Concordia's 工商经济学院 (SOBE) is rebranding and re-focusing its former sports management program as a 体育商业文学士，同时也推出了一个新的 体育商业MBA. 这些新项目将满足市场需求, producing more sophisticated leaders in the everchanging world of sports business. As it does, sports industry heavyweights are weighing in on the present landscape—and how Concordia’s updated program will help students.
利·斯坦伯格(Leigh Steinberg)是支持者之一, 也许是近年来最知名的体育经纪人, 也是1996年电影《菲律宾十大网赌网站》中主角的模特. Steinberg has represented 64 NFL first-round draft picks and eight number one overall draft selections, 比其他特工都要多.
“生活中的很多事情都归结为价值观, 如果你能灌输正确的价值观, 诚实的重要性, consistency, 忠诚，使之成为学生的标志, they will take those values into the society and the business world and be much more successful and effective and productive,斯坦伯格分享道。. “人们会想和他们做生意. 他们会相信自己的判断. 声誉就是一切, so [it’s about] convincing a group of young people that they have a long-term ability to have this as a profession, 但要考虑长期目标. 这些都是可教的品质，或可强调的品质. A program can set a moral-ethical compass for these students for some time to come.”
Steinberg knows of Concordia’s program because of his friendship with Concordia's director of sports business programs, Mark Francis他是新项目的负责人. They met 12 years ago when Francis began teaching sports business at UCLA.
“Mark is uniquely qualified as someone who has been very involved in sports marketing himself to bring real-life experience. 这不仅仅是理论, but there are practical skill sets that are learned: how to recruit or sell, 如何谈判, 如何维系客户关系?”斯坦伯格说. “我和他在很多不同的事情上合作过. For a period of time he came and worked with me before going back to academia. 我发现他很有创意，很周到. 我非常钦佩他的技术.”
准备好了解更多?
Connect with us today, and we’ll put you in touch with one of our admissions counselors.
从加拿大到社会
弗雷德里克顿人, New Brunswick, Canada, Francis coached men’s and women’s ice hockey at two very successful high school and college programs, 获得大会及全国金奖、银奖. An “executive mentorship” with the Los Angeles Kings hockey team brought him to L.A. in 2008, where he helped create grassroots marketing programs and special projects for the team, 同时也是冰球诊所的教练.
在一个偶然的时机, 他在媒体中心找到了一份教授体育商业的工作, Entertainment & 他是加州大学洛杉矶分校安德森管理学院的体育教授. He also coached UCLA’s American College Hockey Conference Men's club team for seven years.
“Both those things allowed me to get to know everybody in the athletics department at one of the number-one sports schools in the world,” Francis says.
之后，他在一家制作公司担任顾问, BaAM作品, 哪家公司为大型职业体育机构举办大型体育赛事, 包括NHL冬季精英赛, NHL全明星赛, MLB All-Star, 职业橄榄球名人堂, 玫瑰碗比赛, and more.
“All of that really got me interested in immersive fan experiences and what would draw people to go to stadiums instead of sitting at home with their big-screen TVs,” he says. “In L.A. 娱乐业的收入竞争非常激烈. 这里有12个主要的职业运动队, 但是呆在家里很容易，因为交通很糟糕. You have to provide experiences at stadiums that fans can’t get at home.”
In 2020, Concordia hired Francis as an instructor in what was then the undergraduate sports management emphasis, 现在更名为体育商业学位课程. 他的角色已经扩展为两个项目的项目主管 体育商业MBA and 本科体育商务 programs.
“The one thing I have always wanted to do was run a program like this,” says Francis. 康科迪亚给了我这个机会. I have always wanted to be an influencer in the industry to produce highly-ethical, 体育产业的合格领导者. 这让我可以这么做. 我们正在培养下一代体育主管. 道德和品格是其中的主要部分.”
乔治·赖特院长 says these two programs are additional examples of the SoBE’s commitment to serve Concordia students as well as the local, national, 以及国际商业团体. 他感谢名誉教授柯特·卡托, MBA主任德鲁·沃尔夫和项目主任马克·弗朗西斯, refreshing, and delivering these unique sports business programs that align with Concordia's mission statement and will serve sports business and all the related industries in an even more impactful manner.” Steinberg, 谁参加了他今年春天的第48次选秀, 同意并认为体育本质上是一项关系业务.
我们正在培养下一代体育主管. 道德和品格是其中的主要部分.
“At the end of the day, everything comes down to relationships with other people,斯坦伯格说. “性格、可靠性和信任是关键. 不管你是体育主管, 总经理, 代理人或记者, you’ll be dealing with the same people over and over again with an understanding that no one transaction is worth destroying the relationship.”
The world of sports now offers multiple employment opportunities—all of which operate on the same basic principles. “有人可以为团队工作, 联盟会议, 体育系, 十大正规赌平台平台品牌, 公共关系, 球员协会, 以内容, 电影, 纪录片——这个领域非常广泛,斯坦伯格说.
“Some students may end up working in entrepreneurial startups that don’t exist now. 关键是让他们具备技能，这样他们就可以以任何方式移动. … By garnering a basic skill set that focuses on work ethic and being focused on this moment, it can counteract some of the lack of focus that comes from obsession with social media and cell phones and the rest.”
Steinberg is a student of human psychology, which he calls perhaps the most important skill.
“[It’s] an understanding of why people are motivated to act the way they do, 并在这个过程中进行预测,” he says. 还有倾听技巧, 这是如何引出另一个人, to peel back the layers of the onion to reveal a person’s greatest anxiety, fears, 希望与梦想. 如果他们学会把自己放在别人的心里和思想里, 这样他们就有能力优雅地度过一生.”
Like Steinberg—who helps athletes set up charities and foundations after they retire from professional careers— Francis sees sports as “a great influencer in society,能够促进积极的变化.
“My students would tell you we spend a lot of time on current, real-life situations,” he says. “我们审查法律案件. 我教体育法律，体育金融，体育营销. 我们花了很多时间思考什么是对的，什么是错的.”
Concordia's undergraduate sports business major presently counts more than 50 students. Alums have received jobs and internship placements with the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings in the NBA, 多伦多和阿纳海姆的NHL, 圣地亚哥教士队和洛杉矶道奇队. Francis continues to teach UCLA students from all over the world each summer.
Steinberg’s counsel to students at Concordia and elsewhere is simple: “Be kind to your future self,斯坦伯格说. “Do those things in business practices and networking that may not come to fruition instantly.”
与Leigh一起观看播客