18(a) Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD

Prototypical answer:

Celebrate Broadway Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of The Broadway League Inc., is applying to ICANN for the new gTLD, .BROADWAY.

The Broadway League, a not-for-profit organization, is the national trade association for the Broadway industry. Its 700-plus members include
theatre owners and operators, producers, presenters, and general managers in North America, as well as suppliers of goods and services to the commercial theatre industry. Each year, League members bring Broadway to more than 30 million people in New York and across the U.S., Canada, and the world.
Broadway plays, musicals, and special events are presented in the 40 theatres with 500 or more seats located in New York Cityʹs Theatre District. Broadway also refers to the first-class national tours of those and other productions that visit as many as 240 cities across North America and the world each year. Broadway theatre represents the highest level of live, professional theatrical production in the English-speaking world.
In the 2010-11 season, Broadway shows in New York City grossed $1.08 billion and were seen by 12.53 million people, while touring Broadway productions grossed $804 million and were seen by 13.1 million. The Broadway League estimates that Broadway shows contributed $9.8 billion to the economy of New York City in the 2008-09 season and a further $3.35 billion to the economies of the other metropolitan areas where they played.
The Broadway League was born in 1930 when Broadway theatre operators came together to promote their common interests and negotiate with theatrical unions and guilds. In subsequent years, the organization’s mission expanded to include serving the needs of theatrical producers in New York and of national touring shows, as well as presenters of touring productions.
Today the League is a full-service trade association dedicated to fostering increased interest in Broadway theatre and supporting the creation of profitable theatrical productions.
The League supports its members through programs and events designed to promote Broadway as a vibrant entertainment medium. These include special events, marketing initiatives, corporate sponsorships, and programs geared to making Broadway tickets and information more accessible to consumers. The League joins with the American Theatre Wing to co-present the annual Antoinette Perry ʺTonyʺ Awards® each spring. Broadcast internationally in June, the Tonys celebrate excellence in Broadway theatre, both on stage and behind the scenes, standing as the pinnacle of achievement in the theatrical profession.
Other key services include government relations, research databases, audience development programs, and charitable efforts benefiting the theatrical community.
In all its programs and services, the League endeavors to strengthen Broadway theatre’s position as the pinnacle of live entertainment. We believe that the introduction and administration of the .BROADWAY top level domain is the next logical step to promoting the Broadway industry’s common interests, as well as fostering increased interest in Broadway theatre and supporting the creation of profitable theatrical productions.

The purpose of the .BROADWAY gTLD is to:
- Provide a “seal of approval” that the content on .BROADWAY web sites is affiliated with legitimate Broadway theatre in New York City or across North America and the world, and that all tickets sold on .BROADWAY sites are through authorized, official channels.
- Advance the mission of The Broadway League by promoting and strengthening the Broadway industry in New York City and across North America and the world.
- Protect the Broadway brand from inappropriate use and create innovative partnerships and new digital real estate that empowers the engagement of Broadway League members, associates, partners, and organizations related to Broadway.
- Provide to Broadway League members interested in disseminating or seeking Broadway news, issues, show or theatre information, or any other Broadway-related topic with a convenient and recognizable domain name that associates them and⁄or their information with Broadway.
- Provide all those interested and qualified, worldwide, in selling or purchasing Broadway-related goods, services, or information with a convenient and recognizable domain name that associates them and⁄or their goods, services, or information with Broadway.
- Provide a top-level domain name that provides an identifiable means of communicating with people, organizations and businesses that associate or identify with Broadway.
- Provide to Broadway League members, associates, partners, and organizations related to Broadway an additional choice of available domain names at competitive prices.

The mission of .BROADWAY is to:
- Promote the Broadway industry in New York City, across North America, and around the world.
- Promote the sale of tickets through authorized, official channels and provide the consumer with a clear channel for such information and ticket purchases.
- Promote all things Broadway: its shows, theatres, issues, causes, interests, perspectives, positions, policies, supporters and admirers by making domain names ending in .BROADWAY available to qualified parties to use such .BROADWAY domain names for their legal purposes in the United States and worldwide, and by having information of any and all types and for any and all legal and authorized purposes available and disseminated from websites and email addresses ending in .BROADWAY for the registrants and users own authorized purposes in the United States and worldwide.
- Allow members and related organizations to promote their association or identification with Broadway on the Internet and in emails.
- Provide an identifiable means for people, organizations and businesses to communicate with those who associate or identify with Broadway.
- Increase the number of people and organizations in the United States and worldwide that publicly identify themselves via the Internet with Broadway through their use of .BROADWAY domain names and email accounts by making such .BROADWAY domain names affordable and readily available (subject to compliance with the rules governing .BROADWAY discussed elsewhere in this Application).

At present, no specific .BROADWAY domain name, or useful top-level alternative domain name, exists for the people, members of The Broadway League, organizations and businesses that associate themselves with Broadway, or people, organizations and business that want to communicate with them. Those wanting a domain name that indicates some level of association with or recognition of Broadway could seek a second level domain name such as “BroadwayTheater.com,” NewYorkBroadway.us” or “BroadwayMusicals.info,” but such domains (or similar names) are not readily available under the limited number of existing gTLDs, and more importantly only provide a secondary (at best) or weak (at worst) relationship between the domain name and the Broadway, which we believe is the primary goal of the registrant of such Broadway-related names. From a competitive perspective, registrants that want a domain name that effectively and efficiently shows an association with Broadway, or registrants that want a domain name that allows them to identifiably communicate with people who associate or identify with Broadway, face a domain name marketplace that provides them with few--if any--options for their purposes. The .BROADWAY top-level domain will resolve this problem by providing registrants with an efficient, effective, prominent, instantly understood means of showing their association with Broadway, and provide those qualified registrants who desire it, a domain that can effectively communicate information to such Internet users in an identifiable way, while at the same time providing competition with the existing TLDs and new gTLDs that will be approved by ICANN, thereby increasing consumer choice.

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