Simply months earlier than being named because the world’s most beneficial sports activities franchise for a ninth consecutive 12 months by Forbes, the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys loved one other table-topping success within the extremely aggressive area of upper schooling.
The On-line Grasp of Enterprise Administration (MBA) Sport Leisure Administration programme the College of North Texas (UNT) developed in collaboration with the Cowboys was named because the No.1 on-line sport administration course in SportBusiness’ prestigious Postgraduate Course Rankings.
Whereas different sports activities organisations around the globe are aligned with MBA programmes, the mutual engagement between the Cowboys and UNT’s G. Brint Ryan School of Enterprise for its on-line and in-person, full-time programmes, is unusually highly effective.
The Cowboys interact with the programme in varied methods, together with:
- Taking part in at the very least two class initiatives per semester
- Internet hosting on-line college students for 3 bootcamps per 12 months
- Making certain staff executives participate in query and reply Zoom classes every semester.
“Moreover, the Cowboys take UNT college students on as interns, present visitor lectures, and present up for different pupil initiatives, akin to pupil teams,” mentioned Bob Heere, director of the MBA Sport Leisure Administration applications at UNT’s G. Brint Ryan School of Enterprise.
A curriculum constructed for the enterprise of sport
The MBA Sport Leisure Administration (SENM) programme was based in 2018 with the purpose of constructing a curriculum that might be centered on creating competency inside the most typical jobs in sports activities enterprise. The syllabus is due to this fact centered on areas akin to advertising and marketing, gross sales, occasion operations and analytics.
The net course consists of 12 MBA programs – six core and 6 that target the enterprise of sport. Core programs embrace Monetary Administration, Enterprise Planning and Organisational Behaviour and Evaluation. Sport Leisure Analytics, Company Partnerships within the Sport Leisure Trade and Sport Occasion and Venue Operations are among the many sport enterprise modules.
Offering networking alternatives
Whereas networking alternatives are plentiful for the full-time course on the UNT campus, that is usually one of many challenges of any on-line or remote-learning programme. With this in thoughts, UNT course leaders have tackled the problem head-on by internet hosting three skilled coaching bootcamps every year at both the Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium or the staff’s world headquarters in Frisco, Texas. Right here, college students additionally attend visitor lectures from industry-leading enterprise professionals inside the Cowboys organisation and project-based studying alternatives associated to the staff.
“By nature of on-line schooling, we’re not in a position to present the identical networking alternatives to our on-line MBA college students as our cohort MBA college students, as a result of they full the coursework itself in their very own time,” Heere mentioned. “The bootcamps tackle this shortcoming to some extent, as college students are ready to make use of these weekends to community.”
Engaged on main sports activities initiatives
In addition to the involvement of the Cowboys from the beginning, UNT has additionally cast hyperlinks with different main sports activities organisations because it seeks to actively construct a robust {industry} community to have interaction with college students on an ongoing foundation.
By the point a pupil graduates they are going to have compiled a portfolio of as much as seven initiatives with main organisations. Amongst 2024 graduates, accomplished initiatives included a model marketing campaign for Mexico with the Cowboys, a brand new sponsorship pitch deck for golf’s PGA of America and a FIFA World Cup occasion activation with retailer Genesco.
“Whereas engaged on these initiatives, they in all probability met 30 to 40 {industry} executives as a part of these courses,” Heere added.
“What makes our programme really distinctive is that we make a dedication to our college students that each sport focus course of their diploma programme is with an {industry} accomplice, for whom the scholars conduct semester lengthy initiatives.”
Instilling the fitting mindset in graduates
UNT’s SENM programme gives alternatives for these already established inside the sports activities {industry}, in addition to these trying to enter the sector. The total-time programme focuses on conventional college students, and a few profession switchers, who’re at the moment not in full-time employment and who’re typically nonetheless trying to discover avenues into the {industry}. Some 38 per cent of scholars over the past seven years have been feminine.
The extremely acclaimed on-line programme primarily appeals to working professionals, lots of whom are already employed within the sport sector. The course has additionally attracted others who work in finance, insurance coverage, gross sales, or highschool schooling who hope to both change right into a profession in sports activities or leverage the MBA diploma to get a promotion at their present employer. Of these to have accomplished the programme since its founding, 34 per cent had been feminine, whereas round 25-30 per cent of SENM graduates are black or Hispanic.
Some 90 per cent of full-time diploma graduates acquired a job provide on completion of the course, with 61 per cent working within the sport {industry} inside a 12 months of commencement. As for the net diploma, 59 per cent had been working within the sport {industry} inside a 12 months of commencement, whereas 70 per cent acquired a promotion or a brand new job provide after beginning the diploma.
“We at the moment have graduates working at each sport entity or staff within the Dallas-Fort Value space, and usually employers focus their reward on each their skilled manner and their experience,” mentioned Heere.
“A lot of our college students are hard-working first-generation college students, who prefer to roll up their sleeves and put within the work. That, mixed with our deal with competencies in a project-based curriculum, has made our programme a primary selection for a lot of sport organisations inside the area.”
FIFA World Cup alternatives
Trying forward, the programme is planning on collaborating extra carefully with sport know-how corporations within the Texas area. Course leaders are additionally in contact with FIFA World Cup 2026 organisers about potential alternatives for his or her college students. The Dallas-Fort Value space is internet hosting 9 FIFA World Cup 2026 matches – greater than anyplace else within the US – and can doubtless host the match’s media centre.
Heere added: “College students love their expertise of their programme, evidenced by our lively alumni affiliation, and their willingness to work together with present college students within the totally different courses, or at our occasions.
“The 2 issues they most frequently consult with are the initiatives they accomplished whereas within the programme, and the networking alternatives we offered them with.”
To seek out out extra details about the course, head right here.
