After a five year hiatus, the Sports Business Summit is set to make a comeback at USC on Thursday, November 16.
Organized by USC’s Student Business Association, the all-day event will feature panels and discussions with sports industry leaders like Under Armour founder Kevin Plank and Seattle Seahawks president Chuck Arnold.
Maximo Speiser, a senior majoring in business and head of operations for the summit, said tapping into the Trojan network was instrumental in bringing the event back after the pandemic.
“The networking connections you get from USC are pretty incredible,” Speiser said. “When we were brainstorming who we wanted initially, we had no idea how to contact them but as we spoke to alumni and expressed our vision for the summit, they allowed us to have a vast outreach process.”
Panels at the event will range from women in sports to finance and tech start-ups. Students can stay for the full day or drop in to hear from specific speakers.
“The guest speakers are so anxious and excited to speak in front of a group of kids and explain to them their story, their mishaps, and how they recovered from that,” Speiser said. “This gives students such an incredible opportunity to gain insight into a specific industry and see what resonate[s] for them.”
Sports journalism professor and SBA faculty advisor Jeff Fellenzer said students should come to the event with an open mind to find their niche in the industry.
“Students need to be informed on key issues and develop their own perspectives and opinions,” Fellenzer said. “What professionals look for is not for students to already be an expert in the field, but [to] find a student who has a feel for the industry and who brings forward good ideas about how to make improvements.”
According to Forbes, anywhere from 50% to 80% of all jobs are filled through networking, even if the position is posted publicly. Additionally, Fellenzer said that going to professional development events can make an impact on how recruiters view applicants.
“It’s really competitive to get internships, but if you come in and say ‘I recently learned about the metaverse at the Sports Business Summit,’ the recruiter on the other end will see your dedication to the industry,” Fellenzer said. “Students are busy and pulled in so many directions and you made it a priority to be there and attend a panel.”
Fellenzer, who teaches the Sports, Business and Media in Today’s Society course at Annenberg, hopes to provide students with similar opportunities.
“One of my biggest goals every semester is to open the eyes of students to what the future could look like for them in the sports business or sports media,” Fellenzer said. “Because the landscape is so vast, it’s changed so much. The phrase, ‘see the possibilities,’ is a big one for me.”
The Sports Business Summit will be held Thursday from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Ronald Tutor Campus Center Grand Ballroom. A full schedule of events can be found here. While the event is free for college students to attend, registration is required and can be done here.