2. What’s a Case Study?
• Case studies in sport management typically explore,
describe, illustrate, or explain a selected phenomenon.
• Your goal is to move past only description to analyze
several cases in one study. Analyzing can mean
critically comparing, critiquing, and suggesting
improvements.
• You’ll want to answer a question or set of questions
relating to the who, what, where, and when, as well
as the why and how
3. Examples
Case Study Research Questions could be:
• How do NFL and NHL teams connect to local identities
and can Tour de France learn from their successes? OR
• How do national governing bodies impact domestic
league football in the UK, Nigeria, and Japan? OR
• To what extent do ethnicity and gender appear to
affect salaries in tennis, golf, and Formula One racing?
4. Case Study Components
Case Studies should have at least:
A. Introduction
B. Research Question(s)
C. Statement of the Cases to be explored
D. Discussion
E. Conclusion with “next step recommendations”
5. Case Study Details
• Your case study should be 2000 - 3000 words
• Typewritten (size 12 pt font)
• References required and not part of the word
count
• Submitted via the Blackboard LMS
6. Case Study Details
• Plan to compare at least TWO cases
• You can draw cases from your readings, from your
reflections or your classmates’, or from other
resources in which you have interest and relate to the
previous 6 weeks of class.
• You should gather about 10 sources, including
• a news article and
• one additional academic resource beyond what
we’re reading in class
7. Hints
• To find more sources: check the ends of chapters and
journal articles
• To find more sources: search for the journal article or
book chapter title+author in Google Scholar and
discover who has cited the paper
• To find more sources: check in with our librarian
• To find more sources: Find the journal article via
GMU databases at the journal’s site - check the which
articles were cited in the article and which have cited
the article since its publication
8. Deadlines
• Case Study 1 - based on Weeks 1-7 readings
• DUE: OCTOBER 16
• Case Study 2 - based on Weeks 8-14 readings
• Due: DECEMBER 11
9. Reminder
• You’ll have two case studies this term – one in
Week 7 and one in Week 14
• This is meant to be an exercise that builds on our
posted discussion pieces and responses, so you’d
do well to revisit comments to gather ideas
• Have fun! This is a chance to think critically and
suggest ways to improve sport management
practices
