SDSU Sports MBA Class of 2010

SoCal Action Sports Network

2009-09-29T12:19:00.001-07:00

Lauren Schuil & Erica DeBenedetto

at ASR- Sports MBA V

ASR 2009 - San Diego

Bryan Elliott, Chairman of SoCal Action Sports Network

interviews Steve Tully at Quiksilver

Bryan Elliott, Chairman of SoCal Action Sports interviews Paul Naude, President of Billabong North America

Sports MBA students form partnership with SoCal Action Sports Network - Several of the Sports MBA V students have worked closely with Bryan Elliott, the Chairman of SoCal Action Sports Network, to help with the networks’ monthly events as well as the recent action sports retail show – Action Sports Retail (ASR). The purpose of the network is to create meaningful relationships, within the action sports industry, where members help each other, form a social community and prosper from their collective efforts. Bryan has made a consistent effort to create an environment where innovation, creativity and collaboration thrive and promote generosity. The network has seen significant growth since its inception, almost a year ago. At 5,000+ members the networks has maintained quality in the membership to attract/leverage the attention of leaders in marketing, including the social media world. The students have attended seminars where the secrets of the experts in the interactive marketing communication world are revealed.

On September 10 – 12th several of the students attended ASR in San Diego to work directly with the SoCal Action Sports Network and Planet X TV for a show that focused on the business of action sports. Twice a year the action sports industry invades San Diego to conduct business, preview lines for the upcoming seasons and celebrate the sports that fuel the industry. ASR provides companies in the industry the opportunity, as a community, to grow their business, get connected with key players, brainstorm business synergies and partnerships and leverage business opportunities with face-to-face interaction. Some companies, such as Volcom, used every square inch of their booth space to create an ASR block party to unveil their new product line for next summer. Hawaiian shirts, leis, loud music and waffles on a stick were all part of next year’s image.

At the three day event, the students helped to interview some of the top executives of the action sports retail brands, including Quiksilver, Billabong, Body Glove, Reef, Rip Curl and Fox Racing. In addition to the sneak peak of what the action sports industry will showcase in their up-and-coming product lines, the students received product, mingled with professionals in the industry and experienced first-hand the opportunities the $150 billion youth market has to offer.

The students agree they have been fortunate to develop this relationship with the SoCal Action Sports Network and they look forward to continuing their work with Bryan to connect, collaborate and grow in their understanding of the business world. Check out SoCal Action Sports Network at http://socalactionsportsnetwork.com/

Erika Lamiell & Lauren Schuil
Sports MBA V

Super Girl Jam 2009

2009-09-07T22:28:00.000-07:00

On September 6, 2009, some of SMBA V students volunteered at Supergirl Jam 2009 in Venice Beach; an all girl pro competition and lifestyle festival sponsored by the Action Sports Association (ASA). Part three of a three series festival spread across the summer weeks, this culminating day showcased two particular competitions - the Skateboard Street contest and the Snowboard Rail Jam championship (YES! In the middle of the sand and surf there was actual snow! 80,000 pounds of icy wonderland). More than 50,000 Labor Day weekend spectators witnessed the latest talent in this rising sport. Some winners included Laurie Currier (Wrightwood, CA), who claimed the Snowboard Rail Jam championship title for the second year in a row and Coco Sanchez (San Francisco, CA) winning the Inline Best Trick contest. Supergirl Jam contestants fought for their share in a prize purse totaling $36,000.
Along with all the hype of these female athletes, there was a sponsorship village located in the middle of the two competitions. Some sponsors included LUNA bar, Cliff Bar for Kids, Vitamin Water, and bfd.com.
We were mainly stationed to the BFD.com booth. What does BFD stand for? BIG FLIPPIN' DEAL, an action sports website packed with blogs, highlights, and the latest video clips from different athletes in the industry (pro, amateur, and fan level). We definitely were able to nurture our extroverted part of our personalities… Dr. Randel from Organizational Behavior class would have been so proud! On the marketing side, who would have thought that something so simple like a cardboard set up of a monster with its mouth cut out would attract so much attention. A simple game of tossing rubber koosh balls into a monsters mouth definitely brought some attention to a website, that most folks (including us) were unaware of…
Our tag line… “Feed the monster! Win a prize!” What were the prizes? Each player had three chances to toss the ball into the hole. The prize scheme went like this make 1 shot, win a fake bfd.com tattoo, 2 shots and win an iron-on bfd.com logo for t-shirts…BUT make 3 out of 3 shots and win what we came to find out was the hottest commodity of all the vendor booths…a bfd.com sweat band (winner’s choice of black or white)
All in all, a Sunday well spent! It was so amazing to get to know some folks in the industry and meet some future athletes… check out our pictures and the websites below!

Irene Patricia Estrada & Lindsey Finnegan
SMBA Class of 2010

http://beta.bfd.com/
http://www.actionsportstour.com/2009/events/s3/

Snowboard Rail Jam ... one of the athletes showing off her grinding skills!

Erin from bfd.com, Lindsey,Irene & the future of skatboarding... this litte girl is already sponsored by THRASHER magazine!
big flippin' deal- action sports website... check it out!

Feed the monster... Win a prize!

Petco Park Perspective Part II

2009-09-04T12:58:00.000-07:00

In the preceding post my classmate Tyler Griggs eloquently captured our evening last Monday at Petco Park, but I want to provide some of my own impressions. Coming into the program I knew we would have great exposure to many sports industry leaders as well as have excellent access to the Padres organization. But, to have a class taught by Richard Anderson (Executive VP of Ballpark Operations) at PetCo Field? Or, to have the Western Metal suite reserved for the class and fully catered? And, then to top things off have Tom Garfinkel (President and C.O.O. of the Padres), Mark Guglielmo (VP of Ballpark Ops) and Ken Kawachi (Director of Security and Transportation) drop by the suite for over a half hour and talk with us as a group and 1-on-1? Well, the evening and overall opportunities I have been presented with thus far have exceeded already high expectations. Wow!

What was particularly great about our evening was listening to Garfinkel who is one of the youngest executives in Major League Baseball—not to mention one of the nicest, funniest and most personable guys you will ever meet. I thought he would drop by for a minute or two, give the Padres company pitch and leave without saying as much as hello. My assumption couldn’t have been further from the truth. He came in, first asked us questions, told us his personal story, gave us trivia questions (10 or so lucky winners got 2nd-5th row tickets behind home plate), talked about the organization and provided the class with invaluable insights on breaking into the sports industry. One piece of advice he gave us: sports is all about relationships so start making them!

Despite the fact that I wasn’t one of the lucky few to win trivia, one of my classmates gave me his 5th row ticket (thanks Eddy!). So, I walked down to my seat with some classmates and immediately ran into Steve Becvar who is the Associate Athletic Director for Marketing and Sponsorships at the University of San Diego. Well, I happened to know Steve because he was a guest class speaker about a month ago and I had also previously met him during a class project in which we analyzed the organizational structure and behavioral patterns of the USD Athletic Department. He then pointed out a number of his friends sitting next to him, one of which was the Athletic Director at the University of Oregon. For me this was particularly great because college athletics is one of the fields I would like to break into, and I was trying to develop as many connections to those in the field. Steven and I ended up talking for about 20 minutes after the game, and amidst our conversation I remember thinking two things: 1) the SDSU Sports MBA has exceeded my wildest expectations when it comes to connecting me with sports executives and industry leaders, and 2) breaking into sports is all about relationships.

Oh, and some pictures from the night:

SMBA '10 Begins Ballpark Operations

2009-09-02T21:14:00.000-07:00

SMBA ’10 started their Operations Management class with Richard Andersen only two short weeks ago, but there is already a lot to report!

First things first, the class, as mentioned above, is taught by Richard Andersen, the Padres Executive Vice President of Ballpark Management (quick translation: Professor Andersen runs Petco Park). Professor Andersen has over 30 years of experience working in professional baseball. Aside from the Padres, Professor Andersen has worked for the Pirates, Marlins, and Braves organizations, and, aside from running the, in my opinion, best ballpark in all of baseball, he has held such positions as Minor League General Manager in the Braves organization and VP of Business Operations, a gig with the Marlins that included the responsibility of managing the squad’s Spring Training operations. This probably goes without saying, but Professor Andersen is a pretty awesome professor to have if you have any interest in working in professional baseball.

As one would expect, Professor Andersen has amassed an impressive list of contacts during his 30+ years in the industry and he wasted no time before introducing some of those contacts to SMBA ’10. In the very first Operations class, Mike McGee, Ticketmaster’s Executive Vice President of North American Business Operations, spoke to students about a very misunderstood company. For instance: who keeps that $3.50 per ticket convenience fee? Ticketmaster does, right? Wrong! (It’s okay -- about 38 of 38 SMBA students would have gotten that one wrong too.) Ticketmaster does keep some of that fee, but they also split it with the event’s venue, the team or band performing, and pretty much every other entity that has anything to do with putting on the show. Pretty interesting stuff. A big SMBA thanks to Mike for taking the time to come talk with us!

As an encore to class one, Professor Andersen held class two, this past Monday, at Petco Park. There, Professor Andersen conducted a DiSC seminar to assess the personality types of his SMBA students. The seminar taught students that more important than what personality type you are is how you deal with the different personality types of others -- a valuable lesson for a group of students inspiring to become managers.

After the seminar, Professor Andersen invited students to stay to watch the Padres play the Nationals. Halfway through the game, which students watched from two luxury suites by the left field foul pole, the newly named Padres President Tom Garfinkel stopped by to talk with students. Garfinkel is a 40-year-old MBA (U of Michigan) who got his start in sports in the auto racing industry. Among the topics of Garfinkel’s address to students were: our class’ efforts in the Dominican Republic, the future of the Padres logo, and general career and relationship (yes, seriously) advice.

Thanks to Professor Andersen, it has been a great start to the fall cohort of classes; all of SMBA ’10 is looking forward to the rest of our Operations Management class and to beginning the rest of our fall classes after we return from Labor Day break! Below are some pictures from Monday night.

Tyler Griggs
SMBA ’10

The title page of Professor Andersen's DiSC assessment seminar.

Padres President Tom Garfinkel speaking to SMBA students.

SMBA '10 student Yuma Ono sat pretty close to the action after Tom Garfinkel provided SMBA students with tickets for seats that went unsold that night.

The view from Yuma's seat of SMBA's two luxury suites (I'm the one in the beige shirt).

Selling Fathead

2009-08-19T12:20:00.000-07:00

The SMBA 2010 class has been doing some creative marketing work with our Sports Marketing professor Dan Bruton. Recently, we were tasked with generating ideas for Fathead on how they might license their brand to other companies with similar values and target markets.

After much research and discussion regarding demographics, fit and the like, each group presented their laundry list of ideas to Dan and he gave us feedback on which ideas to pursue further and what he thought Fathead was looking for.

Over the weekend, the best ideas were flushed out completely and formulated into a presentation and take away deliverable for Linda Castillon, Chief Licensing Officer at Fathead, LLC.

Linda’s visit to class was tremendous, it was fascinating to hear about Fathead’s start-up phase and how they managed to became an industry leader and licensing giant in such short time. Linda talked about Fathead’s vision and where she sees sports marketing and licensing heading in the future. It was extraordinary to learn about Linda’s career and how licensing is such an intricate and cooperative part of the sports industry from a first-hand executive perspective.

This was our second formal presentation to an industry executive in Dan Bruton’s class. To be honest I was just as nervous the second time round. It was great to feel the pressure of a work environment again, and to now know what it’s like to be staring out at the Chief Licensing Officer of Fathead is truly priceless.

The presentations were great and our ideas were well received by Linda and Dan. There was even talk of Linda taking the proposals back to Fathead headquarters. Just another example of how the SMBA program is helping to teach us about - and connect us to - the sports industry.

David Carter, SMBA 2010

Aflac All-American Baseball Classic

2009-08-18T12:15:00.000-07:00

SDSU Sports MBA students had an opportunity to work on-site at the 2009 Aflac All-American High School Baseball Classic, which took place at PETCO Park while the the San Diego Padres were on the road. This highly scouted event consists of approximately 40 of the nation's top high school baseball stars who face off in an East vs. West match-up.

This was the third year the event was hosted in San Diego, and this year's event established a new record for attendance. The Sports MBA students worked closely with the San Diego Sports Commission, Aflac's sponsorship team and Blue Ridge Sports & Entertainment. This experience offered the students exposure not only to event operations, but also sponsorship activation and implementation.

With VIP access to Petco Park, students were granted the opportunity to experience hospitality lounges, media rooms, press boxes and on-filed access, gaining exposure to the various sectors in sports management. After a full day's work, the students watched the nationally televised game of some of MLB's most high anticipated future stars.

The game was closely contested, with the West scoring in the bottom of the 9th to send the game to an extra frame, only to see each team score in the 10th to end in a 4-4 tie. The box score is here.

An overwhelming amount of positive feedback and continued success in growing the event has given San Diego significant leverage to host the 2010 Aflac All American High School Baseball Classic next year. SDSU Sports MBA looks forward to being a part of the event in the future.

-Erika Lamiell (SMBA '10)

Erin Garvey (SMBA '10) prepares the giveaways for Aflac

I prepare some posters for the fans

BP prior to the game

Great seats!

Post-Game

USA - Mexico

2009-08-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

After a long morning working on a market project, a group Sports MBA classmates got together to enjoy one of the most passionate challenges in international soccer: Mexico vs. USA. With the room being split between Mexico fanáticos and US supporters, Diego’s normally quiet neighborhood experienced the true stadium-like atmosphere that the sport creates all around the world...

As the US took an early lead, tension rose on the green side of the room, completely silencing Hugo Jimenez (SMBA '10), our classmate from Mexico for nearly ten minutes. When Castro scored a wonder of a goal to bring La Tricolor back to the game, the mood immediately changed and the noise level went back up.

The end of the first half and the entire second half were pretty much dominated by Mexico and I recall hearing one of the American students say “I should just start studying for Marketing now” at least a handful of times - we had a midterm scheduled for the following day. Since I'm from Brazil, I had no favorite team in the game, it was a relief that Mexico only scored at the very end of the game. This meant that as the host of the game watch party, I only had to deal with upset fans for the last few minutes, and we were all able to enjoy a very decent soccer game.

-Diego Masiero (SMBA '10)

Guest Blogger: Prof. John Francis

2009-08-10T19:24:00.000-07:00

Prof. Francis teaches SMBA's International Business course, and led our trip to the Dominican Republic last month. The following is excerpted from his "Featured Professor of the Month" write up for the program e-newsletter, sent to alumni and current students.

SDSU SMBA 2010 with Ozzie Virgil, first Dominican to play in the Major Leagues, at the Mets facility.

“As you all have heard, for MGT 710 this year I had the unique opportunity (thanks to Scott [That's program director Scott Minto -ed]) to take Sports MBA V [class of 2010 - ed] to the Dominican Republic June 29 through July 10, for the purpose of assisting the San Diego Padres in their efforts to provide economic development and assistance to the community of Najayo.

Najayo, on the south coast of the DR, is the location of the Padres recently completed $9 million baseball park. The DR is one of the poorest countries in the Western hemisphere with over 60% of its population living on $2/day and it’s even worse in Najayo with extreme poverty, poor sanitation and a lack of educational opportunities as just some of the prevailing norms.

I envisioned this class as meeting at the cross-section of international business, entrepreneurship and social responsibility. Scott and I wanted the class to be more than just a tour of a developing nation so we put the students in problem solving mode. And as you all know, I’ve always been keen on my classes taking a toolbox approach to developing their MBA skill set. Therefore, we created a field-based experiential class that leveraged the partnership with Padres and used the trip as a means for creating business cases that would provide tangible economic benefits for the community.

Part of the course overviewed the international business environment with an emphasis on understanding how an organization like Major League Baseball interacts with the unique culture, political and legal issues of a developing country. The students participated in a walking cultural and historical tour of Santo Domingo, saw the inner workings of Major League Baseball’s Dominican Republic front office, and met with MLB’s various business and media partners. We also got a visit from the U.S. ambassador to the DR who was an SDSU alum.

The group toured the N.Y. Mets and Detroit Tigers team facilities to get an idea of the different approaches MLB teams take. (Tiger fans should feel embarrassed, by the way.) All of these activities were designed to provide a context to the students for the importance of baseball in the DR, where one in seven major league players originate, and to highlight the various issues that MLB faces as it operates in this region.

The students also observed the business models and operations of several NGO organizations that are involved in MLB’s Dominican Development Alliance. The students walked through the barrios of Boca Chica observing micro-credit interactions with community entrepreneurs, were guided up coffee growing mountains by an alliance of growers, and lastly, saw a successful sustainable community development model created by IDDI and Arturo Fuente’s Cigar Family Foundation.

The final stage of the course centered on the Padres facility and the Najayo region. In teams, the students studied the community and its needs and then developed business ideas that would address the various needs and opportunities that were discovered. After multiple rounds of five minute elevator pitch presentations, the “final four” most feasible and impactful ideas were chosen by a panel of Padre, USAID, and NGO officials. Now the group is back in San Diego working to develop full blown business plans with the intention of implementing them with funds raised by the students and matched by a grant from USAID. On the last night of our trip, it was announced that Sports MBA IV graduate Veronica Nogueira was hired by the Padres to more fully develop community relations in the DR and to assist in the implementation aspects of these projects.

I think we all expect this type of field-based experiential course to become a mainstay of the program in the future. We can all see the benefits to the students for this type of unique “real world” international experience and how it can be used in recruiting and promoting our program. Some very interesting and creative ideas have emerged.”

If you have any questions, or would like to hear more about the projects and plans we put together, let us know in the comments!

Megan Moyer, SMBA 2010

Guest Speaker: SDSU Director for Compliance

2009-08-10T09:44:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago our class was fortunate enough to have Jay Larson, Associate Athletic Director for Compliance at San Diego State, come in to talk to the class about athletic compliance issues as well as the general structure and functions of the athletic department. Jay is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School, and a former Division II basketball player. After graduating law school he was the Assistant Compliance Director at Minnesota for nearly four years. Last year he took over as the Associate Athletic Director for Compliance here at SDSU and is now one of the youngest Division I head compliance directors in the country.

The compliance office has become one of the most important and visible offices within major athletic departments in recent years and for a number of reasons. One is that college sports are seen by university administrators as the “front porch” of the university. In this capacity, athletics often serve as a powerful marketing tool for reaching potential students, soliciting donors and bringing visibility to the school at large. Poor monitoring and training of athletes and coaches within the athletic department often result in NCAA infractions which puts a black-eye on both the athletic department and the university for what is perceived as a, “lack of institutional control.” We need only look as far as USC, Florida State, and Alabama to see recent examples of how weak compliance oversight can have adverse affects on institutions, their athletes and coaches, and athletic departments.

What was great about his talk was that -- in addition to discussing general compliance issues -- Jay gave those of us interested in other aspects of the athletic department a broad picture of the administrative, marketing, business, academic and counseling functions. After Jay finished he fielded questions from the class and we didn’t disappoint. Jay spent an additional half hour talking with us about pressing issues in college sports today: remaining gender inequities despite Title IX, whether student-athletes should be paid, the disparities in revenues among college sports, whether the NBA age requirement is hurting college basketball, the prospects of a having a football playoff system, the APR and more. Since his talk to the class, Jay has brought two of us on board in the compliance office and another classmate has been brought on to help in the Athletic Business Department.

Matt Hiler
SMBA '10

SMBA DR Trip Blog Series: Meet Our New Friends

2009-08-09T19:35:00.000-07:00

I am sure all of you loyal SMBA blog followers have had a chance to read our Dominican Republic trip's press release by now. So naturally all of you are aware the trip presented SMBA students with an amazing opportunity to enlarge their professional networks and their perspectives of the World as a whole. What the press release did not tell you is that the trip presented students with the opportunity to enlarge their Facebook networks as well.

During the 10-day trip, SMBA students shared the 15-ace San Diego Padres facility with 36 Padres ballplayers from all parts of Latin America. By the end of the experience, friendships were formed, dozens (and dozens) of Ping-Pong games were played, and Facebook friend requests were initiated in order to keep in touch with our new friends.

Below are some pictures and stories of players who shared the facility with us. SMBA is looking forward to tracking all of the players we met as they ascend through the Padres’ minor league system and, hopefully someday, to Petco Park.

The above picture is of yours truly and 17-year-old free agent pitcher Juan Batiste who was at the facility for a 30-day tryout with the Padres. Sadly, to say Batiste comes from a poor Haitian family is redundant. Haiti is the least developed country in the Western Hemisphere; approximately 80% of its citizens live below the poverty line. However, Batiste has conquered all economic barriers he may have faced growing up and is now a big-time baseball prospect (SMBA students bared witness to Batiste’s 97 MPH fastball.) The only reason Batiste hasn’t already signed with a Major League club is because of another disadvantage of growing up in Haiti: no birth certificate. Because his family did not register his birth at a local registry office in Haiti, there is no paperwork that can prove or disprove Batiste’s stated age of 17. And while Batiste’s word is good enough for me, it is not good enough for MLB teams who are more wary than ever of age falsification. The lack of a birth certificate will likely cost Batiste some serious money whenever he does sign with a team. The signing bonus for a 97-MPH-throwing 17-year-old with paperwork can be as much as $2.5 million. But without the paperwork? It’s tough to say and is case specific, but my educated guess is it is no more than $1 million. Especially in this context, a birth certificate is a valuable slip of paper. I no longer take mine for granted. All of SMBA sincerely wishes Batiste the best of luck and hopes he signs with a team soon (and for lots and lots of money).

Above are two pictures from the Padres DR facility’s World Series of Ping-Pong. I represented the USA, and 17-year-old Padres catcher Fernando Escarra represented Venezuela. I’ll admit that Fernando beat me more times than I beat him, but I do think it is noteworthy that, after playing nearly 50 games over the first two nights, Fernando hurt his shoulder and was ordered by his coaches to not play against me anymore. I consider this to be some form of “tapping out,” and thus, I claim victory in the overall series.

Tyler Griggs
SMBA '10

SMBA and The LeBron James King's Academy

2009-07-31T00:48:00.000-07:00

“90% of life is just showing up.” -- Woody Allen

The most difficult part of SMBA thus far? Explaining to my family and friends back in Boston how I have managed to live in San Diego for 7 months without learning how to surf. For my family, friends, and most other people unfamiliar with the sports industry, the SMBA culture is a difficult one to understand. Yes, we have class only three days a week. But no, that doesn’t mean we are at the beach the other four. If you are a loyal follower of this blog, you already know that SMBA students spend their free days volunteering for any sports related job they can get their hands on. The payoff? Valuable industry experience, the opportunity to enlarge our personal networks, and, usually, lots of fun. There is also the small chance attached to every volunteer job that it will completely surprise and a seemingly ordinary volunteer job will turn into an experience so great – so inimitable – that it becomes an unforgettable memory. Only in sports.

Of course absolutely none of this was going through my mind when I showed up to the LeBron James King’s Academy volunteer orientation last Thursday. The 500-kid camp was held from July 24th to July 28th on the UC San Diego campus in La Jolla. I knew the camp needed bodies, and I had figured a day or two of volunteering would net me a couple glimpses of LeBron and a free t-shirt. My expectations for receiving any responsibilities of significance were realistic (that is, they were low). After all, the LeBron James King’s Academy is one of the premiere youth basketball camps in the world and featured nationally renowned high school coach Dru Joyce II, 15-year NBA veteran Olden Polynice, and NBA All-Star Mo Williams. Oh yeah. The reigning NBA MVP LeBron James was also kicking around all week.

However, my modest expectations of being important were fully reversed at the volunteer orientation when the camp’s Executive Director Damon Haley gave me the position of Overnight Administrator (yes, I named the position myself). The camp had 192 overnight campers and I was put in charge of three important daily tasks. One: get the kids to bed. Two: get the kids to breakfast. Three: keep the kids safe in between task one and task two. Task three sounds simple enough in relatively quiet La Jolla, but there are few jobs as heavy or as tense as taking care of someone else’s children, and, while I know I was nowhere near the most important person at the camp, I’m sure plenty of mothers would have put me pretty highly on their lists. I took my responsibilities extremely seriously.

The broad message of my LeBron James King’s Academy experience? Just show up. The sports industry is incredibly unpredictable, especially for those of us starting at the bottom. SMBA students never know when we might luck into that next valuable professional opportunity so we just show up. I began my King’s Academy experience thinking it wouldn’t even make it onto my résumé; now, I expect it to be a focal point of my next interview. I received incredible experience working directly with the Academy’s Directors, who leaned on me heavily to make the hours of 11 pm to 7 am pass by as smoothly as possible each night. And, when the camp was outside of those hours, I was able to sit courtside for some awesome basketball, nightly scrimmages between a team of counselors led by LeBron and Mo Williams, against a team of elite college players. In all, the LeBron James King’s Academy will be truly an unforgettable memory.

Below are some pictures of other SMBA students who also volunteered at the camp! Enjoy!

- Tyler Griggs
SMBA '10

Group photo shot of Lebron and volunteers. Please note that I am not in this photo as it was taken during the daytime and I was surely off somewhere taking a nap (yes, I'm jealous).
Front row (L-R): SMBA '10 Erika, SDSU student Emily, Best Basketball Player in The World, SMBA '10 Erin, SMBA '10 Christin, SMBA '09 Kristen.
Back Row (L-R): SMBA '09 David, SMBA '10 Sam, SDSU student Ben, SMBA '10 Taylor, SMBA '10 Steve, SMBA '10 Alex.

An awesome shot of the 500 campers imitating Lebron's "Chalk Clap."

More of the SMBA '10 gang. From left to right: Sam, Kaiser, Erin, Erika, and Taylor.

Lebron taking questions from the campers. In case you were wondering, turns out he owns 14 cars.

Cal State Games!!

2009-07-28T20:02:00.001-07:00

www.calstategames.org

Over the course of 4 days from July 16th – July 19th, a number of SMBA students worked various positions for the California State Games, which is a statewide amateur sports festival that is a grass roots program of the United States Olympic Committee. The mission of the Games is to promote and nurture the health, education, and well being of residents by managing a high quality amateur sports event that encourages community participation and provides an Olympic experience.

Students worked in a variety of positions, including as directors for Basketball, Soccer, Baseball, and Softball, as well as Junior Lifeguards and Logistics. As directors, the students were given the great responsibility of managing their respective locations. This included setup, coordination of events, managing volunteers, and communication with competitors/spectators. The students also distributed the prizes to the competitors, which included medals (Gold, Silver & Bronze) and Championship Banners to Team Competitors.

Despite the long days, the event was incredibly rewarding. Not only were we able to learn what it takes to run a huge multi-location event, we got to watch kids doing what they love most. Seeing the emotion on the kids’ faces as they played was just awesome. Not only were they focused, you could also see the excitement and enjoyment.

We would like to thank Sandi Hill and the rest of the California State Games staff for giving us the great opportunity to get some great hands-on experience, and for being incredibly nice, professional and helpful throughout the weekend. You guys rock!

Sam Batarseh, SMBA ‘10

FIGHT NIGHT

2009-07-27T23:21:00.000-07:00

Coach Gina Reyes, Coach Dave Nielsen, & Irene Patricia Estrada (SMBA class of 2010)

The ring at 4th & B Downtown San Diego

Since I am one of the few individuals in SMBA V who is interested in getting into the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) industry, I thought I would shed some light on this particularly rapid growing sport. In terms of its popularity in San Diego, there has been an increasing number of gyms that are competing against one another with each gym's main focus being that of Mixed Martial Arts.Some disciplines in MMA include Brazilian Ju jit su, Muay Thai, Judo, and Greco Roman wrestling... just to name a few.

One of the more popular disciplines that I will focus on is Muay Thai.

What is Muay Thai? Literal translation- “Boxing Thai” Muay Thai serves as an essential part of the history of Thailand. For centuries the Thais were forced to defend their country and themselves from threatening powers trying to capture their land. They adopted and soon mastered a form of hand-to-hand combat, which today is known as Muay Thai. Over a period of time, it became custom for Thai males to train in this martial art as a right of passage into manhood. It was also adopted into military training and went on to become the national sport of the country. Muay Thai to some is considered one of the most devastating martial arts disciplines. It is often referred to as the “science of eight limbs” because it concentrates on eight points of contact which includes elbows, knees, hands, kicks, and shins.

On Saturday July 25, 2009 Battle of Comicon was held at 4th and B in Downtown San Diego. On this night,five Muay Thai fights took place with the last fight being the Main Event for the California IKF (International Kickboxing Federation) cruiserweight title.

It was a huge night for American Boxing Gym because head coach Dave Nielsen was going up against the current cruiserweight champion Derek "the Tornado" Galanis. For those of you who have never experience these events, fight night atmosphere is always exciting and most fights leading up to the main event are filled with some good and aggressive technique. It is also amazing to see the diversity of fight fans and the increasing numbers of attendees.There were different representatives from gyms around San Diego and not to mention some of those who traveled from different states to attend this event.

It was no surprise that there was a good amount of American Boxing supporters at the fight, myself being one of them. As a person who trains and has stepped into the ring as a contender, I felt a roller coaster of emotions that would have probably been intensified if I myself would have stepped into the ring that night. But I had the utmost confidence, that Dave Nielsen was going to take the title away from Derek “the Tornado” Galanis.It was only a minute or two in the first round when Dave Nielsen saw an opening and landed a left hook on Galanis not only once but twice, which made "the Tornado" immediately fall to the ground.

The referee called it and the results- Dave Nielsen won by TKO (Technical Knock Out)!

This was a definite victory for American Boxing MMA and Fitness center (ABF)! I’ve been training at ABF for the past three years and in my opinion, it is one of the few gyms here in San Diego where the trainers take their time to help develop not only a fighter but also their members.If you have aspirations to start training in Mixed Martial Arts and/or compete you should check out their website http://www.americanboxing.net/ and get trained by the new IKF cruiserweight champion Dave Nielsen.

As an added bonus for ALL YOU LADIES, who want to train...Learn from the reality TV Show FIGHT GIRLS star: Head female Muay Thai Coach Gina Reyes. She is one of the fiercest female Muay Thai fighters out there in the industry! I’ve had the pleasure to know and train beside her for the past couple of years... she is definitely a Wonder Woman!

Once again congratulations to AMERICAN BOXING!

I'll have more fight night stories to come...

~Irene Patricia Estrada, SMBA Class of 2010

SMBA and Soccer United Marketing

2009-07-23T18:12:00.000-07:00

Recently, Jon Bamel and I had the opportunity to work with Soccer United Marketing (SUM) at the Mexico - Guatemala friendly match at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. SUM holds the exclusive rights to Major League Soccer, US Soccer Federation, Mexican National Team, Chivas Guadalajara and FC Barcelona games in the USA. The company is a first rate sports marketing firm in the US and working with them has been a tremendous experience for both of us.

The friday before the game, Jon and I took part in a SUM staff soccer game, which included former Mexican star Luis "el matador" Hernandez. He may be a little past his prime, but he was amazing! Playing with him really gave us some insight on how good these guys really are.

Jon and I were in charge of the Football Fietsa fan festival, handling the set up, operations and take down for all sponsors. Acting as liasons between Qualcomm Stadium employees, SUM staff and Mexican National Team tour sponsors (such as Home Depot, All State, McDonalds, Coke and AT&T), we really gained an appreciation for what it takes to run successful experiential marketing campaign.

We had a number of other duties at the event, most notably escorting former Mexican National Team stars Zague and Alberto Garcia Aspe to their sponsor suites. I can't even explain how nuts the Mexican fans went as we went by, it was really something to behold! After the festival was over, we got to watch the second half of the game from field level, an experience we will never forget. Check out the pictures above!

We're headed to San Francisco for the FC Barcelona - Chivas Guadalajara game on August 8, so expect another blog post!

-Adam Fritz, SMBA 2010

DR: Meet the Press

2009-07-16T17:21:00.000-07:00

The press release on our trip to the Dominican Republic can be seen here. The text is below.

And check back in to the blog over the next days for more of the inside scoop on the trip!

Megan Moyer, SMBA 2010

The College of Business Administration at San Diego State University announced today the next phase of a joint endeavor with the San Diego Padres in the ongoing effort to provide new economic opportunities for people living near the Padres Dominican Republic Baseball Park in the city of Najayo.

Visiting the Dominican Republic

Thirty-eight SDSU students enrolled in the university’s Sports Business MBA program returned this month from the Dominican Republic where they studied in the Padres’ state-of-the-art player development complex.

During their 10-day stay, they interviewed community members and studied the socio-economic climate of the region with the intent of investing $20,000 in new economically viable entrepreneurial ventures. The students are developing four comprehensive business plans for the proposed ventures.

First-ever venture into microfinance

It is the first time ever that an American university and a major league sports team have collaborated to provide microfinance capital and other incentives designed to stimulate economic growth in an international setting.

“There’s been more of an emphasis on corporate social responsibility by Major League Baseball in the Dominican Republic and the Padres have stepped out front with its support of this unique educational partnership,” said John Francis, the SDSU management professor and co-creator of the program.

“This project provides an enriching real-world educational experience for SDSU students, but it also offers tangible economic benefits for a community in dire need.”

Benefit to students

According to Scott Minto, director of the SDSU Sports Business MBA program, students will not only learn new skills, but how sports organizations can give back to the communities they work with.

“The skills developed by this project in Najayo are applicable to other segments of the increasingly global sports industry,” Minto said. “The class has the opportunity to learn firsthand how the power of sport can help organizations like the Padres break down political, economic and cultural barriers to make a positive impact on an international level.”

Q & A

2009-07-15T11:38:00.001-07:00

Nate had a couple of questions for us in the comments, so let's see what we can do about answering them ...

What is the average GMAT score for a SDSU Sports MBA student?

I checked with our Director, Scott Minto, and he replied that, while we don't have the current class average on hand, "the minimum I look for is a 600, with a competitive score being 650+".

Also, how many students work internships during the school year?

While much of our class focused on academics at the beginning of the year (when we take most of our quantitative courses -- statistics, accounting, etc.), by now most of us are involved outside of the classroom as well. Practical sports experience ranges from one-time volunteer opportunities (for example, the Red Bull Air Race Christen wrote about here earlier this year, or the California State Games coming up this weekend), to longer-term work leading up to a major event like the Rock and Roll Marathon, to consulting projects or on-going internships with local sports companies or groups.

The program schedule (most weeks we meet Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, leaving Tuesday and Friday open) allows for a good deal of flexibility in using out-of-class time, and there are a lot of sports events and companies in San Diego, so there are plenty of chances to gain experience while in school!

Any other questions? Keep 'em coming.

Megan Moyer, SMBA 2010

Guest Speaker: Upper Deck

2009-07-13T08:07:00.000-07:00

Jason Masherah

Director of Sports Brands – Upper Deck

www.upperdeck.com

We had the awesome opportunity to have Jason Masherah speak to our class. Jason is the Director of Sports Brands at Upper Deck, which includes MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLS. If you are unfamiliar with Upper Deck, they began as a domestic trading card company in 1989, and have evolved into a worldwide Sports and Entertainment giant. They have exclusive autograph memorabilia deals with the biggest names in sports, including Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky, and Derek Jeter, among others. When you think trading cards or autographed memorabilia, you think Upper Deck. They are based locally in Carlsbad, California.

Jason began by detailing his journey from an undergrad student at Michigan State, to an MBA student at Indiana University, to his current employment with Upper Deck. He explained to the class the steps he took getting into the position he is now, and gave us some great tips on how we can position ourselves for success in the sports industry.

Jason then gave us some background on what he does in his position at Upper Deck. He explained to us an interesting case study he was presented with during the beginning of his employment, which was to resuscitate a product, Fleer, which was just purchased by Upper Deck. Fleer had just gone through bankruptcy and had a negative stigma amongst the collecting population. The steps he took to revitalize the product resulted in it being the highest revenue producer for Upper Deck. Personally, as a collector, the 20^th anniversary set Upper Deck produced through the Fleer brand was incredibly innovative, and was really well received by the collectors at large.

A huge thanks goes out to Jason from the SMBA ’10 class for taking the time to speak with us and giving us great tips for pursuing our future careers in the sports industry!

Sam Batarseh, SMBA ‘10

We're Baaack!

2009-07-11T09:58:00.000-07:00

After a great ten days in the Dominican Republic, the SMBA class of 2010 is back -- at least in the US, if not in San Diego. We're off now, enjoying a week of summer break, then headed back to the classroom to wrap up international business, jump back in to marketing, and kick off organizational behavior.

Over the next week or so, you can look forward to posts on our trip to the DR -- tours of micro-credit projects with Esperanza, a coffee tour including a trip straight up a mountain in the back of pick up trucks, a historical tour, and, of course, lots of time with the Padres.

Also coming soon, a couple of posts that didn't make it up before we hit the road.

We're deep in to recruiting season now, so if any of you prospective students are lurking here, hello! Let us know what you want to know -- we're happy to answer any questions.

Adios ...

Megan, SMBA 2010

Sports Economics Debates

2009-06-05T19:24:00.000-07:00

This past week in our Sports Economics class with Dr. Hilmer, we broke into groups of four and had debates about various topics central to the Southern California sports community. These topics included:

1- The NBA Age limit- Jeremy Tyler, a San Diego High School product decided to forgo his Senior Year of HIGH SCHOOL to play professionally overseas. The two sides debated the economic arguments for the NBA instituting an age limit for incoming rookies including potential effects on player salary, league revenue, social costs and benefits effects on sponsorships for players.

2- Should Owners be Able to Void MLB Contracts if players are caught using PED's?- The two groups debated the issue primarily because of the Manny Ramirez situation with the Dodgers. After signing a 2 year, $45 million contract, Manny was suspended 50 games (essentially 1/3 of the season) for being caught taking PED's. There's no doubt that this issue will become an even larger issue in sports media in the near future.

3- Should SDSU drop its football team or move to Division I-AA?- It's no secret that the SDSU football team has been losing money, might not have a place to play in a few years (Chargers Stadium Issue) and significantly impacts the rest of the SDSU sports landscape due to Title IX regulations. The two sides debated the pros and cons of keeping the football team at the Division I level. Arguments included the amount of civic pride or social welfare that exists on a University campus, the potential for a "Flutie Effect" if the program turns it around (larger, more qualified applicant pool) and how SDSU's President mandated an approximate $300 increase per student in student fees without a student vote to help offset the football program's operating losses.

4- Should the Mountain West Conference be a part of the BCS System?- Over the past decade MWC powerhouses Utah, BYU and TCU have been at a competitive disadvantage and potentially lose a significant amount of revenue because a certain number of spots in BCS Bowl Games are allocated to the Champions of D-1A's "Big Six" Conferences. Arguments in this debate included the strong record of these institutions in Bowl Games over the past few seasons, the significant amount of competitive imbalance in the MWC and the economic injustices that exist in the college football landscape.

Overall, a great job by all in a thought provoking exercise. We all look forward to round two of the sports economics debates in a couple of weeks.

Taylor G. Brown, Class of 2010

Red Bull Air Race

2009-06-04T11:19:00.000-07:00

Lindsey Finnegan and I worked at the Red Bull Air Races held in San Diego, Ca May 9th and 10th. It was a very worthwhile experience, and we were exposed to a new culture in the company of Red Bull. Lindsey and I were assigned to help manage the “Wings Team” who would be providing the hospitality at the Air Races. These Wings Team members were young women from all over the West coast who promote Red Bull by handing out samples within their cities and at various large events. Since the girls were from all over and many, if not most, were first timers at a Red Bull Air Race, it was important to come up with a way to familiarize these young women with the actual Red Bull Air Races event and the particular roles which they were there to fill.

Lindsey and I decided to create a fun way to educate the girls by creating a scavenger hunt for the Wings Team to complete upon arrival to the hotel. As girls from all areas filtered in, they were given the Scavenger Hunt, a map, and a Red Bull Air Race Magazine. The 18 questions in the scavenger hunt required them to read through the Air Race magazine and learn about common questions that guests might ask, such as who the pilots were and the rules of the course. They were then sent out to walk the course in order to familiarize themselves with public areas such as the restrooms, concessions stands, and VIP areas. Upon completion of the scavenger hunt they were allowed to pick up their uniforms and check into their rooms before coming back for a quick orientation that laid out what was to be expected of them for the weekend.

Friday and Saturday was an event unlike anything I have ever seen. Planes were flying greater than 200 MPH on a course less than 50 feet above the water. The Wings Team’s goal was enhance the overall spectator experience at the Air Races. Wings Girls were dressed as flight attendants and placed outside of the gates to attract spectators, at the information booths to answer spectator questions, and inside the “Higher Fliers” lounge and “Race Club” to provide hospitality in the Air Race’s VIP hot spots. As the day went on, Lindsey and I were constantly making decisions to move the Wings Girls throughout spectator areas depending on where they would be most useful. We received many compliments from Red Bull employees as well as Air Race spectators in regards to the hospitality at the event, and were told that they were more helpful and knowledgeable than ever before. We also received an email from Red Bull Canada saying that they heard how successful our scavenger hunt was and asked for a copy to use for their own events. It is great to know our hard work has paid off and is already spreading throughout Red Bull!

Christin Shibley, SMBA 2010

Visitors

2009-05-31T14:18:00.000-07:00

We've had a number of guest speakers visit the SMBA V (class of 2010) classroom over the past weeks. Many thanks to all of them for taking the time to come out!

Kari Logan of the Competitor Group came to talk to us about the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon, in San Diego for the 11th year this weekend. Competitor group runs 16 road races annually, and it all started with the marathon in San Diego, which set a record as the largest first-time marathon in 1998. The race teams with Team in Training to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Kari talked to us about what goes in to putting on the race, and solicited volunteers for this weekend's event. A couple of our classmates have been working with the marathon for quite a while now, and several more are volunteering on race day.

Alex Kotler, founder Football Partnerships came to speak about his organization. Alex, a relatively recent MBA, founded Football Partnerships, a soccer networking and information site, in 2008 to promote knowledge sharing and relationship building among soccer professionals. The site, run by Alex, provides original soccer content, as well as a premium networking events and a members-only directory. Alex also works as a consultant for soccer-related projects. Alex spoke about his experience in and since his MBA, and what he is doing to set up his own business, following his passion.

Sandi Hill, Executive Director of the Cal State Games came to talk to us at volunteer opportunities with the games in July. Cal State games are part of a US Olympic Committee grass-roots campaign to encourage athletic participation and competition in the Olympic spirit. The Games take place in the summer, and in the winter. The summer games are considerably bigger, with 10,000 athletes. The winter games host 1300 athletes, some of whom come from surrounding states. Sandi talked to us about ways in which our class can get involved in the games, from serving as site supervisors for various events to working logistics with the games. Many of us will be out there the weekend of July 16th -- should be a good time!

Finally, thanks to our Leadership instructor, Steve Gera, we were visited by Duncan Hunter, Congressional Representative for California's 52nd district. Hunter is the second youngest member of congress and, as a former Marine, the only combat veteran currently serving as a representative. Hunter spoke with us about his leadership experience and advice, as well as his current experience in congress. Many, many thanks to Rep. Hunter for taking the time to come speak to us, and to Steve Gera for setting it up!

Megan Moyer, SMBA 2010

SOCAL Beach Soccer Championships

2009-05-20T18:44:00.000-07:00

This past weekend members of the SMBA V class were fortunate enough to work at the Southern California Beach Soccer Championships which were being held in Oceanside. It was a 2 day event with over 15,000 spectators and around 300 teams. The tournament had both men’s and women’s divisions, with kids as young as 7 competing, as well as an open division which contained teams from all over California, as well as Hawaii, Virginia Beach, and even Senegal! The tournament was set up with 30 beach soccer fields stretching out over the sand, and there was still plenty of space to barbecue, relax in the sun, and many athletes were seen taking a dip in the ocean to cool off. Prior to the start of the competition there was a free clinic on Friday night held by Eddie Soto, the new coach of the U.S. Beach Soccer National Team.

Our group was in charge of some of the set up of the event, as well as collecting surveys to help research the economic impact the tournament had on Oceanside. Other questions helped us find out the overall opinion of the tournament from the spectator’s perspective. Needless to say the tournament was a great success, and the people we spoke to were very happy with the organization of the event, and many said that they were surprised that a tournament this big could be run so well. Hopefully the next SMBA class will be able to pick up where we left off and be even more involved in next year’s tournament.

Thank you to all who worked the event: Dev, Diego, Eric, Jon, Kaiser and Megan

http://www.beachsoccerusa.org/beachSoccer/

Sold!

2009-05-15T15:40:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, the SMBA V class (class of 2010) held a silent auction at the Aztec Baseball game to support our charitable efforts in the Dominican Republic. Our class will be taking a trip to the DR in July, where we will hold International Business classes, spend time at the Padres development facility, and work to establish a micro-finance presence in the surrounding community (and, of course, enjoy the sights, culture and people of the DR).

The auction coincided with the final home start of future MLB star Steven Strasburg and saw a record sellout crowd at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The class was lucky enough to get donations from a number of local companies, The San Diego Padres and Tony Gwynn! The most popular items at auction were use of a suite at an Anaheim Angels game, a San Diego Padres game day experience (4 tickets and a VIP tour of Petco Park), and a number of Tony Gwynn signed items. Needless to say, Tony Gwynn has a special place in the San Diego sports landscape and we really appreciate his contribution to the auction. Thanks also goes to the Padres and SDSU athletics for their tremendous help in putting on the event.

A nice benefit to holding the auction at the Aztec game was the chance to witness Strasburg in action. This future top pick in the MLB draft put on a real display, throwing a 17 strikeout no-hitter in front of the home crowd at SDSU. This kid is the real deal and will be a great MLB star for whoever picks him in the 2010 draft.

Overall the auction was a great success, raising $3,000 for our DR efforts. This sum will be matched by USAID, so the class is well on its way to meeting our goal of raising $10,000 for the trip. We hope to keep this momentum going in our next fundraising efforts!

Adam Fritz (SMBA '10)

SDSU SMBA meets Wharton

2009-05-14T03:51:00.000-07:00

Last week we started our first of two weekly sessions with Scott Rosner. Professor Rosner has a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania (and his undergrad from Michigan -- Go Blue!) and is currently a lecturer at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and is the Associate Director of the Wharton Sports Business Initiative. Professor Rosner also has an extensive background in the sports industry working as a consultant for many different organizations within the industry.

During our first week we discussed the foundations and league structures of Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NHL, Major League Soccer, Action Sports, and the English Premier League. Professor Rosner has also provided us with several groundbreaking legal cases that helped shape many of the current rules (arbitration, free agency, reserve clauses, etc.) that exist in sports today. For people like me, and I’m sure many of my classmates who aspire to work in professional sports, Professor Rosner’s class has been a great insight into what lies beneath the surface in professional sports.

This week my fellow classmates and I will submit the results of a mock contract negotiation. Each student in the class was assigned to represent either a fictional team (The Parsippany Platypuses) or the fictional player (Colby Stevens). The assignment is designed to expose us to negotiating and hone our oral and written communication skills. As someone who dreams of being a GM, this assignment has given us a small insight into what goes into evaluating a player and determining his value to a franchise.

We're all looking forward to some more time with Professor Rosner next week and appreciate him sharing his experiences and knowledge of the sports industry with us.

Steven Weingarten, Sports MBA '10

A Visit from George Stieren of The Padres!

2009-05-13T19:58:00.000-07:00

George Stieren was kind enough to come by our class today and speak to us about his position as the Director of Business Public Relations with the San Diego Padres. As you might guess, George has a job that has gone through some serious transformations during recent history. I learned today (from George) that MLB teams did not even have PR departments until the mid-1970’s. I cannot fathom how Mickey Mantle survived through his entire career without someone like George frequently doing some major damage control. In today’s MLB, considering the popularity explosions of blogs, Twitter, and camera-phones, George is a VERY busy guy.

In addition to touching on how the technology boom has impacted his job, George shared stories about his experiences while working in Minor League Baseball with the Lake Elsinore Storm, his role in the production of Tony Gwynn’s retirement ceremony at Qualcomm Stadium in 2001, and his headaches caused by some very recent (but minor) Padres PR hiccups that he has had to address.

Needless to say, George has a job that many of us students in SMBA '10 (myself included) would love to have in the future. A big thanks to him for taking the time to talk with us!

Tyler Griggs, SMBA ‘10

US Canoe/Kayak at the Olympic Training Center

2009-05-11T07:34:00.000-07:00

Hi SMBA V Blog Reader,

As you are probably aware, one of the reasons that San Diego is such a spectacular place to get your Sports MBA is that there are about a bazillion-and-a-half sports organizations based in the area. As you may not be aware, among these bazillion-and-a-half organizations is the ARCO Olympic Training Center (http://www.usoc.org/content/index/1375), located in just to the southeast of San Diego proper in Chula Vista.

The OTC is just what it sounds like—a training center used by many United States Olympic sports’ national governing bodies as either a permanent home base or temporary training camp site for their athletes. It’s even cooler than it sounds—with about 100 full-time athlete residents in nine Olympic sports; a complete physical therapy, sports psychology, and strength and conditioning staff; the AT&T athlete lounge; a full-service dining hall serving three squares a day; and an absolutely beautiful campus including practice facilities for sports that I didn’t even know were a part of the Olympics (BMX?!? Field Hockey?!?), it is, essentially, summer camp for aspiring Olympic athletes.

Early on during the semester, USA Canoe/Kayak’s head sprint kayak coach, Nathan Luce, came and talked to us before class one morning about some internship opportunities available with USACK out at the OTC. I have a pretty substantial interest in Olympic sports, so I took Coach Luce up on his offer. Since then I’ve been heading out to the OTC every Friday to sit in on some meetings, do some administrative work like creating payment schedules for their upcoming World Cup trip, and to just generally be the Lewis Black (picking up things when they fall through the cracks) to Nathan’s Jon Stewart.

The last weekend in April was a big weekend for Nathan and all his paddlers, as it was the weekend of their Sprint World Cup Team Trials. It was also a big weekend for me, as not only was I out at the OTC pretty much all day on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday assisting with the volunteer coordinating, liaising with USADA to make sure that they had the necessary volunteers at the times the needed them, and filling my traditional Lewis Black role, but I also had the finals and final papers for our first round of classes due Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week.

Overall, the weekend was a huge success. The weather was beautiful (as it usually is in these parts), the Trials ran smoothly (the highlight of the weekend was definitely OTC resident athlete and all-around good guy Morgan House’s four [!!!] victories), and I met some really great people from the national USACK office and USADA as well as a bunch of former Canoe/Kayak Olympians who are still involved in the sport in various capacities. (And, somehow, I still managed to get all my finals done on and turned-in on time—success, indeed!)

Okay, future SMBA 2011 members, that’s all I’ve got for you now. See you out here next January!

Best,

Eli Asch, SMBA 2010

PHR Event on Sunday

2009-04-30T18:48:00.000-07:00

Over the last six weeks or so, Steve Weingarten and I have been assisting the San Diego Hall of Champions with the marketing of their upcoming Pitch, Hit, and Run (PHR) event at the Boys and Girls Club of Vista. The event will be held on May 3^rd, just days away.

The official skills competition of Major League Baseball, PHR is intended to encourage youth participation in baseball and emphasize the fun element of the sport. The competition is open to boys and girls, ages 7 to 14. PHR participants can advance through four levels of competition, including Local and Sectional competitions, Team Championship events held at Petco Park, and the National Finals in July at the MLB All-Star Game in St. Louis. Arguably the best part of PHR is that it is completely FREE for the participants!

Through volunteering, Steve and I have been introduced to the challenges of promoting a non-for-profit type of event. With no significant funds allotted for marketing, we have had to roll up our sleeves and make a real effort to get the word out to all local schools, Little Leagues, and other nearby Boys and Girls Clubs. It has been a great experience and Steve and I are grateful to everyone at the Hall of Champions who has been showing us the sports marketing ropes!

So if you live in the San Diego area and have a child, age 7 to 14, we’ll see you at the event this Sunday. Below are the SDHOC site for the event and the official MLB.com PHR site.

http://www.sdhoc.com/events/aquafina-mlb-pitch-hit-and-run-competition/

http://www.mlb.com/phr

- Tyler Griggs, SMBA 2010

LPG Event: Kraft-Nabisco Championship

2009-04-28T15:34:00.000-07:00

During the first weekend of our Spring break I volunteered for the Kraft-Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California. The KNC was the first major of the season for the LPGA Tour. Because I had interest in golf, I felt that volunteering for an event would be a great opportunity to learn what goes on behind the scenes at a major golf tournament. I made the two hour drive each morning from San Diego to Rancho Mirage to gain valuable experience and meet some great people.

Volunteering with the operations crew, I originally was going to operate the 18th green leaderboard, but as volunteers fell short I was flexible with the needs of the tournament and was charged with pairing volunteers from the Boys and Girls Club of Palm Springs, Mission Hills Country Club members, and United States Marines from 29 Palms as standard bearers for groups on the course throughout the weekend.

With help from volunteers from the Kraft-Nabisco headquarters, this small part of the grand operation was a great success. The most satisfying feeling was being able to see the reaction of the volunteers after they walked 18 holes with the greatest LPGA golfers in the world. Volunteers were able to walk with the likes of Lorena Ochoa, Natalie Gulbis, Paula Creamer, and Michelle Wie. Parents and children were even paired with each other to walk with the golfers. After the parent and child returned from the round you could sense that they did something they could talk about and share for a long time. It was a bonding experience they would never forget.

I was rewarded for my efforts on the last day of the tournament as I was standard bearer for Michelle Wie during her final round. After the round I was also able to get a greenside view of Brittany Lincicome's eagle on the 18th hole to win the tournament by 1 stroke. And as is tradition for the KNC, I also had a front row seat of Birttany's splash into the greenside lake on the 18th hole.

All in all it was a great experience and we hope that the program can build a relationship with the KNC in the years to come.

-- Andrew Mayo, SMBA 2010

SMBA Consults on Yakima Soccer Development

2009-04-19T15:22:00.000-07:00

Before I attended classes this winter I had dedicated a small portion of my life volunteering for Yakima Youth Soccer Association (YYSA), which is a non-profit organization that helps facilitate youth soccer participation--whether in leagues or tournaments--in the greater Yakima Valley in Washington State. The greater Yakima Valley has over 100,000 residents, of which nearly half are Mexican American. The significant Hispanic influence, along with a history of strong youth soccer programs spanning the last thirty years, has made it a community where soccer participation is not only unusually high, but is considered a sport of civic pride. In 2008 along, the organization represented over 2,000 athletes under the age of 18, and over its lifespan has helped over 40,000 children experience the joys of playing organized soccer. Yakima is also home of the Yakima Reds who are part of the semi-professional USL league.

However, Yakima does not have adequate facilities to meet the demand of the thousands of youth players who compete every year. The YYSA board of directors had the foresight to realize the Valley had insufficient soccer facilities for young players, and began to save revenue from tournaments and league dues with the hopes of acquiring land and developing a soccer complex for youth soccer. In order to make an idea into reality they brought onboard project manager Larry Mattson to help develop plans for land acquisition and permitting as well as create a business plan and operating agreement with the city. To see the project homepage go here: http://www.yysa.org/frameset.php. The estimate 2-3 million dollar complex will sit on 35 acres of land, have between 12-14 regulation sized sod fields (including what will likely be a center-court style championship field), and includes an administration building and concessions building.

With knowledge of the project, and as a YYSA participant for 10 years, I asked Larry if I could volunteer, and he gladly put me on a number of projects. Almost immediately I began helping out with operating agreements, facility planning and finances. Shortly after I began helping Larry I arrived at SDSU for the SMBA program and I immediately realized how our class could help him and YYSA out. I asked Larry about bringing some students onboard. He was more than glad for the help and immediately provided us with a number of projects. I was pretty excited to get about 10 people from class to help with the various assignments.

We set up a 45 minute conference call for introductions and to review documents he had sent us; business agreement, operating agreement, cost analysis, permitting plans, board minutes, etc. He then gave us a list of things he wanted us to work on for him and the organization. Among them were exploring the use of social networking sites (like Facebook) for promotion and fundraising, developing ideas for how best to generate atypical revenue streams, creating marketing and sponsorship strategies for the unique Yakima Valley demographic, and performing cost analysis estimates for construction and operations. All of our findings and finished products will be submitted to the YYSA board of directors, and some will even make it into the final business plan! This has been an excellent opportunity for all of us to get a better understanding of facility development, cost analysis and for generating unique sponsorship and marketing ideas primarily targeted to Hispanic’s.

-- Matt Hiler, SMBA 2010

Sports MBA students work the World Baseball Classic!

2009-04-07T13:37:00.000-07:00

Since the Sports MBA Class of 2010 is on Spring Break this week, we're going to feature a guest blogger from the Class of 2009, Masanari Kawai. Nari penned the following piece after working as a media liaison for Team Japan, the winners of the 2009 World Baseball Classic...

The World Baseball Classic is an unprecedented baseball event that featured many of the best baseball players in the world competing for their home countries and territories. The inaugural tournament in 2006 gave fans around the world a chance to see the exciting, world-class baseball games. The 16 countries and territories selected as the first participants of this historic competition were chosen because they are among the best baseball-playing nations in the world and provide diverse global representation. The tournament was created to provide a platform that will increase worldwide exposure of the game and promote grassroots development, attracting new fans and players in traditional and non-traditional baseball regions.

In Japan, team Japan’s camp for the World Baseball Classic (Feb 16th-22nd) at Miyazaki prefecture created an economic effect of over $100 million USD. The first matchup between Japan and Korea earned a TV rating of 37.8 in Japan, with more than 45 million viewers tuning in nationwide. The game ranked as the highest rated sporting event of any kind in Japanese history, surpassing even the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. However, although the event resulted in record-breaking television ratings and larger crowds than the inaugural tournament held in 2006, I felt there was a great deal of growth opportunity among Japanese baseball fans in the U.S.

The last iteration of the event in 2006 saw disappointing attendance figures for Team Japan games in the U.S. For example, there were only 16,591 in attendance for team Japan against Mexico despite nearly 60,000 Japanese expatriates living in Los Angeles and another 11,056 in San Diego. I knew that the interest in baseball and national pride were strong within the Southern California Japanese community, but I felt that I could help MLB and the WBC by assisting with their Japanese outreach.

Therefore, I launched a ticket sales project for the 2009 WBC second round games, which were held in San Diego at PETCO Park. Since the SDSU Sports MBA program is partnered with the Padres, I was able to garner support from the club in securing tickets to specifically sell to Japanese fans. I launched a website (http://wbc2009round2.blogspot.com/) in Japanese to promote the project, and recruited Yuma Ono, a Japanese student in the Sports MBA Class of 2010, to assist me. Once the site launched and the tournament began, I was focused on my job working with the Team Japan as a media relations liaison for the tournament.

Yuma took a leadership role from the beginning, bringing on three assistants to help market the PETCO games for several weeks prior to the start of the tournament. Our plan was to attract Japanese fans to buy tickets through us for a number of reasons: first, our site was in Japanese whereas the MLB site sold tickets only in English, second, we charged no additional fees, third, the Padres had secured our group great seats for the event, and fourth, we were marketing only to Japanese fans, creating a vibrant atmosphere that helped give the team an advantage.

Yuma Ono (Sports MBA '10) developed a social networking and new media marketing strategy by getting support from the president of "San Diego Town," a local Japanese community website, advertising on "mixi," the biggest Japanese social networking site, and creating partnerships with local Japanese baseball teams. This project was covered and broadcasted by Japanese national TV program (Fuji Television and Nippon Television Network Corporation) and a Japanese sports newspaper.

This strategy, in just a few short weeks, yielded excellent results. In total, 201 tickets were sold and the project raised $13,130. In addition, this project resulted in 24 tickets sold to fans who flew to San Diego from Japan, increasing the economic impact of the event exponentially. The total attendance in game 1 of the second round (Japan vs Cuba) was 20,179 compared to 16,591 in 2006 (Japan vs Mexico). Both Padres executives and the international media covering the event noted that more Japanese fans were at the stadium this time, giving the atmosphere a boost for the Japanese team.

Although this project was a success, we feel that with greater time and resources, we could have done more to get additional Japanese fans to the games. We still feel it is necessary and there is a great deal of potential for MLB to expose and promote the WBC more on a global level to increase attendance. We also feel that MLB must measure attendees and fans from specific countries to have an accurate depiction of the sport's global interest continuing to build and grow beyond traditional markets.

For Yuma and myself, the opportunity to work with MLB on this major international event was a great experience. We have enormous pride for Japanese baseball and it was very satisfying to defeat our rival, Korea, in the final at Dodger Stadium. I really hope this tournament will grow and expand to more countries for the next World Baseball Classic. I see a lot of potential for the event, and although it has started small with 16 teams, remember that the FIFA World Cup started with only 13 participants in 1930!

Masanari Kawai (Sports MBA '09)

SMBA V at the MLB Umpires Camp

2009-03-24T12:50:00.000-07:00

This past week, a number of SMBA V (class of 2010) students helped out with the MLB Umpire Camp for US Marines at Tony Gwynn Stadium on the SDSU campus. The camp is designed to give US Marines an opportunity to learn umpiring from the best of the best. There were 80 marines in attendance, taking instruction from some of the most prominent umpires in the history of Major League Baseball, most notably Hunter Wendelstedt, Ted Barrett, Bill Miller, Joe West and Bruce Froeming.

SMBA students helped with the pitching machines, took photos for the event and assisted with many other organizational issues. We also had the opportunity to speak with the MLB umpires, Padres CEO Sandy Alderson and MLB Executive VP of Baseball Operations Jimmy Lee Solomon.

For the MLB.com recap of the event, go to http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090316&content_id=4000936&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb&partnerId=rss_mlb

For a few videos of the event, go to our facebook page!

Following the days events, the students had the opportunity to take in the Cuba-Mexico WBC second round game at Petco courtesy of the Padres. The game was fantastic, ending in a 7-4 win for Cuba. All in all, a great day in San Diego. Aren't they all though?

Brewers Spring Training Trip

2009-03-23T11:58:00.001-07:00

Who says road trips are just for undergrads?

This past weekend, members of our program's baseball committee made the trip from San Diego to Phoenix, AZ where we were hosted by Blake Schilly and the Milwaukee Brewers at the Brewers' spring training facility. Blake is the operations manager at Maryvale Baseball Park and was kind enough to give us a tour of the facility, which occupies 56 acres of land and consists of a main ballpark (10,000 capacity), five full practice fields, and two half-sized practice fields.

Following the tour, we took our seats five rows behind home plate and watched the Brewers' ace, Yovani Gallardo, face off against the best of the Kansas City Royals' staff, Zack Greinke. Highlights of the game included Prince Fielder's impressive first-inning home run, Trot Nixon making it through the entire game uninjured, and our hosts winning 5-1.

A big thanks to Blake for taking the time to introduce us to the business side of spring training baseball. It was a memorable trip for sure.

Tyler Griggs, SMBA 2010

SDSU Sports MBA students help out at So Cal Action Sports Networking Event

2009-02-25T10:10:00.000-08:00

Last weekend a group of students from our class, with an interest in the action sports industry, volunteered to help out Bryan Elliott (Chairman of So Cal Action Sports) with his networking event in Del Mar.

It was a great event which provided an excellent platform for networking for members of our class, as well as a very informative guest speaker. David M. Scott, a social marketing guru, gave an excellent talk on social media and how to use it when marketing a new product or service.

In addition to the many contacts that were made, the event was a great success as we were able to help Bryan with the event and get involved with So Cal Action Sports in its beginning stages.

So Cal Action Sports is a rapidly growing network of action sports professionals that is focused on connecting professionals within the action sports industry.

- David C., Erica D., Erin G., Andrew M., Lauren S. & Erika L.

USA Rugby 7s

2009-02-18T10:39:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, about half of our class spent an awesome couple of days at the USA Sevens event at Petco Park (home of the San Diego Padres). USA Sevens is an international rugby 7s (that's seven a side) tournament, part of the IRB Sevens Series, the eight-leg world series of rugby. As the fourth leg of the series, San Diego played host to 16 teams from around the world, for 44 match ups over 2 days.

Our class volunteered all around the event, from acting as media runners and spotting results on the field, to staffing the information booth at the Fan Festival and running the central operations center. The weekend exposed us to much of what goes in to putting on a major sporting event, and we were thrilled to pitch in where we could. Thanks, Donal and Tara, for getting us involved!

I also can't say enough about the people who put this event on. Not only did they put on a world-class event, but everyone we met took the time out to talk to us about what they did, and to show us around. Between decorating the suites, "following the wires" from the press box to the stats room to the TV truck, and walking the sidelines with radio in hand and hanging out with the photographers, I saw about every inch of Petco Park this weekend. What a great experience!

The weekend also included some pretty great rugby matches. The US lost to Argentina (eventual tournament champion) in the semi-final round. While the loss was disappointing, the semi-finals was the furthest the US has advanced in and IRB series event, and the run included wins over some very good teams. Meanwhile, Kenya recorded its first-ever win over New Zealand, and boy were the Kenyan fans excited about it!

A couple of pictures are posted below, and hopefully there are a couple of more to come. Enjoy!
-- Meg

(Sadly, not the finals score; View from the press box.)

(Kenyan side takes a bow; Fijian fans.)

Hall of Champions

2009-02-18T10:20:00.000-08:00

Last week, our class had the honor of visiting the San Diego Hall of Champions to meet with the President of the Hall, Al Kidd, and the Director of Marketing, Angela LaChica.

Al and Angela both took time out of their schedules to talk to us about their careers in sports, where they came from, how they got started, and what advice they have for us as we start out.

Al also talked about the past and future of the Hall, which just merged with the San Diego Sports Commission, and is charged with bringing sports events to San Diego, and creating San Diego-unique sporting events. The Hall also has taken on the challenge of creating outreach programs around San Diego, particularly focusing -- for now -- on children's programs. Al is particularly interested in reaching what he describes as "at need" members of the San Diego community.

Angela spoke at length with us about her experience as a woman in the sports industry, and about what has made her so successful. In addition to her work with the Hall, Angela works closely with area sports teams, and athletes across the country. Hers is a career many of us would love to emmulate!

Thanks Al and Angela, for meeting with us -- we look forward to working with you this year!

--Meg

Back in the Classroom

2009-02-18T09:55:00.000-08:00

More on our outside-of-the-classroom activities later, but now that we're in the thick of our first set of classes, I thought I'd take a minute to update you on the academic side of SMBA V.

Our first round of classes consists of statistics, accounting and sociology of sport. Classes meet once or twice a week, for about three hours at a time. The schedule is nice -- it leaves plenty of time for guest speakers, field trips, and generally rounding out the Sports MBA with out-of-the-classroom experience (more on that later).

Later in the year, we will have visiting faculty, but our first classes are all taught by the home team -- SDSU faculty. And the caliber of teaching is excellent. Prof. Tinley (sociology) and Dean Lackritz (statistics) have been involved in the programs since its inception, and their passion for sports, and their desire to grow the program and the individuals in the program is evident in every class and every interaction outside of class.

Digging in to classes has also given us an opportunity to get to know one another as colleagues. Much of our work is done in groups, and -- at the risk of sounding cliche -- it's been a great way to network with and learn from one another.

A couple of programming notes: Now that we're settling in, we'll be updating more frequently, so please check back! Also, we'll be working in some better-than-cell-phone quality pictures, so you can see what we're up to, too. Any questions? Things you'd like to hear more about? Let us know!

-- Meg

San Diego

2009-01-14T22:30:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,
I just wanted to fill you in on what you can expect in terms of weather out in San Diego. Today is January 15th and it was 75 degrees and sunny. Yesterday was....well 75 degrees and sunny. I have a sneaking suspicion that tomorrow will be, you guessed it, 75ish and sunny.

I just moved here from the Great White North and heard that tomorrow is supposed to be -10 degrees with a high POP of snow back home. I can definitely get used to the beach and the sun. It makes getting up for early class a lot more enjoyable.

As mentioned before, if anyone out there has any questions, the SMBA cohort 2010 will be more than happy to answer.

Talk Soon,
Eric

2 days down ... 363 (or so) to go!

2009-01-13T17:08:00.000-08:00

(Picture courtesy of Scott Minto's cell phone -- lookin' good.)

Welcome to SDSU's fifth Sports Business Management MBA class!

We've just this week kicked off orientation, and, from where I sit (somewhere in the CES building, room 210 ...), so far, so very good!

Yesterday we met for the first time, took care of a fair bit of administrivia, and broke the ice, as it were. Today we had the chance to chat with some of the faculty, alumni, and Aztec staff (thanks to Drs. Lackritz and Belch, Chris Carlson of Aztec and Athletics, and alums Jill Stephenson, Mike Kitts and Brent LeVasseur, and SMBA IV students Leah Glasgow and Dave Stark for taking time out to talk to us!), and got our glamour shots taken.

Outside of class, we've been getting to know one another: Grabbing a drink or a burger here and there, doing some bowling, and catching movies. And, of course, taking care of the ever-exciting life admin that comes with moving (for most of us) to a new town. If we're on top of it, we're also digging in to our first reading and class assignments. Back to school time!

As we get settled in, and throughout the year (and hopefully into our internships), we'd like to keep anyone checking in out there up-to-date, in an informal way, on what we're up to out here in sunny San Diego. So say 'hi', drop us a line, let us know if you have any questions, or what you might be interested in hearing more about.

Oh, and if you're a prospective student, and would like some info, or just to chat with a current student, leave a comment for us here, and one (or a couple) of us will get back with you within a couple of days.

Go Aztecs!

-- Meg