An All-Star Career

Image

We all know what winning means in the game, but what’s a homerun look like on the management side of sports? Co-authoring state law in Texas? Working with the Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade? Or Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr.? Professor Daniel Rascher, Academic Director of the MS in Sport Management, can lay claim to all of the above — and more. Rascher’s lifetime of achievements was recently recognized by the Applied Sport Management Association (ASMA) at their 2019 conference in Nashville, Tennessee where he was awarded the Scholar Lifetime Achievement Award and gave a keynote speech.

The ASMA is focused on building “strong connections between scholars studying sport and practitioners working in the sport industry.” Rascher was chosen for the 2019 award for his work applying economics and financial analysis to the sports industry. “Previous recipients have impacted the sports industry significantly, so joining that list is humbling,” said Rascher. “I think it shows that positively impacting industry from a foundation of academia is beneficial and recognizes my role in bridging that gap.”

His most significant contributions have been on the economics of college sports, writing thousands of pages of testimony, giving depositions, and even testifying in two federal trials. The results include $200 million in financial payments to athletes from the NCAA, as well as increased scholarships for thousands of college athletes.

Rascher brings his wealth of knowledge and experience to bear in the USF classroom, teaching courses on sports economics and finance or directed research. But whether he’s teaching, taking advantage of the program’s San Francisco and Orange County locations to connect with other industry professionals, or working on a lawsuit with a social justice angle, Rascher says “USF’s mission keeps me focused.”