Warriors Executive Visits Sports MBA Classroom
SDSU Sports MBA alumnus Mike Kitts (SMBA ‘07) visited campus on November 22nd to offer career advice for students and discuss his career path in sports business leading up to his current role as the Executive Vice President, Partnerships at the Golden State Warriors. In Kitts’ past 9 years with the Warriors Corporate Partnerships team, the team has risen to be the top organization for corporate partnership revenue and development in the NBA, due in large part to the creation of the Founding Partnerships program for its new arena, Chase Center, in San Francisco.
Mike Kitts, SMBA '07
Kitts discussed the history and success of the Golden State Warriors with the students and offered the group some professional advice to stand out in the competitive sports business industry. “There are 3 keys to being great: be curious, be coachable, and be caring,” Kitts told the class. He advised the cohort to discover both passion and purpose in their jobs to encourage curiosity and, ideally, lead to a successful career.
“It really resonated with me when Mike said that the term ‘sports business’ is a fallacy,” said current Sports MBA student Spencer Sheridan (SMBA ’22) "Mike stressed to us that, instead, ‘There are good business practices and you apply them to sports.’” Sheridan added, “I thought this was an important perspective for a class of future leaders in sports to hear from a successful alumnus. In order to excel in the sports industry, we need to be tapped into tech, automotive, Wall Street, real estate, politics, and more, in addition to sports.”
This was Kitts’ first visit to the classroom this year, which follows a virtual lecture series he created for SMBA ’22 prior to the start of classes. The Sports MBA Class of 2022 wishes to thank Mike Kitts for donating his time and expertise to the group, and the class looks forward to keeping in touch throughout their time at SDSU and beyond.
SDSU Sports MBA is incredibly grateful to Mike Kitts (SMBA ’07) for this visit and
for his ongoing dedication to the Sports MBA program and SDSU.
