Racial Injustice & The Rooney Rule

All signs are pointing toward a renaissance of on-field success for State U’s football, men’s basketball and hockey programs, suggesting that ticket demand will soon be on the upswing. This case study places students in a scenario in which a mid-major Division I university needs to decide whether to follow industry trends and outsource its ticket sales vertical or, alternatively, build an in-house sales department. After discussing the benefits and potential challenges to both tracks, and presenting three separate proposals - two from outsourcing firms, and one outlining the development of an in-house sales department - this case study challenges students to conduct a critical analysis of State U’s options and form a managerial recommendation.

Across the United States, colleges and universities are closing their doors at an unprecedented rate. Many of these schools fall within the NAIA and NCAA Division III athletics level, and have a higher cost of attendance (after scholarships are discounted) than their NCAA Division I or II counterparts. In recent years, these schools have seen a steady decline in general student body attendance (i.e. non-student athletes). This case study focuses on one strategy implemented by these schools to survive, and sometimes thrive: a reliance on intercollegiate athletics participation. Under the context of a recently closed institution, students will learn concepts such as roster quotas, discount rates, and emerging sports development, while analyzing the financial realities inherent in NAIA and DIII college athletics administration.

For nearly a century, owners of U.S. professional sports teams have lobbied respective governmental bodies for public subsidies to build stadiums and arenas across the country, using franchise relocation as leverage. Myriad justifications have been used as a defense for the public subsidization of this private enterprise, ranging from the economic impact of capital intensive projects to the psychic regional benefit of being a host city to a professional sports franchise. But do these justifications hold up under increased scrutiny? In this case, students are placed in the position of the Mayor of Oakland as she is faced with a dilemma regarding publicly subsidizing a new Raiders stadium. Students will examine the issue through the lens of multiple key stakeholders, and will ultimately have to decide whether the city should utilize public funds to keep the Davis family happy and the Raiders in Oakland, or withhold funding for public good and risk the franchise relocating elsewhere.

Throughout the 20th century, football grew to be America's new pastime - and as the sport's popularity grew, so did the NFL's fortunes. From early league leadership to the Pete Rozelle era, the NFL successfully warded off rival league challengers and became the preeminent economic juggernaut of the American sports landscape. But as the NFL's financial dominance has grown, so has its risk exposure to certain elements of its 20th century business model. In this case, students will work to understand the NFL's monopolistic business model and how it has fueled the NFL's financial windfalls over the past several decades. Students will also gain an understanding of the history of rival football leagues in America in order to analyze the question facing the modern NFL management team: is its business model vulnerable to disruption by a handful of well-funded rival leagues set to start play in 2019?