UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A team of Penn State Smeal College of Business students collaborated to win the Third Annual Paragon 50/50 Challenge, it was recently announced.
Sebastian Marciano, Jake Musmanno and Jason Agnoli, all sophomores who have yet to declare a Smeal major, were joined by juniors Devon McGill, a marketing major, and Anna Tandetnitskiy, a management information systems major. Brett Christenson, clinical assistant professor of marketing, served as the team’s faculty adviser.
Christenson assembled the team in the fall after asking for volunteers from student groups.
“I put out a message for students who were willing to step up and compete with other programs. Our team came together to make a great presentation and we’re happy with the result,” he said.
The case competition was hosted by Paragon Marketing Agency and the Sports Business Journal.
Students were asked to ideate on how sports can impact sustainability. Specifically, how can teams, venues and sponsors create education, inspiration and action, relative to sustainability, and make sustainability part of the fan experience. Ideas were to incorporate: in-venue, digital, social, in-broadcast, player integration and community initiatives.
Teams were asked to produce 20-minute presentations that were judged on analysis, ideas and concepts, delivery, and the look and feel of the deck.
The panel of six judges included:
- Terry Lefton, editor-at-large, Sports Business Journal
- Renie Anderson, chief revenue officer, NFL
- John Brody, chief revenue officer, Learfield
- Jess Smith, head of revenue, Angel City FC
- Michael Ceiley, senior vice president of partnership marketing and media sales, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment
- Terese Whitehead, vice president of consumer products and strategy, NFL Players Association
Penn State Smeal emerged victorious over teams from the University of Oregon, the University of Michigan, Washington University, the University of Central Florida, Baylor University, Northern Illinois University and Wayne State University.
The winner was announced at the recent Sports Business Journal Brand Innovation Summit.