Neeley Students Apply Business Skills to Global Sports Challenges in Dublin
Four TCU Neeley School of Business students put their business education to work on an international stage, collaborating with students from the United States and Ireland to develop strategies for creating long-term economic and community benefits from two of the world’s largest sporting events.
Drew Atiyeh, Ana Isabella Bueso Romero, Mark Centeno and Sophia May represented TCU at the Leaders of Tomorrow International Case Competition recently at Google headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. Held in conjunction with the Aer Lingus College Football Classic, the competition brought together students from TCU, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Limerick and Munster Technological University.
Each team included four students, one from each participating university, bringing together different countries, academic disciplines and perspectives. The teams addressed challenges facing Ireland as it prepares to host the 2027 Ryder Cup in Adare, County Limerick, and UEFA EURO 2028 in Dublin.
The winning team was announced Friday, Aug. 28, before an audience of more than 200 business leaders from the United States and Ireland. The team included TCU Neeley’s Mark Centeno, Sidney Griffin of UNC, Leah McCarthy of the University of Limerick and Elaine O’Donovan of Munster Technological University.
"It was so surreal," Centeno said. "All I could think about was how grateful I was to be part of such an amazing event with amazing people around me."
During the case competition, student teams explored the potential for major international sporting events to generate lasting benefits, developing evidence-based recommendations around accessibility, sustainability, economic development and community legacy. Students spent part of the summer researching and developing their recommendations before coming together in Dublin to finalize their presentations.
For the Neeley students, the competition offered an opportunity to bring their academic and professional experiences to a complex, real-world challenge.
“Critical thinking is the big thing Neeley emphasizes in all of our classes. In the competition, there was no one right solution,” Atiyeh said. “We had to put on our thinking caps and consider solutions that could reasonably be implemented. Neeley is great from that perspective because we have a lot of different classes where thinking is crucial. It’s training you how to think.”
Atiyeh, a senior finance and accounting major who is the student director of the Neeley Mentorship Program, spent the summer as a private credit analyst intern with Apogem Capital in Chicago. Bueso Romero, a senior supply chain and business information systems major, interned with EY in New York City.
Centeno, a junior marketing and sociology major, was a marketing intern with American Airlines in Fort Worth, while May, a senior finance and marketing major, completed an operations internship with Dell Technologies in Austin. Bueso Romero, Centeno and May are also members of Neeley Fellows and the John V. Roach Honors College.
“My background at Neeley helped prepare me to tackle the problem in a structured way and turn our ideas into a professional and cohesive presentation,” Bueso Romero said. “My business information systems major also allowed me to contribute more on the technical side of our solution, especially since part of our recommendation involved creating a website.”
The students’ international teammates brought perspectives from fields including economics, public policy, environmental science, sports administration, engineering and sports performance.
“If we were on a team of all TCU students, we would have missed a lot of the information about projects going on right now,” Atiyeh said. “Having them on our team brought that perspective and knowledge that the TCU and UNC students would have been lacking.”
May saw the value of that local knowledge firsthand. One of her Irish teammates lived near the site of the 2027 Ryder Cup.
“One of the students on my team lives just a few miles away from Adare Manor, where the Ryder Cup will be held,” May said. “It was so unique to have a perspective from someone local to the area. He even got to walk the course and conduct an interview with the director of operations, which provided insight we otherwise would not have had.”
Each team presented its recommendations for 20 minutes followed by a five-minute question-and-answer session before a panel of judges. The experience required students to combine strategic thinking, cross-cultural collaboration and executive communication while considering the role major sporting events can play in economic growth, international partnerships and community development.
The experience extended beyond the competition. After an Irish senator complimented one team’s proposal, several students received an impromptu private tour of the Irish’s national parliament, where they watched a live hearing.
The winning team was recognized the following day during the Aer Lingus College Football Classic, and the TCU students received field access before the game, adding another memorable moment to their time in Dublin.
“For me, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel with the school and the other students from Neeley,” Atiyeh said. “To experience the competition and football game together was amazing.”
