Participating Schools
2023 Sponsors
In the Media
Butler to host Crossroads Classic Analytics Challenge
Winners
Graduate Division
- 1ST PLACE ($5,000 + championship rings): Purdue University – Amisha Turkel, Tvisha Goswami, Nikhil Chopra, Nikhitha Siddi
- 2nd PLACE ($2,000): Purdue University – Yamini Ambati, Shikhar Kanaskar, Ayan Basak, Sanket Gupta
- 3rd PLACE: Indiana University – Dheeraj Jeevagasami, Sumitha Thattai, Sasidev Mahendran, Akhil Venugopal
- 4th PLACE: Indiana University – Ashish Patidar, Rajesh Sharma, Shachi Chaugule
Undergraduate Division
- 1ST PLACE ($2,000 + championship rings): Butler University – Kate Edwards, Izzy Austin, Adam Crozier, Maddie Neely
- 2nd PLACE ($1,000): Butler University – Andrea Marchi, Matt Miller, Jack Leman, Grant Nailor, Jack Parcell
- 3rd PLACE: Indiana University – Sparsh Nair, Gautam Hari, Ishan Dhawan, Tri Nguyen
Problem Statement
One of the struggles NFL teams face on game days is having a good understanding of which of the fans who purchased tickets, will attend. Attendance is also one of the key predictive factor for likeliness to renew season ticket purchase as well. Additionally, forecasting fan attendance is not only vital to ensure that the game at Lucas Oil Stadium is properly supported (i.e. staffs, F&B, etc.) but it also strengthens club affinity for future ticket purchases. Therefore, the Colts highly encourage all forms of ticket utilization (attending, reselling, transferring) to drive incremental parking, food and beverage, merchandise revenue, along with improving the game day experience and operational efficiency.
The Indianapolis Colts is challenging the Indiana Crossroads Classic student community to develop and train a model to accurately predict the number of actual attendees for Colts games based on a variety of factors. Students are encouraged to get creative with the features that are included in their model, extending beyond what is provided to them. Students will be expected to provide 2 deliverables: First, an overview of the modeling process including an explanation of the final product. The students will also be expected to leverage their predictive model to forecast which seats will be attended and not attended for several games from the past two seasons. The games will not be advertised but will represent games occurring in a variety of scenarios. Submitted forecasts will be uploaded to Kaggle and a leaderboard will be established based on the accuracy of the models.
With your support, the Indianapolis Colts will be able to improve the gameday experience by staffing correctly, drive incremental revenue, and ensure our fans are getting the most out of their investment.
Registration Steps
- Teams should be composed of 3-5 students from the same university at the same level (undergraduate or graduate).
- Within 24 hours you will be added to the Pitch platform hosted by Purdue University. This is used to provided additional information about the competition, provide updates to all participants, and for participants to have Q&A with the competition host.
Key Dates
December 9th
Registration Opens!
January 8th
Team Registration Deadline
January 8th
Indianapolis Colts Game! Discounted Tickes here [link]
January 31st 11:59pm EST
Round 1: Kaggle Deadline
February 8th
Top 4 Teams Per Division Video Presentation Deadline
(Optional) February 3rd 10am (Remote OR
in- person at:
Fairview house
4550 Sunset Ave, Indianapolis, IN 46208)
February 10st
Final Round invitations sent out
(Optional) February 10th 7:00 am –
9:30 pm
February 24th
Final Presentations at the Butler University Lacy School of Business
Prizes
$10,000 in Prizes – All prize amounts are total amounts per team
Graduate Division:
- 1st Prize: $5,000
- 2nd Prize: $2,000
Undergraduate Division:
- 1st Prize: $2,000
- 2nd Prize: $1,000
Top teams in each division will receive championship rings!
FAQs
- People must remain within their registered team once they register. They cannot change teams, form new teams, or be considered dropouts if a team wins.
- Winning teams will split the funds equally among their registered team members regardless of who contributed more or less.
- All discussions and Q&A among sponsors, judges, and competition administrators should happen with Pitch.
- Teams can create videos using whatever software they choose, but should follow the rubric posted in Pitch.
- Two undisclosed faculty members from each university will serve as judges to identify the top undergraduate team and top graduate team they feel would be represent their school and win the competition. Professors are your audience here.
- The top teams from each school per division (8 teams in total) will present in person on February 24th, 2023 to sponsor representatives. Those are the final judges.
- The final presentation event will begin at 8:00am EST with a provided breakfast among all invited teams, faculty, sponsors, and invited guests. Afterward the presentations will commence. The event will conclude with a lunch at noon, announcement of winners, and photos. Event is expected to conclude by 1:30pm EST. Dress is professional.
