When you select an MBA program, you are not just choosing your learning environment, but are also making a commitment to a community. Each Thursday, we offer a window into life “beyond the MBA classroom” at a top business school.
A unique institution taking hold at the Indian School of Business (ISB) is the ISB Super League, or ISL. Launched in 2010, the ISL pits teams of ISB students against each other in head-to-head intramural combat in ten different sports, including cricket, soccer, Frisbee, basketball and water polo, over the course of three months. Gayatri Reddy, co-owner of the Deccan Chargers, attended the kickoff event to launch ISL 2011, and Accenture officially sponsored 2011’s four franchises—the Hyderabad Nizams, the Titans, the Raging Bulls and the Hurricanes—which competed for points and ultimately the Super League Cup in the ten different events. The ISL franchises are selected via a live fantasy auction, in which students bid for the teams and players using real money. The players for each team are then “sold” in a live auction using virtual currency. The winning team takes home 60% of the prize money accrued from the bids, the second- and third-place teams split 35% of the prize money, and the remaining 5% covers tournament organization costs.
For in-depth descriptions of social and community activities at the ISB and 15 other top MBA programs, check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guides.