Program aims to stand out with MLS club partnership

The seeds for the only soccer-specific sports management track in the U.S. were planted two decades before its launch, when a business school professor from Colorado began debating a friend in London about whether the Dallas Cowboys were worth more than Manchester United.

Over time, Eric Olson developed a greater appreciation for soccer, both as a sport and an enterprise. He began to visit the U.K., seeking out clubs that would open their doors to business research and case studies and eventually meeting with about a dozen of them.

When the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs launched an undergraduate program in sports management out of its business school in 2008, Olson took on the role of director. When students expressed interest in working in soccer, Olson steered them to internships at two English Premier League clubs with which he had developed connections: Everton and Sunderland.

UCCS student Kevin Gusinde was an intern with the Shamrock Rovers FC in Dublin. Photo by: COURTESY OF UCCS

Still, UCCS’s bridge to soccer remained a distant one until 2010, when Tim Hinchey took over as CMO of the nearby Colorado Rapids, who a year later named him president. Olson had gotten to know Hinchey when he was an executive with a second division English club, Derby County. When the two reconnected stateside, they soon realized that an alliance could benefit both the Rapids and the UCCS sports management program.

In 2015, UCCS and the Rapids announced the launch of an undergraduate soccer management track, which would create a ladder of experiential learning to augment students’ broader training in the classroom.

In their first two years, students get experience working in operations with local club and college teams. As juniors, they participate in a semester-long practicum with the Rapids, where they rotate through most departments of the organization. Seniors are eligible for internships with professional clubs in Europe, including the EPL.

Like a track that UCCS offers around the Olympic movement, the soccer track is something Olson hopes will distinguish the program from the more than 400 other U.S. colleges and universities that offer the degree.

“We have a lot of students who come in and want collegiate and professional sports, and we still do that,” Olson said. “Those are great. But almost every program in the country has those.

“There are way too many [sports management] programs out there. We wanted to offer something different.”

The popularity of the major was apparent from the outset at UCCS. Olson planned to cap entering classes at 43, but soon found himself turning away students with GPAs higher than 3.5. This year, sports management accepted about 70 new students, including 21 freshmen who chose the soccer track.

Specializations such as soccer and Olympic sports have become increasingly popular as students have become more aware of the limited opportunities and sales-oriented path that likely awaits them if they want to work for a pro team.

“Hardly any students come to us saying they want the Olympic movement because they’re not aware of it,” Olson said. “I tell them straight up that 90 percent of entry-level jobs are in telephone sales in professional sports. If you think you’re going to design the next Broncos logo or be the GM in two years, that’s not going to happen.”

Because the program is new, Olson can’t point to much of a track record. This is the first full-fledged year for the soccer track. About six students made soccer an emphasis in the last two years, he said, in essence transferring in from the broader sports management program so they could take the Rapids practicum and land an internship. Three of those landed jobs with MLS clubs, Olson said.

“It’s early on,” Olson said. “There’s no guarantee all of them will end up in soccer. But when you go over to England and intern with an EPL club, you come back and say I was with Everton or Sunderland, that’s going to get someone’s attention.

“We can’t guarantee a job. But your résumé is going to stand out.”