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About the SDSU International
Sports MBA Case Competition
The annual SDSU International Sports MBA Case Competition is the defining event for each cohort of the Sports MBA program. It serves as an annual networking event for sports-minded MBAs from elite schools, and allows our students to showcase their sports industry knowledge and benchmark their skills alongside some of the most talented graduate business students in the world.
In the competition, teams of four MBA students have 24 hours to develop a solution to an international sports-related consulting exercise. At the end of 24 hours, teams present their research to a panel of sports industry executives, who grade the presentations based on the creativity and efficacy of the proposed solutions. The cases are multidisciplinary, always focused on a global sports issue, and require the use of skills developed in core MBA curricula.
The first case competition featured teams from the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business, the University of California, Los Angeles' Anderson School of Management, and the San Diego State University Sports MBA program. The case for this competition focused on the inaugural World Baseball Classic, the quadrennial “world cup” of baseball. Student presentations took place at PETCO Park, home of the semifinal and final rounds of the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Padres executives including former CEO Sandy Alderson, and Katie Pothier, Executive VP/General Counsel, assisted in the development of the case and were integral to the success of the event. Mr. Alderson also served as the event’s keynote speaker, speaking to the students about the current state of international baseball and the significance of the WBC for the global growth of the game.
“The Padres were eager to work with SDSU to develop a sports MBA case competition,” said Alderson. “We see a tremendous value to our organization in embracing the fresh perspectives of these future sports business leaders. We strongly believe that sports MBA students will benefit from the opportunity to analyze a case drawn from the experience of our front office executives and propose solutions to issues that could potentially face a Major League organization.”
A team of MBA candidates from UCLA (Anderson) took first place in the competition and received four tickets to the semifinals and finals of the 2006 World Baseball Classic as a prize for their winning presentation.
In its second year, the case study focused on international rugby, with teams of students developing an action plan and providing business development consulting for USA Rugby as they prepared to host the USA Sevens international rugby tournament at PETCO Park. The case was developed by Sports MBA student Steve Gera (SMBA ’07), who was assisted by the USA Sevens Director of Rugby, Dan Lyle. In just 24 hours, students developed comprehensive financial forecasts, detailed tournament budgets, and integrated marketing platforms for USA Sevens Rugby. These ideas were judged by Dan Lyle (USA Sevens), Paul Tsuchiya (Wasserman Media Group), Bob Watkins, (SD County Board of Education), and Katie Pothier, (San Diego Padres).
This competition featured a group of eight elite business schools:
-Columbia University
-Northwestern University (Kellogg)
-San Diego State University (Sports MBA Program)
-University of California-Berkeley (Haas)
-University of California- Los Angeles (Anderson)
-University of Southern California (Marshall)
-University of Virginia (Darden)
-Wilfrid-Laurier University (Ontario, Canada)
First place in the competition went to Cal-Berkeley (Haas), second place was taken by Northwestern (Kellogg), and SDSU’s Sports MBA took third place.
The third annual case competition took place in February 2008, and featured the most extensive international grouping of graduate business schools to date:
-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 case study focused on IMG, the global sports, entertainment and media giant, and specifically featured the Action Sports and Consulting Divisions of the company.
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.
“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,” said 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 competition was won by the team representing the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. Second place went to the team from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Year four of the competition continued the event’s rich tradition of involvement with world-class organizations, but added the compelling element of non-profit work by brining Malaria No More on-board as the case partner. The challenge posed to teams from top MBA programs was to develop a strategy to help eliminate malaria deaths through the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The case challenged students to capitalize on the attention that will be focused on Africa during the World Cup, and generate world-wide awareness and action aimed at reducing malaria deaths on the continent.
Participating schools included:
-Columbia University (Graduate School of Business)
-Georgetown University (McDonough)
-New York University (Stern)
-Oxford University (Said)
-San Diego State University (Sports MBA)
-University of California, Berkeley (Haas)
-University of California, Los Angeles (Anderson)
-University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
-University of Southern California (Marshall)
The top prize was won by Columbia University, second went to the team representing Oxford, and third to UC Berkeley’s team. Georgetown University garnered an honorable mention.
Last year's case competition, the fifth annual event, took place at PETCO Park, and featured the first case study based on the event's host, the San Diego Padres. The judges for the event were Padres President & Chief Operating Officer Tom Garfinkel, Padres Senior Vice President, Brand Development Laura Broderick, Padres General Counsel Katie Pothier, and Professor of Management Dr. Martina Musteen.
The participating MBA programs represented the following universities:
-Columbia University (Graduate School of Business)
-Georgetown University (McDonough)
-Hong Kong University of Science & Technology
-New York University (Stern)
-San Diego State University (Sports MBA)
-University of California, Los Angeles (Anderson)
-University of Michigan (Ross)
-University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
-University of Southern California (Marshall)
The winning team, from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, consisted of MBA candidates James Ou, Pierce Reeves, Rob Johnson, and Hale Simon. There were two schools tied for second place, the team from Columbia University's Graduate School of Business, and the team representing the San Diego ÊState University Sports MBA program.
Next year's event, the sixth annual SDSU International Sports MBA Case Competition, will take place on from February 10-12, 2011 in San Diego, CA. For more information about this event, please contact us at smbainfo@sdsu.edu.
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2011 Case Competition was held February 10-12, 2011
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Previous Case Competitions:
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
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