UConn Students Attend Mark H. McCormack Sport Management Future Industry Leaders Conference

On February 21, 2015, seven UConn Sport Business Association members made their way to the University of Massachusetts Amherst to attend the Mark H. McCormack Sport Management Future Industry Leaders Conference (FILC), which focused on bridging the gap between sport management classroom learning and real world experience. Today, Javier Barragan (UConn ’15) shares his experiences attending the conference with the rest of the UConn Sport Management community:

My senior year spring semester, I finally met with the trio of UMass Amherst students I had been in contact with since fall semester junior year. Ronnell DeNegre, Brody Mankus and Tony Dombrowski, three students of the UMass Future Industry Leaders team, had been in contact with Theus McBee (’16), me and the rest of the UConn Sport Business Association as references for advice and feedback from an outside perspective as this was going to be its inaugural year. Through our numerous phone calls, e-mails and text messages, a working relationship of trust and reciprocity developed between UConn SBA and UMass, one that I hope to see continue moving forward.

In its inaugural year the event itself was put on very successfully. Through snowy Amherst roads, we arrived to catered breakfast snacks and a fraternity of sport industry minded students and professionals. After checking in our coats and brief networking, the event started with the keynote speaker, AEG’s Chuck Steedman. He stressed three major points: networking, following up and a strong work ethic – none were novel ideas, and all points that as a senior who has attended many conferences like UMass’s has heard before. That being said, I certainly understand why he stressed networking and following up: students do not do it enough. Steedman, an UMass Alum and former Director of Athletic Marketing at UConn, framed it as developing a relationship by checking in every few months. These words were then echoed verbatim in the next section by UMass Sport Management Lecturer Ryan Spalding in the next portion of the day. Following the keynote speech, roughly 100 students separated into five industry sections, where we were tasked with a case study focused on that particular industry segment. My industry segment, finance, was led by Spalding and Michael Moran, VP of Chaney Group Holdings, where they each discussed their past and parlayed it into disseminating knowledge onto each of the groups in the finance segment.

This section of the conference was the crux of it and the separator from other conferences. Each student had signed up weeks prior indicating what industry segment – Finance, Sales, Facility and Event Management, Athlete Representation, and Marketing – he or she was interested in. We were to be then placed in that section with other students whom had selected the same industry to then read, discuss and present a solution to a case study, all in about two hours. Throughout this portion I learned more about myself when it comes to working in a group and more about the sports finance industry (and facilities as there was some overlap), all while developing a foundation of networks with both my group members and finance industry representatives.

After all groups presented, there was an hour to network in the Isenberg Atrium followed by the “Young Guns” panel, a foursome of UMass Sport Management Alums who are a few years into their careers. They answered a few questions, such as best advice received, what they would change if they had a second chance at UMass, and the importance of mentors. Closing remarks followed as well as more networking.

Would I attend this event next year? Yes. For one, the opportunity to network with both people who can help me as well as people I can help is priceless. Though I do not know what tomorrow has in store for me, I am sure networks made at this event can provide fruitful contributions then. Additionally, there was definitely an educational aspect. I learned more about sport finance in terms of debt structure, time value of money, interests of debtors and lenders and general industry metrics. Setting the bar high, I commend Ronnell, Brody and Tony and the rest of the UMass FILC team for putting on this great event