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Sports snapshots at business schools

Harvard University
Location: Boston
Pro team count: 5
Connect: Business of Sports Club

Business school alums in the biz: Robert Kraft, owner, New England Patriots; Jonathan Kraft, president, New England Patriots; Steve Pagliuca, co-owner, Boston Celtics; Jeffrey Vinik, owner, Tampa Bay Lightning; Nicholas Horbaczewski, chief executive officer and founder, The Drone Racing League; Mark Tatum, deputy commissioner and chief operating officer, NBA; Malcolm Turner, president, NBA G League; Oliver “Chip” Brewer, president and chief executive officer, Callaway Golf; Scott O’Neil, chief executive officer, Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Devils and Prudential Center; Brian Rolapp, president and chief executive officer, NFL Network.

Harvard Business School, which along with Wharton sits atop U.S. News’ rankings, was the first of elite schools to offer sports business courses.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
The nation’s most prestigious B-school also was the first of the elite schools to open its door to sports, thanks to the work and interest of marketing professor Stephen Greyser, an avid sports fan who decided to apply his expertise to his favorite basketball team, writing a case study on the marketing of the Boston Celtics late in the 1970s. That led Greyser to develop and launch a business strategies for sports class that he still teaches today, though out of the Harvard Extension School. Greyser wrote often about the sports business, as another Harvard B-school professor, Anita Elberse, does today. Elberse also leads Harvard’s weeklong executive education program on the business of entertainment, media and sports. The school’s connections to the industry, nurtured by those professors and the networking activities of the HBS business of sports club, are both deep and wide.

University of Pennsylvania
Location: Philadelphia
Pro team count: 5
Connect: Wharton Sports Business Initiative

Business school alums in the biz: Josh Harris, managing owner, Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils; David Blitzer, co-managing partner, 76ers and Devils; Neil Glat, president, New York Jets; Joe Cohen, president, Sports at The Switch; Mark Taffet, president, Mark Taffet Media; Bill Schlough, senior vice president and CIO, San Francisco Giants; Peter Biché, CFO, Monumental Sports & Entertainment; Leah LaPlaca, vice president, espnW; Peter Johnson, former CEO, sports and entertainment, IMG; David Montgomery, chairman, Philadelphia Phillies.

As the only one of the top-10 ranked B-schools to formalize its ties to sports through a named center, Wharton holds a unique place on the educational landscape. Founded in 2008 thanks to a $5 million gift from alumni Julie Taffet Moelis and Kenneth Moelis, the Wharton Sports Business Initiative serves as a think tank to the sports industry. While its best-known connection to sports is through an executive education program that prepares pro athletes for post-retirement business careers, the Institute also fuels opportunities for B-school students interested in pursuing sports careers. There’s only one sports-related B-school course — sports management and negotiation — but that’s followed by a rich consulting class that attracts projects from leading sports properties. There’s also a steady flow of speakers and conferences and a sports business club that fosters networking with industry leaders and alumni. Wharton hosts two summer residential programs for high school students interested in the sports business: A monthlong Sports Business Academy and two-week Moneyball Academy, the latter of which focuses on analytics.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Location: Cambridge, Mass.
Pro team count: 5
Connect: MIT Sloan School of Management

Business school alums in the biz: Daryl Morey, general manager, Houston Rockets; Evan Wasch, senior vice president of basketball strategy and analytics, NBA; Jake Loos, director of basketball analytics and technology, Phoenix Suns; Jonathan Katz, director, corporate development, NFL; Allison Katz-Mayfield, director of club business development, NFL; Amy Huchthausen, commissioner, America East Conference.

The annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, one of the nation’s leading sports conferences, was co-founded in 2007 by Jessica Gelman, CEO of Kraft Analytics Group, and Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets and an MIT alum. It has grown from an on-campus conference room with fewer than 200 attendees to the much larger Boston Convention and Exhibition Center with over 3,500 attendees and a live webcast for people who cannot attend. In the MIT Sloan School of Management, business professionals can take part in the MIT Sloan Executive Education program, which offers an Analytics Management: Business Lessons from the Sports Data Revolution program, among others.

Stanford University
Location: Palo Alto, Calif.
Pro team count: 7
Connect: GSB Sports Management Club

Business school alums in the biz: Joe Lacob, owner, Golden State Warriors; John Abbamondi, executive vice president, Madison Square Garden; Amy Brooks, executive vice president, team marketing and business operations, NBA; Mike Golub, president of business operations, Portland Timbers; Dave Kaval, president, Oakland A’s; Thad Sheely, COO, Atlanta Hawks; Sam Hinkie, former president of basketball operations, Philadelphia 76ers.

Bill Walsh co-taught with Foster in 1999.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
Like the sports connections at many other top fight B-schools, Stanford’s has grown thanks to the interest of one of its professors, George Foster, who has taught at the university since 1978 and initiated its first sports class in 1999, when Foster convinced Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh to co-teach with him. Today, Foster teaches four graduate-level sports-related classes: Sports business investment, sports marketing, sports business management, and negotiation dynamics in sports, entertainment and media. That’s as many as are offered at some of the schools that offer a branded sports MBA. Thanks to Foster’s connections and the school’s location in a major sports market, the opportunities for guest speakers, internships and other work experience abound. An annual Sports Innovation Conference rounds out the opportunity to learn the business and connect to industry. Stanford also operates Sports Business Academy, a two-week residential program for high school students interested in an early introduction to sports business.

University of Michigan
Location:
Ann Arbor, Mich.
■ Pro team count: 0
Connect: Ross School of Business

Business school alums in the biz: Warde Manuel, athletic director, University of Michigan; Tom Garfinkel, president and CEO, Miami Dolphins; Rohan Oza, partner, CAVU Venture Partners, and former CMO across all still Coke brands; Howard Handler, CMO, Major League Soccer; John Shea, managing director, Teneo Sports; Justin Toman, senior director of sports marketing, PepsiCo; Jason Botterill, general manager, Buffalo Sabres; Bill Martin, former president, U.S. Olympic Committee, and former athletic director, University of Michigan; Mark Silverman, president, Big Ten Network.

The Michigan Sport Business Conference is a student-run event that features some of sports’ top business executives as speakers.
Photo: COURTESY OF MICHIGAN SPORTS BUSINESS CONFERENCE
In 2004, the University of Michigan’s business school was named for alumnus and current Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, who donated $100 million to the school. The Stephen M. Ross School of Business and the School of Kinesiology offers a sport management/BBA dual degree for students. Students can also earn an undergraduate and a Ph.D. in sport management from the School of Kinesiology. The university’s Sport Business Association has held the Michigan Sport Business Conference since 2012. It attracts more than 400 undergraduate students from Michigan and other universities, in addition to industry experts. Keynote speakers have included MLS Commissioner Don Garber and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert.

UCLA
Location: Los Angeles
Pro team count: 8
Connect: Anderson School of Management

Business school alums in the biz: Dan Beckerman, president and CEO, AEG; Thad Levine, senior vice president and general manager, Minnesota Twins; Francesco Aquilini, co-owner and chairman, Vancouver Canucks; David Nathanson, head of business operations, Fox Sports Media Group; Mitch Kupchak, former general manager, Los Angeles Lakers; David Sternberg, CEO, Rugby International Marketing; Andrew Campion, CFO, Nike.

The UCLA Anderson School of Management houses the Center for Management of Enterprise in Media, Entertainment and Sports, with industry leaders such as San Diego Padres former owner Jeff Moorad, Mandalay Entertainment CEO and Golden State Warriors co-owner Peter Guber and Excel Sports Management Senior Vice President Bill Sanders as part of the faculty. The annual Pulse Entertainment, Sports and Technology Conference brings together more than 400 MBA students, alumni and industry executives and has featured speakers including CBS Chairman Les Moonves, and Los Angeles Dodgers President and CEO Stan Kasten. The Game Day Sports Case Competition pairs B-school and law school students from across the country in three- to five-person teams, with an opportunity to compete for a $10,000 prize while analyzing, presenting and negotiating solutions to real-world business problems. An active sports business association hosts the usual speaker series and career nights, but also runs trips to Portland, San Francisco and San Diego.

University of North Carolina
Location: Chapel Hill, N.C.
Pro team count: 1
Connect: Kenan-Flagler Business School

Business school alums in the biz: Jeb Terry, vice president, partner and program development, Fox Sports; Erik Hardenbergh, chief of staff, Pac-12 Conference.

The Kenan-Flagler Business School took a step forward in the sports space last year with the launch of its Center of Sport Business, now best known for an annual basketball analytics conference that attracts prominent speakers from the sport in sessions that cover both on-court statistical analysis as well as business topics. The center also operates a “Shark Tank”-styled competition presented in partnership with the Wasserman Foundation, which invites students from UNC and other schools to pitch sports-related products to a panel of judges. Sport administration programs are housed outside the business school, in the College of Arts and Sciences.

University of Southern California
Location: Los Angeles
Pro team count: 8
Connect: Marshall School of Business

Business school alums in the biz: Tom Hicks, former owner, Dallas Stars, Texas Rangers and Liverpool FC; Larry Madden, CFO, Rose Bowl Operating Co.; Ed Desser, president, Desser Sports Media; Peter Clifford, president, NHRA.

USC’s Marshall School of Business was the first of the upper-tier B-schools to fund a research center dedicated to the industry when it launched the Sports Business Institute in 2005, hiring oft-quoted consultant David Carter to head it. Though, as in most programs, students have only one elective, MBA-level sports class available, the school has a history of bringing in heavyweight speakers, most notably through its SBI Commissioners’ Series that has included Bud Selig, Gary Bettman, Adam Silver, Rob Manfred, Peter Ueberroth, Mark Emmert, Lorenzo Fertitta and John Skipper. Consulting project clients have included the UFC, AEG, Easton Sports and the Tiger Woods Foundation. The SBI also maintains Fields of Green, a website that offers sports business analysis. The Marshall Sports Business Organization leads trips, hosts panel discussions and mixers, and fields entries in case competitions.

Arizona State University
Location: Tempe, Ariz.
Pro team count: 4
Connect: W.P. Carey School of Business

Business school alums in the biz: Flavil Hampsten, executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer, San Jose Sharks; AJ Maestas, president, Navigate Research; Jason Sada, president, Axon Sports; Charles Rode, director of research, Genesco Sports Enterprises; Aaron LeValley, vice president of digital strategy and analytics, AEG Sports.

One of the full-time MBA concentrations within the W.P. Carey School of Business is in sports business. Also offered in the school is the Sports Business Scholars program for select undergraduate students. Glenn Wong serves as executive director of the Sports Law and Business Program at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. Former MLB Commissioner Bud Selig is a faculty member and founding president of the Sports Law and Business Advisory Board. Degrees offered in the program include: a Master of Sports Law and Business, a juris doctor focus in sports law and business, and a Master of Laws focus in sports law and business. The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication offers graduate and undergraduate degrees in sports journalism.

— Compiled by Bill King and Brandon McClung

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