SDSU, MALARIA NO MORE AND THE SAN DIEGO PADRES ANNOUCE WINNERS OF FOURTH ANNUAL SPORTS MBA CASE COMPETITION

San Diego, CALIFORNIA - "On Friday, February 20, in conjunction with the non-profit organization  Malaria No More and the San Diego Padres Baseball Club, San Diego State  University's Sports Business Management MBA Program hosted the fourth annual  Sports MBA Case Competition. The event was held at PETCO  Park and featured teams of MBA  students representing the University  of Southern California, University of California-Los Angeles, University of California-Berkeley, University of Pennsylvania,  Columbia University,  Georgetown University, New   York University, Oxford University (England) and SDSU.

This year's case competition continued the event's rich  tradition of involvement with world-class organizations, but added the  compelling element of non-profit work by Malaria No More on-board as the case  partner.  The challenge posed to teams  from top MBA programs was to develop a strategy to help eliminate malaria deaths  through the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.  The case  challenged students to capitalize on the attention that will be focused on Africa during the World Cup, and generate world-wide  awareness and action aimed at reducing malaria deaths on the continent.

The Columbia University Graduate School of Business team of  Eileen Ahasic, Jon Budish, Peter Simon and Ryan McRae came in first place with  a dynamic and powerful branding strategy.   Team Columbia recommended a partnership  with youth soccer in the U.S.  to raise funds to send anti-malaria mosquito netting to Africa by creating  "Soccer Without a Net Day," an event in which all youth soccer teams in the U.S.  play a game without a net in each goal. 

The judges for the event included: Malaria No More CEO Scott Case;  Malaria No More Director of Marketing Alix Wilson;  San Diego Union-Tribune sportswriter Mark Zeigler; MLB  Advanced Media Vice President Alexander Pigeon; CAA Sports Executive Scott  Pruitt; Formation Sports & Media Marketing Director Eddie Salcedo; and O'Brien  Marketing Executive Vice President Dondi Kingsbury.

Malaria No More CEO Scott Case  had high praise for the effort of the winning team, and invited the group to  stay further involved with the efforts of the organization as they continue on  in business school.  "In just 24 hours,  these teams presented strategies that rival those we would expect to receive  from professional firms," said Mr. Case. "Not only did the students display  remarkable creativity and innovation to help us achieve our goals, but they  also learned what a pivotal role marketing and business can play in the global  effort to end malaria deaths."

The international team of Matthew Himelstein, David Harris,  Graham Howe, and Ryan Macaskill representing the Saïd  Business School  from Oxford University finished second.  The Oxford  team proposed a strategy geared toward raising awareness in the U.K. through a  fantasy soccer contest and a partnership with each team in the Barclay's  English Premier League.

The team representing the University of California-Berkeley  Haas School of Business finished third with a campaign that mirrored Nike's  yellow Livestrong bracelets, selling  light blue shoelaces to the global soccer community to raise awareness for  light blue lifesaving malaria nets in Sub-Saharan Africa.  Georgetown   University's McDonough  School of Business received an honorable mention for its idea to generate  anti-malaria awareness via a global kickoff concert similar to Live Aid. 

Upon completion of the competition, Malaria No More began  mining the information provided to utilize as many of the ideas as possible in its  forthcoming efforts to catalyze communities and raise malaria awareness in  anticipation of the 2010 World Cup.  Alix Wilson , Malaria No More's Director of  Marketing and a judge for the competition, said, "The students were remarkable.  They provided us with sophisticated ideas that we can put into practice right  away and great suggestions that will ensure the program's success."

Malaria No More is working with partners including the Bill  & Melinda Gates Foundation, Johns Hopkins University's VOICES project,  PATH, Roll Back Malaria Partnership and the United Nations Foundation to engage  the global football community in the effort to end malaria deaths in Africa.  Learn more at www.KickMalaria2010.org.

#   #   #

Press may contact Malaria No More's Emily   Bergantino emily.bergantino@malarianomore.org

  for more information regarding this year's case topic.  

For additional information regarding SDSU's Sports MBA Case Competition,  please contact Scott Minto, Director of SDSU's Sports MBA program at (619)  594-6023.