1.1 Introduction
Football Stadium is a centerpiece for the hosting of major events especially sport events such as football. It is one thing to have a stadium, and it’s another thing to manage it. Ticket acquisition is a vital aspect of stadium management. The system can also be considered to be a critical one, as the failure of it would result in significant financial loss for the company managing the stadium, and, in the case of the software failing, potentially thousands of angry fans stuck outside the ground, many of whom may decide not to return − against this would have implications for the managers of the stadium, and probably the software developers too. Therefore, the system must be created using well established principles of software engineering that guarantee a high degree of reliability. The main aim of this research is to create a reliable and easy to use system which will simplify the purchasing of tickets. A more efficient and modern entry system to the ground, which will reduce costs on a match-by- match basis and to provide a fairer system for distributing tickets while monitoring the seating capacity.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
With the development of sport in the world, problems have arisen in the infrastructure of sports facilities and techniques used in the management of these facilities. Since we are in the era of information technology, any problem you are looking for a solution to it can be the use of information technology. The search for a solution to the problems facing the management of sports facilities is embedded in the use of information technology.
In this research, the solutions to the problems facing the management of football stadiums through the development of An Acquisition and Reservation System for Football Stadium Ticket. This study will convert the traditional system for the management of football stadiums to the electronic system so as to reduce problems for workers in football stadiums and football clubs and football audience.
The system enables management and organization of the football stadium in terms of reception games, clubs, and audience in a flexible and easily without conflicts of dates, so that coordination with the Football Association in scheduling games and is included on the site of each stadium and the fan reserve the ticket for the match through the same website. Advance football stadium management systems can also organize sub-stadiums (training) of the main stadium, which are booked by clubs and organize the available times for reserve and the cost of reserve and are reserve the same location.
This system will find accurate statistics every match, in terms of the number of the audience each match and the total number of audience in every championship. And the financial revenues generated from the sale of tickets.
This system is the organization of training stadiums reservations, which will be available to determine the times of the reservations, and provide information on the state of the stadium, whether it is busy or available. Some of the most important things that the system provides in particular: Ticket management, scheduling times of matches, etc.
Technological development has become very fast and effective in recent times, as there is a large interaction between the human and computer, which has become now included in all areas of life and help people in carrying out their daily business or any other activity with ease and less time as possible. And technological development is still going on and looking for new people and can benefit from the best image, technology has entered in the various aspects of life. In stadium management, the computer system and other technologies like networking and database management programming can be applied to solve different problems.
1.3 Statement of Problem
Investigation revealed the following problems involved in the acquisition and reservation system for football stadium ticket;
- Stadium managers have the problem of managing the booking of seats for a game or group of games to be witnessed by football fans.
- The manual system of purchasing tickets may not be effective considering the fact that counterfeits can be produced and also sold to unsuspecting spectators.
- The security issues and financial challenge involved in the management of the identity of people and finances in terms of ascertaining how many tickets where bought for each seat class in a football stadium is enormous.
- Most stadiums lack an effective computerized management system that will foster the easy administration of service. It is in view of this that this study is carried out to develop a football stadium ticket acquisition system.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of the Study
The aim of the Study is to develop a football stadium ticket acquisition system that will help in the recording and managing of financial income and booking of seats in the stadium for each registered game or event. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To develop an automated system for ticket acquisition for Akwa Ibom International football stadium
- To facilitate easy booking and management of ticket based on available seats
- To provide a secure system for issuing tickets
- To develop a system that will help prevent overcrowding of the stadium
1.5 Significance of Study
The significance of the Study is that it will provide a fast and accurate way of managing the sales/booking of tickets, it will aid in verifying ticket numbers, and reports of tickets sold for each game can be queried.
This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.6 Scope of the Study
This study covers just the booking of ticket for the football stadium, based on seating arrangement using Akwa Ibom International football stadium as a case study.
1.7 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this institution to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet).
1.8 Definition of Terms
Stadium: Arena with tiered seats, a place where people watch sports or other activities, usually a large enclosed flat area surrounded by tiers of seats for spectators.
Ticket: A printed piece of cardboard or paper showing that the holder is entitled to admission to a place of public entertainment or a sports facility.
Football Industry: Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word football normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used.
Reservation: The written record or promise of an arrangement by which accommodations are secured in advance.
