The Univ. of Oregon won the '17 National Sports Forum Case Cup Competition held last weekend in Minneapolis. Oregon beat USF in the finals and emerged from eight graduate programs that participated in the competition. The field also included Ohio Univ., Temple, South Carolina, Nebraska, George Washington and Long Beach State. This year's case, judged by eight industry execs on Sunday, was prepared by the academic writing team from the Marketing Edge Conference and centered around MLS’ new partnership with SeatGeek. It specifically focused on a distribution plan for Sporting KC, the first MLS club to adopt SeatGeek as their official ticketing partner. Students had roughly 24 hours to digest the case and offer solutions for the assignment. They then had 20 minutes to present their case, followed by a 10-minute Q&A session. Officials from both MLS and Sporting KC watched the entire competition, and afterward MLS Dir of Club Services Ian Campbell said, “All of the teams presented strategies focused on going to the millennial consumers, engaging with them where they are already choosing to spend their time and money. This reinforced for me the need for open ticketing platforms. In addition to that, the teams identified potential distribution partners that already have good penetration within millennials, such as Uber, Tinder and companies like Southwest. The idea that I really liked was the social selling concept, being able to post to social media after purchasing tickets to encourage your friends to join you.” Sporting KC VP/Ticket Sales & Service Gregg Allen agreed, feeling the ideas fit into the mission of the club and SeatGeek. He said, "After seeing the marketing and distribution ideas brought to light by the imaginative Case Cup participants, it’s evident that there’s room for many unique partnerships that span multiple industries, which range from current ticketing companies, to social media channels, and also to high-affinity brands with a commitment to innovation and user experience” (THE DAILY).
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Participants in this year's Case Cup Competition hailed from graduate programs at Oregon, Ohio Univ., Temple,
South Carolina, Nebraska, George Washington and Long Beach State |
