SDSU SMBA IV 'Year to Date'

Hey everyone!  Thanks for reading the new SDSU Sports MBA blog.  We've put this together in order to keep prospective applicants up to date with what's happening in the program as well as to share our experiences with our families and friend.  Briefly, to introduce myself, my name is Josh and, I'm a member of the current class of SDSU Sports MBA-ers.  Born and raised outside of Boston, I came to San Diego in January to take part in the program.  As a former college hockey player, I have a passion for the sports industry - and particularly the hockey industry.  Following the completion of our coursework in January, I hope to pursue a career in the hockey industry (in which capacity, I'm still deciding).  

I'll try, briefly, recap my past five months (has it really been that long?) here in Southern California as a student in the program.  I first arrived in San Diego during the middle of January to take part in the SDSU Sports MBA orientation.  At orientation, I was first introduced to the 41 other students with whom I would share my experience.  I first noticed the variety of ethnic, religious, educational, and geographic backgrounds that were represented by the current cohort of students. During the first few hours of orientation, I met students from Connecticut, Kansas, DC, Virginia, Massachusetts, Colorado, Arizona, Illinois, Louisiana, Oregon, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Brazil, India, Japan, and Germany.  While we are certainly a diverse group, as a group we possess a common passion for spo

rts and the sports industry. 

Over the course of the past five months, our class has been fortunate enough to participate in numerous events.  In such a short time, members our class has be en heavily involved in the Rugby 7's Tournament, the Cal. State Games, the ITF Fed Cup, ESPN Moto X World Championships, San Diego Hall of Champions, USGA US Open at Torrey Pines, Athlete's First Charity Gala,  ESPN X-Games, and the Rock n'  Roll Marathon, the Buick Invitational, Action Sports Networking,  - just to name a few of the events.  

We've also had the opportunity to meet many esteemed guests who have visited our class, including (the abbreviated list) Dennis Green, former head coach of the Minnesota Vikings; Anthony Dittman of the ESPN X-Games; Yuki Zeigler of Soccer United Marketing; Jeff Schemmel, Athletic Director at SDSU; and Troy Morrison of US Bank.  

Our class has also had the privilege of studying under visiting professors Scott Rosner of The Wharton School, and Rodney Fort of The University of Michigan.  Classes with professor Rosner, one the preeminent scholars of sports law and sports business, and Professor Fort, the "rock-star" (as dubbed by Professor Rosner) of the sports economics field, provided my classmates and I with the incredible opportunity to study under two of biggest names in the 

field.  

While a few paragraphs hardly does the past five months justice, hopefully I've been able to highlight a few of the exciting things happening in and around the SDSU Sports MBA program. Our current class-load includes a core Finance class that utilizes sports-themed cases to develop and hone our understanding of basic Financial principles and a Sports Marketing class, taught by Professor Nelson Gayton of UCLA's Anderson School of Business and the Wharton School at UPenn (and the founder of the Sports and Entertainment Media Management Institute).  

I hope to make at least one entry per week here to keep everyone informed of the latest SDSU Sports MBA happenings.  I've got to finish a PowerPoint for a case we're presenting tomorrow on the AMF Bowling Company in Finance.   I'll leave you with a few photos of me and my classmates.

Josh Green

SDSU Sports MBA IV

green5@rohan.sdsu.edu