The Student Experience
The Sport Management Master's Program has been designed to provide an integrated student experience to a diverse group with wide-ranging professional responsibilities and interests. Each entering class of The Master's Program offers a richness in the multifaceted and complementary backgrounds of its students.
Students in The Master's Program come from a diverse background of undergraduate and professional experiences. Each class of approximately 35 students begins and completes The Master's Program as a "cohort" or learning community that functions as a support network.
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Professional Backgrounds
Students come to The Master's Program with a wide variety of professional and work experiences. While some students are currently employed in the sport industry, others come from professional or business backgrounds in other sectors. Included in the student mix are managers with professional sports teams, intercollegiate athletics programs, corporate marketing/sponsorship firms, fitness and health clubs, and corporate wellness and fitness programs. We also see coaches and administrators in youth and scholastic sports programs in The Master's Program. Other students bring professional backgrounds in financial management, law, marketing and sales, teaching, social service and other areas.
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A sample of Master's Project Topics submitted by students include:
- Rationalizing NBA Performance Statistics: Quantifying Winning Percentage, Offense and Defense
- Sponsor Placement in Televised Sporting Events
- Factors Influencing Sport-Specific Camp Enrollment
- Our National Obsession: An Examination of Sport, Nationalism and Globalization in South Australia
- Understanding Sport Philanthropic Partnerships: An Exploration of the Oakland Raiders Teaming Up with Toys For Tots
- Understanding the Sport Sponsorship Process: A Japanese Corporate Perspective
- Division I-A Athletic Directors' Perceptions of the Academic Component of the Champs/Life Skills Program
- Influences Contributing to Childhood Obesity in the Pacific Northwest
- MMA: The Ultimate Fighting Perception
- Do the Six Pro Teams in the Bay Area Compete for Fans?
- Membership Attraction and Retention Factors in the Contemporary Fitness Center
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The Internship Program is an important aspect of The Master's Program curriculum. Internships are set in a professional fieldwork setting that enable students to experience the basic concepts and principles of their career specialization. With the completion date targeted to the end of the third semester in residence, the Internship experience often provides a critical event in clarifying the student's professional goals. Often the student will find that the Internship experience helps provide an organizational context that may continue to be applied to The Master's Project during the last semester in residence.
The building of professional competencies and a network of contacts the student may draw on in the sports industry is a primary goal of the Internship experience. It is not uncommon that students enter into the Internship experience with high hopes of landing a job at the organization they are placed with. While the Internship does give students an inside look at organizational opportunities and a showcase for their talents, the Sport Management Program has designed the Internship Program with the long term best interests of the student in mind. Thus, our Internship experience encourages students to develop professional competencies that can be transferred from one organizational context to another and to use the professionals encountered at the organization as a resource for the building of a network of contacts that can facilitate professional growth beyond the Field Site Organization itself.
Students have earned internships with professional sports teams, collegiate athletic departments, community and collegiate recreational sports programs, public and private facilities, corporate wellness programs, private health and fitness clubs, sports marketing and consulting firms, and various amateur athletic organizations.
An assessment is made of the student's professional goals and qualifications during the first semester in residence. Generally, it is the goal of the Master's Program to have the student commence some aspect of the Internship experience during the second semester in residence so that it may be completed along with the coursework that is scheduled to be completed at the end of the third semester in residence.
The Sport Management Program maintains a Program Contact Database that facilitates a posting system for new internship or practica requests we receive from organizations within the sport industry. The Database System we have in place helps students identify organizations and people in the sports industry that may have internship opportunities and helps the Master's Program track students through their Internship experience.
The Internship placement is directed and evaluated by the Internship Class Professor, with supervision of an on-site professional. In a seminar setting of the Internship course, each student shares highlights from the Internship Analysis in an Oral Summary Presentation so that other students may benefit from the analysis of organizational issues in diverse contexts.
The sports industry supports our Internship Program by regularly providing opportunities for Sport Management students in their organizations. Major and minor league professional sports teams, large and small colleges and universities with intercollegiate and intramural athletics and recreation programs, private and public health and fitness clubs, golf and tennis clubs, corporate fitness and wellness programs, hospitals, public schools, amateur athletic organizations, youth sports camps, sport magazines and television production companies, sport marketing firms, sports attorneys, city agencies, and public service agencies have all made the internship connection with students in USF's Sport Management Program. Professional site supervisors at each organization provide direction and guidance to students during their internship. Over the course of their stay with the internship site organization, students in the Sport Management Program take on tasks that help build a network of professional contacts.
Students in the Sport Management Program at USF have earned internships with the following organizations:
2004 NBA All-Star Game
Advantage International
All Stars Helping Kids
Always Dream Foundation
American Heart Association
American Sports Institute
American Youth Soccer Organization
Anaheim Angels
Anaheim Ducks
Athens Olympic Committee
Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee
BRC Group
California Collegiate Athletic Association
California State University, Sacramento
City Sports Magazine
CliffBar
Dominican College
EA Sports
East-West Shrine Football Classic
Emerald Bowl
ESPN X Games
First Down Promotions
GMR Marketing
Golden State Warriors
Houston Texans
IMG
KNBR-680 Sports Radio
Koret Health and Recreation Center
KRON-TV
Latino Sports Marketing LLC
Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Kings
Los Angeles Lakers
Loyola Marymount University
Major League Soccer
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
NYC 2012 Olympic Committee
Nob Hill Athletic Club
Oakland Athletics Oakland Raiders
Octagon
Optimum Human Performance
Pac 10 Conference
Pacific Athletic Club
PowerBar
Presidio Adventure Racing
Pro Kennex
Sacramento Kings
Sacramento Monarchs
San Diego Chargers
San Francisco 49ers
San Francisco Bay Club
San Francisco Giants
San Francisco Tennis Club
San Jose Earthquakes
San Jose Sabercats
San Jose Sharks
San Jose State University
Santa Clara University
Scottish Claymores (NFL Europe)
Sonoma State University
Special Olympics
SportsBridge
Sports Club LA
Stanford University
St. Mary's College
Tiger Woods Foundation
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Los Angeles
University of San Diego
University of Southern California
U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials
U.S. Open Tennis Tournament
U.S. Sports Development
U.S. Tennis Association
U.S. Track and Field Association
West Coast Conference
World Cup Soccer
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Teams
Los Angeles Dodgers, Oakland A's, San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, Houston Astros, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers, Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Sacramento Monarchs, Anaheim Mighty Ducks, San Jose Sharks, San Jose Earthquakes, Los Angeles Galaxy, San Jose SaberCats
Leagues, Facilities, Ownership Groups
NFL, NFL Europe, NBA, WNBA, NHRA, Staples Center, HP Pavilion Arena, Phoenix International Raceway, Kroenke Sports Enterprises, Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment
College Athletics
Big West Conference, West Coast Conference, Pac-10, NAIA, USF, USC, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UC Davis, CSU-Los Angeles, CSU-Fullerton, CSU-Northridge, CSU-Bakersfield, CSU-Hayward, CSU-San Bernardino, Long Beach State, Sonoma State, Fresno State, San Diego State, Santa Clara, Loyola Marymount, Notre Dame, Arizona State, Tennessee, Minnesota, Ohio State, Colorado State, Northern Arizona, Pennsylvania, South Florida, York College, Marymount College, University of Chicago
Consultancies, Agencies, Councils/Commissions
Octagon, Ogilvy PR, IMG, GMR Marketing, Paragon Marketing, Hutt Sports Group, BRC Group, Sony, Nike, Nike-Japan, SportsMark, Global Sports & Entertainment, Premier Partnerships, Saatchi & Saatchi, Sharpe PR, Oakland Football Marketing Association, ADC Partners, The Sports Management Group, Goodwin Sports Management, Reich, Katz & Landis, BDA Sports Management, Billy Casper Golf Management, Southern California Golf Association, U.S. Professional Tennis Association, USOC, San Diego International Sports Council, Sacramento Sports Commission
Media, Manufacturers, Other Organizations
ESPN, FOX Sports, FOX Sports Net, Clear Channel (SFX), ESPN Videogames, EA Sports, Sega, MLB Advanced Media, CollegeSports Online, www.sportsline.com, X Games, Volvo Ocean Race, Harlem Globetrotters, Special Olympics, AYSO, Kristi Yamaguchi Foundation, Newport Sports Museum, Sports Club LA, Tiger Woods Foundation, Power Plate USA, Anderson Bat Company, California Skier, Mastercraft, Powerbar, Western Athletic Clubs
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