Content/Senior Writer
for this blog page. Readers have options to choose from for news, photos, podcasts, videos, team,
schedule, and much more. They also offer translations from English to Spanish for their Hispanic fans.

An example of one of their articles from their press release
page is titled, “Kyler Murray Plays a Special Game in a
Special Win Over Rams.” Written by Kevin Parrish Jr., the
key messages in this article are that Kyler Murray played a
good game. He always struggled with playing against the
Los Angeles Rams in his short career but this past Sunday,
they got the win. Center Rodney Hudson states, “It's his
presence and the level of calmness he shows. I think all
that brings a certain energy to the huddle when your
quarterback is feeling good and playing the way he's
playing. It makes our job easier.” (Jr. Parrish, 2021, pp. 1,
Paragraph 7).
Both the Phoenix Suns and Arizona Cardinals has many

traditional media articles from Muck Rack, and they
provide their audiences with news from their homepage.
Both teams are doing great with the types of news being
put out for their fans and the layout of their websites are Figure 29 Article of Kyler Murray’s special game against the Los
neatly organized. It is easy to navigate around to look for Angeles Rams.
information about the organizations.
Influencers:
The Arizona Cardinals have many influencers who cover their news, publish stories on news outlets, post
updates to their social media and talk about them in podcasts to promote the organization. Muck Rack has
90 people who covers the Arizona Cardinals. Some of the influencers include Senior Sportswriter, Bob
McManaman; Sports Reporter, Dana Scott; and much more.
Bob McManaman is a senior sportswriter for AZCentral.com, and the Arizona Republic covering the
Arizona Cardinals and NFL. McManaman has published several articles about the Arizona Cardinals and
tweets about them on his Twitter account. His twitter handle is ‘@azbobbyman’, he has 9,242 followers
on Twitter and is following back 1,401 accounts. He keeps up with their latest news, and one of his
published articles is titled, “4-0 Cardinals are no joke, but Kliff Kingsbury’s sense of humor more
apparent with team’s early success.” (McManaman, 2021).
Dana Scott is a sports reporter for the Arizona Republic and is a reporter at @azcsports covering the
Arizona Cardinals, Phoenix Suns, and Arizona high school sports. He also publishes articles about the
Cardinals, and most of them are very recent. His Twitter handle is ‘@iamDanaScott’ and he has 2,902
followers and is following back 1,852 people. One of his recent published articles is called, “Cardinal’s
center Rodney Hudson’s leadership proving a key factor behind offense’s success.” (Scott, 2021).

Conclusion:
After analyzing the Phoenix Suns social media platforms and traditional media coverage, it is apparent
that the organization has been successful with engaging their fans by keeping them up to date about
breaking news with their different outlets and social media platforms. Based off the numbers retrieved
from researching the Suns’ social media accounts, we have a visual idea of what type of content they put
out for their audience. Their competitor, the Arizona Cardinals, has also been successful with how they
engage with their fans. Their social media platforms have informative and entertaining content that is
related to their team.
There is a slight difference between the Phoenix Suns and Arizona Cardinals. Within the past four
months, the traditional media coverage has exceeded as both NBA and NFL 2021-22 season has started.
As the season progresses, we will be able to see more news coverage for both teams. and their analytics
are higher than the Phoenix Suns for Twitter and a 1% difference engagement rate per post on Instagram.
Their stats for their social media posts are somewhat similar for being the two big-league teams in
Arizona. Traditional media coverage for both teams are average since the Phoenix Suns 2020-21 season
ended in July and the Cardinals season ended in January.
In conclusion, both teams have done a good job with how they connect with their fans and how they
connect with their communities.

Interview Report
Introduction:
The Phoenix Suns research team conducted a one-on-one interview with a college student who has been a
Suns fan since 2005. This interview gathered information from a participant who has been following the
team’s social media account and has been engaged since the Suns created their accounts.
The purpose of this interview is to collect qualitative information from an individual who is a part of the
Phoenix Suns fan-base to get a better understanding of how a fan views the Suns’ social media content
over the past few months and years.
Participation Background:
The participant is a 23-year-old from Tuba City, Arizona. He is a second-year college student studying
computer technology at Diné College. He was a long-time basketball player from elementary to high
school. Basketball has been his favorite hobby and he has always looked up to NBA players for
motivation. He has been following the Phoenix Suns on social media platforms such as Twitter,
Facebook, and Reddit. He continues to stay engaged with them for news.
Methodology:
The research team has encountered the individual sharing posts on Facebook about the Phoenix Suns and
having descriptive captions about how well they are doing, comments about recent trades, and how they
can improve their game plans. I reached out to the individual by messaging him through Facebook days
before our initial interview date and time.
The participant was aware of the questions before conducting the interview. The research team has sent
the questions after finalization through e-mail. The participant then went over the questions and key
points he would discuss in the interview. The participant was aware that his identity will stay confidential,
and it was voluntarily to participate in this interview. He did sign a consent form agreeing to being
interviewed.
The interview was scheduled to take place on Friday, October 14, 2021, but it was pushed until Sunday,
October 17, 2021, due to waiting on feedback about the interview questions. The interview was conducted
over the phone around 6:30 p.m., just as scheduled. The interview lasted about 24 minutes with questions
regarding the Phoenix Suns team, social media accounts, background fan information and competitors.
The interview was recorded on the researcher’s laptop using voice memos to record and has been
transcribed by ‘Otter.ai’ and by hand.
Limitations of the Study:
The interview had some flaws including audio being cut out and not being clear enough for ‘Otter.ai’ to
transcribe some of the participant’s responses. This resulted in me having to listen to the interview on my
laptop to correct the responses in the appendix section of this report. My participant had gone off topic for

about a minute, he may have misunderstood the question I was asking. He also expressed
recommendations about how the Suns can improve their social media content.
Analysis:
The interview helped the research team gather information about how a fan views the Suns’ social media
content and how he gathers his news from the content the Suns’ post. The participant talked about how
the Suns’ team has improved over the year following the social media content being more informative
with details about trades, game highlights, and what they are doing to help the Phoenix community.
Key Observations:
• Twitter and Instagram are the main social media platforms that they share their content on.
• The Phoenix Suns post daily on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook with pictures and videos.
• The team needs improvement with content, such as showing more clips from practices and one-
on-one content with players.
• The team is managing to stay connected with fans and the community by assisting those through
this time of hardship.
Common Themes:
• The participant likes how the team posts daily on Twitter and Instagram since he uses those
platforms daily.
• The participant feels connected to them by the support they give to the Native American
Basketball Invitational, as a Native American, he likes that they acknowledge his ethnicity.
• Phoenix Suns need some improvement on YouTube and Reddit. The participant
thinks that they can have more engagement with fans on those platforms.
Keywords Used:
• Phoenix Suns • Players
• Social Media • Following
• Content • Connected
• Insights • Improve
Concerns:
The participant has concerns about the content the Suns post on social media platforms. He suggests that
they post exclusive content such as behind the scenes, a day in the life, team bonding, and to hold more
events/contests for their fans since the 2021-22 season is starting soon.
Competitors:
The participant compared the Phoenix Suns to the Milwaukee Bucks, their competitor for the 2020-21
NBA Final Championship. During the interview, he mentioned that the Milwaukee Bucks post more
exclusive content to their YouTube channel, conduct interviews with players, autographs, and behind the
scenes content.

The Milwaukee Bucks, who are the main competitor discussed in this interview, have similar missions
and content as the Phoenix Suns. Both teams engage with their fans with content on social media
platforms. The sentiments of the content they post are mainly neutral and positive, they create informative
posts and continue to stay active with their target audience.
Notable Quotes:
Content:
• “I mainly stay updated on Twitter and Instagram. That's where their main views come from. And
I believe that there are two main social media platforms that they post on.”
• “They post every day with highlights from practice, highlights from last season and they post
every day, probably three times a day.”
• “What I like to see from the Suns is that the improvement in their YouTube social media, I feel
like what I feel like they can like do like, in sight stuff of like something they don't post that we
don't see.”
• “When they're trying to build the concept, content is just to make sure we're still here and they're
trying to hype up the Suns for next season.”
Community:
• “I also know they donated to COVID-19 vaccines. I know that they donated money, to the
hospitals. So, they can provide the vaccines to more people so people can stay protected through
this pandemic.”
• “I think we put out a lot, we're posting more. We're hyping the fans up for the next season.”
• “We'd be connected more with the Suns player with a sense of the things they such as attending
events, posting events for the fans, fans will come out like you know the excitement of getting
autographs, take pictures and just engage with fans.”
• “I have seen a lot from the Phoenix Suns individually over the years. And together they do a lot
just for the community and events to bring fans together.”
Competitor:
• “I do compare them to the Milwaukee Bucks, they did beat us in the 2020-21 season NBA Finals.
I do follow the Milwaukee Bucks on social media as well. I mainly watch their YouTube.”
• “They post insights, like during the pandemic, The Bubble, they were posting about the team and
what they were individually doing, like how would they spend their time in a bubble.”
• “But when it comes to YouTube, they post more content, because they're getting insights on
individual players, the team, the coaches, and what they do in life, how they live their life, and
they also post game day insights. Such as how they get to the arena, what they do when they get
to doing them, how do they get ready, how the faculty prepare jerseys before the game, what they
do after with the fans, what they do after the game's over.”
• “They will do interviews, then they'll also go behind the scenes of what the media does there, the
whole arena, including the offices, the main offices, their waiting room, that locker room, what
everyone does in the morning in the team. And I think that's highly, how Bucks fans engaged
with their YouTube Insights.”

Survey Report
Overview:
The Phoenix Suns’ research team conducted a survey to better understand how the Suns’ fans view their
social media platforms and how well their target audience feels engaged with the team through social
media. The study collected qualitative and quantitative data from those who completed the survey. The
questions asked in the survey were strictly relevant to the purpose in gathering data about the fans
receiving quality information from the Suns’ social media content.
Methodology and Target Population:
The research team utilized the online survey software Qualtrics to conduct the survey and gather data
from the target audience. There were 15 questions on the survey, including questions about the Suns’
communications and demographic questions for the research team to understand the sample examined.
The average completion time for the survey was about three to five minutes. The participants’ identities
and responses are anonymous to the researcher. The target population for this survey was individuals who
are fans of the Phoenix Suns that follow their social media accounts and stay updated with news through
the content posted.
Development and Distribution Method:
The survey was active from October 18 to October 26, 2021. It was distributed to Facebook survey-taking
groups, Phoenix Suns fan groups, and to Tempe living group pages. The survey was also posted to the
researcher’s personal Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat accounts.
The survey received 51 responses, and a majority of the participants are fans of the Phoenix Suns. After
the research team reviewed all 51 responses, there were some responses left with no data, those following
responses were deleted, which left the team with 37 responses.
Limitations of the Study:
The purpose of this study was subject to limitations. One of the limitations was that Phoenix Suns fans
were asked to take the survey and give their feedback about the Suns’ social media platforms. There were
some participants who voted “No” to being fans of the Phoenix Suns but are following their social media
accounts. This has restricted the researcher from keeping the following participants in the study because
they gave their recommendations about how the Suns’ can improve their engagement with fans. Another
limitation is that 22 participants gave invalid responses to the question asking, “How can the Phoenix
Suns improve their social media platforms?”. This also restricted me to having less responses from 13
participants, so this may have led to data not fulfilling the requirement of receiving feedback from fans.
Response Rate and Demographics:
The survey has 33 fans of the Phoenix Suns and four participants who are not fans. Out of the 35
participants, there were 22 females and 13 males. 32 currently reside in Arizona, one in New Mexico, and
one in Utah. About 35 are between the age of 18-24-years-old, one between the age of 25- 34-years-old
and one between then age of 45-54-years-old. 25 of the participants are American Indian or Alaska
Native, seven of the participants consider themselves White, one of the participants considers themselves
Asian and five consider themselves as Hispanic, Latino and Mexican

Figure 6 Participant gender. Figure 5 Participant current location.
Figure 7 Participant age.
Figure 8 Participant race.

Key Findings:
An initial question that was ask is “Do you watch NBA basketball games?” The purpose of asking this
question on the survey is to target Phoenix Suns fans and those who watch NBA games. This question is
important because the Phoenix Suns are a part of the National Basketball Association, and the purpose of
this survey was to learn from those who watch NBA games. From the results, 33 participants watch NBA
games and two of them do not. Although, the two participants who voted “No”, do follow the team’s
social media accounts and are fans of the Suns’.
Figure 9 Question one results.
Question number two asks the participants, “Are you a fan of the Phoenix Suns?” and 33 said “Yes” and
four said, “No”. Reviewing those who said “no” to this question, those who are not fans of the Phoenix
Suns are following the Suns on social media and gave feedback about what the Suns can do to engage
more with their audience.
Figure 10 Question two results.

About 37 of the participants responded to the question, “Do you follow the Phoenix Suns on their social
media platforms?” and 25 selected, “yes” and 12 selected “no”. Out of the 37 people, 12 do not follow the
Suns on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. The majority indicated that they are fans, but this bar graph
shows that those who are fans do not engage with the team through social media.
Figure 11 Question three results.
Question four asks, “What social media platform do you think the Phoenix Suns are more active on?” The
participants had more than one answer to choose from. According to the graph below, 37 of the
participants think the Suns are active on one or more platforms. There was a total of 59 selections, and
Instagram had the highest with 27. Twitter had 11, Facebook had nine, TikTok had seven, and “All of the
above” had five. These platforms are what the participants see the Suns’ being active on by engaging with
fans and post content.
Figure 12 Question four results.

# Answer % Count
1 Facebook 15.25% 9
2 Instagram 45.76% 27
3 TikTok 11.86% 7
4 Twitter 18.64% 11
5 All of the above 8.47% 5
Total 100% 59
Figure 13 Question four numerical results.
Question five asks, “On a scale of 0-10, how do you rate the Phoenix Suns?” This question had the slider
question response so the participants could rate the Phoenix Suns from zero to 10. The minimum response
was five and the maximum was 10. The mean of this question is 8.09, with a standard deviation of 1.38
and a variance of 1.91. Out of the 37 participants, only 35 rated the Suns on the scale.
Q5 - On a scale of 0 to 10, how do you rate the Phoenix Suns?
# Field Minimum Maximum Mean Std Deviation Variance Count
1 Phoenix Suns 5.00 10.00 8.09 1.38 1.91 35

Figure 10 Question five numerical results.
Figure 11 Question five results.

Question six asks, “What team do you think the Phoenix Suns will have as their main competitor this
2021-22 season?”. The question was an open-ended question where the participants had to type their
answer. Most of the answers included, the Los Angeles Lakers, Brooklyn Nets, Milwaukee Bucks,
Golden State, Denver Nuggets and more. Figure 12 below shows the responses to question six in the
survey.
Q6 - What team do you think the Phoenix Suns will have as their main competitor for this
2021-22 season?
Figure 12 Question six-word cloud.
Question seven asks, “On a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the most positive, how would you rate the
Phoenix Suns engagement with its fans about upcoming games and events through social media?”. Out of
37 people, only 34 rated the Suns’ social media engagement with its fans. The minimum was a two and
the maximum was a 10. The mean was a 7.47 from 34 responses, with a standard deviation of 1.77, and a
variance of 3.13. Looking at the data from this question, the Suns engage with their fans well through the
content the content they post. Most fans who follow their social media are informed about upcoming
games and events.
Q7 - On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most positive, how would you rate the Phoenix
Suns engagement with its fans about upcoming games and events through social media?
# Field Minimum Maximum Mean Std Deviation Variance Count
1 Games and Events 2.00 10.00 7.47 1.77 3.13 34

Figure 13 Question seven numerical results.

Figure 14 Question seven results.
Question eight asks, “Do you feel as if the Phoenix Suns care about their fans, audience, and
community?” This question had 25 people select “Yes” and 12 select, “Maybe.” This question has a
positive and neutral response, which is good because the fans and followers feel as if the Suns’ care about
their fans, audience, and community. Nobody selected “No.”
Q8 - Do you feel as if the Phoenix Suns care about their fans, audience, and community?
Figure 15 Question eight results.
# Answer % Count
1 Yes 67.57% 25
2 Maybe 32.43% 12
3 No 0.00% 0
Total 100% 37
Figure 16 Question eight numerical results.

Question nine asks, “Do you receive good information through their social media platforms such as
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.?” The total of responses for this question is 37. According to the data
received, 20 of the participants selected, “Very likely,” 16 selected, “Neutral” and one selected, “Not
likely.” The data shows that the Suns post content that helps the fans and community stay updated with
information for the current season.
Q9 - Do you receive good information through their social media platforms such as Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter, etc.?
Figure 17 Question nine results.
# Answer % Count
1 Very Likely 54.05% 20
2 Neutral 43.24% 16
3 Not Likely 2.70% 1
Total 100% 37
Figure 18 Question nine numerical results.
Q10 - How can the Phoenix Suns improve their social media platforms?
The survey included a question that asked, “How can the Phoenix Suns improve their social media?” The
question was open-ended, there were some responses that were detailed, and others were two-word
answers. Out of 37 participants, 23 gave their opinions about how the Suns’ can improve their social
media. Figure 19 below shows some of the key words used in the responses, for an example, one person
said, “Maybe being involved. Hearing from the players input on anything. Seeing the players taking more
consideration for their fans since Phoenix has a big atmosphere of fans.” Another said, “Engaging with
the different culture that AZ is known for, expressing their appreciation for human diversity,” and “I like
what they’re doing but if they included an occasional reference to current trends, I would enjoy it more.”
There were responses that said, they would like to see Facebook ads, behind the scenes, broadcasting live
games on their accounts, having meet and greets, and adding a personal spin such as allowing the team

players take over parts of their social media stories. There were other suggestions, but they were all
closely related to being interactive and engaging with its fans.
Figure 19 Question 10-word cloud.
The research team added this question, “Can the Phoenix Suns make a return to the 2021-22 NBA
Championship Final?” to get the fans’ and other supporters’ opinions about the upcoming 2021-22
season. Although it is too early to give an insightful answer, 21 participants answered, “Yes.” 15
answered, “Maybe” and one answered “No.”
Q11– Can the Phoenix Suns make a return to the 2021-22 NBA Championship Final?
Figure 14 Question 11 results.
# Answer % Count
1 Yes 56.76% 21
2 Maybe 40.54% 15
3 No 2.70% 1
Total 100% 37
Figure 15 Question 11 numerical results.

Conclusion:
The survey provided insightful information. The survey originally had 52 participants, but after reviewing
the data, the responses that were left uncompleted had to be deleted. In total, there were 37 participants
who successfully submitted their responses. The responses for question 10 indicate that the Phoenix Suns
post good content that the fans feel engaged with, but there are some recommendations that can be
incorporated to their social media platforms. Based on the survey’s demographic responses, many of the
fans are Gen-Z who are between the age of 18-24-years-old. Instagram and Twitter are the main platforms
used by the Phoenix Suns, and many followers receive good content and information from what they post
regularly. Therefore, we had good data retrieved from fans across Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.

Phoenix Suns’ Target Audience Report
Introduction:
This target audience report will analyze the Phoenix Suns’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats based on its communication practices. In addition, the report will identify stakeholders,
influencers, and the organization’s target audience. The report will also include two audience personas
that will bring target audiences to life by exemplifying their general characteristics and traits.
SWOT Analysis:
Strengths Weaknesses
• Uploads daily to social media platforms. • Lack of COVID-19 resources for their
• Phoenix Suns Charities donated to hundreds followers and audience on social media
of local diverse communities. platforms.
• Donates to worthy Arizona organizations • Lack of fan interactions such as events,
focusing on basketball, education, and career
contests, and recommendations.
development.
• Lack of content on other social media
platforms such as YouTube and TikTok.
Opportunities Threats
• Create content on YouTube and TikTok such • Loss of fans due to weak social media
as behind the scenes or Q&As. content.
• Partnerships/collaborations with organization • Loss of fans due to allegations of racism and
to provide opportunities for their fans. misogyny with the Phoenix Suns current and
• Recognizing their fans’ ethnicities and host former employees.
heritage activities/giveaways to feel more • Fans lose faith from allegations of labeling
connected with fans. Mr. Sarver and the organization as racist and
sexist.

Strengths:
The Phoenix Suns upload content daily to their social media platforms for their fans and audiences to give
details about upcoming games, plans and news related to the Suns. They have about 1-2M followers on
Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and about 330.7K followers on TikTok. Building relationships with fans
through social media can help the Phoenix Suns organization boost their brand, followers, and
engagement rates on their social media platforms.
The Phoenix Suns have a charity organization that donates money to the community, including
organizations that focuses on basketball and recreation, education, career development and healthcare.
According to their charity homepage, their mission is to enhance the lives of children in need throughout
Arizona (Phoenix Suns, n.d.). Due to the generosity of fans and sponsors, and underwriting by the team,
the Phoenix Suns Charities has experienced steady growth. Since the growth, they donated more than
$33M to Arizona organizations that help children determine their future. (Phoenix Suns, n.d.). The
Phoenix Suns Charities distributes more than $1.5M annually to hundreds of local diverse communities.
The Phoenix Suns helped the NBA renovate a local basketball court at the Maryvale Community Center
in tradition with the NBA Cares program. According to an article from news outlet, AZ Family, the
renovations include new baskets, nets, upgraded floorboards and a new scoreboard (Garcia, 2021). The
Phoenix Suns partnered with Helios Education Foundation to award Central High School senior Paaij
Smith with a full scholarship to Northern Arizona University according to news outlet Arizona Sports
(Schleizer, 2021).
Weaknesses:
The outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) has affected many people across the United States. Many
health organizations provide the public with COVID-19 related resources to help minimize morbidity and
mortality of COVID-19. The Phoenix Suns’ lack posting COVID-19 resources on their social media
platforms for their audience. Some of the Suns’ players tested positive for the coronavirus, and there
wasn’t much content pertaining how to contact local health officials or resources about developing
COVID-19 symptoms.
Although we are still in a pandemic, many places are requiring people to show vaccine cards or negative
COVID-19 results, but the Suns are not requiring fans to show those documents when attending home-
games. If these safety measures are not required, the Suns can host events or competitions for fans to win
a free game ticket or a special meet-and-greet. This can potentially increase fan engagement on their
social platforms.
During an interview with a Phoenix Suns fan, he suggested the Phoenix Suns upload content on
YouTube, this platform has low followers and engagement. The participant stated, “You can pretty much
see everything on the court. What I like to see from the Suns is that the improvement in their YouTube
social media, I feel like what I feel like they can like do like, in sight stuff of like something they don't
post that we don't see. Like what they do in the locker room, what they do after practice or what they
before practice, I feel like they can do a lot more like that” (Bilagody, 2021).

The Phoenix Suns account on YouTube has 40K subscribers, and their TikTok account has 322.6K
followers. The 2021-22 season has started, and they have not been posting much content on the season,
and that is a weakness because fans would want to engage with them by watching their videos to feel
connected to the team.
Opportunities:
An opportunity for the Suns to increase engagement with their target audience would incorporate behind
the scenes content such as looking at how the arena is prep for a home-game, videos about how the
players warm up in the locker room or participating in trends to gain engagement. Video content ideas
such as Q&As can connect the players with fans emotionally. Questions related to their childhood, about
the season, hobbies, interests, likes/dislikes, etc. can generate greater interest from the target audience.
The survey report gathered data about who their main target audience are. According to the survey report,
the majority of their fans are between the ages of 18-24-years-old living in Arizona (Benally, 2021). The
generation that is targeted are Gen-Z. Many of the individuals in this generation use social media to
receive their news, and the Phoenix Suns utilizes their social platforms to connect with their fans.
The NBA brand uses collaborations and partnerships to improve brand awareness and brand visibility.
Having future partnerships and collaborations with organizations for scholarships, grants, relief funds, or
events can also increase target audience participation. The Suns had partnered with Helios Education
Foundation before, and this was a great opportunity for a future college student to continue their
education at a university. According to their web page, “Phoenix Suns Charities and the Phoenix Suns
Social Responsibility Department are committed to improving the quality of life for all in our community
and inspiring philanthropic culture through the Phoenix Region.” (Phoenix Suns, n.d.). The statement
about their goals for helping the community gives them the opportunity to expand assistance for their
community.
The Phoenix Suns participate in celebrating

heritage months through their social media
platforms. Hispanic heritage month was from
September 15 to October 15, 2021, and the
Suns posted to their Instagram account with a
flyer celebrating Hispanic heritage month. The
caption on the post is the following, “From
arts to food and everything in between, Latino
roots run deep in the city and on the court.
Celebrating la cultura that inspires us every
day.” (Phoenix Suns, 2021).
Figure 16 The Phoenix Suns heritage month post on Instagram.

They acknowledge Indigenous People’s Day that
also shares the same holiday as Columbus Day. The
caption on the post is the following, “Today, we are
honored to celebrate and acknowledge the first
people of our great nation whose culture, history,
and resiliencies have shaped who we are today.
#IndigenousPeoplesDay” (Phoenix Suns , 2021).
Since they acknowledge many of their fans’

ethnicities and backgrounds, they can host events or
competitions that can engage their target audience
who are Native American, Mexican, Asian, African
American, etc. That would be a good opportunity to
gain more loyalty from their fans.
Figure 17 The Phoenix Suns Indigenous Peoples' Day post on Instagram
Threats:
The loss of fans due to what the Suns upload to their platforms can affect their communication practices.
There are different ways to lose followers on social media platforms. One way it to spam the audience
way too much with repetitive and boring content. (Grizzell, 2015). Analyzing the Suns social media
platforms, they are doing a good job with posting a variety of content. If they were to not have relevant
content to about their organizations, then followers would lose interest and unfollow. Also, not engaging
with fans and followers can potentially lead up to the loss of fans.
Phoenix Suns owner, Robert Sarver, is accused by ESPN of having a history of racist, misogynistic, and
hostile incidents. (Holmes, 2021). The National Basketball Association (NBA) has asked a law firm to
investigate the Phoenix Suns after allegations of Sarver spread across social media. According to news
source outlet, Sports Media, former Suns coach, Earl Watson, said Sarver repeated the N-word several
times. The report also included details about Sarver passing around a picture of his wife in a bikini to
employees, and dozen employees said the Suns owner had a history of making obscene comments in all
staff meetings (Bassam, 2021). These allegations about the Phoenix Suns’ owner are a threat to the
franchise because Sarver is responsible for handling the team. If these allegations are made against the
owner, it can potentially spread rumors about how the Phoenix Suns organization allows racism and
sexism.
Threats against an organization can conduct an economic crisis, fluctuating currency values and
epidemics can affect the business. Handling and thinking fast against situations can help reduce a crisis
from occurring. Being transparent and monitoring the situation can reduce threats made against the
organization.

Stakeholder Analysis:
Stakeholders are separated into two distinct groups: primary and secondary. Primary and secondary
stakeholders are interdependent with an organization. Those who have a connection with the organization
are affected by all major and minor company decisions.
Primary:
Primary stakeholders are those people or groups whose actions can be harmful or beneficial to an
organization. The Phoenix Suns primary stakeholders include but are not limited to employees, coaches,
owners, and players.
The employees of the Suns organization are primary internal stakeholders. Employees have significant
personal and time investments in the Suns organization. They play a specific role in the strategy, tactics,
and operations the Phoenix Suns execute. Employees often rely on how much they are paid by the
company, if there are any recessions within the organization, they are often affected.
The owner of the Phoenix Suns, Robert Sarver, is the primary stakeholder of the Suns. According to his
Sarver became the majority owner of one of the NBA’s model franchises, assembling a group of investors
that purchased the Suns, the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, and the operating rights to Footprint Center.
Owners make decisions for the team such as drafting players, renovating arenas, and overseeing massive
organizational developments. Head coach, Monty Williams, is also one of the primary stakeholders for
the Phoenix Suns. Williams is responsible for creating strategies for the Suns, instructing the players, and
providing mentorship. It encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive
skills.
The Phoenix Suns players are primary stakeholders because they are the reason fans spend money to see
the team play. Each player has a role on the team, if they do not meet the expectations of the team this can
result in the player being traded or waived. Players help achieve the goals the management team sets. If
they successfully contribute to the organization, it results in the player getting a raise or extended
contract.
Secondary:
Secondary stakeholders are those people or groups who can affect or be affected by the actions of an
organization. The Phoenix Suns secondary stakeholders include but are not limited to the NBA board of
governors, the media, and the community.
NBA’s board of governors are the secondary stakeholders. They implement rules and changes to the rule
book for the NBA organization. The rules manage the play and procedure in the game. The Constitution
and By-Laws of the NBA are what affect the game managed by primary stakeholders.
The media is a secondary stakeholder of the Phoenix Suns. The media is changing the way fans and
supporters are communicating with different organizations. The media industry is an important
stakeholder and includes firms that specialize in broadcast content and delivery including print, internet,
television, radio, and direct mail. The Phoenix Suns social media platforms are doing great. They have

about 2.2M followers on Instagram, about 1.4M followers on Twitter, about 1.9M likes on Facebook and
about 322.8K followers on TikTok. Their target audience follow them on these accounts to stay up-to-
date with their organization.
Another secondary stakeholder of the Phoenix Suns is its local community. Secondary stakeholders are
important to a company because they affect the company’s reputation. For an example, the COVID-19
pandemic has been continuous for about a year and a half. If they lack content about this topic for their
fans about how to take precautions during games, then they could ruin their reputation by not caring to
inform their target audience about protocols and regulations. The local community can view the Suns
organization differently if they do not treat them with dignity and respect.
Influencers:
Influencers are important to an organization
because they use their platforms to send messages
to their followers about an organization. The
influencers are the people who have the power to
influence decisions with their background,
appearance, job description and followers. The
following two influencers stay updated with the
Phoenix Suns, posts about their team, and continue
to support them through their regular season.
One YouTube influencer that is a big Phoenix

Suns fan is Brandon Awadis, also known as
“Brawadis” on YouTube and his other social
platforms. He has 5.38M subscribers on YouTube,
1.9M followers on Instagram, and 456.1K followers Figure 18 YouTuber, 'Brawadis' account with Suns in search engine.
on Twitter. He constantly talks about the Phoenix Suns
on all his platforms, he attends games, and he has close connections
with the players. Brawadis constantly represents the Phoenix Suns
and shares his thoughts and reactions as a diehard fan. In 2018, he
was interviewed by sideline reporter and host, Lindsey Smith, for the
Phoenix Suns. The interview touched on his childhood, and how he
began watching the Phoenix Suns. Devin Booker has acknowledged
Brawadis’s loyalty with the Suns, he has invited him for blogs, house
tours, and backstage passes to the games.
Another influencer would be Greg Esposito. Greg is a blogger and

influencer, the talk show host of the @PHNX_Suns and Head of
Content for @PHNX_Sports. He has a total of 14.5K followers on
Twitter, and 6,562 followers on Instagram. He uses his platforms by
informing his target audience, residents of Arizona and Phoenix Suns
Figure 19 Greg Esposito Twitter account.
fans. He uses his Twitter account to inform his followers about his

reactions and opinions on Phoenix Suns games. Greg constantly posts and talks about the Suns through
his social media platforms and PHNX Suns podcast.
Audience Analysis:
The main target for the Phoenix Suns is residents of Arizona. Based on research about the Phoenix Suns,
their fans range from ages 10 – 50 years-and-older. The generational groups include Gen Z, millennials,
and Generation X. The fans consist of both genders: male and female. There are many people who reside
out of Arizona who consider themselves fans. The Phoenix Suns survey report indicated that there are a
variety of fans with different ethnicity/race backgrounds. From Native Americans, White, Hispanics, to
Asians, and more. (Benally, 2021)
Figure 21 Phoenix Suns fans ethnicities.
Figure 20 Phoenix Suns fans geographics.
Figure 22 Phoenix Suns fans age.
The psychographics of the Phoenix Suns are those interested in sports such as NBA, MLB, NFL, etc. The
character traits of the fans are what defines their loyalty to the team and organization. Fans who are
committed, intellectual, and modern are defined as “good fans.” Suns’ fans consist of middle schoolers,
college students, adults, elders, and celebrities. These lifestyles are what defines the fans and their
personalities. The Suns basketball team had ups and downs for the past 11 years, and in 2021, they had
won the Western Conference Championship but fell short in the NBA Championship game. Their fans
were full of energy, hope, and dedication for the Suns this past season. They continue to have hope for the
Suns in the 2021-22 season. These character traits have fully described their fans as committed, and very
aware of how they play as a team on and off the court.

Audience Personas:
Person #1:
Name: Josh C.
Age: 21
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Josh is a 21-year-old college student attending

Arizona State University majoring in Sports
Journalism. Josh identifies as a Generation Z
individual. Josh spends his free-time attending
Phoenix Suns home-games. He follows the Suns
on all social media platforms and shares post-
game updates, game highlights, and news about
players on his personal account. Josh has been a
die-hard fan for over 10 years and continues to
support the Suns. Josh shows loyalty and
commitment by attending games, cheering for the
team and dresses to impress.
Person #2:
Name: Marcus S. Age: 55

Location: Tempe, Arizona
Marcus is a 55-year-old living in Tempe, Arizona.

Marcus is a real-estate worker with an annual
income of $85,000. He is a season-ticket holder of
the Phoenix Suns. He has been a fan since he was
15-years-old and continues to support the Phoenix
Suns. Marcus identifies as a Generation X
individual who has been supporting the Suns’ for
about 40 years. He shows commitment and loyalty
by becoming a full-season member who has access
to every Suns home game and to be a part of the
Suns team 365 days a year. Marcus uses Facebook
as a main platform to stay updated with the Suns.

Summary:
The Phoenix Suns are successfully reaching their target audience through their social media platforms.
They continue to post content daily for their fans to stay engaged with updates and news. There are
opportunities the Suns can utilize to connect more with their fans through their communication practices.
Considering the opportunities provided can potentially lead to high engagement, emotional connections,
and possibly more fans. My research questions for their communication practices are being met from
researching their target audiences. I sense what social media platforms they use most for general off-
season updates, what the Suns can do to become more connected with their fans across Arizona, and how
well they follow its missions for their audience. Overall, analyzing their target audience, they have
potential to increase their followers and media content over the 2021-22 season.

Final Memo Report
The Phoenix Suns
To: Dean Stoyer, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer

From: Pristina Benally, JMC 436 Student
CC: Sonia Bovio, account VP
Date: November 18, 2021
Re: Final research report for September 6 – November 14, 2021
Overview:
Within the three-month span of this bi-weekly report, the Phoenix Suns earned significant media coverage
in Arizona news media outlets. From the very first memo report to this current report, there was an
approximate 172% increase in article volume. There were a total of 156 articles, and 87 quotes regarding
the Phoenix Suns. The news articles, podcasts and videos included a content, from the start of pre-season
to the regular 2021-22 season.
The articles that had “Phoenix Suns” in the headlines consisted of Brief, Significant Mention, and Feature
type of coverage, and Positive, Neutral, and Negative sentiments. Quotes from Phoenix Suns
spokesperson were included in the report as well. The majority of the quotes that were included came
from head coach, Monty Williams, and some of their players such as, Devin Booker and Chris Paul.
Traditional Media: 1
During the week of November 1 – November 14, 2021, the Phoenix Suns were mentioned in 30 articles.
The topics that were being discussed frequently are the allegations of racism, sexist and misogyny against
Phoenix Suns head owner Robert Sarver, plus key takeaways from past games with the Portland Blazers,
Sacramento Kings, Houston Rockets, and the New Orleans Pelicans. Throughout the report, I will be
including specific examples of what type of traditional media coverage was being reported through
September 6 – November 14, 2021. In the following footnote, I will include the filters I used to get local
media articles on Muck Rack.
1 Traditional media coverage included in this bi-weekly report starts from September 6- November 14, 2021. The
filters used in Muck Rack searches are ‘Must appear in headlines’, ‘Article (online)’, ‘Location Market: ‘Phoenix,
Arizona’, and in the ‘English Language’.

Bi-Weekly Media Coverage Volume
180
156
160
140
120
100
80
60 39 44
40
32 30
20 11
0
9/6/21 - 9/19/21 9/20/21 - 10/3/21 10/4/21 - 10/18/21 - 11/1/21 - Total
10/17/21 10/31/21 11/14/21
Figure 19
Total Media Coverage Volume

180 156
160
140
120
100 88
80
60 38
40 30
20
0
September October November Total
Figure 20
When we look at Figure 1, we can see how many articles the Suns were mentioned in from September to
November. Each report consisted of media coverage published in a two-week span. This gave me the
opportunity to look at the types of coverage local Arizona news outlets were reporting about the Phoenix
Suns. From September to November, we can see the numbers increasing and decreasing.
From September 6th – 19th to September 20th – October 3rd, there was a 190% increase in coverage
volume. From September 20th – October 3rd to October 4th – 17th, there was a 22% increase. From October
4th – 17th to October 18th – 31st, there was a 13% increase. From October 18th – 31st to November 1st – 14th,
there is a 32% decrease. This resulted in a total of 156 traditional media coverage.
Figure 2 is a bar graph that represents the total media coverage volume from September to November.
September had 38 mentions, October had 88, and November has 30. October had the most media
coverage because pre-season and the regular season started, and there was lots of coverage of their post-
game highlights and key takeaways.
During the period of November 1 – 14, 2021, the Phoenix Suns earned 30 articles. This is a 32% decrease
from the previous period. Some of the topic that were duplicated during this period are reports of Phoenix
Suns head owner Robert Sarver being accused of racism, sexism, and misogyny. There is an ongoing
investigation from the NBA to overlook Sarver’s employment with the Suns for the last 17-years.

TYPE OF COVERAGE FROM 11/01/21 TO Type of Coverage From 09/06/21 to 11/14/21
11/14/21 Cumulative
Brief Feature Sig. Mention
30%
38%
37%
40%
32%
23%
Figure 3
Figure 4
During the period of November 1 - 14, 2021, the Phoenix Suns were mentioned in all three coverage
types. There were 12 briefs, 11 significant mentions and 7 feature traditional media articles totaling 30
reports. As we look at Figure 3, we have a pie chart totaling up to 100%. The brief coverage is 40%,
significant mentions is 37% and feature coverage is 23%. From the last period, we have a 32% decrease
in coverage.
An example of a brief article is called, “Larry Fitzgerald among Phoenix Suns partners who sign
statement disputing Sarver allegations,” written by Duane Rankin from AZ Central. The article was
published on November 5, 2021, and available through database Muck Rack. The article talks about how
the allegations shocked Larry Fitzgerald, who worked alongside Sarver and had a close friendship for
over 10-years.
An example of a significant mention is called, “Phoenix Suns conclude homestand with composed win vs.
Hawks,” written by Kellan Olson from KMVP-FM (Phoenix, AZ). The article was published on
November 7, 2021. The article talks about the Suns winning their fourth straight win against the Atlanta
Hawks.
An example of a feature article is called, “5 takeaways from Phoenix Suns’ win over Trail Blazers on
Frank Kaminsky’s career night,” written by Duane Rankin from AZ Central. The article was published on
November 11, 2021. The article talks about the Suns winning against the Blazers as they celebrated
Kaminsky’s career night.
Figure 2 shows the cumulative coverage from September 6 – November 14, 2021. According to my
secondary research, the Phoenix Suns earned 60 briefs, 46 significant mentions, and 50 feature traditional
media reports. Our percentages are very close to one another, we have 38% for briefs, 30% for significant
mentions, and 32% for features.

Sentiment from 11/01/21 to 11/14/21 Coverage Sentiment From 09/06/21 to 11/14/21
Cumulative
Negative 1
Negative 6
Neutral 17 Neutral 85
Positive 65
Positive 12
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Positive Neutral Negative
Figure 6
Figure 5
During the period of November 1 – 14, 2021, the Phoenix Suns were mentioned in all three sentiments. In
the previous report, the Suns had 13 positives, 27 neutrals, and 4 negative articles. The last report had
more articles about the Suns so there is a decrease from the prior report to the current one. For this report,
the Suns had 12 positive, 17 neutrals and 1 negative sentiment articles. There is an 8% decrease in
positive articles, a 37% decrease in neutral articles, and a 75% decrease in negative articles.
An example of a positive article is called, “Former Phoenix Suns star joins ‘Sleeves Up AZ’ campaign to
encourage African American community to get vaccinated,” written by Rich Prange from 12News. The
article was published on November 10, 2021. This article is a positive sentiment because he partnered
with a campaign to achieve and conquer COVID-19 together to keep his people safe and healthy. This
shows his concern for the community.
An example of a neutral article is called, “NBA opens investigation into owner, Robert Sarver, Phoenix
Suns’ culture,” written by an Arizona Sports employee from KMVP-FM (Phoenix, AZ). The article was
published on November 4, 2021. This article is a neutral sentiment because there could two different
views on these allegations on Sarver. The investigation is being appointed by Wachtell Lipton law firm to
look thoroughly into the allegations.
An example of a negative article is called, “Suns Owner Robert Sarver’s alleged sexist, racist actions led
to employee to contemplate suicide,” written by Ryan Shepard from KGME-AM (Phoenix, AZ). The
article was published on November 4, 2021. The article is a negative sentiment because the article states
that the former Suns employee contemplated suicide in regards of being mistreated by Sarver based on the
color of her skin and gender.
Figure 6 shows the cumulative coverage sentiment from September 6 – November 14, 2021. We have a
total of 156 articles based on doing secondary research on database Muck Rack. In total, we have 6
negative, 85 neutral, and 65 positive articles. In a three-month span, we conclude that the Phoenix Suns
are mentioned in neutral articles. Readers may have different reactions to what the journalists report, so
there would be both positive and negative reactions to each report.

Quotes in Articles
100
90
87
80
70
60
50
40
30
23
20 20 20
13
10 11
0
9/6/21 - 9/19/21 9/20/21 - 10/3/21 10/4/21 - 10/17/21 10/18/21 - 10/31/21 11/1/21 - 11/14/21 Total
Figure 7
During the period of November 1 – 14, 2021, the Suns were quoted in 13 articles with spokespeople such
as the head coach, players, management team and NBA vice president. From the prior report, we had 23
quotes, and in this current report, there is a 43% decrease.
A quote that stood out comes from NBA Vice President, Mike Bass, who made a comment on Robert
Sarver allegations. In the article, “NBA opens investigation into owner, Robert Sarver, Phoenix Suns’
culture,” Mike Bass says a quote that stuck out from the rest is based on his beliefs as a vice president of
the National Basketball Association franchise.
The quote is the following: “The NBA and WNBA remain committed to providing a respectful and
inclusive workplace for all employees. Once the investigation is completed, its findings will provide the
basis for any league action,” says Bass. The WNBA and NBA league has a zero tolerance for abusive,
hateful, racist, sexist and misogyny behavior towards its employees, players, and fans.
From September 6 – November 14, 2021, the Suns spokespeople were quoted about the Phoenix Suns in
87 articles. Through-out the three-month span, there were not as many quotes as articles, but there were
quotes that stood out more than the rest. Below are the top three quotes from the Phoenix Suns
spokespeople:
• “When you go through the deep hurt, whether it’s basketball (or) life in general, it
expands your capacity to grow,” Williams said. “I’m hopeful that that happened for me
and our team. It’s probably helped me to let my guard down a little bit more because
when you go that far, you realize it’s really not about you, it’s about everybody around
you. That allows for you to be the best version of yourself.” - Monty Williams, Phoenix
Suns head coach.
• "The farther you go, the hardest it is to lose." - Phoenix Suns Owner, Robert Sarver.
• "We are going to preach excellence this year," Monty Williams, Phoenix Suns head
coach.

These quotes represent how the team and management represent the Phoenix Suns franchise. The quotes
from Phoenix Suns Head Coach Monty Williams and Phoenix Suns Head Owner Robert Sarver, stated
that the Suns are aiming to preach excellence, stability as a team and growth as a team-player.
Conclusion:
From September 6 – November 14, 2021, the research team have gathered qualitative and quantitative
data on the Phoenix Suns. It was a first-time experience utilizing Muck Rack, and the database is great for
gathering traditional media coverage. The filters made it easy to navigate through each article published
from local media outlets in Phoenix, Arizona.
To get an accurate percentile for my report, the research team would compare two timeframes to get an
in-depth look at how there would be a decrease or increase in sentiments, types of coverage, and quotes.
The percentages would increase majority of the time but mid-way through the research, there would be a
decrease in percentage.
The major patterns in quantitative data that the team would see frequently are the percentages being close
in the pie graphs. The pie graphs displayed data about their sentiments and types of coverage. For an
example, ‘Figure 4’ is the perfect example for this, the cumulative data were near 60, being the highest.
Brief had 60, feature had 50 and significant mention had 46.
The major trends that the team have noticed are the key takeaways from each game that the Suns played.
Most reporters would give their own opinions of their reaction to how the Suns played as a team. The
major news that was intriguing are the allegations against head owner, Robert Sarver. These allegations
can interfere with the Phoenix Suns organization and reputation. There were more than a dozen of
coverage on the incident in the month of November.
The reporters frequently reporting about the Suns are Duane Rankin from AZ Central, and Kellan Olson
and Kent Zimmerman from KMVP-FM (Phoenix).
The outcome of creating these memo reports gave the research team a better understanding of what news
coverage the Suns receive and how many articles they earn in a two-week span. Also using Muck Rack as
a database for these reports made the research easier. The research team would recommend that reporters
gather quotes from Phoenix Suns spokespeople who are relevant to the team. Based on the data gathered,
we conclude that the Phoenix Suns’ are earning good media coverage for their 2021-22 season.

Conclusion:
The research team has gathered quanitative and qualitative data about the Phoenix Suns over the semester.
The final report has helped the research team understand who the Suns’ are, and how they communicate
with their targeta audience.
The Phoenix Suns are doing good by earning traditonal media coverage from outlets across Arizona. In
result, the Phoenix Suns have been doing good over their 2020-21 and 2021-22 season thus far. They are
earning coverage based on their game highlights and how they play as a team to win games.
Analyzing the Suns for four months has led the research team to answer their three research questions
propsed in the client backgrounder. The Phoenix Suns use Instagram and Twitter the most to update their
fans with off-season genral updates. My research shows that these social media platforms have about
more than a million followers with consistent posting.
Based on the interview report, the Phoenix Suns can become more connected with their fans across the
U.S., by hosting campaigns, contests, host food drives or to doante to COVID-19 relief funds during this
hardship times.
The Phoenix Suns mission statements is to provide the finest in sports, entertainment, and community
leadership. They are providing the finest in sports by working as a team to win games in the 2021-22
regualr season to make history by setting franchise record with 18th straight win until they fell short to the
Golden State Warriors.
For future research, the team would recommend to use more anaytlic data research tools for their social
media platforms and traditonal media coverage. There wasn’t enough quotes from Phoenix Suns
spokespeople in earned media coverage, they serve their organization by providing infromation between
the company and the public.

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Appendices:
Appendix A: Interview Transcription
The Phoenix Suns conducted an interview to gain insights on opinions about the Suns social media
content on all platforms. On the following page is the transcription of the interview session.
This interview took place October 17, 2021, at 6:30 p.m.
Introduction:
Pristina Benally 0:00: Hello, my name is Pristina Benally. And I am here part of the research project at
Arizona State University for JMC. 436. For this project, I will be looking into the Phoenix Suns. I would
like to ask you a few questions regarding the Phoenix Suns organization and social media platforms. This
research is for class purposes only and your identity will stay anonymous. Would you mind if I record this
session for transcription purpose reasons?
Participant 0:30: Yes, you may record the session for project research.
Pristina Benally 0:34: Question number one, what Phoenix Suns social media platforms do you follow?
Participant 0:42: Oh, I pretty much follow all the social media platforms, going from Facebook, Twitter,
to YouTube and to Instagram.
Pristina Benally 0:50: Okay, perfect. Go on. Sorry.
Participant 1:01: And they also made a new social media account on Reddit. So that's what I also follow.
Pristina Benally 1:11: Okay, so question number two is, how long have you been a fan?
Participant 1:19: I've been a fan for the Suns from 2005. When Steve Nash decided to return to Phoenix.
After leaving the Phoenix Suns organization from 1998 to 2004. And I've been following the Suns ever
since then, so yes, I've been a big Suns fan from a young, a young age and to now.
Pristina Benally 1:47: Okay, perfect. Do you feel like you're staying up to date with their news through
the content they post on their social media platforms?
Participant 1:58: Yeah, they're doing so well to being active on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and
Reddit now. And maybe sometimes on YouTube, I thought they could do better posting on YouTube.
And I mainly stay updated on Twitter and Instagram. That's where their main views come from. And I
believe that there are two main social media platforms that they post on.
Pristina Benally 2:27: What platform do you use the most? And are they doing a great job of posting
content on that account?
Participant 2:39: Yes, the two main platforms that I'll be following is just Instagram and Twitter. And
they post every day, going from pictures, videos to game highlight every day, no matter what they're

doing. They're in practice, often, maybe they’ll record things. And they'll also post like, histories seeing
the Suns teams from 1945 to 2021.
Pristina Benally 3:12: What are your opinions about the Phoenix Suns? Do you think they improved
over the years?
Participant 3:21: Yeah, I believe they improved a lot going from 2011 was the last year we saw Nash.
Those 10 years and knowing that we did go from having a positive record, to going through the worst
record in 2016, where we ended up being the first overall pick and drafting Dandre Ayton, but I believe
that Suns improved a lot. Normally, we did have a lot of good players that we thought can be a main
franchise, guys, but knowing that they've decided to leave us. And they're now just role players on the
other team. I believe that the Suns built these players, but they just leave us because they think like the
main characters now. Now they're just like sideline players, bench players now. Knowing that we did just
a great round team, and now we've been to the Finals. The team is average of 28 years old players, and I
believe that the Phoenix Suns will be probably one of the best franchises in the division, in the league and
in the conference. I believe that we improved a lot over the years.
Pristina Benally 4:49: How often do you stay engage with their content,
Participant 4:55: I engage with their content a lot, they post every day with highlights from practice,
highlights from last season and they post every day and with Media Day, flying pass they post probably
three times a day. And when they're trying to build the concept content is just to make sure we're still here
and they're trying to hype up the Suns for next season. I am expecting sold out games pretty much all
season and yes, their content from all social media platforms are improved
Pristina Benally 5:49: And to go based off that do you think that they're starting five players promote
their team as well? Do you think that they talk about them a lot on their social media platforms?
Participant 6:08: In their top five? No, I don't think they believe that five guys can bring out fans. I think
it's the whole team because I'm pretty sure, I go to games to watch Mikal Bridges, he eventually will play
at times and that would be nice. And there's a lot of people on the team that people benefit now like these
why we see people wearing Cameron Johnson jersey, we see people wearing Abdel Nadar Jersey,
Cameron Payne jerseys, we see them wearing basketball player jerseys, because they come to see that
player, because they love them, and how they pop it off the court as well. It’s not only the starters, but I
also think is the whole team. And I believe that the whole team, they do individual stuff for the fans, that's
what brings the fans to games. And yes, the whole team benefits not just the starters, including the
coaches, I’ve seen Monty Williams and the coaches that do some very well stuff off the court. And I'm
pretty sure they come to see Monte as well, I want to see more of him, I even got a picture with him. So
yeah, that's what I believe. Everybody in the roster and the coaching staff have been playing games
together.
Pristina Benally So, the next question is, what would you like to see from the Phoenix Suns through their
social media accounts?
Participant 7:51 You can pretty much see everything on the court. What I like to see from the Suns is
that the improvement in their YouTube social media, I feel like what I feel like they can like do like, in
sight stuff of like something they don't post that we don't see. Like what they do in the locker room, what
they do after practice or what they before practice, I feel like they can do a lot more like that. They can do
like individual players and see what they do off the court. Maybe some of them go golfing, or they go to I
don't know, maybe something a player does off the court. Maybe you see something of them hosting
events, they will go to events, they will do things that we don't really see from the social media platforms.

That's something I would like to see improve. Is there like a YouTube content like what they can do? Like
they can do insights on players on what they do on in the locker like we don’t see when they are posting.
Pristina Benally 9:02 Okay, thank you for that. Um, next question is, do you feel connected to the
Phoenix Suns in any way? Like, through their players, their missions of their basketball team or
organization? Or just like just in general? Do you feel connected to them?
Participant 9:21 Yeah, I feel connected to them, I'll see what they post, and sometimes the same social
media post with little questions with per player and see and knowing what they want to respond to that.
As Suns fans, I believe that we know what they what they do most times and what they do on the court
what they like to think about, their future whether they want to stay at with the Suns or leave or just the
small things you know.
Pristina Benally 10:30 Would you say that you will get an inside scoop of they're their business life?
Participant 10:44 Yes, we like to see what they do for business life, we'd be connected more with the
Suns player with a sense of the things they such as attending events, posting events for the fans, fans will
come out like you know the excitement of getting autographs, take pictures and just engage with fans. I
think that will build more profit just for the Phoenix Suns organization.
Pristina Benally 11:21 Okay, so the next question will be what types of contents is donations activities?
Do they give their fans to stay more connected with them? And if you know of some, can you please talk
more about with details?
Participant 11:43 I believe they are sponsors for the NABI Foundation, pretty much for Native
Americans basketball tournament, they're one of the sponsors for it. They like to engage with the Native
Americans because they know they are a part of the biggest supporters. They also host food drives not
only for the poor, but the homeless because they want to keep everybody safe and knowing that they can
help the homeless and the lower income people, they'll get the support and maybe they'll come to the
game. With the more support they get the more people that get into the arena and profit off sold-out
games. I also know they donated to COVID-19 vaccines. I know that they donated money, to the
hospitals. So, they can provide the vaccines to more people so people can stay protected through this
pandemic. I do see that some individual player s, they do have a photo and sign event in the past at Carl's
Jr. I have seen players on the roster go to Carl’s Jr to take a picture or sign autographs for like three
hours. I have seen Deandre Ayton before. The Phoenix Suns help with children during Christmas and
Thanksgiving. They also donate to small profits, businesses. Recently I’ve seen 3 NBA players buy
tickets to help the welfare of the WNBA Finals held in Phoenix, Arizona. Also, another NBA player
donated over $100,000 just to help locate in a low-income family to get house, vehicle, and clothes for
their children. Which was very nice. I have seen a lot from the Phoenix Suns individually over the years.
And together they do a lot just for the community and events to bring fans together.
Pristina Benally 14:58 Okay, and so for the last question, who would you compare the Phoenix Suns to?
Not just in the state of Arizona, but such as any other NBA team. How are they posting differently than
the suns? Do you follow them on social media as well? Do you also feel connected to them in any way?
Participant 15:30 Pretty much this question is going to be long, but I do compare them to the Milwaukee
Bucks, they did beat us in the 2020-21 season NBA Finals. I do follow the Milwaukee Bucks on social
media as well. I mainly watch their YouTube. They post insights, like during the pandemic, The Bubble,
they were posting about the team and what they were individually doing, like how would they spend their
time in a bubble. They post YouTube videos of the team, but I do compare the Phoenix Suns to the
Milwaukee Bucks, The Bucks post content on YouTube, just as the same content on Instagram, or

Facebook or Reddit and Twitter. But when it comes to YouTube, they post more content, because they're
getting insights on individual players, the team, the coaches, and what they do in life, how they live their
life, and they also post game day insights. Such as how they get to the arena, what they do when they get
to doing them, how do they get ready, how do, faculty get the jerseys ready, what they do after with the
fans, what they do after the game's over. I know that after some games, most team players will go home to
the families, some got to dinner to celebrate, or they go outside to sign merchandise for the fans. They
will do interviews, then they'll also go behind the scenes of what the media does there, the whole arena,
including the offices, the main offices, their waiting room, that locker room, what everyone does in the
morning in the team. And I think that's highly, how Bucks fans engaged with their YouTube Insights. I
believe the Suns can do that. They'll get a lot more insights and engage with their fans more. Some fans
may say, oh, I want to go to the game now, I want to see if this is true. And they go to the game, they see
that it is true. And that's what I believe that's what Milwaukee does to engage more. For the Suns, and I
believe that they can do that as well. But I do compare them to the Suns a lot. I hope the Suns will
hopefully take that into consideration. I do watch one Suns player do that, but I'm not going to give a
name. But I do watch his YouTube channel where he posts about the Phoenix Suns that we do not see
from social media content.
Pristina Benally 18:44 To touch base on the championship game. And by the way that they play on the
court compared to the Bucs what would you say about that? Do you think that they play like similar in
any way? Do they have like on game plans that are similar?
Participant 19:12 When it comes to that game, the first two games I think what Milwaukee those first
games did, was I noticed during the regular season that we beat them, 3-0 overall because we beat them
all three games. I’m pretty sure all the Suns fans were like oh, this is a championship game, so we can
win. But I knew those first two games, Suns won, Milwaukee was studying our game plan, and how we
did it and what we did. I mean, that's when Bucks, knew where our shooters were, or to be set up. Where
the passes were going to, and Milwaukee did a great job of setting our team and that's how we lost to
them. Knowing that we are compared together as a shooting team, we also have great shooters.
Pristina Benally 21:31 Okay, and to touch base on the post-game events. Would you say that after the
championship finals, their social media blew up with followers in their tweets were like increasing their
engagement rates were increasing as well. Would you say that their social media improved since the
season has started?
Participant 22:00 Our social media improved a lot; I remember seeing like 500k followers on Twitter.
Now there is almost a million I believe, I'm not sure mathematically but I believe there's a lot. A lot of
fans doubted us saying that we were not going to do well. But now they think we gain more as we gain
more followers, subscribers, likes, pages. The social media pages improved a lot, way more than we
usually expected. But yeah, I think we put out a lot, we're posting more. We're hyping the fans up for the
next season. I believe we're going back to the finals, but they're going to say we're not, but I believe we
are. I am hyped up about the regular season, knowing we're just two days away, three days away from
home opening season. It was a great season for us. I believe we will put up a fight to return to the finals. I
think we've improved a lot before making it to the finals. We made our social media platforms bigger
before the finals. We're a young team hungry for championship and hopefully this is our year to bring
back the championship.
Pristina Benally 23:57 Perfect. Well, that concludes the end of our interview. I like to say thank you
again. I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to answer these questions. And I hope your day
goes well, thank you
Participant 24:05 You are welcome, thank you for having me.

Appendix B: Consent Form
The participant has signed and agreed the following consent form before the interview on
October 17, 2021.

Appendix C: Survey Questions
Start of Block: Introduction
Q23 Hello, welcome to my survey. Thank you for agreeing to take my survey about the Phoenix Suns
basketball team.
My name is Pristina Benally, and I am a student at Arizona State University studying public relations. I
want to collect information about how well the Phoenix Suns engage with their fans. This survey is for
class purposes only, is voluntarily, and your information will be kept confidential.
This survey should take less than five minutes to complete. This survey will close on October 24, 2021. If
you have any questions, feel free to contact me at pbenally01@gmail.com.
End of Block: Introduction
Start of Block: Block 1
Q1. Do you watch NBA basketball games?
o Yes
o No
Q2. Are you a fan of the Phoenix Suns?
o Yes
o No
Q3. Do you follow the Phoenix Suns on their social media platforms?
o Yes
o No

Q4. What social media platform do you think the Phoenix Suns are more active on?
▢ Facebook
▢ Instagram
▢ TikTok
▢ Twitter
▢ All of the above
Q5. On a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the most positive, how do you rate the Phoenix Suns?
Negative Positive
1 2 3 4 5 6 6 7 8 9 10
Phoenix Suns ()
Q6. What team do you think the Phoenix Suns will have as their main competitor for this 2021-22
season?
________________________________________________________________
Q7. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most positive, how would you rate the Phoenix Suns
engagement with its fans about upcoming games and events through social media?
Negative Positive
1 2 3 4 5 6 6 7 8 9 10
Games and Events ()

Q8. Do you feel as if the Phoenix Suns care about their fans, audience, and community?
o Yes
o Maybe
o No
Q9. Do you receive good information through their social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram,
Twitter, etc.?
o Very Likely
o Neutral
o Not Likely
Q10. How can the Phoenix Suns improve their social media platforms?
________________________________________________________________
Q11. Can the Phoenix Suns make a return to the 2021-22 NBA Championship Final?
o Yes
o Maybe
o No
Page Break
Q12. In which state do you currently reside?
▼ Alabama (1) ... I do not reside in the United States (53)

Q13. What is your age?
o Under 18
o 18 - 24
o 25 - 34
o 35 - 44
o 45 - 54
o 55 - 64
o 65 - 74
o 75 - 84
o 85 or older
Q14. What is your gender?
o Male
o Female
o Non-binary / third gender
o Prefer not to say

Q15. Choose one or more races that you consider yourself to be:
▢ White
▢ Black or African American
▢ American Indian or Alaska Native
▢ Asian
▢ Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
▢ Other ________________________________________________
End of Block: Block 1
End of survey
Your response has been recorded.

Thank you for your participation. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at
pbenall01@gmail.com.
Appendix D: Memo 1

The Phoenix Suns

Date: September 22, 2021
Re: Bi-weekly research report for September 6 - 19, 2021
Overview
For the duration of September 6 - 19, 2021, I evaluated the Phoenix Suns traditional media coverage.
Within this time period, the Phoenix Suns earned 11 mentions in media coverage, according to the media
database Muck Rack. The majority of the articles have “Phoenix Suns” in the headline to get a more in-
depth look at how many times they have been mentioned in local news outlets across Arizona. While
continuing researching the Phoenix Suns media coverage, there was a mix of three feature articles and
eight significant mentions in articles. The 11 articles consisted of five positive articles and six neutral
articles about the client.
Traditional Media Coverage 2
During the past two weeks, media coverage varied from different topics including new free agents, the
return of players, a remembrance of an important former coach in the team’s history and news related to
COVID-19. After the 2020-21 season ended, team news has been infrequent, but this will change in the
next few weeks as the 2021-22 Phoenix Suns pre-season and regular season start in October.
2
Traditional media coverage included in this bi-weekly report is limited to articles appearing in Muck Rack from
September 6 – 19, 2021 that include “Article (online),” the market location “Phoenix” and in the “English”
language.

12 11
10
2
0 0 0 0
0
9/6/21 - 9/19/21 9/20/21 - 10/3/21 10/4/21 - 10/17/21 10/18/21 - 10/31/21 11/1/21 - 11/14/21

12 11 11
10
2
0 0
0
The Phoenix Suns media coverage mentioned former player, Cedric Ceballos recovering from COVID-
19, returning players, Dandre Ayton and JaVale McGee, the late former coach, Cotton Fitzsimmons, the
newest sign of free agent, Chandler Hutchinson, over/under win total for 2021-22 season and the late
Phoenix Suns fan, Nathan Garcia.

Type of Coverage from 9/6/21 to 9/19/21
0%
27%
73%
The Suns were mostly included in eight significant mention stories throughout the last two weeks. These
include a story about former player, Cedric Ceballos recovering from COVID-19, Phoenix Suns signing
free agent Chandler Hutchison, the late former coach, Cotton Fitzsimmons and the return of Deandre
Ayton and JaVale McGee. In addition to this, they were included in three feature stories including the late
17-year-old Nathan Garcia who was a huge fan of the Suns passing weeks ago from a rare disease, and
the recent total win for the upcoming 2021-22 season. The majority of the articles appeared in outlets AZ
Central and 12 News.
Sentiment from 9/6/21 to 9/19/21

0%
45%
55%
For the period of this report, sentiment is balanced, with six articles with neutral sentiments (55%) and
five with positive sentiments (45%). There were no negative sentiments within this duration. Some of the
neutral articles include Cedric Ceballos recovering from COVID-19, and the total projection wins
considered to be too low for the upcoming season. Some of the positive articles are about the signing of
free agent Chandler Hutchison, and three-time NBA champion JaVale McGee getting ready to help the
Suns return to the finals.

Quotes in Articles
12
11 11
10
0 0 0 0
0
9/6/21 - 9/19/21 9/20/21 - 10/3/21 10/4/21 - 10/17/21 10/18/21 - 10/31/21 11/1/21 - 11/14/21 Total
All 11 articles included quotes included from founders, former players, returning player Nathan Garcia’s
mother, Hoopshype, and the Suns chairman. One quote of note is in the article, “Remembering Cotton,”
quoting, “His relationships played a signature role in how we restructured our team, and acquired talent
through trades and the draft,” from Suns founder Jerry Colangelo. Cotton was the most popular coach in
the Phoenix Suns’ history, and many people embraced him due to his talent and role.

Appendix E: Memo 2
The Phoenix Suns

Date: October 6, 2021
Re: Bi-weekly research report for September 20 – October 3, 2021
Overview:
For the duration of September 20 – October 3, 2021, I evaluated the Phoenix Suns’ traditional media
coverage. Within this period, the Phoenix Suns earned 32 mentions in media coverage, according to
media database Muck Rack. Media coverage volume increased by 190% since the prior report. The
majority of the articles include “Phoenix Suns” in the headline and in the body text. The report examines
Phoenix Suns coverage in Arizona news outlets such as AZ Central, The Bright of the Sun, and 12 News,
because they regularly monitor Phoenix Suns news.
Traditional Media:3
During the period of September 20 – October 3, 2021, the Phoenix Suns were included in 32 articles.
Topics include media day interviews, training prior to pre-season starting, Devin Booker, and newcomers
for the 2021-22 season. Now that pre-season started, there will be more articles about the team’s
performance and additional news about the upcoming season.
3 Traditional media coverage included in this bi-weekly report starts from September 20 – October 3, 2021. The
filters used in Muck Rack searches are ‘must appear in headlines’, articles (online), media outlets such as
AZCentral.com, The Bright Side of the Sun, 12news, location market in Arizona, and in the English language.

50
43
45
40
35 32
30
25
20
15 11
10
5 0 0 0
0
9/6/21 - 9/19/21 9/20/21 - 10/3/21 10/4/21 - 10/18/21 - 11/1/21 - Total
10/17/21 10/31/21 11/14/21

50
43
38
40
30
20
10 5
0
0
During the period of September 6 – 19, 2021, the media coverage mentions were at 11, and now during
the period of September 20 – October 3, 2021, the media coverage mentions are at 32. This is a 190%
increase from the previous report period to the recent two-weeks. The following mentions include articles
about media day that consisted of photos, training camp starting for the first pre-season game, Devin
Booker’s leave due to health protocols, and predictions about what the newcomers will bring to the team.

26%
42%
32%
For this period, the Suns have been mentioned in all types of coverage. In the prior report, they were only
mentioned in Feature and Significant mention coverage. For this pie chart, I combined both time frames
to see the difference in how much each media coverage increased. There were 11 feature coverage, 11
brief coverage and 10 significant mentions. The prior report only had eight significant mentions and three
feature articles. This a 25% increase in significant mentions, 266% increase in feature coverages and
100% increase of brief coverage. The media coverage volume has increased for both time frames.
Examples of the feature coverage include photos of the Phoenix Suns Aztec uniform concept and looking
at the continuity from last season’s finals run to see what will be continued for the upcoming 2021-22
season. Examples of brief mentions include Devin Booker’s absence during media day and the start of
training camp, and the newest newcomer, JaVale McGee, bringing championship experiences to the
Phoenix Suns. Examples of significant mentions include Monty William bringing familiar faces to the
coach staff to prepare for the 2021-22 season, and why Chris Paul decided to sign a deal to return to Suns
and what to expect from him in the upcoming season.

0%
44%
56%
There are only positive and neutral sentiments for this period once again. Both time frames consisted of
both sentiments for about four weeks. There is a 200% increase in neutral articles, as memo one had six
and there are 18 for this time frame. Positive articles have also increase by 180% – memo one had five
positive and there are 14 for this period.
An example of neutral sentiments includes an article called, “Countdown to training camp: Should
Phoenix Suns start Jae Crowder or Cam Johnson?” written by Duane Rankin from ‘AZ Central’. It
discusses if Cam Johnson or Jae Chowder will be considered to start for the upcoming 2021-22 season.
This is considered neutral because it is comparing two players and the audience will have different
opinions about each player.
An example for a positive sentiment article is called, “Center of the Sun: Phoenix Suns 2021-22 season
begins this morning with Media Day,” written by Rod Agent, from ‘The Bright of the Sun’. He writes
about the Phoenix Suns starting media day by answering questions about the upcoming season. It is
positive because it’s the start of pre-season and they will give their remarks about their expectations for
the upcoming season.

Quotes in Articles
35
31
30
25
20
20
15
11
10
0 0 0
0
9/6/21 - 9/19/21 9/20/21 - 10/3/21 10/4/21 - 10/17/21 10/18/21 - 10/31/21 11/1/21 - 11/14/21 Total
Quotes in the articles have increased by nine for this period. Out of the 32 articles, 20 included quotes
from the Suns. This is an 82% increase from memo one to memo two. There are a total of 31 quotes from
September 6 – October 3, 2021. Since pre-season has started, we should have more quotes in future
articles coming from key Phoenix Suns spokespeople.
A quote that stood out from all the articles comes from Phoenix Suns Head Coach, Monty Williams about
the upcoming season and the start of training camp. "Have our focus on having a good camp, playing
well, getting back to the playoffs," he said. "That's been something that's a solid foundational focus for us
since we've been here. I do understand the natural inclination to go there, but I just can't as a coach," said
Williams. The article is named, “Countdown to training camp: Championship or bust for Phoenix Suns.”
Written by Duane Rankin from ‘AZ Central’. The article talks about what the Phoenix Suns have plan for
the upcoming season and what they will do to make it to the NBA Championship Finals for the 2021-22
season.

Appendix F: Memo 3
The Phoenix Suns

Date: October 21, 2021
Re: Bi-weekly research report for October 4 – October 17, 2021
Overview:
For the duration of October 4 -17, 2021, I evaluated the Phoenix Suns traditional media coverage. Within
this period, the Phoenix Suns earned 39 mentioned articles on media database Muck Rack. There is
approximately a 22% increase in articles from memo two to memo three. Preseason has come to an end
and the regular season will begin October 20, 2021, and as a result, the media coverage will start to
increase over the next few months. Most of the articles include “Phoenix Suns” in the headline and body
text. The report examines Phoenix Suns coverage in Arizona news outlets such as AZ Central, The Bright
of the Sun, PHNX Cardinals, 12news, KMVP-FM, KNX-TV, In Business Phoenix, Arizona Family, and
the Daily Independent. These following news outlets regularly monitor the Phoenix Suns major news
about the team, organization, and players.
During the period of October 4 –17, 2021, the Phoenix Suns were included in 39 articles. Topics included
observations of 2021-22 pre-season games, contracts with players from the 2020-21 season, campaigns,
and partnerships for the 2021-22 season, and game plans, and changes for the return to the NBA Finals.
4Traditional media coverage included in this bi-weekly report starts from October 4 – October 17, 2021. The filters
used in Muck Rack searches are ‘must appear in headlines’, ‘Article (online)’, ‘Location Market: Arizona, United
States’, and in the ‘English Language’.

90 82
80
70
60
50
39
40 32
30
20 11
10 0 0
0
9/6/21 - 9/19/21 9/20/21 - 10/3/21 10/4/21 - 10/18/21 - 11/1/21 - Total
10/17/21 10/31/21 11/14/21

90 82
80
70
60
50 44
38
40
30
20
10 0
0
During the period of September 20 - October 3, 2021, the Phoenix Suns were included in 32 articles, and
now during the period of October 4 -17, 2021, the media coverage mentions are at 39. This is a 21.88%
increase from the previous report period within a four-week span. For this report, we now have a total of
82 articles since memo one. The total media coverage volume for the past two reports from September
include 38 mentions and October currently has 44 mentions total. This is approximately a 16% increase
from September to October.
Pre-season had started at the beginning of October and former players had their contracts extended, so
this increased the mentions within the past two weeks. Now that the regular season will begin on October
20, 2021, we should see more mentions in the next two-weeks for our next report period.

30%
35%
35%
In the prior report and in this current report, the Phoenix Suns were mentioned in all Brief, Feature and
Significant mention articles. In the report from September 20 – October 3, 2021, the Suns had 11 features,
11 brief coverage, and 10 significant mentions. I combined both time frames to compare the differences in
types of coverage within the past four-weeks.
For this period of October 4-17, 2021, the Suns have been mentioned in all three types of coverage. For
this report, they were mentioned in 14 features, 14 brief coverages and 11 significant mentions. Since the
last report, there is a 27.27% increase in feature and brief articles and a 10% increase in significant
mentions.
An example of a feature article is called, “Get this thing rolling’- Phoenix Suns ready to return to NBA
Finals and finish job,” from AZ Central and written by Duane Rankin. The message behind this is to
show how the Suns’ team is ready for the upcoming regular season to return to the NBA Finals prior to
2020-21 season.
An example of a brief article is called, “Deandre Ayton ‘disappointed’ to not have deal done with Phoenix
Suns,” from KMVP-FM (Phoenix, AZ) written by Kellan Olson. The message behind this article is to
express how Deandre Ayton feels about not having a new extension completed with the Phoenix Suns.
An example of a significant mention article is called, “Mikal Bridges and Suns agree to four-year, $90
million extension,” from KMVP-FM (Phoenix, AZ) written by Arizona Sports. The article briefly
explains that the Phoenix Suns had until 3 p.m. on Monday to extend Bridges beyond his rookie deal.

2%
49%
49%
In the prior report, the Phoenix Suns only had both positive and neutral sentiments. For this report, they
now have articles mentioned them with all three sentiments: positive, neutral, and negative. From
September 20 – October 3, 2021, they had 14 positive and 18 neutral articles. I combined both time
frames to find the difference between both reports. As you can see, both positive and neutral are 49%,
they are equal because for the prior and current report, they both have 35 positive and neutral sentiment
articles.
For this period of October 4-17, 2021, the Phoenix Suns have 21 positives, 17 neutrals and 1 negative.
Since the last report, there is a 50% increase in positive articles, 5% decrease in neutral articles, and a
100% increase in one negative article.
An example for a positive sentiment article is called, “Phoenix Suns announce partnership with leading
Blockchain Provider,” from news outlet, In Business Phoenix. There wasn’t an author for this article. The
message behind this article is to announce the partnership with Socios.com, the blockchain provider for
the sports and entertainment industry.
An example of a neutral sentiment article is called, “Phoenix Suns buck their history, show patience and
return to core for another title run,” from news outlet, AZ Central, written by Kent Somers. The message
behind this is to show how they are preparing to make a return to the NBA Championship Finals.
An example of a negative sentiment article is called, “Phoenix Suns deserve F grade if they don’t extend
Ayton or Bridges,” from news outlet, KMVP-FM (Phoenix, AZ) written by Kevin Zimmerman. This
message behind this article is to talk about how the Phoenix Suns have not yet extend Deandre Ayton or
Mikal Bridges contract for the upcoming 2021-22 season.

Quotes in Articles
60
51
50
40
30
20 20
20
11
10
0 0
0
9/6/21 - 9/19/21 9/20/21 - 10/3/21 10/4/21 - 10/17/21 10/18/21 - 10/31/21 11/1/21 - 11/14/21 Total
Quotes in the articles have not increased or decreased for this report. Out of 39 articles, 20 included
quotes from the Suns. This is a 0% increase from memo two to memo three. There are a total of 51 quotes
from September 6 – October 17, 2021.
A quote that stood out from all the articles come from Phoenix Suns Head Coach, Monty Williams. 12
News caught up with Williams about the upcoming season, family and what he will do different for the
team into the new season. In the article, “12Sports goes 1-on-1 with Phoenix Suns head coach Monty
Williams,” from news outlet, ‘12news’, written by Cameron Cox, and Jeff Vinton, Williams said, “When
you go through the deep hurt, whether it’s basketball (or) life in general, it expands your capacity to grow,
I’m hopeful that that happened for me and our team. It’s probably helped me to let my guard down a little
bit more because when you go that far, you realize it’s really not about you, it’s about everybody around
you. That allows for you to be the best version of yourself.” said Williams.
Pre-season has ended, and their first regular season game started on October 20, 2021. We should have
more quotes in the next report from Phoenix Suns players and spokespeople about games.

Appendix G: Memo 4
The Phoenix Suns

Date: November 3, 2021
Re: Bi-weekly research report for October 18 – October 31, 2021
Overview:
For the duration of October 18 – October 31, 2021, I evaluated the Phoenix Suns traditional media
coverage. Within this period, the Phoenix Suns earned 44 mentions in articles on media database Muck
Rack. There is about a 13% increase in media mentions from memo three to memo four. The 2021-22
season started on October 20, 2021, and they have played five games thus far. Memo four examines
Phoenix Suns coverage in Arizona news outlets such as AZ Central, The Bright of the Sun, PHNX
Cardinals, 12 news, KMVP-FM, KNX-TV, Arizona’s Family, and many more. These news outlets
regularly monitor the Phoenix Suns major news about the team, organization, players, and related topics
to the Suns’.
During the period of October 18 – October 31, 2021, the Phoenix Suns were mentioned in 44 articles. The
topics that were being discussed the most include Phoenix Suns super fan, The ORNG’s father being
hospitalized from a car accident, Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver being accused of racism, sexism, and
sexual harassment, and their performance in their past few games.
5 Traditional media coverage included in this bi-weekly report starts from October 18- October 31,2021. The
filters used in Muck Rack searches are ‘must appear in headlines’, ‘Article (online)’, ‘Location Market:
Arizona, United States, Phoenix, Arizona’, and in the ‘English Language’.

140 126
120
100
80
60 44
39
40 32
20 11
0
0
9/6/21 - 9/19/21 9/20/21 - 10/3/21 10/4/21 - 10/18/21 - 11/1/21 - Total
10/17/21 10/31/21 11/14/21

140 126
120
100 88
80
60
38
40
20
0
0
During the period of October 4 – October 17, 2021, the media coverage total 39 articles. Now during the
period of October 18 – October 31, 2021, the media coverage increased to 44. This is a 13% increase
from last period to the current period.
For this report, we now have a total of 126 articles that the Phoenix Suns have been mentioned in. The
total media coverage for the past three reports from September having 38 mentions and October currently
has 88 total mentions. This is a 131% increase in mentions from September to October. As I mentioned
before, the 2021-22 season has started and they have more coverage to be talked about over the next few
weeks.
In the next report, I will be analyzing media coverage for the Phoenix Suns during the month of
November.

TYPE OF COVERAGE FROM 10/04/21 TO
10/31/21
30%
35%
35%
In the prior report and in this report, the Phoenix Suns has been mentioned in all three coverage types:
brief, feature and significant mentions. The last bi-weekly report from October 4 – 17, 2021, the Suns had
14 brief mentions, 14 features and 11 significant mentions. For this bi-weekly report, I combined both
time frames to compare the different between the four-week periods.
For the period of October 18 – 31, 2021, the Suns were mentioned in 23 briefs, 11 features and 10
significant mentions. Since the last report, there is a 64% increase in brief coverage, a 21% decrease in
features, and a 9% decrease in significant coverage.
An example of a feature article is called, “Phoenix Suns transform arena into sustainable innovation lab,”
written by Jacob Salas from Chamber Business News. The article was published on October 26, 2021,
onto database Muck Rack. This article talks about how Footprint Arena, home of the Phoenix Suns, has
turned into a sustainable innovation lab to help reduce plastic being used in the arena.
An example of a brief article is called, “Phoenix Suns super fan ‘Mr. ORNG’ needs community’s help”
written by Ashley Paredez from KNX-TV (Phoenix, AZ). The article briefly mentions the Phoenix Suns
and the son of the individual who is hospitalized is asking for assistance from community to help his
father.
An example of a significant mention article is called, “Phoenix Suns get pounced on by Blazers in
blowout loss,” written by Kellan Olson from KMVP-FM (Phoenix, AZ). The article talks about how the
Phoenix Suns were not prepared to play against the Portland Blazers, which resulted in a blowout with a
score of 134-105.

Negative 5
Neutral 44
Positive 34
0 10 20 30 40 50
The prior report from October 4 -17, 2021, included articles containing all three sentiments: positive,
neutral, and negative. The prior bi-weekly report had 21 positives, 17 neutrals and 1 negative. I combined
both time frames to compare the two reports by examining the difference in sentiment reports.
For the period of October 18 -31, 2021, the Phoenix Suns had 13 positives, 27 neutrals and 4 negatives.
Since the last report, there is a 38% decrease in positive articles, a 58% increase in neutral articles and a
300% increase in negative reports. The sentiment bar graph shows that neutral articles are in the lead with
44, positive has 34 and negative articles have 5.
An example of a positive article is called, “Phoenix Suns charities awards grant to local girl scout
council,” written by an unknown author from the In Business Phoenix news outlet. The Phoenix Suns
charity organization awarded the Girl Scouts Arizona Cactus-Pine Council a $100,000 grant.
An example of a neutral article is called, “Phoenix Suns: Monty Williams addresses team owner Robert
Sarver allegations,” written by Duane Rankin from AZ Central. The article talks about head coach Monty
Williams’ comments on allegations of sexual harassment, racism, and sexism. Williams did not want to
talk about the situation; his main concern was the game against the Portland Blazers.
An example of a negative article from this report is called, “Phoenix Suns owner accused of racism,
sexism, and sexual harassment,” written by Alexis Cortez from Arizona’s Family news outlet. These
allegations sparked controversy about these accusations, but the Phoenix Suns issued multiple statements
denying these accusations.

Quotes in Articles
80
74
70
60
50
40
30
23
20 20 20
10 11
0 0
9/6/21 - 9/19/21 9/20/21 - 10/3/21 10/4/21 - 10/17/21 10/18/21 - 10/31/21 11/1/21 - 11/14/21 Total
For the prior bi-weekly report, from October 4 -17, 2021, the Phoenix Suns were quoted in 20 articles.
For this report from October 18 – 31, 2021, the Suns were quoted in 23 articles. This is a 15% increase
from the past four weeks. As we look at the graph above, we see that the quotes are staying at a positive
rate, from September to October. The Suns have 74 quotes in total from memo one to memo four.
A quote that stood out from all the articles came from Chris Paul, he says the following, “With all of us
having the relationship that we have with our families, with all the history that all of us have, but to be
cemented in history like this together," in an article from AZ Central, written by Duane Rankin. The
article is called, “Phoenix Suns: Chris Paul celebrates NBA 75th honor, on brink of making lone history.”
The article discusses Paul’s recognition/welcoming to the NBA 75th honor from October 22, 2001.
This bi-weekly report had lots of good coverage and as the season progresses over the next few weeks, we
will have more quotes in the next report from Phoenix Suns players and spokesperson about upcoming
games.

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The Phoenix Suns Final

Phoenix Suns Final Report 1

PHOENIX SUNS CLIENT BACKGROUNDER 4

PHOENIX SUNS COMMUNICATION AUDIT 9

TARGET AUDIENCE REPORT 37

APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT 58

APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW CONSENT FORM 62

APPENDIX C: SURVEY QUESTIONS 63

Phoenix Suns Final Report 2

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Social media platform URLs/handles:

• Instagram: @ suns (https://www.instagram.com/suns/)

• LinkedIn: @Phoenix Suns (https://www.linkedin.com/company/phoenix-suns/)

• Snapchat: @phoenxsuns (https://www.snapchat.com/add/phoenixsuns)

• TikTok: @phoenixsuns (https://www.tiktok.com/@phoenixsuns?lang=en)

• Twitter: @Suns (https://twitter.com/Suns)

• YouTube: @Phoenix Suns (https://www.youtube.com/suns)

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• 1968 – 1986 / Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum

• 1987-2006 / America West Arena

• 2006 – 2015 / US Airways Center

• 2015 – 2020 / Talking Stick Resort Arena

• 2020 - Present / Footprint Center

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Relevant management team members:

• General Manager: James Jones • Ownership: Robert Sarver

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• Harkins Theatre • APS

Main Competitor: Arizona Cardinals

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Recent major news:

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As of September 2021, the Phoenix Suns have

According to Rival IQ, the topmost engaged

The post was engagement with a total of 42.9K, with

Figure 3 Facebook post from September 9, 2021.

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The Phoenix Suns Instagram account has 2,213,232

According to Social Blade, the Phoenix Suns have a

Phoenix Suns player, Devin Booker, played

The most recent engaging post from the Phoenix

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The Phoenix Suns are staying current with younger audiences

TikTok is used by NBA teams to give their fans

The video in Figure 9 was uploaded prior to the

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Figure 10 illustrates the sentiments, type, source, and

After reviewing the Phoenix Suns profile on Rival IQ, the

Phoenix Suns Final Report 13

Hashtags are important to use when putting

According to an article from AZLatinos, “The Suns developed

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The Phoenix Suns have many influencers who

Duane Rankin is an award-winning journalist who

Greg Esposito, @espo, is a blogger and

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2021 Social Media Followers/

Instagram 2,213,232 1,009,094

TikTok 312,400 537,700

Twitter 1,393,583 1,017,048

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