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Tim Derdenger

Associate Professor of Marketing and Strategy Carnegie Mellon University

  • Pittsburgh PA
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Biography

Tim Derdenger is an Associate Professor of Marketing and Strategy at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business and was the Frank and Helen Risch Faculty Development Professor in Business for AYs 2014-2016. Professor Derdenger also coordinates the Technology Strategy & Product Management Track for Tepper MBA students whose interest lead them to employment in technology firms.

Prior to Carnegie Mellon, Tim earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Southern California and a B.B.A. from The George Washington University. His research interests are divided into two areas: the study of technology and sports markets. Within technology, his research focuses on platform markets with emphasis on bundling, tying and exclusive arrangements in dynamic environments as well as empirical methodologies to estimate dynamic demand models for technology products using aggregate sales data. With sports markets, his research is centered around celebrity endorsements and how to optimize their impact on product sales.

He has publications in Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, Management Science, Quantitative Marketing and Economics, Marketing Letters, and Customer Needs and Solutions. He is also an Associate Editor for Management Science (Marketing), a guest associate editor for the Journal of Marketing Research and a former member of the editorial review board for Marketing Science.

Areas of Expertise

Sports Marketing
Marketing Management/Strategy
Marketing
Applied Economics
Celebrity Endorsements

Media Appearances

Dating choices or draft picks — the cognitive science behind either is similar, CMU professors say

TribLive  online

2026-04-10

“The ones that make the best decisions plan for all possibilities,” Derdenger said. “They call it the war room, and in a war room, things change and you have to have people and processes in place to make clear and decisive decisions.”

(Read the article for more expert commentary from Tim Derdenger)

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How hosting the NFL Draft has long boosted a city’s market value

The Independent  online

2026-04-07

If Pittsburgh measures NFL draft success strictly by hotel bookings and weekend beer sales, it has missed the point. Because the draft moves from city to city each year, the true return on investment isn’t found in a temporary spike in local revenues. It is found in brand equity – the long-term increase in a city’s “market value” and reputation.

Detroit leveraged the draft in 2024 not just to host a massive party, but to also aggressively counter persistent narratives of urban decay and to highlight investments made in the city. The broadcast shots of a vibrant, packed downtown did far more to modernize Detroit’s image than any taxpayer-funded ad campaign ever could.

(Tim Derdenger authored this article. Read the piece to hear more about his expert take on a city's benefit of hosting a mega-event)

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Why this CMU professor says NIL has created more parity in college football

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette  online

2025-08-30

Tim Derdenger’s research with co-author Ivan Li found that NIL has led to more parity in college football, with closer games, more upsets and greater talent distribution.

“[NIL has] led to fantastic outcomes for college football,” Derdenger told the Post-Gazette. “It's brought more competition into the league and into the games. It's great for fans. It's great for the players.”

(Read the article for more expert commentary from Tim Derdenger)

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Spotlight

2 min

FIFA's decision to introduce mandatory hydration breaks in every match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup is drawing attention far beyond player welfare circles. The new rule requires a three-minute stoppage in each half of all 104 tournament matches, creating more than 10 hours of additional broadcast inventory that did not exist in previous World Cups. Analysts estimate the added commercial value could approach $500 million, making the breaks one of the most significant business stories of the tournament. While FIFA has emphasized player health and safety amid concerns about summer temperatures across North America, broadcasters and advertisers have quickly recognized the value of guaranteed in-game breaks. Networks are now able to sell premium advertising inventory during some of the most highly watched sporting events on the planet, creating opportunities that resemble the commercial structure of American sports broadcasts. Tim Derdenger is an Associate Professor of Marketing and Strategy at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business. An expert in sports markets, his research is centered around celebrity endorsements and how to optimize their impact on product sales. View his profile The move has generated debate among fans and observers, with some questioning whether commercial considerations played a role in expanding hydration breaks to every match regardless of venue or weather conditions. Critics argue the stoppages alter the traditional flow of soccer, while supporters point to growing concerns about extreme heat and player safety. For brands, however, the development represents a rare opportunity. Unlike traditional halftime advertising, hydration breaks occur while viewers remain actively engaged in the match, creating premium moments for sponsors seeking global reach and attention. The breaks also open new possibilities for branded content, integrated sponsorship activations, and enhanced fan engagement strategies during live play. Looking to know more? We can help. Tim Derdenger is an expert in sports marketing, sponsorship strategy, media rights, and the business of major sporting events. He can discuss: How hydration breaks create new revenue opportunities for broadcasters and sponsors The growing commercialization of global sports properties Whether fans will accept more advertising during live sporting events How brands can maximize engagement during high-profile World Cup broadcasts What this development signals about the future of sports media rights and sponsorship Looking for expert insight on the business side of the 2026 FIFA World Cup? Connect with Tim Derdenger today to discuss how FIFA's hydration breaks could reshape sports marketing, sponsorship activation, and broadcast economics for years to come.

Tim Derdenger

Media

Social

Industry Expertise

Advertising/Marketing

Accomplishments

Poets & Quants for Undergrads: Top 50 Undergraduate Business Professors

2025-12-01

“Derdenger’s classes simulate real-world situations, and his research directly applies to solving contemporary business problems. This is exactly the type of professor an undergraduate in business needs – someone who can create a learning environment where ideas, theories, and strategies can be applied to actual situations, not just business cases or simulations...” – Dr. John Gasper

2025 George Leland Bach Excellence in MBA Teaching Award Winner

2025-05-09

Voted on by the graduating MBA class.

Education

University of Southern California

Ph.D.

Economics

University of Southern California

M.A.

Economics

The George Washington University

B.B.A.

Business Administration

Articles

Does Personalized Pricing Increase Competition? Evidence from NIL in College Football

Management Science

Ivan Li, Tim Derdenger

2025-09-08

We investigate the impact of personalized pricing through Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rights within college athletics on the recruitment of high school football players by college programs. We focus on whether the new policy disrupts competitive balance by increasing the concentration of talent among top-ranked institutions. Using a data set that encompasses pre- and post-NIL recruitment patterns to examine the distribution of 3, 4, and 5* recruits at college football programs, we find a notable increase in the dispersion of talent. Contrary to the hypothesis that NIL would lead to a “rich get richer” dynamic, we observe a tendency for lower-ranked football programs to attract higher-quality recruits post-NIL, especially among 5- and lower ranked 4* athletes. Furthermore, we show that post-NIL 3* recruits are sacrificing schooling for NIL money and are attending colleges that are less selective and have lower SAT class averages and whose graduates earn a lower mid-career income. We also do not find evidence that schools that spend more money on football are attracting better talent post-NIL. Competitiveness improves post-NIL as sportsbooks set smaller point differentials even after controlling for talent, performance, and the transfer portal. Ultimately, this study offers a comprehensive examination of NIL’s short-term effects on competitive balance and sets the stage for ongoing research into the long-term consequences of this landmark policy change.

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CCP Estimation of Dynamic Discrete Choice Demand Models with Segment Level Data and Continuous Unobserved Heterogeneity: Rethinking EV Subsidies vs. Infrastructure

Marketing Science

Cheng Chou, Tim Derdenger

2025-03-21

When multiple groups of consumers reside in the same market, we determine that we can write each group’s conditional choice probabilities (CCPs) as a function of unobserved consumer heterogeneity. Moreover, we can specify choice probabilities of one group as a function of another by shifting the unobserved component. Armed with our novel CCP estimator, we develop an approach to identify and estimate a dynamic discrete demand model for durable goods with nonrandom attrition of consumers and continuous unobserved consumer heterogeneity but without the usual need for value function approximation or reducing the dimension of state space by ad hoc behavioral assumptions. We illustrate the empirical value of our method by estimating consumer demand for electric vehicles (EVs) in the state of Washington during the period of 2016–2019. We also determine the impact of a different federal tax credit based on the electric range of a car rather than the size of the battery, which was the existing policy during the data period, and we evaluate how best to seed a nascent market that presents indirect network effects to drive faster adoption. Should the government incentivize adoption through consumer tax credits or through EV infrastructure?

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