Day in the Lives of SMBA Students Interning with OC Soccer Club
Sports MBA students interning with the Orange County Soccer Club
Joseph Márquez: 
My name is Joseph Márquez (SMBA ’21) and I am completing my final semester of the Sports MBA program as a Business Development Intern with Orange County Soccer Club (OCSC). The club plays in the USL Championship, which is the 2nd highest professional division of soccer in the United States, just below Major League Soccer. Similar to my classmates currently interning with the Pittsburgh Penguins, no two days for me at OCSC are alike.
At the club, I’ve taken on various projects, each with its own requirement.
Introductory meetings with senior staff provide me with details, desired outcomes, and deliverables. Following that, I check in whenever I have fundamental questions or if I am working in a group and need to coordinate with other members. Once a project is fully completed, including plans for marketing, logistics, finance, and everything in between, it is shared with the club’s senior staff for potential revisions before execution.
As a Business Development Intern, all of my projects revolve around adding long-term value to OCSC. So far, one of the most rewarding aspects of my internship has been addressing the club’s ambitions and converting them into actionable business plans. On top of my work with OCSC, I’m also enrolled in a Digital Marketing course and completing a semester-long final report, all of which keeps me on my toes every day!
Shawn Lothman:
Hey everyone! Shawn Lothman (SMBA ’21) checking in from my virtual internship with Orange County Soccer Club (OCSC) of the United Soccer League (USL). It’s been quite a journey through a COVID-19 impacted Sports MBA program, but I’m grateful to have accepted an internship position in the professional sports industry amid a pandemic. I’m originally from Orange County, California, so the opportunity to work for my hometown club in a market where I was born and raised is very rewarding to say the least. I work as a Sponsorship Sales and Activation Intern at OCSC, spending most of my workdays researching and contacting prospective clients, developing sales proposals and decks, analyzing the team’s partnership data, and preparing activations for the upcoming 2021 USL season. Here’s an insight on what a “typical day” would look like for me at OCSC.
At the beginning of the day, I always check-in with my internship supervisor (either via phone call/Zoom/Teams) to discuss my daily tasks as well as to recap any past assignments from the previous day’s work. Constant communication is key to any successful organization and this initial conversation establishes the day’s agenda. On Mondays, I’m included in a sales and marketing meeting that discusses grassroots initiatives to grow the sport and OCSC fanbase in Southern California.
After I’ve debriefed with my internship supervisor, I get right to work! The first couple of hours are typically spent generating sales leads and making outbound phone calls to prospective corporate partners. OCSC is a relatively small club, so I’ve been given responsibility of a number of partnership categories ranging from grocery stores to casinos and plenty of others in between. On Mondays, we have an all interns meeting at 2:00p.m. that gets everyone on the same page for the week ahead.
My workday transitions from a sales emphasis to an analytical, service-oriented focus around 3:00p.m. each day. I’m helping to build out the club’s partnerships department, so I’m given a range of tasks that interpret inventory assets and assist in the sales process. I am frequently tasked with valuing sellable assets and spend significant time creating proposal decks for team executives for pitch meetings. Tuesdays at 4:00p.m. we have a standing sponsorship meeting with full-time staff members, so everyone can provide updates their progress on current category targets.
“Other duties as assigned” is certainly in the job description for an intern in the sport industry, so it’s important to always be ready and willing to approach and complete any task that’s presented. For now, my focus remains on working hard, proving my worth, and building my industry network in hopes of being hired full-time at the end of my internship and my graduation from the Sports MBA program. It’s an exciting time to be an Aztec and a member of OCSC, both offering plenty of insight and opportunity for sport industry leaders of tomorrow!
About the SDSU Sports MBA Program:
The SDSU Sports MBA program is an intensive, accelerated MBA degree focused on the dynamic business of international sports. The program provides its graduates a thorough understanding of the skills crucial for professionals to succeed, while building a broad network of relationships in the sports-rich landscape of Southern California. Visit business.sdsu.edu/sportsmba to learn more, request information or apply to the Sports MBA program.
