Troon Regional Golf Workshop

By Greg Leisher (SMBA '11)

As you have probably figured out by prior posts, our class is actively participating in internships with a variety of sports organizations in San Diego. I have had the unique opportunity to partner with Bill O'Brien, the General Manager at Maderas Golf Course, consistently rated as one of the best courses in San Diego and part of the Troon Golf network. The experience has been very valuable to date, as I have been able to expand my knowledge of the golf industry from the perspective of the facility vs. my prior perspective as a customer.

As part of the internship, Bill has been very generous with his time and recently invited me to join him on a visit to Indian Wells Golf Resort, where his colleagues from other Troon courses in Southern California were convening to share best practices and discuss new corporate initiatives. Being tasked with assisting the continuous process improvement initiatives at Maderas, I naturally jumped at the opportunity to hear proven solutions from other courses. The day proved to be quite productive, since I was given tremendous access to Troon's corporate objectives while also getting a better sense of the culture of the organization. Bill's colleagues welcomed me with open arms and I'm looking forward to continuing a dialogue with several of them when I visit Scottsdale later this month!

Kassim Osgood

While the San Diego State football team is making some news on-the-field, it appears as though some former Aztecs are making news off-the-field:

OSGOOD ESCAPES INTRUDER

To Kassim Osgood’s credit, he has made news on-the-field, as well. Before his touchdown catch in the Jacksonville Jaguars opener against Denver, he made three Pro Bowls as a special teams ace with the San Diego Chargers. Luckily, Osgood appears to be okay after this incident.

Dr. Belch Returns

A familiar face returned to teach Integrated Marketing Communications to SMBA ’11. Dr. George E. Belch, who taught Marketing Research to the class in the Spring, will teach IMC with help from the book he co-wrote with his brother, Dr. Michael Belch.

Among Dr. Belch’s impressive career highlights are working at DuPont Company as a marketing representative, working as a research analyst for the DDB Worldwide advertising agency, and authoring or coauthoring more than 30 articles in leading academic journals.

It’s good to have him back, especially for a subject that many in the class would like to pursue as a career.

NBA Case

Building on the UFC case we did, Dr. Francis had the other half of the SMBA ’11 class use a variety of tools to accurately analyze the National Basketball Association (NBA) and their attempts to expand globally.

The NBA, as outlined in the case, must decide how to expand their brand internationally, specifically in Europe.

As we did for the UFC case, SMBA ’11 split into groups to discuss and present the issues presented in the NBA case. This time, members of the class played the role of David Stern and eventually reached an agreement on which group had the best ideas for global expansion. Interestingly, despite using similar tools, each presentation had a different recommendation, which ranged from an 8-team European League, having the NBA play regular season games against European teams, and acquiring already-established European teams.

SDSU Football and KGB SkyShow

Once again the SMBA ’11 crew played a key role in an SDSU football win. The Aztecs beat Utah State 41-7 yesterday to move to 3-1 on the season and SMBA ’11 was all over Qualcomm helping out.

Some members of the class helped out at Aztec Village before the game, where Zuma the Puma took a liking to Tana. Jodi assisted with game-day operations and Tana tweeted from all over the stadium for Aztec Game Time. Demian was updating Aztec Game Time’s Facebook page from the field and Emily, Luke, Greg M., and Joe assisted Learfield with the T-shirt canon. The Marshall Faulk Foundation was promoting their Homecoming event, so Alyssa was in attendance, as well.

A big crowd was on-hand thanks to the annual KGB SkyShow. Due to all the hard work SMBA ’11 put in, the crew had front row seats for one of the largest firework displays in the country. Go Aztecs!

Guest Speaker: Michael Jacobson – Octagon

Michael Jacobson, Director of Talent Relations for Octagon First Call, made a trip down from Los Angeles to speak to SMBA ’11 today. Need Jerome Bettis to endorse your product? How about Cindy Crawford to pitch your company? Jacobson advises companies and acquires talent to ensure a successful partnership. He determines the value of a celebrity in order to negotiate partnerships and activate programs.

The average day for Jacobson consists of meeting with managers, publicists, agents, and lawyers. His goal is celebrity acquisition and sponsor activation. Surprisingly, 80% of what Octagon does is not sports-related, even though they started out in the sports business.

Jacobson took us through the process he uses and then discussed Octagon’s mission statement, case studies (Sears, Oscar Meyer, and Mitsubishi), moral clauses, Q-scores, how to value talent, and his career path. SMBA ’11 thanks Jacobson for coming in and talking with the class.

Former Padres GM hired by Diamondbacks

The game of musical chairs continues in the National League West. Former San Diego Padres’ General Manager Kevin Towers was hired by the Arizona Diamondbacks as Executive Vice President and General Manager.

Ironically, the Diamondbacks turned down Towers five years ago. But, he’s responsible for a number of the highly regarded players on the Padres’ current roster, such as Mat Latos, Heath Bell, and Luke Gregerson.

ARIZONA HIRES TOWERS

Now, Towers is in Arizona, former Diamondback owner Jeff Moorad owns the Padres, and former Padre Manager Bruce Bochy is managing the San Francisco Giants. With hope, this game of musical chairs ends with the Padres in the playoffs.