Sports MBA x 2023 SSAC
By Serenity Steward (SMBA ‘23)
Serenity Steward, a member of SDSU SMBA '23 and an aspiring sports business professional herself, was grateful for the opportunity to attend this year's conference earlier this month. Between listening to Panel Discussion and Competitive Advantage keynote speakers such as Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin, NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith, NBPA Executive Director Tamika Tremaglio, WNBA Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist Sue Bird, Performance Coach Steve Magness, and Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens, attending career development events and skills workshops, and chatting with industry professionals in the hallways over meals, she discovered the following:
- The sports data analytics community is full of driven, respectful, smart, and supportive industry professionals who use #DataForGood.
- Data can empower athletes before, during, and after their careers.
- Data and storytelling can bring people together into groups capable of driving collective action.
- Data can help people perform better under pressure by giving them a means to objectively evaluate their performance and improve upon it.
- No matter how unique aspiring professionals’ career goals may be, there is a niche for them in the industry and the conference can reveal that niche for them.
If you love data, sports, and chatting about the intersection of the two over hot coffee like Serenity, consider penciling in next year's conference on your calendar for March 1 and 2, 2024. And a word of advice: make sure you bring a winter coat!
