Details

First Pitch is a case competition designed to provide graduate students with a fun, dynamic, and competitive learning experience to gain exposure to sports business issues. Previous editions of the First Pitch Case Competition can be viewed on our YouTube page!

This year’s competition, Presented by KAGR in partnership with NASCAR, will begin in early February when registered teams are provided with the case question. Each team will be asked to submit a written presentation that outlines their proposed solution to the case question. Presentations will be due in mid-February.

Three teams will then be selected to present their findings during the Conference on March 1-2 (exact time to be announced). The three finalists will deliver their presentations to a judging panel of esteemed sports industry professionals.

Registration for the 2024 First Pitch Case Competition is now closed.

Rules

Team Structure

Interested participants must register in teams of up to three students. Each team must consist of students from the same university.

Team Eligibility

To participate in the First Pitch Case Competition, teams must meet the following criteria:

(1) All team members must be full-time enrolled graduate students at the time of the conference
(2) All team members must be from the same university
(3) All team members must have never won the SSAC First Pitch Case Competition before

Competition Logistics

The competition will occur in two rounds. The first round takes place in February ahead of the conference. The final round will be hosted at the 2024 Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, taking place on March 1-2 in Boston, MA.

In the first round, registered teams will be asked to submit a written presentation in both PowerPoint and PDF format. The presentation may not exceed 15 slides including introduction, conclusion, and appendices. The SSAC organizing committee will work with the competition sponsors to evaluate all submissions and select three teams to participate in the final round.

In the final round, the three finalists will deliver their presentations live at SSAC to a judging panel of esteemed sports industry professionals. Prizes will be awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. 

Case Preparation

In early February, registered teams will be provided with the case question. The case will include an underlying data set that teams must utilize to inform their proposed solution to the case question.

In addition to the provided data set, students are permitted to use any research tools or resources available to them to address the case question. Teams may also leverage external data to support their findings, but citations are required. 

All main ideas must be the unique ideas of only the team members involved. Plagiarism will result in disqualification. Team members may not consult with any other individuals (including other students, other teams, or experts in the field).

Ticket Policy

You can register for the First Pitch Case Competition even if you do not have a conference ticket. If your team is selected as one of the three finalists, each team member will be required to purchase a ticket at the student price. If you already paid for a ticket to SSAC24, there will be no additional fees to participate in the First Pitch Case Competition.

Competition Timeline

  • Registration closes: February 6th at 11:59pm ET
  • Case shared: February 7th
  • Presentation submission due: February 16th at 11:59pm ET
  • Finalists announced: February 23rd
  • Finalists Present at SSAC: March 1st-2nd

Questions

If you have any questions about the First Pitch Case Competition, please reach out to firstpitch@sloansportsconference.com.

Previous Winners

2024

1st Place: Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management (Ilesh Jain, Brandon Chubb, Tabassum Qurashi)

2023

1st Place: IESE Business School (Chris Batchelor, Juliana Marroquin, Joaquin Santos)

2022

1st Place: UCLA Anderson School of Management (Kendall Brown, Michael Ingerman, Michael Kirchner)

2020

1st Place: Harvard Business School (Christine Jiang, Kyle Larkin, Sushaan Modi)

2019

1st Place: Duke Fuqua School of Business (Niyanth Anand, Tanya Assar, Rob Belk)

2018

1st Place: Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management (Varun Agarwal, Michael Wolfenson, Richard Xie)

2017

1st Place: TCU Neely School of Business (Jon Gulbransen, Mitch Howe, Paige Sabo)

2016

1st Place: McGill University - Desautels (Deepti Kaul, Christian Mathews-Gagne, Jorge Tatto)

2015

1st Place: Harvard Business School (Daniel Adler, Ali Habib, Matt Quinn)

2014

1st Place: University of Wisconsin School of Business (Anuj Dhingra, M. Scott Olson, Peter Oppermann)

2013

MBA Winner: Dartmouth - Tuck School of Business (Chuck Culp, Jonathan Ryder, David Sibley)
Undergraduate Winner: Queen’s University (Josh Hoffman, Devon MacMurray, Samuel Petras)

2012

1st Place: University of Chicago Booth School of Business (Shreena Amin, Moon Javaid, Josh Yelsey)

Registration Form

Registration for the 2024 First Pitch Case Competition is now closed.