Recent USM Graduates Honors Thesis Examines Economic Impact of 2018 C-USA Baseball Tournament

A recent University of Southern Mississippi (USM) graduate channeled his love of sports into his honors thesis, producing an analysis of the economic impact of last year's Conference USA Baseball Tournament in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Jonathan Brent, who earned his accounting degree from USM in the spring, graduating Summa Cum Laude as an Honors College scholar, chose the project after being inspired by a similar one done by his friend and fellow USM alumnus, Kyle Stoner. Stoner did his honors thesis research project on the C-USA Tournament when it was held in Hattiesburg in 2015.

“Ever since I heard about his study, I knew I wanted do a similar one. Then, after the announcement came of the construction of MGM ballpark in Biloxi and the C-USA tournament site awarded there for three years, I really wanted my study to be on the event,” said Brent. 

“Kyle connected me to both his former academic advisor, Dr. Chad Miller (USM economic development faculty member) and Timothy Bennett from Overtime Sports on the coast, the two people who helped me the most on my project,” Brent said. “Part of an assignment in either your sophomore or junior year in Honors College is to interview potential advisors, so his was the first interview I did.

“From that point on, I knew the study was possible, and later that semester I officially decided it would be the subject of my honors project, and we hit the ground running.”

Brent set up meetings both in Hattiesburg and on the coast to set up how the study would work. Throughout the entire tournament - including its 13 rain delays – he worked getting surveys filled out for data to be used in the study, then inputting the data into EMSI (labor analytics) software through the College of Business and Economic Development.

His analysis using EMSI projected an increase of $2.1 million in earnings for the Mississippi Gulf Coast, 94 supported jobs and a $638,487 increase in state and local taxes from the five-day event,  which brought nearly 10,0000 visitors to the region. The research also found that 80 percent of the attendees at the 2018 event were from outside of the Mississippi Gulf Coast region, with more than 40 percent from other states. The average out-of-state visitor stayed 3.51 days and spent more than $658 in the local economy.

Recently, Conference USA and Overtime Sports announced an additional year has been added to its current agreement to include the 2020 C-USA Baseball Championship being held at MGM Park. USM will face Rice University Wednesday, May 22 at 12:30 p.m. in the first game of this year's C-USA baseball tournament.

“Sports-based economic development is getting more attention from practitioners and researchers, so Jonathan's research is timely and allows policy-makers to make more informed decisions, such as whether to compete to host sporting events,” said Dr. Miller.

Brent finished the research project while also completing a 10-week internship in Dallas, Texas with KPMG from January to mid-March of this year, the busiest of times for accounting firms due to income tax filing season. He is now pursuing a Master's in Public Accountancy (MPA), also from USM.

“I feel like the project was a huge success for me, the Honors College, the College of Business and Economic Development, and any potential future researchers who examine its results,” Brent said. “I believe it can be a great guide for both Conference USA and the Mississippi Gulf Coast for the future of this event.”

Brent said he was grateful to Dr. Miller, Bennett, Overtime Sports and the USM Honors College for “the opportunity to write on such an interesting subject, one I'm very passionate about (USM Athletics), and believing in my ability to complete it.

“I also hope this study will be a great example of the positive and groundbreaking results that can be discovered in the field of sports tourism,” he said.

For information about the USM College of Business and Economic Development, visit https://www.usm.edu/business. For information about the USM Honors College, visit https://www.usm.edu/honors.