Welcome Class of 2025

We extend a warm Aztec welcome to the Sports MBA Class of 2025! The program reached a milestone this year, welcoming our 20th cohort, in late August. It’s been a busy and thrilling time since then.

SMBA ‘25 students have hit the ground running, keeping busy in and out of the classroom this Fall semester. The class kicked things off by attending the San Diego Padres vs Detroit Tigers game at beautiful Petco Park, where they witnessed an electric Padres walk-off, extra innings victory! 

The group also got a behind-the-scenes tour of Snapdragon Stadium where students gained insight on the operations and capabilities of the innovative venue thanks to the hospitality of Adam Millar, Brian Smith, and Claudia Cox (SMBA ‘22). 

Several students went to the LA Dodgers Women’s Conference where they were able to network, learn and hear from many trailblazing and accomplished women in sports and entertainment. 

SMBA ’25 volunteered at the only large-scale, all-women’s action sports, esports, and lifestyle series in the world – the always empowering, Super Girl Surf Pro in Oceanside, CA. 

The class attended the San Diego Wave FC vs Portland Thorns game at Snapdragon Stadium where waves were indeed made in a shutout Wave win. We’re starting to think SMBA ‘25 may be good luck for our local teams…

In the classroom, SMBA ‘25 students have heard from numerous guest speakers, including Julie Yamamoto from Snapdragon (Qualcomm), sports business expert, Michael Rolnick, Greg Zweig (SMBA ‘12) from San Diego Gulls, Shayaun See and Joel Rafter from Klutch, Wendy Luckenbill from FOX Sports, as well as multiple alumni, including Claudia Cox (‘22), Haley Kachigan (‘22), and Sarah Nollner (‘15).

The future is bright and we can’t wait to see what else this year has in store for SMBA ‘25!