 The
sports industry is enormous and fast-growing, with the
basketball audience in China alone larger than the entire
U.S. population. The new Smith Undergraduate Fellows Program
in Sports Management will introduce students to the business
issues and capabilities required to succeed in this complex
business arena.
This special academic program is part of the Smith
School’s Undergraduate Fellows Program, which allows
students to enroll in specialized coursework, and
participate in related action learning through internships
and co-curricular activities. Designed to deepen student
understanding and capabilities and to build community among
students, faculty and professionals, the Sports Management
Fellows program is a great fit for the Smith School’s large
cadre of student athletes as well as undergraduates who are
interested in sports industry.
What makes this program unique is its emphasis on the
multi-faceted business aspect of sports. Patricia Cleveland,
associate dean of undergraduate studies, says, “The Sport
Management Fellows Program builds on the already solid base
of our undergraduate business majors, providing in-depth,
specialized education about the business of sports. The
partnerships we are forming will provide executive speakers,
internships and other learning opportunities that will
enhance our students’ educational experience.”
Sports Management Fellows will take four courses in
addition to the regular Smith School curriculum, exploring
the worldwide enterprise of sports. The first course in the
program is a high-level introduction and overview of the
athletics enterprise, featuring executives from
intercollegiate and professional sports as well as the
ancillary services and products industry, such as apparel,
equipment and contract negotiations.
A major part of the course will feature Deborah A. Yow,
nationally-respected director of athletics at the University
of Maryland’s top-level NCAA Division I athletic program,
who has taught as a guest speaker at the Harvard School of
Law and in other prestigious academic and professional
settings. Yow will be actively involved in teaching the
first course in the program, accompanied by her senior
professional staff, who will cover various areas in the
management of intercollegiate athletics.
The executive course will be followed by intensive
specialized coursework in project/event management,
integrated marketing communications with emphasis on sports
and athletics, and culminating in an athletics-focused
section of the required business capstone course in policy
and strategy.
An impressive team of industry leaders is being assembled
to provide expert input to students. In addition to Yow, the
lineup includes Under Armour’s CEO Kevin Plank ’96, and Bill
Kraus, senior vice president of marketing, and Lew Strudler,
senior director of corporate marketing for Washington Sports
& Entertainment (WSE), which manages the Wizards, Capitals
and Mystics.
Internships will be offered with WSE, Under Armour and
the University of Maryland Athletics Department, which
offers paid 10-month post-baccalaureate internships in
operations, marketing and compliance for students pursuing
professional careers in intercollegiate athletics.
Phil Evers, faculty champion for the Sports Management
Fellows program and associate professor of logistics and
public policy, notes that this program has been received
with enthusiasm from the sports community. “People in
industry have been coming to us to get involved. There has
been very strong interest, because there is a great need for
people with solid business skills in the industry,” says
Evers.
The Sports Management Fellows program begins in spring
2008. Other new Fellows programs being offered in the
2007-08 academic year include Business Process Fellows,
Global Opportunities Fellows, Electronic Marketing Fellows,
and four Finance Fellows Programs—Emerging CFOs, Financial
Markets Fellows (with Reuters certification), Financial
Services Fellows, and the Lemma Senbet Fellows Investment
Fund. |
