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Howdy, Oregon MBA blog. My name is Jacob Rosen and I’m a first-year in the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center program. While many of my new classmates here in Eugene know me as a loudly proud Ohioan and non-stop sports blogger, many recognize me most as the MBA class of 2016’s token math guy.
I majored in applied mathematical economics with minors in Spanish and business administration during my undergrad at the University of Dayton. I selected Dayton similarly to how I picked Oregon – both schools had attractive existing programs in niche subjects and the schools’ warmhearted communities won me over on my first visits. No one in my family had ever attended a Catholic university or moved out to the Pacific Northwest. But both schools felt like home immediately.
In regards to math, I was always data friendly as a kid. When I was 15 years old, I created my own mock-up of college football’s Bowl Championship Series ranking. I created similar rankings for baseball and basketball and began blogging regularly by the time I was 17. Regardless of my major, I probably still would’ve ended up involved in the sports analytics blogging community and I always thought an MBA was a good fit.
But majoring in mathematics opened doors to me in ways most traditional majors might not. From a young age, I always had wanted to work in sports, whether in sports business, player personnel or sports journalism. But the advice I had gotten – prove your competitive advantage in whatever way possible and stay away from a sports journalism-centric approach – fit right in line with going the math route. A math degree is very, very sexy in this field. Just think of Moneyball.
Best major to get a job in sports is NOT sports management. Study marketing, math, etc. and join #sportsbiz club for opportunities.
— SportsAnalytics Blog (@SAnalyticsBlog) December 19, 2013
And that sex appeal is certainly not just true in sports. It’s very, very true in all realms of business. Look at any relevant study – PayScale, Inc. and Georgetown University have two good data sets – and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) majors always are at the top of the career earnings list. And that’s with over 70 percent of STEM majors working in non-STEM fields.
Again, I wasn’t the best at math in my undergrad. Econ and business courses came much easier for me. Some of those math classes, such as linear algebra and discrete mathematics, were harder than anything I’ve had in my life. I struggled for the first time in my academic career. The subjects pushed me further and further. They made me more comfortable with challenging problems and critical thinking. They are making the first term of my MBA much easier for me.
The point of studying math is that employers in every field are looking for young people who can analyze data and think on their feet. There’s a reason why the Wall Street Journal recently said a master’s in data analytics might be as hot as an MBA. Big Data is the future of business. A math major – or at least several courses in math – can be the differentiation point to lift your resume to the top of the pile.
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Along with seven other MBAs from the University of Oregon’s Warsaw Sports Marketing Center, I attended the 2014 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston this past week.
2000 sports nerds gathered over the two days to listen to some incredible speakers, including former NBA coach Phil Jackson, author Malcolm Gladwell, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, and a number of other respected and powerful people from the sports industry (GMs, network executives, coaches, athletes, authors, reporters, and more). The trip also featured some great seafood, cold weather, and a memorable experience at Fenway Park.
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On March 2nd and 3rd, a group of Warsaw students, myself included, had the privilege of attending the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston. In November, we started planning our trip to the conference in hopes of taking advantage of both the information presented at the panels and also the networking opportunities that could result from so many leaders of the sports industry being in one place at one time. After talking with Paul, we decided that we would make the sacrifices to attend the conference in the middle of the term and booked our flights.
We left on Thursday morning out of PDX and arrived in Boston in the late afternoon. After checking into the hotel, we decided to walk around the city and find some place to eat. Dinner ended up being at Parish Cafe; this was by far the best meal of the trip and got us started off right in Boston. After that we did some more sight-seeing before we went back to the hotel to get some rest before the two-day conference began.
For those who don’t know what the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference is, check out this short video from the series “Numbers Never Lie”:
The conference had high attendance this year with a mix of students and professionals. Day one was a full slate. With sessions like “Business of Sports: Winning Off the Field,” “Brand Equity: Valuing Sports Sponsorships,” and “Competitive Advantage: Sports Business Analytics” headlining my schedule, I knew it was going to be an enlightening day. If you would like to watch videos from this year’s conference, visit this link.
I would say the highlight of day one for me was the Sports Business Analytics panel which had representatives from NBA TeamBO, the NFL, the MLB, and Ticketmaster.Valerie Camillo from the NBA gave an interesting presentation sponsorship analytics which will undoubtedly help me in our upcoming sports sponsorship course. She detailed the techniques the NBA uses and shares across teams to measure sales bench marking, sponsorship measurement, and seven-figure deal analysis. One of the most interesting practices they encourage teams to employ is shortening mid-court signs in order to place signs at the ends of the bench. These signs are on television broadcasts much more than center court signs and therefore are able to raise more sales revenue. We were able to see this technique when we attended the Celtics vs Nets game after the conference Friday night. We were in the last row, but it was still a good view, and as a basketball fanatic, I relished the opportunity to be in the TD Garden.
After a great first day, the second day would prove to be just as educational. The sessions I attended included “Ticketing Analytics,” “Franchises in Transition,” the MBA case competition, “Fanalytics” and the live interview with Mark Cuban. Each session proved to be extremely beneficial and served as great opportunities to hear from leaders in sports and broadcasting such as John Walsh, John Skipper, Nathan Hubbard (CEO Ticketmaster), Jonathan Kraft, Adam Silver, Gary Bettman, Scott Boras, and Daryl Morey.
The group learned a lot about the evolution of sports and there were some key themes. First was the importance of social media, specifically Twitter. The conference was practically ran through Twitter and all questions had to be submitted through the social media tool in order to be answered. These questions would then be displayed in the conference on huge screens; I’m proud to say that the #Warsaw contingent was featured often on the board. All of the panelists stressed the importance of Twitter on both driving traffic to broadcasts and increasing ticket sales.
The second big theme was the difficulty and importance of pricing of tickets. Whether teams and organizations preferred variable or dynamic pricing, each stressed the critical need for efficient pricing mechanisms. There were differing points of view regarding secondary ticket markets such as StubHub, but in the end, Nathan Hubbard from Ticketmaster summed it up best by saying “these secondary markets exist because we are not good at pricing.” Ticket pricing was such a focal point that the MBA case competition, sponsored by the NFL, was based around developing an economic model for deciding on the proper allocation of club and general admission seats in addition to deciding on the optimal pricing structure. The University of Chicago Booth School of Business ended up taking home first prize this year. Although it was well-deserved, we all felt as though we definitely need to compete next year and represent Warsaw in this competition.
The last takeaway was the importance of fan interaction. The “Franchises in Transition” panel turned into a discussion on how important the fans are to sports franchises and how each franchise can reward fans for their allegiance and investment in the team. Brian Burke, President and GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs, was originally scheduled to be in this panel but fired his coach Friday night and had to cancel. He was replaced by Drew Carey, owner of the Seattle Sounders in the MLS. I don’t think any of us thought that Drew Carey would be so knowledgeable about sports and so radical in his approach. He really takes fan engagement to a new level and allows season ticket holders to vote out the GM of the Sounders every four years. I encourage you to watch the attached video of this panel if you have any interest in fan engagement; it was truly one of the better panels of the conference.
All in all, the conference was a great experience and we all really appreciated all of the help Paul Swangard provided to help us get there. Attending conferences is a privilege and I am thankful that a group from Warsaw was able to attend one of the biggest conferences in the industry. But I don’t think anyone was as happy as Gary Wang was when he got to speak with his idol, Daryl Morey, the GM of the Houston Rockets!
The conference was everything I wanted it to be and I learned what I can do next year to make it better: set up networking meetings in advances. There were some opportunities to speak with panelists, but I think it would be better to find people who are attending ahead of time and plan meetings. Personally, I cannot wait until next year, not only to hear the newest developments in sports but also to hopefully compete in the MBA competition. Until then, I will have to settle for attending classes at the leading sports marketing program in the country; this truly is a great program.
-Matt Van Wyen