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When Mackenzie Bedgood '18, Jessica Frausto '18, Ben Stevens '18, and AJ Jeffers '18 enrolled at Illinois College, they had no idea they would end up engaged in business research for a major league baseball team, but that is how their IC education unfolded. The four students recently completed a semester-long research project with the St. Louis Cardinals in which they created and analyzed a database of nearly 2,000 promotions for the past two seasons from MLB, NHL, and the NBA.

The research was a part of a senior business capstone class taught by Dr. John Drea.  “The purpose of their project was to identify successful promotions used in other leagues that could be adapted for use by the Cardinals,” said Prof. Drea.  The students traveled to St. Louis at the end of the semester and presented their research findings to representatives of the Cardinals.  The student’s work was “very impressive and informative” according to Megan Eberhart, Corporate Sales and Marketing, Manager of Events and Promotions for the St. Louis Cardinals. “(We) hope to work together soon in the near future.”

The project was a great experience for Jessica Frausto, a senior from Chicago. “It was really interesting to see what different teams do for promotions, and to get a sense of what works and what doesn’t,” said Frausto. “Presenting at Busch Stadium was pretty exciting,” said Mackenzie Bedgood, a senior from Phoenix, AZ. “I’m really glad to have done this.” Both Frausto and Bedgood had also previously completed a different research project for the Milwaukee Brewers.