When Hockey Won’t Sell in Minnesota: Using Design Thinking to Innovate the Ticket Service

This case study asks students to assume the role of a ticket sales strategist hired to work as a consultant for the University of Minnesota Golden Gopher athletic department. In this case, you will be asked to work with members of the Gopher Fan Advisory Board to develop service innovations in the area of ticket sales. As a sales and marketing consultant, you will examine existing data on spectator attendance trends and focus group interviews to determine the current issues facing the athletic department. Then, you will be asked to suggest the manners by which the athletic department should innovate the ticket service, using a design thinking approach to grow ticket sales and spectator attendance for the men’s hockey program.

Sport4Change: Adapting to COVID-19 Through Innovation

The case explores how Sport4Change will adapt its sport-for-development (SFD) programs in response to the current uncertainty presented by COVID-19. Being able to innovate program operations, implementation, and delivery is key to the success and long-term sustainability of Sport4Change, and changing program strategies needs to be done correctly given the organization’s varying locations around the world. Making such decisions requires consideration of the various contexts in which Sport4Change works, understanding diverse options to implement SFD through technological or remote means, and aligning remote delivery and operations with each SFD location and their in-person program focus and goals in order to come up with solutions to ensure SFD remains impactful during COVID-19.

Leveraging Sports Events for LGBTQ2+ Inclusion: Supporting Innovation in Organizational Culture and Practices

In this case study, learners are introduced to Sloane, a diversity and inclusion officer who is working to create more inclusive sport and recreation opportunities in her community. A national-level sport event will be hosted in her community and provides an opportunity to elevate and accelerate the work she is already doing with sport and recreation organizations. Learners will develop an understanding of two key themes: LGBTQ2+ inclusion and event leveraging. Working through the case will require learners to think critically about sexuality and gender identity in the context of sport participation and organizations. Furthermore, learners will have the opportunity to think creatively about how they can support innovation in organizational cultures and practices with a view to fostering more inclusive, welcoming, and safe sport organizations.

An Innovative Approach to Increasing Youth Sport Participation: The Case of Baseball5™

Youth sport participation preferences are evolving and shifting toward unorganized, nontraditional types of sport participation. This trend has left more traditional sports with decreasing participation numbers. Baseball Canada noticed a similar trend and therefore implemented an innovative approach to increase interest and participation in baseball. This case study follows Alex, the Manager of Sport Development at Baseball Canada, as they develop and evaluate Baseball5™, an innovative street version of the traditional sport of baseball. This alternative form of baseball needs to be tested and evaluated in five pilot programs throughout Canada. Alex collects survey, interview, and focus group data following each of the pilot programs to determine whether the approach is viable for increasing interest in baseball long term. After reading the case, students are tasked with analyzing the collected data and designing the Baseball5™ program for long-term implementation. The case is ideal for upper year undergraduate students who have the skills and knowledge necessary to execute program evaluations and build holistic program implementation plans, and for undergraduate courses in research methods or data analysis.

Recruiting Women to a Male-Dominated Activity: A Case Study of Women’s Nonparticipation in Fantasy Sport

Fantasy Sports Collection, Inc. (FSC) is a fantasy sport organization offering fantasy play since 2005. Having plateaued in consumer growth, FSC is faced with difficult financial decisions. In a brainstorming session regarding new initiatives, Molly Brinkmeyer suggested an idea to purposefully market to and recruit more women to preestablished offerings. Molly’s reasons driving this idea were the fact that only 14% of their consumers were women and, after an evaluation of FSC’s marketing campaigns, employees of FSC quickly saw that advertisements were overtly produced for men. FSC’s management team felt that this was an idea worth pursuing. They charged Molly with acquiring information about women’s fantasy sport participation and gave her a 3-week window to learn more and report back. She found that women’s top perceptions of the activity were that: (a) the activity was time consuming; (b) the activity required research, surveillance, and information; (c) they had no interest or understanding of it; (d) they felt the activity was too competitive; (e) they thought it wasn’t real; and (f) they still had a positive opinion of fantasy sport. With this new information, marketing decisions could now be made to address existing concerns by women regarding fantasy sport participation.

One Nation, Two Teams: Repositioning the Toronto Blue Jays Among the Threat of a New Entrant

While many teams face difficult decisions regarding their branding, this case emphasizes how external factors can dictate marketing strategies. The Montreal Expos returning to Major League Baseball poses many threats and opportunities for the Toronto Blue Jays. As a result, the Blue Jays must reconsider their use of national identity in their branding—and whether it is appropriate to transition from being Canada’s only team to now sharing the market with the Expos. Nevertheless, the Expos’ return to Major League Baseball provides the Blue Jays with an opportunity to explore new marketing strategies. Case participants are tasked with repositioning the Blue Jays’ marketing strategy in response to the Expos’ return.

Developing a Cash Budget for the Savannah Squares

Like many sport organizations, the Savannah Squares Minor League Baseball franchise is a seasonal business. The team earns most of its revenue during the playing season and must manage its cash effectively throughout the fiscal year. Fixed costs and other cash expenditures often fall into a pattern that differs from the cash receipts schedule. Poor cash management, inaccurate budgets, and improper execution of annual budgets lead to costly cash shortfalls. For the Savannah Squares, annual pro forma budgets have predicted tight but positive earnings for the past few years; however, monthly shortages have led to penalties and late fees that ate into profits and caused financial strain on the organization. Using historical trends and other available data, Juan Hernandez has decided to create a cash budget to identify months with cash surpluses and shortfalls so that he can implement better cash management strategies.

Innovate Sports Officiating With Design Thinking

Youth sports is facing a crisis that threatens the ecosystem of youth sports. Innovation—the ability to generate and execute new ideas—is needed to stem the negative tide of a declining and aging officiating pool and improve the recruitment and retention of sports officials. Without creative problem solving and innovation by many different stakeholders in youth sports, the benefits that children receive from participating in sports are threatened by the lack of qualified officials to referee competitive games and matches. This case pushes students well past the news headlines of angry parents yelling at officials and deep into several problem spaces that emerge from the application of design thinking. Students are introduced to design thinking and prompted to innovate solutions to problems framed using the design thinking process. Students can select a preidentified problem space, then work through an ideation session facilitated by the instructor.

Hockey Is Not for Everyone, But It Could Be

Steve Kroger, president and COO of Hockey Canada, is contemplating how to attract and retain more young people who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in minor hockey (ages 4–18 years). Hockey Canada the governing association for amateur hockey in the country has created programs that make the sport accessible for more people to try, yet Steve recognizes there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to increase participation rates among Black, Indigenous, and People of Color athletes. Drawing on a policy paper for anti-racism in Canadian hockey, Steve tasks his team with developing strategies aimed at making the sport more inclusive and boosting participation.

Environmental Sustainability at the President’s Cup: An Eagle or a Double Bogie?

Over the last decade, researchers have been increasing their studies on the relationship between sport and sustainability. In response, the sport industry has started to recognize the importance of focusing on the natural environment during its operations. Despite the new sustainable intentions of the Professional Golfers’ Association, it is unknown whether the new trajectory in sustainability is being implemented and embraced by fans at all tournaments, specifically those that have unique cultures of their own, such as the President’s Cup. Consequently, this case study provides students with an opportunity to (a) identify major issues and challenges in managing sport events in an environmentally friendly manner, (b) apply sustainable management and pertinent communication practices to the particular context of golf tournaments and facilities, (c) broadly contextualize the complexity of environmental sustainability issues in sport, and (d) create a strategic sustainability plan.