The winners of the Second Annual SDSU International Sports MBA Case Competition,
University of Califonia, Berkeley, Haas School of Business, with Dan Lyle,
Director of Rugby Relations, USA Sevens and Dr. Gail Naughton,
Dean of the SDSU College of Business Administration

The second place team from the competition, Kellogg School of Management,
Northwestern University, pose with Lyle and Naughton

SAN DIEGO, Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - San Diego State University’s Sports Business Management MBA program and the San Diego Padres Baseball Club recently hosted the second annual Sports MBA Case Competition. The event was held on November 3-4, 2006.  The San Diego based law firm of Seltzer Caplan McMahon & Vitek and investment group Wheeler Frost Associates, Inc sponsored the event.
This year’s case competition continued its rich tradition of involvement with world-class sporting events held in downtown San Diego.  In August of 2006, the San Diego Padres and the International Rugby Board announced an agreement that will bring the USA Sevens Tournament to PETCO Park in early February of 2007.  The theme of this year’s case involved many of the challenges that arise during the organization of such a large-scale, international event.  Teams of four MBA students were given 24 hours to research a multidisciplinary, sports business-themed case that revolved around the complexities of rugby’s place in the United States.  

The students submitted their recommendations in a twenty minute presentation and an executive summary to a panel of judges comprised of Padres front office executives and other industry professionals.  The judges included Dan Lyle, USA Sevens Director of Rugby, Paul Tsuchiya, Executive Vice-President, WMG Content, Wasserman Media Group, LLC, Bob Watkins, President of the San Diego County Board of Education, and Katie Pothier, Executive Vice-President/General Counsel San Diego Padres.  Keynote speaker Dan Lyle followed the presentations.

This case was unique in that students had the rare opportunity to propose solutions to issues that are ongoing, real-world problems, rather than examine a business issue in retrospect, as is the case with most MBA case competitions. The partnership between the Padres and SDSU’s Sports Business Management MBA program provides students with unparalleled access to a Major League front office, and this competition provides a forum where students can discuss a contemporary sports industry issue with the executives currently involved in staging such events. 

“This SDSU Sports Business MBA Case Competition is an exciting follow-up to the successful inaugural competition last February,” said San Diego Padres CEO Sandy Alderson.  “This is a challenging new component to the Sports Business MBA Program at SDSU that allows students to address real sports world issues in a competitive setting. We are thrilled to be involved again in this new tradition of case competition,” Alderson added.

The schools that participated in the case competition were Columbia University, University of Southern California (Marshall), University of California-Los Angeles (Anderson), University of Virginia (Darden), Wilfrid Laurier University (Ontario, Canada), San Diego State University, University of California-Berkeley (Haas), and Northwestern University (Kellogg).

The University of California-Berkeley team of Simona Chin, Todd Evans, Tom Fitzsimmons and Melissa Olle won first place with a dynamic and powerful plan for the USA Sevens Tournament.  Ron Tamir, Robert Damico, Michael Schwab and Mario Turza of Northwestern University placed second.  The team of Bryan Gasparro, Shana Gritsavage, Ryan Heald and Gary Walenga of San Diego State University placed third. 

San Diego State University is in the initial planning stages of the third annual case competition.  For additional information please visit www.sdsu.edu/sportsmba or email sportsmba@sdsu.edu.