On the heels of a recording-breaking year, the SMA is pleased to announce the details for the 2024 SMA Case Study Competition. We are proud to have SBRnet as this year’s official research partner of the Case Study Competition. In a continued effort to bridge academia with the industry, the SMA will work with SBRnet to secure a “real world” case for students and judges. Please see below registration and procedural details.

2024 Participants

Duqense University
Elizabeth City State University
Elon University
Harris-Stowe State University
Indiana State University
Loras College Purple
Loras College Yellow
Minnesota Crookston
Norhern Illinois
Ohio University
Rider University
Samford University
St. Louis University
Stephen F. Austin University
University of Findlay
University of New Hampshire
University of Oregon
Winston-Salem State University
York College of Pennsylvania

Recent Winners

2024: University of Oregon
2023: Ohio University
2022: Ohio University
2021: Loras College
2020: cancelled due to COVID
2019: University of Massachusetts Amherst
2018: Southern Methodist University
2017: Loras College

Eligibility

• The competition is for undergraduate students only, competing in teams with a minimum of 3 students and a maximum of 4.

• Each team must have a designated faculty advisor. The role of the faculty advisor is to coordinate conference registration and travel for his or her team(s) and, during the competition itself, to offer feedback on presentation style and proofreading/sentence structure. The faculty advisor may NOT, however, be involved with the formation of the case study solution and recommendations.

• To be eligible, students and a respective faculty advisor must be officially registered for the conference no later than October 11, in order to receive the Case Study Preview.

• New this year will be a team rate rather than an individual student rate. The team rate will be $800.

• Registration is now open (click here to register your team)

• SMA special hotel rate (click here to reserve your rooms)

Procedure

• Student teams will respond to the case study over a 48-hour period.

• Every faculty advisor entering a team(s) must notify SMA Vice President of Student Affairs, Matt Blaszka (matthew.blaszka@indstate.edu), no later than Friday, October 15th and provide the following emailed information:

  • Subject Line: SMA Case Study Entry

  • Name of faculty advisor

  • Email address of faculty advisor

  • Cell phone number of faculty advisor

  • Name of school

  • Tentative list of student team members (each team must have a minimum of 3 and maximum of 4 students)

• On (TBD), each participating Faculty Advisor will be emailed a brief Case Study Preview introducing the general topic of the case study; this will provide the student teams with the opportunity to do some initial research into the topic prior to arriving at SMA.

• On (TBD), the faculty advisor will be emailed the actual case study, official rules & time of their presentation(s). The students will have about 48 hours to complete the case study. 

• On (TBD), all competing teams (along with their respective faculty advisors) are required to attend a 30-minute Case Study Bowl Intro Session in the evening. 

• Beginning on (TBD), teams will present their PPT presentation in different rooms (TBD), and in half-hour increments. Each team will have a maximum of 20 minutes to make their presentation, followed by 5 minutes of Q&A by the judging panel. Printed versions will NOT be required or accepted. Also, teams should not rely on the internet to access their PPT presentation or include items with internet needs within the presentation.

• Around (TBD), the judges will select the 3-5 Finalist Teams (depending on total number of participating teams) and notify the faculty advisor via cellphone.

• The Finals presentations will take place on (TBD). The winning team will be announced at the Awards Luncheon.

Previous SMA Case Studies

• Super League Tampa Bay Case Study (Tampa)

• Charlotte Hornets Case Study (Charlotte)

• Henderson Silver Knights Case Study (Las Vegas)

• Stadium Marketing Case Study (Chicago)

• eSports Case Study (Frisco)

• UMASS Athletics Case Study (Boston)

• NCAA Case Study (Indianapolis)