San Diego’s Newest Venue Welcomes MBA Students

Situated on a small strip of bayside land adjacent to downtown San Diego, the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park is San Diego’s newest entertainment venue and is arguably its finest. With spectacular views of the Coronado Bridge and state-of-the-art shell design of its stage, this venue attracts globally renowned talent and is home to the San Diego Symphony. 

Sports MBA alumnus Roberto Castro (SMBA ‘11) serves as the Director of Guest Experience at the Rady Shell and welcomed the Class of 2024 to the site for a behind-the-scenes tour of the venue and Q & A session. 

Though the main focus of the Sports MBA program is, of course, studying the sports industry, there is significant overlap between sports and entertainment, particularly concerts and other music performances held at traditional sports venues. From the Eras Tour selling out NFL stadia and soccer venues worldwide to the Rolling Stones or Metallica taking over Petco Park, music and sports are constantly intertwined. 

This fact is clearly on display in Castro’s career in the event operations and fan experience space in which he’s worked thousands of sporting events and hundreds of concerts. Prior to the Sports MBA program, Castro started working with the Padres at Jack Murphy Stadium and moved with the team to open Petco Park in 2004. He completed the Sports MBA program in 2011 and later helped open SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, earning a Super Bowl ring with the Rams’ recent victory at home in Super Bowl LVI. Castro returned to his native San Diego to help open the Rady Shell and lead its Guest Experience department. 

During the tour, Castro discussed his role extensively and how his career working with sports fans at Petco Park and SoFi Stadium has helped refine his approach to his current role, working largely with symphony attendees and other Rady Shell concert patrons. Students asked Castro about the differences in crowd dynamics depending on the type of music acts performing at the venue. He discussed his approach to clear communication with staff and the multitude of volunteers who help make every performance a success.

Thank you to Roberto Castro and The Rady Shell for welcoming us to their incredible venue!