Starting a Career in Sports with an MBA
None of what I’ve written so far will come as a surprise to sports management students. They have been tracking the rise of these leagues and witnessing audiences expand along with their international reputations. The more pressing question is about how to get in on the action. In this article, we will shed some light on the various ways that MBA students can find a sports career supporting the game that they love.
Continue reading…5 Questions with the SMU Cox Assistant Dean of Graduate Admissions
In our latest installment of the MetroMBA “5 Questions” series, we speak with John Roeder, Assistant Dean of Graduate Admissions at SMU’s Cox School of Business. He talks with us about inside details of the MBA program, pre-admissions tips, and the school’s beautiful campus.
Can you tell me something about the SMU MBA that I cannot learn unless I actually take part in the program?
“SMU Cox fosters a highly collaborative learning environment and connections to a network of 42,000-plus alumni around the world. From day one, SMU Cox MBA students join this community—a highly connected, active, and engaged group of students, alumni, and corporate partners that extend across the Dallas business community and beyond.”
What are you most excited about when it comes to the future of SMU Cox?
“The future of SMU Cox is bright and exciting. The Cox School is refreshing the curriculum, and infusing new elective courses into the MBA program to reflect the evolving needs of businesses today. Plus, we’re located in the heart of Dallas, a city on the rise! In fact, Forbes ranked Dallas the #1 best big city for jobs two years in a row.”
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Real Humans of the SMU Cox School of Business
What parts of the MBA program should more students know about before starting their graduate school career?
“Each year, applicants impress us with the high level of research they do on their own. Here are a few things we encourage students consider when searching for the right program fit.
- Research the curriculum: Is it flexible, customizable? SMU Cox offers four different paths to the MBA. Whether you pursue the degree as a full-time student or a part-time student, you have the flexibility to customize the coursework and choose electives to meet your needs.
- Explore experiential learning opportunities: There are incredible opportunities to gain technical knowledge and hands-on experience both inside and outside the classroom. At SMU Cox, all our MBAs have an opportunity to gain international business perspective through our Global Programs.
- Identify companies or industries where you have an interest in working: Research your target business school’s alumni presence and recruiting relationships with those companies. At SMU Cox, we have over 100 corporate partners and hiring companies actively engaged with our students.”
What do you think is the most important part of the pre-admissions process?
“A few things can really help a candidate stand out during the application process. At SMU Cox, we look for students who have demonstrated a drive for impact, both personally, and professionally. So, when building your application, take the time to sharpen your resume, and highlight quantifiable achievements. Leverage the essays to showcase your personality and motivations for pursuing the MBA. And finally, let us get to know you! Whether you join us at an information session, a coffee-chat, or simply set-up time to meet one-on-one with a member of our Admissions team, we’d like to get to know you personally.”
What is your favorite part of the SMU campus?
“One of the best aspects of our beautiful, tree-lined campus is its proximity to downtown Dallas. Our campus is located just miles from corporate headquarters, a flourishing art and museum district, a world-class sports arena that houses our local NBA and NHL teams, acres of outdoor parks and trails, and sits walking distance from both locally-owned and nationally acclaimed restaurants.”
The Professional Grounds Management Society has previously awarded SMU the prestigious Grand Award for its picturesque campus / Photo via smu.edu
Click here for more information on admissions at the SMU Cox School of Business.
Toronto Playoff Success Is Good For Business, and More – Toronto News
Playoff Fever for Leafs, Raptors Fans – CityNews Toronto
With the NBA and NHL playoffs about to begin, Schulich School of Business sports marketing professor Nitish Bissonauth talked about the underlying financial positives of repeated playoff appearances. Which is pretty good news for the Toronto Raptors and Maple Leafs.
Watch the video below, via CityNews Toronto.
Golf and Tennis Executive Raises His Game After Earning MBA – The Globe & Mail
David Main, the general manager at the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club, has held senior management positions at various Ontario golf and tennis clubs for the past 10 years. He credits his MBA education from Western University Canada’s Ivey Business School with giving him the tools he needed to thrive in this field. Due to Main’s use of his MBA education to pursue a career in the golf and tennis industry, The Globe And Mail featured him in its most recent addition to a series on graduates utilizing their MBAs in non-traditional fields.
“Mr. Main says he started his MBA at 34 and was part of a small group of students at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont., who were about 10 years older than the rest of the class. He felt comfortable enough in the room – and more comfortable than the year prior, when he took a few undergrad business classes to brush up on basic concepts alongside 18 and 19-year-olds—until he said what he did for a living.”
“‘I was the oddball,’ he admits. ‘We’re going around the room and introducing ourselves. And there were people in finance at TD [Toronto-Dominion Bank], working at KPMG, working with PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and I was like, ‘I’m a golf professional.'”
Read more about David Main’s trajectory here.
The Global Housing Crisis – CityLab
Richard Florida, the Rotman School of Management professor and director of cities, along with Benjamin Schneider, recently wrote with CityLab about how the housing crisis has moved beyond a regional issue into a truly global one.
“The global housing crisis reflects a fundamental paradox of contemporary capitalism. Cities around the world are more economically powerful and essential than ever. This creates tremendous demand for their land, leading to escalating housing costs and competition.
Meanwhile, housing has been financialized and turned into an investment vehicle, which has caused an oversupply of luxury housing and a lack of affordable housing in many cities across the world. The global housing crisis is defined by a chronic shortage of housing for the least advantaged, and in many cases, for the working and middle classes as well.”
The two also noted that the perceptions of the world’s most expensive cities to live is a bit misguided. “The world’s most unaffordable housing markets are not New York, London, and Los Angeles, or even San Francisco, but Hong Kong, Sydney, Vancouver, and Melbourne,” they write. “London, Toronto, and Brisbane are also high up the list. Housing is also terribly unaffordable in Tokyo, Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, Moscow, Paris, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Geneva, Rome, Milan, and Barcelona, according to other studies.”
A sweeping view of Villa 31, Buenos Aires / Photo via Natacha Pisarenko/AP
You can read more from Florida and Schneider here.
Barack Obama to Speak at 12th Annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference
It was announced earlier this week that former U.S. President Barack Obama will be among the honorary speakers at this year’s MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.
The 12th annual event arrives at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center February 23 and 24. Alongside Obama, the highly publicized conference will feature some of the biggest names in the sports industry, including: former Microsoft CEO and Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred, National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman, National Basketball League commissioner Adam Silver, former professional athletes like Steve Nash and Alex Rodriguez, and Seattle Storm point guard and U.S. Olympian Sue Bird, among others.
Co-founded by MIT Sloan School of Management MBA graduate Daryl Morey, the current general manager of the Houston Rockets, and Kraft Analytics Group CEO Jessica Gelman in 2006, the annual conference has transformed into one of the most formative sports business events in the world. Since its inception, the event has spawned and popularized numerous movements in the industry, including basketball’s strategic revolution (they call it MoreyBall for a reason).
During his tenure in the White House, Obama’s sports fandom became a much-publicized part of his public persona, appearing on ESPN throughout his two terms to discuss the NCAA tournament, college football playoffs, and more.
.@BarackObama, the 44th President of the United States, will speak at @SloanSportsConf February 23. We are pleased to welcome President Barack Obama, a well-known sports fan. Visit https://t.co/2E9wO8Qo5K for more details #SSAC18 #analyzethis
— Sloan Sports Conf. (@SloanSportsConf) January 6, 2018
Obama will be speaking on the first day of the conference, Friday, February 23. Alongside the notable speakers, the conference features career help seminars, a case competition, an in-depth multi-day look into esports, a hackathon, and much more.
The MIT Sloan Analytics Conference website reads:
“At our roots, we are about education and our goal is to provide more opportunities for sharing industry successes, to create forums to discuss the most challenging topics of the day, and to continue identifying new ideas. As a conference we are firmly committed to innovation. Each year, we have added new elements to push the larger analytics conversation forward. Recent years have seen advances from the Research Paper competition started in 2010 to the popular and successful Hack-A-Thon, the introduction of an esports room, doubling the number of Competitive Advantage talks, expansion of the Startup Tradeshow competition, and introduction of industry-specific workshops. Despite our past successes, we firmly believe that the best is yet to come.”
Find out more information about the event and register today.
Pepperdine Announces AEG Partnership, Offers New MBA
In an expansive new move, Pepperdine University has announced a partnership with Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) that will create classrooms in the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.
The home to the Los Angeles Lakers, Clippers, Sparks and Kings (which AEG has a 50 percent ownership stake in) will house new course programs that are directed to students pursuing careers in sports management.
“Internship programs, industry conferences and other educational events also will be created together,” writes Los Angeles Times reporter Rosanna Xia. “And Pepperdine will establish MBA opportunities for AEG employees interested in furthering their education.”
Jon Werbeck, vice president of AEG Global Partnerships spoke on the recent announcement, saying, “AEG will help Pepperdine build out a strategic, educational stronghold in the heart of Los Angeles’ preeminent downtown entertainment district, L.A. Live, while AEG will get a hand in sourcing, growing and supporting the next generation of sports and entertainment business professionals.”
“Pepperdine understood the vision and the mutual benefits to really build something special and unique that nobody has ever done in this capacity,” Werbeck says. “Cultivating educational opportunities is one of the ways we like to give back to the fans and neighborhoods that support us.”
“Working together, we are excited to develop this one-of-a-kind platform.”
Provost Rick Marrs also notes that through the new partnership, with courses officially beginning in 2017, the school is establishing certifications, masters and additional MBA programs. Guest lectures and an educational series focusing on business in the NHL are also said to be in the works.
Click here to read the entire Los Angeles Times article and check out our guide for Pepperdine’s Graziadio School of Management.
Daily Fantasy Sports Companies Continue Dodging Long Arm of the Law
Bill Doherty contributed a story to Lehigh University’s College of Business and Economics’ blog this week concerning a research paper by Lehigh Professor of Business Law Matthew Melone, who surveyed the legal grey area in which daily fantasy sports companies have increasingly come into conflict as their popularity surges.
Continue reading…
