Graduate students in Columbia's sports management program -- the only one in the Ivy League -- will spend a week studying at a highly acclaimed MBA-sports management program in Madrid later this month. Scott Rosner, director of Columbia’s master's program, said it has reached a multiyear partnership with Escuela Universitaria Real Madrid Universidad Europea, a joint venture between Real Madrid and Universidad Europea de Madrid. The sports management curriculum began in '06 with Real Madrid execs and the soccer club serving as a basis for study. Rosner said the week in Madrid will vastly improve the global reach and understanding of the soccer business for Columbia’s graduate students. Students from the Madrid program will return the visit to N.Y. in June. “Our goal is to mix the academic and the practical experiences,” Rosner said. “By having our students spend a part of their program time in and around a worldwide recognized business, like Real Madrid, as well as being able to bring their students to New York later in the spring, really encapsulates the kind of things we have started to do.”
