The Kogod School of Business’s 2027 Case Competition puts students inside the business of professional sports.

In partnership with Washington Spirit, Washington, DC’s premier professional women’s soccer team, students will develop practical, data-informed recommendations addressing real business priorities for a professional sports franchise. Undergraduate teams will focus on expanding Spirit’s reach and strengthening fan engagement, while graduate teams will consider strategies to build long-term value.

Together, the two cases ask students to think beyond what happens on the field and examine business decisions shaping the future of a professional sports organization.

What Is the Kogod Case Competition?

The Kogod School of Business’s annual Case Competition is a national business challenge that gives students the opportunity to solve a real problem for an industry partner.

Teams analyze the case, develop recommendations, and present their strategies to judges, putting the same skills they build in the classroom to work in a competitive, real-world environment.

For the 2027 competition, that means stepping into the business of professional sports with Washington Spirit.

An inaugural member of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), Washington Spirit plays its home matches at Audi Field in Washington, DC. Working with Washington Spirit gives students the opportunity to consider a question with implications across the sports industry: How can a professional sports franchise turn growing interest into deeper fan relationships and sustainable long-term value?

What Business Challenge Will Students Tackle?

The 2027 Case Competition asks undergraduate and graduate students to examine different dimensions of the same larger business question: How can Washington Spirit build on the growth of women’s professional sports to strengthen its organization for the future?

Undergraduate teams will focus on “Growing the Game,” developing strategies to help Washington Spirit expand its reach and deepen fan engagement. Their recommendations will require them to consider how data, consumer behavior, marketing, and the fan experience can help a professional sports organization turn audience interest into stronger, more lasting relationships.

Graduate teams will tackle “Building for the Future,” taking a broader look at strategies that can support the Spirit’s long-term growth. Teams will consider how business innovation and strategic investment can create value over time, requiring them to weigh opportunities, analyze trade-offs, and determine where resources can have the greatest impact.

Although the two divisions approach the challenge from different perspectives, both put students in the position of business decision-makers. They must move beyond identifying opportunities to determine which ideas are practical, where an organization should invest, and how their recommendations can support sustainable growth.

That makes the Washington Spirit case relevant well beyond sports. Growing an audience, strengthening a brand, allocating resources, and creating long-term value are challenges businesses across industries face—and they are exactly the kinds of complex decisions Kogod students are preparing to make in their careers.

What Business Skills Will Students Apply?

While the undergraduate and graduate teams will tackle different questions, both cases require students to turn business knowledge into actionable recommendations.

Students will draw on skills including:

• data analysis and evidence-based decision-making
• marketing and consumer engagement
• strategic planning
• financial and investment analysis
• innovation and problem-solving
• presentation and communication

A strong idea is only the beginning. Teams must determine whether their recommendations are realistic, support them with evidence, consider trade-offs, and communicate why their approach makes business sense, mirroring the work students will encounter post-graduation across industries, where business problems rarely fit neatly within a single discipline.

Why Is Women’s Professional Sports a Business Opportunity?

Washington Spirit gives students the opportunity to study growth as it happens.

The team’s business extends well beyond matchday to include ticketing, partnerships, community engagement, marketing, brand development, and the overall fan experience.

For students, that creates a rich business question: How does an organization capitalize on momentum while building something sustainable?

While the undergraduate case examines that question through audience growth and fan engagement, the graduate case approaches it through innovation, investment, and long-term strategy.

Together, these questions show that the growth of women’s sports is not only a sports story—it's a business story—one that raises questions about consumer behavior, investment, brand building, innovation, and value creation.

How Does the Case Competition Prepare Students for Their Careers?

The Kogod Case Competition is designed to move students from analyzing business concepts to making business decisions.

Students must work with incomplete information, identify the most important elements of a problem, develop a defensible recommendation, and explain their thinking to others. Those are skills they will use in careers ranging from consulting and marketing to finance, analytics, entrepreneurship, and sports business.

Students have to determine what they believe the organization should do next—and make the case for it.

This kind of decision-making is central to experiential learning at Kogod. By connecting classroom knowledge to consequential business challenges, students practice the work they’ll do after graduation.

In the 2027 Case Competition, students will put that approach into practice as they develop strategies for Washington Spirit and examine business decisions shaping the future of women’s professional sports.