By: The 2012 Case Cup Champions
Upon arriving in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma for the 2012 National Sports Forum, the Ohio University Case Cup Team was ready.
Four students,
Brett Brecheisen (’12), Danny DuChene (’12), Hallie English (’12) and
Allison Pisching (’12), reported on Friday to compete against seven other sports administration graduate programs for bragging rights and to claim the 2012 Case Cup.
The annual competition is a highlight of the Sports Forum as eight schools send their top students to compete for The Cup. Each team of four was challenged to solve a sports industry case in 24 hours. Students were secluded in workrooms and worked tirelessly through the night to prepare a 20-minute presentation to a panel of esteemed judges.
The OHIO team received the case at 10 AM on Saturday morning and presented at exactly 10 AM on Sunday morning. The case, developed by Navigate Research and the NCAA, provided an opportunity for the team to be creative and utilize all of our strengths to create something that we were proud of. The goal of the case was to increase awareness, attendance, and viewership of an NCAA Championship.
Coupled with two short-term marketing and community relations strategies, our team proposed a long-term “out of the box” idea of combining the men’s and women’s basketball Final Four tournaments in one city.
The 24-hour preparation period was an experience unlike any other. It certainly was a roller coaster of a day with times of exceptional creativity and progress and other moments of interesting (and terrible) ideas. The experience yielded a little over an hour of sleep and technical difficulties that would test any person’s patience. While the case was focused on the NCAA, the true test was that of teamwork and asset utilization.
Two flights, with four teams each, competed in front of four judges who represented a variety of sectors within the sports industry. The first-place team from each flight then competed immediately after lunch by presenting again to the full panel of eight judges. As the morning presentation time approached, our rehearsals were anything but acceptable. In fact, perhaps the worst rehearsal of the entire experience occurred merely moments before the 10 AM presentation time. Even with sub-standard rehearsals and adrenaline and nerves at an all time high, the Ohio team was able to come together, and definitely presented to win.
This year’s two finalists, Ohio University and George Washington University, went head to head in the finals to become the first ever two-time winner of the highest honor in sports administration graduate programs. After a long two days of waiting, Ohio University was finally announced the winner on Tuesday morning of the conference.
The experience was one-of-a-kind and incredibly rewarding. The most meaningful reward of winning the 2012 Case Cup was all of the recognition from the Ohio Sports Ad family and influential members of the industry for the duration of the conference.
We will be returning to Athens with the 2012 Case Cup trophy, proving that OHIO is "Still the One."
