Strategy Simplified · Management Consulted

S22E10: McKinsey Case Interview Example – College Football Expansion

February 6, 2026·47 min·4 clips

A university must decide if building a 25,000-seat stadium is worth it to join a top athletic conference.

The episode opens with a case prompt: a public university in the Southern United States is considering adding an intercollegiate football team with a strict financial break-even requirement. The school has 10,000 students and is near a city of one million people. Former McKinsey consultant Jolly Packer leads the case with candidate Rutham. Rutham structures his approach into four buckets: cost structure, revenue potential, financial viability, and risk and uncertainty. Jolly probes the overlap between 'financial viability' and the first two buckets, which Rutham clarifies as a stakeholder and political environment consideration. Revenue data provided includes $250 per student per year in fee increases, $300,000 per away game in guarantees across six games, $25 per ticket for six home games with 7,000 paying attendees, and $1 million in alumni support. Rutham accurately calculates total annual revenue at $6.35 million. The cost structure covers scholarships for 52 players at $28,000 each annually, a head coach at $500,000, eight assistants at $125,000 each, 25 support staff at $60,000 each, $80,000 per away game in travel, $200,000 in recruiting, equipment at $1,500 per player for 80 players, and $100,000 per home game in stadium rental fees. Total annual costs come to approximately $5.09 million, leaving about $500,000 in profit. In a second phase, Jolly introduces a 25,000-seat stadium build costing $40 million amortized over 20 years at zero interest under a government subsidy. Ticket prices rise to $35, capacity is 80% utilized, and 5,000 students attend free. Rutham miscalculates the student adjustment, missing that 15,000 non-student attendees remain after subtracting the 5,000 students. Jolly corrects the math: incremental ticket revenue is $2.1 million, stadium costs add $2 million per year and operating costs add $600,000, resulting in a net $500,000 annual loss. In feedback, Jolly praises the candidate's speed and communication but advises deeper issue tree structure, clearer bucket naming, and upfront recapping of case data to prevent compounding errors.

As heard by us

A dense case on whether a 25,000-seat stadium makes business sense.

Strategy Simplified treats a higher-education athletics question as a plain business problem: whether a 25,000-seat on-site stadium makes sense once break-even math, scenario planning, and uncertainty are all on the table.

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Why you'd press play

You want a live McKinsey-style case interview on a stadium build, not just generic case-prep advice.

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