Taylor McGillis, Stuff Writer
The Sport Business Program has partnered with the National Sports Forum to form a Sport Business Speaker Series for not only Sport Business students, but the entire Saint Leo community. The partnership will create an opportunity for all that are interested to listen and learn from some of the best professionals in the sport business world. Speakers will join the conferences either by way of video chat or live appearance in TECO Hall inside the Donald R. Tapia School of Business and will speak about their area of expertise in addition to answering any questions that students may have.
“The purpose of the National Sports Forum Sport Business Speaker Series at Saint Leo University is to bring sport business and marketing professionals to share their expertise, knowledge and experience with Saint Leo University students, faculty and staff,” Associate Professor of Sport Business Eric Schwarz said.
“By bringing these professional from around the country through the video conferencing capabilities in the Donald R. Tapia School of Business, we are able to expose our students to the real world of sport business management, expand their professional networks, and better prepare them for a career in the industry.”
The speaker series gives an opportunity to students trying to enter the sport business profession to hear from someone who has experience and is currently working in the industry that has become one of the largest in the world. The Sport Business Journal reported in 2008 that the sports industry is more than a $225 billion dollar industry—far more than twice the size of the U.S. auto industry and seven times the size of the movie industry. As large as the business is, it can be incredibly difficult for college students and recent graduates to break into. The Sport Business Speaker series provides insight into various avenues of the industry, and best practices for how to be successful.
The first speaker in the series, Brian Byrnes, the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the Oklahoma City Thunder, spoke to a crowd of around a hundred students on Aug. 29 for nearly two hours.
“The speaker series gives us real life experience from a professional in the industry,” said senior Sport Business student Joe Turer. “This industry is tough to break in to. So to be able to hear from someone of the caliber of Brian Byrnes, it helps you realize what you need to do as a student to be able to be prepared to work in the industry. Brian was very honest in his explanation of what he looks for in potential employees and his insight will surely help all students trying to get into the business.”
As of now, there are seven more speakers slated to speak to students over the course of the remaining portion of the school year. The next scheduled speaker is Kevin Rochlitz, Senior Vice President of National Partnerships and Sales for the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens. The video conference is scheduled for Sep. 24 at 6 p.m. in TECO Hall.
