Students Participate in 2021 Sport Marketing Association Case Study Competition

A team of four students from The Lesley H. and William L. Collins College of Professional Studies - Andrea Mendoza Chavez, Lia Ehlers Santos, Paige Kelly, and Hailey Pomara - recently participated in the Sport Marketing Association (SMA)’s Annual Conference and case study competition.

“This was a great opportunity for our students to network with sport industry professionals and become more familiar with the sport marketing field,” said Simon M. Pack, Associate Professor, Division of Sport Management, and the team’s faculty advisor.  Joyce “JJ” Jelks, Head of People & Culture, Wieden + Kennedy NYC also advised the team leading up to the competition with a few zoom brainstorming sessions, along with SJU alum, Michiah Lee, '18 CPS, '21 MBA who also works at W+K NYC.

At the conference, the students participated in a case study competition that consisted of nine teams from various schools. They tackled current sport marketing issues and presented their proposed solution to a panel of judges.

Founded in 2002, SMA was created with the goal to develop and expand sport marketing knowledge via research and scholarship. To lead this effort, the association seeks to build relationships between industry professionals, practitioners, academics, and students who are devoted to the sport marketing field. SMA has more than 350 active members, which includes many university professors who conduct innovative research and educate and advise students who are breaking ground in the sport industry.

The St. John’s team had 48 hours to work on a case involving the Henderson Silver Knights, a local professional hockey team. They were tasked with deciding how the team should position themselves separately from the Vegas Golden Knights once they move to their new arena outside of Las Vegas, NV.

“Participating in this competition and conference helped me prepare for my career because we did things that the marketing team for the Silver Knights currently do,” said Paige Kelly, a Public Relations major and Sport Management minor with a strong interest in sports. “It gave me experience in creating a marketing plan for a sports team, and I learned how much work actually goes into its development.”