 On February 21 and 22, 2008, the San Diego State University Sports MBA program and the San Diego Padres Baseball Club hosted the Third Annual International SDSU Sports MBA Case Competition over a two day period at PETCO Park in San Diego, California.
This year’s competition featured the largest field of competitors and the most prestigious assembly of elite MBA programs in the competition’s history. SDSU and the Padres welcomed teams representing some of the top graduate business schools in the world. Participants included: Bournemouth University (UK), China Europe International Business School (China), City University of London - Cass Business School (UK), ITESM - EGADE (Mexico), M.I.T. – Sloan, Northwestern University – Kellogg, San Diego State University - Graduate School of Business, University of California-Berkeley – Haas, University of California-Los Angeles – Anderson, University of Michigan – Ross, University of Southern California – Marshall, University of Virginia – Darden. The participation of top programs from China, Mexico and the UK gave students from the U.S. MBA programs in attendance an opportunity to interact and network with other internationally-focused future executives in the industry.
Teams of four MBA candidates spent the competition’s first day developing solutions to an international sports business case study in suites within the historic Western Metals building adjacent to left field inside PETCO Park. With the sunny ballpark as a backdrop, competition participants had the unique opportunity to work on a project inside a Major League venue, an opportunity that was highlighted by a mid-afternoon visit from San Diego Padres CEO Sandy Alderson.
Case competitions in past years researched the World Baseball Classic and USA Sevens rugby, two international events held at PETCO Park. This year’s case was focused on IMG, one of the world’s leading sports, entertainment and media corporations. Students were asked to analyze global strategies for two of the company’s major divisions, Action Sports and Consulting. After twenty-four hours of analysis, teams were given thirty minutes to propose their creative solutions to a panel of judges featuring top IMG executives.
“The SDSU MBA Sports Case Study Competition is an extremely valuable opportunity for any agency, team, league, brand or facility looking for intelligent, thorough and often out-of-the-box thinking around a key initiative,” says James Leitz, Vice President of IMG Action Sports. “What these students were able to learn about our business, apply, and present as a real time solution was truly amazing. I am confident that the recommendations from the winners and the runners-up alike will be further evaluated and quite possibly executed in the coming months.”
The judging panel for the event included James Leitz, VP, IMG Action Sports, JJ Hadley, VP, IMG Interactive Media, Steve Swope, Director Client Management, IMG Action Sports, Lisa Jenkins, Account Director, IMG Action Sports, Kevin Doidge, Account Executive, IMG Consulting, and Michelle Collins, Account Director, IMG Consulting.
On the competition’s second day, teams presented their findings to the assembled IMG judges in two executive boardrooms inside the Padres front offices. The MBA candidates from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California composed of team members Phil Wallace, Bob Thacker, Justin Hong, and Nhan Vo Thanh placed first. USC team captain Phil Wallace said of the event, “It was an exciting challenge, we were thrilled to come up with recommendations for a sports company as prestigious as IMG. This is a great win for the Marshall School of Business, we’re humbled to emerge victorious with such an elite group of schools, and we look forward to defending our title next year.”
The team representing the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University placed second. Team members from Kellogg were Alex Barth, Ann Deming, Noah Solomon, and Jason Trombley.
“The Padres enjoyed the opportunity to host this event alongside SDSU for the third consecutive year, and were pleased to welcome this group of promising future executives to our front offices here at PETCO Park,” said Katie Pothier, Padres Executive Vice President and General Counsel.
The SDSU Sports MBA program would like to thank the San Diego Padres, IMG, and SDSU’s Center for International Business Education and Research for their tremendous support of this year’s event, as well as all of the participating schools who joined us for the competition. For information about next year’s event, please email sportsmba@sdsu.edu. |
