A Message from Dr. Jeffrey James Chair, Department of Sport Management

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1 A Message from Dr. Jeffrey James Chair, Department of Sport Management January 2017 the start of a new year and a new semester. The Spring term has started, though it is not quite springtime yet in Tallahassee. Winter in Tallahassee though, is much preferred, at least by me, to winter in other parts of the United States. We will suffer through with daytime highs only in the low 70s. Contents: An Interview with Nindiya Tiwari... 2 Atkins Big Apple Ambitions... 3 Sport Management Conference New Faculty Profile: Dr. Hanhan Xue... 5 Global Sport Management... 6 We started on a very busy note this spring. Dr. Pappas and I supervised 15 students from the Sport Management Student Association who worked at the College Football Playoff National Championship game in Tampa, Florida. The students worked on Sunday before the game some helping with a concert the evening before the big game, and some helping with the set up of the pre-game tailgate activities that took place on Monday before the game. On game day, a group worked with the media operations all day Graduate Profile: Hayley Mercado... 7 Growth and Experience with the Sport Management Student Association... 8 SM on SM... 9 and night, through the post-game press conference. Others worked the tailgate event and then had the opportunity to watch the game from seats inside the stadium. There was a lot of work and not a lot of sleep, but a very good experience for the students. We are very pleased to announce three new annual scholarships that will be available to students. The first will provide $2,500 to support a student participating in the Global Sport Management program. A second scholarship will be offered to support undergraduate students participating in an unpaid internship; a student will have the opportunity to be awarded $2,500 to help with their internship experience. The third scholarship will be awarded to an active member of the Sport Management Student Association (SMSA) in the amount of $2,500. The application criteria are being developed and will be posted for students who may then begin applying. We are very pleased to be able to provide this additional support to the students. It is a pleasure to announce that a new faculty member will join the department in August Dennis Nobles will be moving to a full-time position as a specialized faculty member. Dennis will be taking on the role of Undergraduate Academic Advisor and will also be teaching courses. Dennis has been teaching part-time for us for many years. With the increasing demand for advisement, a position was approved that will allow us to have a full-time advisor in the department. We are looking forward to having Dennis with us full-time starting in August. The faculty, staff, and students have a busy semester ahead as usual. Classes are under way and plans are being made for doctoral students and faculty members to participate in a doctoral symposium with students from four other universities. The students in the SMSA will be participating in spring service projects, students in various classes continue to work in the community as part of the service learning program, and in late spring, faculty members and students will be participating in the annual conference for the North American Society for Sport Management in Denver, Colorado. We are looking forward to a fantastic semester. Thank you as always for your support of the students, staff, and faculty members in the Department of Sport Management. Have a wonderful spring! 1

2 An Interview with Nindiya Tiwari Chelsea Whalen (M.S. student) During the 2016 Sport Management Conference, I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Ms. Nindiya Tiwari. We connected instantly over the process of being international students who desired to work in the sporting industry in the United States. Tiwari grew up in India, completing her Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering at the National Institute of Technology in Rapuir. She said that most people study to become doctors or engineers, but during her undergraduate degree, she discovered this was not what she wanted. Tiwari knew from high school that her passion was in sport but that there was no program offered in that field. After researching different programs in the United States, she decided to come to Florida State University where she graduated in 2015 with her master s degree in Sport Management. Throughout her time at Florida State, Tiwari interned at both the ticket office and as a graduate assistant at Florida A&M University, where she explored different aspects of the field and discovered which one she wanted to pursue. During the final year of her degree, she interned at ESPN s Wide World of Sports at Disney where she assisted in the events budgeting, developing marketing and sales plans, as well as data analysis and business reports for the ESPN facilities. Data analytics was where she found her niche in sport marketing and decided she wanted to find a job that best suited these interests. Tiwari is currently working as the Facility Analyst at Spurs Sports and Entertainment in San Antonio, Texas. This position was created for her because they were impressed by her ability to think analytically and handle adversity. It is here that she faces new and exciting challenges and works with data and facility analytics. She is also the first international employee the company has hired; she hopes she can help pave the way for other international students trying to break into this field. Her biggest piece of advice is: Constantly be looking for opportunities to expand your resume and even if there is a job you may not necessarily meet the qualifications for, apply anyway. She also stated how important networking can be and she spoke very highly of the department staff here at FSU and how they helped her get her start in the sporting industry. 2

3 Atkins s Big Apple Ambitions Jeremey Smith (B.S. student) When Taylor Atkins (B.S. 12) was in her final semester at Florida State University, she had one goal: get to New York City. I didn t have anything lined up after graduation, but I knew I wanted to be in New York City after my time with the Yankees, said Atkins. She spent the summer of 2012 with the Bronx Bombers as a Media Relations Intern. That experience prompted her interest in the world s number one media market, and she knew that if I can make it in sport in NYC, I can make it anywhere. Prior to that summer, Atkins had a plethora of great opportunities while in Tallahassee. She worked as a Garnet and Gold Guide, hosting potential student athletes and their families while on recruiting visits. Additionally, she worked as a Seminole Boosters intern for the entirety of her undergraduate career. In this capacity, she coordinated weekly call-in shows with Coaches Jimbo Fisher and Leonard Hamilton, as well as promoted the efforts of the organization at many different functions. If there was one area she wished she pursued more while at Florida State, it would be sales, but as fate would have it, this experience was right around the corner. Following her internship with the Yankees, Atkins was approached by a colleague in the fashion industry to work in the sport licensing business. This began her time at Concept One Accessories, where she sold items such as luggage that were officially licensed by different sport organizations. One of the key parts of her job was attending trade shows to sell the company s products. One of the bi-products of these shows, and arguably the most important concept taught in the sport management department networking led to her current opportunity. It was at a trade show that she was approached by Logo Brands, a company out of Nashville, to serve as an Account Executive. In this capacity, she coordinates 25 outside representatives (who are responsible for two states each) and assists them in reaching their quotas selling officially licensed outdoors equipment. When asked what advice she would give to students, without hesitation she pointed to perseverance: You may see a job offering and think that you don t have the skills necessary to do the job. Don t let that scare you from applying, because you probably have the skills and talent, you just need the chance to use it. Employers notice this as well. She went on to explain that networking is of the utmost importance and it may not be specifically in sport, as her work in the fashion industry proved. Don t be afraid. I moved to New York with nothing lined up, but I was going to keep applying and working until I got where I wanted. Don t live with the what-ifs because you will never know if you ll make it or not. This advice has served her well, as she has most certainly made it. 3

4 Sport Management Conference 2016 Breuna Bsishop (M.S. Student) The Florida State University Department of Sport Management hosted the 18th annual Sport Management Conference at FSU s Student Services Building September The event was designed to prepare students for a career in the sport industry by offering networking and other job experience opportunities. This year s event built upon the success of previous conferences with over 400 registered attendees. Sport professionals from across the nation discussed current technologies and themes catering to the sport industry, including management, marketing strategies, media productions, and statistical analysis to ensure that guests of the field would benefit from relevant and current practices. This year s conference welcomed Bill Guertin, Mia Hall, Jaryd Wilson, Jay Feaster, and Stephanie Loncarich, as well as a panel of FSU Sport Management graduates (Julia Gomez, Ethan Ellzey and Nindiya Tiwari) to share their personal experiences as some of the leading sport managers in the county. Topics of National Hockey League championship team management, sport media broadcasting, and critical marketing strategies gave the listeners an inside look at day-to-day challenges and goals. Students were given the opportunity to engage one-on-one with each speaker and give their own insight on their scope of the sporting industry as well as individual aspirations. The annual internship fair boasted over 40 representatives offering a variety of opportunities, such as internships to full-time positions. These representatives included renowned teams like the Orlando Magic, Minor League Baseball and Tampa Bay Buccaneers as well as local organizations like Seminole Sport Marketing, Big Bend, and TCC Athletics, who networked with students with all walks of skill sets and interests. A new addition to this year s conference was the development of a mobile app to aid in strengthening the connection between attendees and industry professionals. It allowed individuals to record speakers and take notes, and listed schedule proceedings and vendor lists. The app also enabled feedback from our current students. Highlights from the commentary expressed appreciation for the hands-on interactions with speakers and internship vendors as well as the structure and organization of the event. Assistant Professors Jason Pappas and Katie Flanagan worked tirelessly to represent the department on a national stage. According to Pappas, The speakers and internship fair were very applicable to our students in helping them understand some of the qualities one must possess in order to be successful in the sport industry. Students were offered the opportunity to obtain networking experience at the Internship Fair, gain knowledge of planning and facilities as conference volunteers, and hear motivational messages from sport industry professionals, said Flanagan. The deparment hopes to use this year s accomplishments as a benchmark to transition the event to a larger venue in the future. 4

5 New Faculty Profile: Dr. Hanhan Xue Leigh Andrew (M.S. Student) The fall semester of 2016 saw the Department of Sport Management welcome a new faculty member, Dr. Hanhan Xue. Xue is from Wuxi, China and received her undergraduate degree from Shanghai University in Sport in English, with a minor in Sport Journalism. She was an exceptional student as an undergraduate and received the Shanghai Municipal Government honor graduate award. She actively volunteered in various sporting events and venues, including the Shanghai Yuanshen Arena of Shanghai, the 2007 FIFA Women s World Cup, and the 2007 Summer Special Olympics. Most of the time, Xue likes to be a spectator, but she also has an interest in participating in intramural soccer games. Xue continued her passion for sport in Canada where she received her Ph.D. in Sport Management at University of Alberta. Her focus shifted from being a student leader to research and scholarly activities. I ve developed a great interest in understanding and exploring why and how sport organizations operate in a certain way. That s why I decided to pursue my career in sport management academia, said Xue. She worked closely with her advisor, Dr. Dan Mason, on stadium subsidy research and stakeholder theory. More specifically, she looked at who is involved in the policy decision-making process around using public funding for arena development and renovation and how those stakeholders exert influences over local policy makers. To conclude her Ph.D. program, she researched the NBA s penetration into the Chinese market for her dissertation. Her research examined the challenges and advantages the NBA confronts in the Chinese market and the stakeholder s relationship with local business companies, media, and government officials. Xue presented in the North American Society for Sport Management and European Association of Sport Management annual conferences. She also published in sport management journals such as European Sport Management Quarterly and Asia Pacific Journal of Sport and Social Science. It was not long after graduating from the University of Alberta in 2015 that she landed a position with Florida State University in the Sport Management department. When Xue arrived at Florida State in 2015, she worked with Dr. Joshua Newman as a post-doc fellow, engaging in different types of research projects, such as e-sports, as well as fulfilling teaching responsibilities to include teaching sport ethics and sport governance. In terms of the e-sports research, they are interested in looking at the industrial growth of e-sports as well as the development of e-sports tournaments and e-sports arenas. Xue also attended the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational held in Shanghai, China this past year. Everyone gets into it. The audience yells Go for it! It s a great atmosphere, she recalled. Xue accepted her full-time position as a faculty member for the Sport Management department starting in August The Department of Sport Management welcomes her and is excited for the immediate impact she will bring to the program. Her qualifications and vision for sport are other elements to add to this prestigious program. With an international perspective, dynamic experience, and passion, remarked Xue, I will be dedicated to bringing my enthusiasm in research and teaching as well as diverse cultural values to our program. 5

6 Global Sport Management Ian Escalante (M.S. student) Florida State University is home to some of the best global study abroad programs in the entire nation. With trips ranging from sprawling metropolitan old world cities in Europe and Asia, to beautiful tropical paradises in Latin America, the international programs office has something for everyone. That said, there is no program more dynamic, hands-on, and memorable than the Global Sport Management study abroad in London, England. It is a program that is filled with absolute care for the Sport Management major and sport enthusiast alike, all while remaining open and welcoming to all majors! From the start, students in the program are introduced to the wondrous city of London. Within 48 hours of landing at Heathrow airport, students will have already completed orientation and join their professors on a sightseeing tour of central London. They are able to see the incredible London landmarks lieke Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Queen s Palace, the Shard, and many more. And the fun has not even begun! When classes begin, most students report to classrooms for lecture and discussion, but for the Global Sport Management students, London itself is their classroom! Every day, students embark on a different, exciting journey alongside their professors. Meeting with top level executives from storied football (soccer) clubs such as Chelsea and Tottenham, touring historic sports grounds and museums, speaking to designers of some of the greatest stadiums in the world, being able to witness the Open Championship in person, and walking through the Olympic city are all part of the curriculum. Professors encourage students to partake in and absorb the culture around them, often accompanying students through new and historic parts of London. Every day is something new, and no London sports program would be complete without getting the chance to beat your professors and classmates at a game of cricket! Athletes beware, it is tougher than it looks! I had the opportunity to participate in this program, and it was one of, if not the best, experiences I have ever had in my life. Memories of walking and laughing in the streets of London, or climbing to the top of a mountain in Scotland with my fellow classmates (and professor!) will never leave me. And those were just memories that were a part of class. I have countless others made in the plentiful free time that the program allowed. We were rarely in the classroom, but I am still surprised at just how much I learned about the sports world and culture outside of the United States. After a month, I left London with a new cultural perspective and 14 new friends for life. I cannot begin to explain just how wonderful the Global Sports program at FSU is as a student. To any and all who are considering this program, take my word for it and do it. And to those who made our trip as possible professors, parents and staff alike thank you so much. It was worth every moment. 6

7 Graduate Profile: Hayley Uekcer Mercado Ally Quinney (Ph.D. student) When I asked Dr. Haylee Uecker Mercado what she s been up to since graduating from FSU s Sport Management doctoral program, her response was, A lot in a little! She wasn t kidding. Since completing her degree, Mercado has taken what she calls the road less travelled. She has been working at the University of South Carolina, where she is now up for tenure. Her research interests are diverse, spanning from environmental sustainability to cultural marketing. When she isn t teaching and researching, she is spending time with her family and practicing her photography skills. Mercado is a success story from the FSU Sport Management department. According to her, the FSU Sport Management department prepared her for a career in academia, crediting them with helping to mold her into a well-rounded scholar. Through taking different seminars in all of the cognate areas and learning the research, it opened my eyes up to different types of research and allowed me to integrate and create some synergy between disciplines, said Mercado. It gave me an amazing foundation that allowed me to springboard into my career. Seminars and mentorships were especially useful for Mercado. These helped develop who I am as a person, instructor, and professor in the long term, she stated. Additionally, the Sport Management department offers valuable networking opportunities. She recalls networking at conferences as a graduate student. It s kind of like playing catch with a major league pitcher, and you re in little league softball. Those foundational years prepared Mercado for a successful career in academia. She was named the 2015 Dean Harry Varney Teacher of the Year, has situated herself at the forefront of her research area, and is the only academic on the IAAM Sustainability Committee. 7

8 Growth and Experience with the Sport Management Student Association Stephen Sawayda (B.S. student) Looking back to when I was an incoming freshman at Florida State, I was seeking opportunities to engage with the sport industry and gain additional experiences while studying at FSU. Over the past three years, I have been very fortunate to be a part of the Sport Management Student Association (SMSA). My involvement with SMSA began on a Monday night in September. Feeling overwhelmed as I did not know many people at the meeting, my worries were put aside as I listened to the introduction given by Dr. Jason Pappas. Being the first faculty member I had met while at FSU, I instantly developed a connection with him. He spoke with passion, energy, and an evident love of sport. When explaining the impact of the organization, Pappas explained that getting involved with SMSA is not just about making a difference to your own life, but also to the lives of others - a message that he still shares with new and returning SMSA members to this day. It was this message that resonated with me, and lead to my continued and increased involvement. Throughout my sophomore year, I began to see my SMSA involvement lead to personal growth. I attended the meetings each week, volunteered at Market Wednesday and on weekends. This participation led to me being selected for my first ever networking trip to Jacksonville. I learned a lot of life lessons on that trip and met new people who turned into some really close friends. After that first trip, I ve been on every one since, but as Dr. Pappas would say, It s not about the trips themselves. While the trips are great, you must think about what you are going to do with the contacts you make and figure out how you re going to set yourself apart to get that first job in sport or that first internship. This is still the biggest message that I have taken to heart through my experiences with the organization. This past November saw the SMSA embark on their semesterly networking trip, on this occasion to Charlotte, North Carolina. The fourday experience included meetings with executives from the Carolina Panthers, the Charlotte Hornets, and a visit to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The group also had the opportunity to attend the New Orleans Saints vs. Panthers Thursday night football game and the Atlanta Hawks vs. Hornets game. While these sporting experiences were fantastic, the networking opportunities played an important part of the trip. Friday started with a visit and tour of Bank of America Stadium as well as a meeting with a number of executives from the Panthers organization. This was followed by a meeting with staff of the Hornets organization, concluding with the opportunity for a number of members to be interviewed by one of their executives. Personally, I had the opportunity to interview with the Senior Manager of Ticket Sales, Even Adonis. I relished this opportunity as it provided not only some interview experience, but also an opportunity to discuss my goals and career ambitions. While personal experiences are one benefit of being a member of SMSA, the organization has also seen significant growth over the past academic year. Participation has increased dramatically to 102 active members. I believe this shows the importance of, and is a testament to, the organization, Pappas work, and the Sport Management Department as a whole. The semesterly networking trips afford us the opportunity to engage with senior leaders in our field and develop lifelong friendships opportunities that I would not have had without being a member of SMSA. 8

9 SM on SM James Harwood (Ph.D student) Over the past 18 months, readers may have noticed the Department has begun to develop a new understanding of the phrases Like, Follow, and Hashtag, among many others. Yes, the Florida State Department of Sport Management has gone social! Through social media, the Department aims to keep prospective, current, and former students and staff updated with a number of activities and events, as well as opportunities to get involved with the Department. Our Facebook page (Florida State University Department of Sport Management) is the flagship of our social media activities. Through this site, our alumni can hear first-hand the experiences and thoughts of those students currently interning across the United States. As with any Sport Management program, the internship provides a vital component in professional development, as well as a route to gaining future employment in the industry. Students have attested to many positive aspects of their internship experience, including the importance on their personal growth, realization of a new career path, and the importance of helping others through sport. While internship updates provide a large portion of the content for this page, the past semester has seen updates from students engaging with service learning opportunities in the Tallahassee community, news from our faculty, information about the 18th annual Sport Management Conference, and reports from the annual Global Sport Management trip to London. In addition to this main Facebook page, the Department has a Facebook group (Florida State University Department of Sport Management). This provides current and prospective students with the opportunity to interact before their arrival in Tallahassee, as well as throughout the semester. LinkedIn (Florida State University Department of Sport Management Alumni) provides another forum, in this case for our alumni, to connect and interact. While in the early stages of its development, the Department hopes to bring alumni updates to this group and give our all of our alumni the opportunity to share their experiences, employment or internship opportunities, event and reunion invitations, and personal news. The Department would like to invite all of you to engage with us through our various outlets. If you have any content you would like to share with us, please do not hesitate to get in contact. Finally, remember #NolesKnowSport 9