School pride and $200,000 are at stake as four graduate students in the McCombs School of Business represent UT's business master's program in the Fast Money MBA Challenge, CNBC's first game show.
The trivia show tests contestants' knowledge of the business world, the stock market and popular culture. Eight of the top business schools in the country face off in the head-to-head tournament.
"It's basically a hybrid between 'Jeopardy' and 'Family Feud,' with a little 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?' thrown in," said UT team member Timothy Killgoar in an e-mail.
Killgoar is joined by fellow second-year business administration students Ben Jones, Justin Sander and Christopher Semain. They were chosen to represent the University because of their background in finance and the stock market, Killgoar said. TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. will give the winning team $200,000 to be split among the four players and two alternates for educational purposes.
The participating MBA programs were chosen with the latest U.S. News & World Report business school rankings in mind. McCombs School of Business spokesman Rob Meyer said that CNBC's ongoing relationship with the University goes back to the March 20 on-campus taping of Jim Cramer's cable TV stock tip show "Mad Money."
The tournament's eighth-ranked UT team upset the top-seeded MIT Sloan School of Management team earlier this month. UT advances to face the Columbia Business School in the semifinals, which will air Wednesday, Aug. 15, at 11 p.m Austin time.
"We certainly belong on stage with those other schools, because we've got a great program and some really smart people here," Killgoar said.
Both Killgoar and Meyer said they are always looking for ways to improve upon the reputation of the UT business school.
"At the same time, it is just a fun diversion for our students and school," Meyer said. "It's not like it means anything in the bottom line of what school is better now."
Dylan Ratigan, anchor of stock market show "Fast Money," hosts the MBA Challenge.
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