SportsBiz Madness: 2022 Case Study Tournament (Final Four Update)

We continue to be very impressed with the work from our competing students for our sixth annual SportsBiz Madness case study tournament. 

In the “Elite Eight” round, students were asked to build a social media campaign in a ticket sales push for their favorite professional sports team. The goal is to increase overall sales, including ticket packages, via social media.

Four teams advanced in the tournament for the chance to be crowned 2022 case study champs. Here is a recap of the elite eight round results and a look at who will be moving on to the Final Four round of the competition.

THE FINAL FOUR:

Pinelands Regional High School, New Jersey

Two-time champion Pinelands Regional advances to the Final Four round aiming for a third Case Study tournament trophy. There were some really creative ideas here from PRHS students that will most certainly help to boost ticket sales for the Rutgers Men’s basketball program through the group’s social media marketing campaign, including a very cool hype video posted across all the program’s social feeds.

All four teams advancing in this tournament did an exceptional job researching user statistics and engagement rates for the most popular social media platforms, and Pinelands Regional students really set the tone. Using that data, students customized advertising messages to promote a variety of ticket packages to fans.

As included in the student’s report:

Instagram

We chose this platform because 78% of U.S. adults between the ages 18-44 use IG according to Statusbrew. In addition, 90% of its users follow a business profile. Amazingly 83% use the platform to discover new products and services and 87% took a specific action, like making a purchase, after seeing the product information. Some of the content we propose to present with IG includes using promo codes, highlights of the team and players and creating a link in the account bio for ticket purchases through the Rutgers ticket office. In addition, we will use IG stories for live pregame and postgame interviews and highlights. 

Twitter

76% of all adults between the ages of 18-49 use this platform. Research has shown that tweets with hashtags receive 100% more engagement and 50% more for a specific brand. We will include consistent hashtags such as #GardenStatement and #weRback. We will also use this platform for live game updates and stats, along with pre-game and post-game posts. A link in the profile will also be present to purchase tickets through the RU ticket office. 

Tiktok

This platform continues to grow because of its entertaining, creative, and trending content. 86% of Tiktok users are in the 18-44 age group. We will use this platform for our hype videos to promote RU and upcoming specific games (we have attached a sample hype video to this presentation). As always, we will include a link to purchase tickets.  

REALLY, really well done. Fantastic job Pinelands Regional High!

Flower Mound High School, Texas (MiLB’s Rocket City Trash Pandas)

One of three previous champions to advance (Flower Mound students took first place in the inaugural edition of this competition), Flower Mound High School created a social media ticket sales strategy for Minor League Baseball’s Rocket City Trash Pandas.

One thing that stood out in the case study response from this particular group of students was the specific attention paid to boosting sales of ALL the team’s ticket inventory, including:

• Group tickets
• Season tickets
• Ticket packages (Family Friday’s)
• Theme nights (space night, first responders night, Avengers night, Military Appreciation Day, retro night etc)
• Giveaway promotions (bobbleheads and more)
• Walk-up and game day promotions (Half Price Wednesdays)
• Premium seating packages

Flower Mound students also did a fantastic job researching the demographic usage of each particular social platform, and customizing content (and ticket plans) to cater to each segment of the team’s fan base.

For example, they recognize that Facebook users tend to skew toward an older demographic. As such, they focused on Facebook to market a great cross promotion with the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, which also statistically has an older audience, with a package that includes a “Buy a Trash Pandas ticket, receive a voucher for admission to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center” promo.

Overall, a FANTASTIC effort from students at Flower Mound High School!

Downers Grove North High School, Illinois (LA Rams)

An effective social media strategy requires quality content. Students at Downers Grove North offered a variety of great ideas for content, many geared toward helping the Los Angeles Rams to sell more tickets. Some highlights:

• A separate social media account for @RamsHouse (LA’s Hollywood sign was temporarily changed to say “Rams House” after this year’s Super Bowl win
• A SoFi Stadium Tour Video on YouTube and links to the video on the other team’s social platforms to help build excitement and push ticket sales (including season ticket locations ON SALE NOW)
• Posts promotiong a wide range of packages, including season tickets, group tickets, “flex” packages, individual game promos (“meal deals”), promo nights (bobblehead and t-shirt giveaways) and corporate packages

In addition, the group included a lot of great other content and fan engagement strategies, great idea to feature these “experiences” for season ticket holders as a benefit then post to social feeds so non season-ticket holders can see the added value of buying a ticket package.

• Photo with the Lombardi Trophy (Super Bowl trophy which the team won in February)
• Fans will announce the teams draft picks (4th, 5th, 6th, or 7th round) live at the upcoming draft
• Behind-the-scenes tour of Sofi Stadium (home of the Rams and Chargers)
• Opportunities to win prizes like Gatorade towels autographed by the team

We also really like seeing a schedule release post on social media. Every year, teams leverage the anticipation of the upcoming season to build excitement among fans and take advantage of an opportunity to sell ticket packages. Downers Grove North students saw the same opportunity and took advantage. Really well done, and shows these students really have a finger on the pulse of current industry trends. Great job!

Green Run High School, Virginia (Charlotte Hornets)

Defending champions from Green Run High School in Virginia created a campaign for the Charlotte Hornets. The group came up with a variety of great ticket promos, and developed a great strategy for utilizing TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter AND YouTube to market the ticket offers to fans. Green Run students recognize the importance of maximizing sales to help offset revenue losses resulting from fewer fans during the pandemic.

Some highlights including customizing theme nights, then posting special “thank you” messages to those groups on social media, promoting fan experiences like high-fives with the mascot during player intros through family friendly social media channels to reach parents who would enjoy providing opportunities like that for their kids, and communicating special group packages like “birthday bundles” across all the teams social channels.

A solid performance from Green Run High School!

UPDATED BRACKET:

Congrats to those students who advanced to the Final Four round of the competition and good luck!