By Lisa Petrillo, The San Diego Union-Tribune Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Feb. 25--Talk about major league education.
San Diego State University is offering what administrators say is the first MBA degree program with a major league baseball team.
That does not mean people can get a San Diego Padres degree. The official title will be: master's of business administration in sports-business management.
The program is scheduled to start in spring 2005, with an inaugural class of 30 students. The students will take specially designed classes on campus and at the Padres' soon-to-be-opened Petco Park downtown. Padres executives will be guest lecturers.
'The idea of bringing in people who want to be leaders in their field and bringing in the practical side to their education is important, said Katie Pothier, Padres vice president and general counsel.'
The specialized MBA is part of a national trend toward tailoring degrees to business and industry, according to educational experts.
'There are master's degrees in almost anything, but this is the first I've seen with a major league team,' said Peter Syverson of the Council of Graduate Schools, a nonprofit group. 'There's an increased awareness of building programs with employers in mind.'
SDSU offers 160 degrees and 67 master's degrees, including an MBA in athletics and fitness management, and about 6,000 students are enrolled in the College of Business.
The pitch for this specialized degree came from the Padres last August.
Although team owner John Moores is a University of California regent, he has a close relationship with San Diego State. Moores has donated more than $30 million to university sports programs and stadiums at SDSU.
The Padres have agreed to offer six of the students internships for six months and to help place the other students with sports-related organizations for their required internships.
What the university gets out of the deal is the connection to major league baseball, job placement assistance and a big-name draw to help recruit top students to the 34,000-student university.
The College of Business has always adapted to meet the needs of the business world, said Dean Gail Naughton. Training students to meet a current need runs the risk, however, of having a degree lose its popularity when the job market weakens, such as in aerospace engineering. But Naughton notes that this degree is trend proof, saying, 'It's not like the business of sports is going away.
Sports go all the way back to the cave man days.'
Designing the program is business professor and sports junkie Jim Lackritz, who said each class will offer basic business subjects but with a sports spin.
The plan is to teach students all aspects of operating a sports franchise, including human resources, sports law, marketing and customer service.
Depending on the number of classes taken, a student could earn the degree in 18 months.
'Our graduates will not only be well-versed in the high profile aspects of running a sports organization, such as negotiating with players and agents, but in the day-to-day operations,' said Lackritz.
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(c) 2004, The San Diego Union-Tribune. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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