The Sports Info Business

Charles:

Hi! It has been sometime since we have connected.

I have enjoyed reading your blogs over the past few weeks on the business and management of sports. Keep up the fine work.

Best,

Bill Robertson
Vice President of Communciations & Broadcasting
Minnesota Sports & Entertainment

Hey Charles:

Really enjoy your blog posts and twitter comments.
Question: Have you done a report yet on Rice University’s Sports Mgmt. program ?
Please advise at your convenience.

Happy Holidays,

Will

Hi, I am a freshman at the University of Central Florida, and am currently a media intern with the Orlando Predators Arena football team. I know it is forward thinking, but could you give me a good (maybe 10 top) list of masters programs for sports management? I am trying to find a published list by an established website/company and have ran into some trouble. Thank you so much,
Chris

UC Berkeley’s recent elimination of popular sports programs highlighted endemic problems in the university’s management. Chancellor Robert Birgeneau’s eight-year fiscal track record is dismal indeed. He would like to blame the politicians in Sacramento, since they stopped giving him every dollar he has asked for, and the state legislators do share some responsibility for the financial crisis. But not in the sense he means.

A competent chancellor would have been on top of identifying inefficiencies in the system and then crafting a plan to fix them. Compentent oversight by the Board of Regents and the legislature would have required him to provide data on problems and on what steps he was taking to solve them. Instead, every year Birgeneau would request a budget increase, the regents would agree to it, and the legislature would provide. The hard questions were avoided by all concerned, and the problems just piled up….until there was no money left.

It’s not that Birgeneau was unaware that there were, in fact, waste and inefficiencies in the system. Faculty and staff have raised issues with senior management, but when they failed to see relevant action taken, they stopped. Finally, Birgeneau engaged some expensive ($3 million) consultants, Bain & Company, to tell him what he should have been able to find out from the bright, engaged people in his own organization.

From time to time, a whistleblower would bring some glaring problem to light, but the chancellor’s response was to dig in and defend rather than listen and act. Since UC has been exempted from most whistleblower lawsuits, there are ultimately no negative consequences for maintaining inefficiencies.

In short, there is plenty of blame to go around. But you never want a serious crisis to go to waste. An opportunity now exists for the UC president, Board of Regents, and California legislators to jolt UC Berkeley back to life, applying some simple check-and-balance management principles. Increasing the budget is not enough; transforming senior management is necessary. The faculty, students, staff, academic senate, Cal. alumni, and California taxpayers await the transformation.

Dear Buffy,

I only have an Associates Degree, but I have worked off and on in the Sports industry and have made significant contributions. I’ve worked in radio sales for the Houston Atros and the Houston Rockets about 4 years and then went on to develop my own advertising firm. I was hired by the Astros to develop the marketing campaign to get the bonds election passed for the stadium formerly known as Enron and have developed other promotions for them. However, no response from any team when I send them my resume. HELP!!!