The Business of Sports 2012

“The Business of Sports,” is a comprehensive course in Sports Management offered through the Center for Managing Enterprise in Media Entertainment and Sports (MEMES) at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. Students are exposed to a wide-range of topics including Marketing, Law, Agents, Social Media, Finance,etc. as well as gain valuable professional experience through the program’s exciting internship offerings. Students will also take a course in Global Business as part of the overall program. The registration process is under-way for this year’s program which runs from June 25 – August 2, 2012. For specific registration information please check the links below and/or contact Assistant Director of the Center for MEMES, Kevin Weiner as indicated below:

The registration page for the UCLA Summer Courses can be found at: https://www.summer.ucla.edu/institutes/Register/institutes_register.cfm

For more information on our Summer programming they can visit: http://www.summer.ucla.edu/institutes/Management/overview.htm

Kevin Weiner

Assistant Director, MEMES Center

Phone: (310) 825-7211

kevin.weiner@anderson.ucla.edu

The 2011 Sports Business Program at UCLA’s MEMES Center & Anderson School of Management has drawn to a close. The final week saw San Francisco Giants’ Director of Social Media, Bryan Srabian do an interesting presentation via Skype on all things related to social media as it pertains to sport and Major League Baseball. MLB has likely been the slowest adopter on leveraging the power of social media to engage with its fans but this cautious approach is quickly changing. Several MLB teams now have full-time Social Media Directors like Mr. Srabian and more are certain to follow.

Randy Romberg, VP of Marketing & Advertising for Cleveland Golf also addressed our class this week and provide a solid overview of one of the major golf equipment brands in the industry. He spoke at length about Cleveland’s efforts to establish itself as a maker of premier golf equipment, some of their endorsement activities within the PGA and the process involved with recruiting potential athletes at the NCAA level. Randy certainly gave some interesting insight into an industry that we were not previously exposed to.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all of the wonderful Sports Industry Executives who took time out of their busy schedules to share their knowledge and experiences with this years class.  Our program would not be what it is without your efforts. We are very appreciative of your efforts as we look forward to 2012.

Our class had a fantastic day at Dodger Stadium on Saturday

UCLA Sports Business class with Matt Stairs of the Washington Nationals

for the latest experiential day in our program.We were treated to 3 great presentations by Dodger Executives;

VP Communication, Josh Rawitch,  Senior Director of Ticket Sales, David Siegel and Account Director Revenue Development, Schuyler Haverstein all  gave excellent presentations relating to everything from Marketing & PR to Ticket Sales and Sponsorship. Following the presentations we had the chance to go down to field level to meet Washington Nationals player Matt Stairs. Stairs is the All-time Major League Leader in Pinch-hit Home Runs(23) and teams played for(13) and trails only Larry Walker in career home runs by a Canadian born player in MLB history(265) . He also played a key role for the Philadelphia Phillies on their way to the 2008 World Championship. We were also treated to an entertaining game between the Dodgers and Nationals which the Dodgers won on a walk-off double by Rafael Furcal.

Special thank you to the Dodgers’ Zach Sperber for making this day happen!

Yesterday, the class heard from BaAM Productions’ President, Annemarie Roe, and Vice President, Christine Kerr.  Their company specializes in Event Development and Management, and has wowed many audiences with their excellent event deliveries, including the Mariners Hall of Fame, NHL Winter Classic, and the MLB Fan Fest.  BaAM is now working on the project that will bring the Pan American Games to Toronto.

With their “Yes We Can” psychology, BaAM appears to function via a proven holistic approach  to event development.  President Annemarie Roe has clearly infused the company with a passion to deliver the highest quality product, based upon the satisfaction of both their B2B clientele and the event audience.  Combining a top down approach (focused on fan experience) to event planning and a bottom up perspective within their office (figuring out unique event logistics), BaAM has repeatedly demonstrated their ability to lead even the most complex of event development processes.

Thanks to both BaAM executives for taking the time to introduce the class to a novel aspect of the sporting world.  After the fantastic presentation, several students expressed interest in learning more about the industry and potentially pursuing it as a career.

Saturday, the class will travel to Dodgers Stadium to see the Dodgers take on the Nationals, and also receive a tour of the stadium.

Yesterday, the class had the privilege of meeting Terry McIntyre, the current Director of Sports Marketing at USA Today. He maintains relationships with many of the world’s top sporting organizations. He has worked hard over the years to build the brand of USA Today’s sports section.

What was fun about Terry’s visit was how he involved the class in his presentation. It was a lot like an interactive lecture, he is a part-time professor at the University of New Mexico and you could tell he knew his way around a classroom. He talked a lot about how media drives sport, and how without it, we wouldn’t have the sports culture we have today.

Terry shed some light on what he calls “aggregate audience”, and how that’s what every team, league and show is after. They are looking to build as large an audience as possible, because this is where all the money comes from. For instance, the NFL gets $4 billion a year from TV contracts. Think about how much money that is, and the positive impact that has on the league as a whole.

Tomorrow we will be visited by BaAM President Annemarie Roe and Vice President, Christine Kerr.

Last Thursday the class heard from marketing guru Bill Curran of SPIN Branded Entertainment.  He instructed about some of the concepts of advertising and production of commercials.  The NHL’s newly launched marketing campaign was used an impressive example of one of SPIN’s products.  Combining thematic concepts from the Art of War by Sun Tzu, the campaign dramatically shows the story of a heroic NHL player, utilizing an intense warrior’s perspective to interest people in the NHL.  The case demonstrated marketing concepts such as re-purposing (using film multiple times), B-roll reals (clips sent out to the media), and product placement.  Mr. Curran presented a great introduction to the marketing and advertising industries.

With high profile projects and events that include  Major League Baseball’s All Star Fanfest, NHL Winter Classic, NHL Entry Draft, New York Mets Interactive Zone at Citi Field, and the 2011 Pan and Parapan American Games, BaAM Productions is design and services company that is a big player when it comes to developing major special events in the Professional Sports industry. As such, it will be fascinating to hear from both the company President, Annemarie Roe and Vice President, Christine Kerr during tomorrow’s class as they present their thoughts on event production and management and their impact on the fan experience at major sporting events.