Four Trine University seniors competed in the National Collegiate Sports Sales Championship
(NCSSC) Fall Virtual Competition, with a record-breaking top three finish from Josh
Maier.
The virtual competition, which serves as a seeding round for the in-person championship
in January, consisted of a Ticket Sales Division and a Corporate Partnerships Division.
Both divisions consist of an individual student playing the role of a salesperson
making a pitch to a single buyer.
Students competing in the Ticket Sales Division assumed the role of a salesperson
for the Atlanta Hawks basketball team. The student then had to role-play a conversation
with a potential buyer and try to sell them Atlanta Hawks tickets.
Joining Maier, a sport management major from Fenton, Michigan, in the Ticket Sales
Division was Chase Herrick, a sport management major from Brighton, Michigan, who
placed 91st. Maier placed in third, the highest finish for a Trine student in the fall competition.
His third-place finish also marks the second consecutive year a Trine student has
finished in the top five in the nation in the Ticket Sales Division.
Students competing in the Corporate Partnerships Division played the role of an account
executive for the Atlanta Hawks corporate partnerships team. The student role-played
a meeting with a representative from EventTech, a market leader in facial recognition
technology, to discuss a potential corporate partnership between the companies.
Grace Dubec, a management major from Carmel, Indiana, and Max Hoogeveen, a sport management
major from Dyer, Indiana, represented Trine in the Corporate Partnerships Division,
placing 27th and 69th respectively.
The four students’ strong performances in the competition led Trine to place 14th in the overall team rankings for both divisions.
“This was a great team effort from all our students, and I’m incredibly humbled to
see Trine place in the Top 15 programs in the nation,” said Zander Atwood, Trine’s
faculty sponsor of the event.
The four students will represent Trine again at the national in-person competition
at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, GA, on Jan. 22-23, 2025.