UCLA Anderson Sports Business Association

On January 26th, the Anderson SBA had the privilege of attending what was hailed by many as “the best DOJ of the year,” by some as “the best DOJ at Anderson,” and by a bold few as “the best DOJ in the history of DOJ’s.”  Thirty lucky SBA members made the 14-mile trek to Downtown Los Angeles, to be hosted in the Staples Center by Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) COO and CFO Dan Beckerman (Anderson Class of 1996), and AEG CMO Sean Dee.

Upon entering the iconic Staples Center through the Star VIP Entrance, our prospects of the visit were immediately promising.  We were promptly ushered to Suite Level A, and escorted to the Wells Fargo Conference Room for our presentation and Q & A with Mssrs. Beckerman and Dee.  The presentation was originally scheduled to be held in the Wachovia Conference Room, but being that it was a Los Angeles Kings game night, the room was being used by the wives of the Kings players (the Queens?).  This presented a problem:  Mr. Beckerman had a company promotional video to show us, but the Wells Fargo Conference Room did not have suitably large screens to display it.  However, Mr. Beckerman had anticipated this problem in advance, and, showing the true ingenuity of an Anderson alum, had made adequate accommodations.  Without realizing anything was amiss, we were walked down to the bowl of the Staples Center, seated in the 100-level stands, and shown the promotional video on the HD jumbotron instead.  Never mind that it required briefly interrupting the pre-game prep of the ice—this was UCLA Anderson official business!

After the video, Mr. Beckerman and Mr. Dee talked to the group about AEG, and their unique paths in the industry. Mr. Beckerman explained that AEG’s goal, now, is to focus on operations (rather than growth, although they still have two major projects in development in Houston and Los Angeles), corporate partnership sales, and finding efficiencies and business opportunities that exist within the company.  Specifically, Mr. Beckerman talked about AEG’s plans to develop a competing ticketing system to Ticketmaster.  The duo also fielded a wide range of questions from the group, pertaining to AEG’s status as the world's leading developer of entertainment and sports zones (e.g., LA Live & Staples Center, American Airlines Arena in Miami, The O2 Arena in London, O2 World Arena in Berlin, Wukesong Arena in Beijing, and the Farmers Field NFL stadium proposed for Downtown Los Angeles), in addition to one of the world's largest presenters of live events

When the presentation was over, Mr. Beckerman said he wanted to take us on a brief tour of the facility.  When the elevator arrived, he showed his badge to the attendant and told him to take us down to the event level. 

From there we proceeded down a winding hallway lined with pictures of historic Staples Center events and performances—a veritable rock and roll hall of fame— and then entered a side door, which led us to the players’ area; the puckheads amongst us quickly spotted several players from the visiting San Jose Sharks stretching and warming up on stationary bikes for that night’s game against the Kings, including stars Joe Thornton and Devin Setoguchi. 

We then walked to a large secure door emblazoned with the words: LOS ANGELES LAKERS.  As the door opened, it began to dawn on us where we were in… the Lakers team locker room.

After an absurd amount of pictures were taken next to Kobe Bryant’s locker, we were shown back up to Suite Level A, and escorted to owner’s luxury suite to enjoy the Kings-Sharks hockey game.  The extra-large suite featured all of the amenities an NHL team owner would expect—and a group of business school students (that would have been happy with folding chairs and a card table) would never have imagined in their wildest dreams.  Once the group had gorged itself on food and drink, courtesy of our host AEG, we realized that there was a hockey game going on!  The sellout crowd of 18,000+ gave the game a playoff atmosphere, with a playoff-caliber performance by both teams to match.  The Kings came away victorious 3-2, with the game ending in a shootout.  The crowd of Kings regulars went home happy, as did our group of Anderson SBA members as newly minted Kings fans!

Over the past Thanksgiving weekend, the Sports Business Association teamed up with the International Business Association to organize the school’s first-ever sports business career trek to London! 

The career trek – which in Anderson-ese is called “Day On The Job”, or “DOJ” for short – gave our students the chance to meet with executives from a variety of sports companies in London, to hear their insights on the European sports and entertainment markets, their visions for growth in today’s economy, and their advice and guidance on how us students can break into the industry in Europe. 

This was the seventh year of the IBA’s London career trek, and the trek is actually a collaboration with five other US MBA programs.  Across all of the schools, we were approximately 80 students, about a quarter of which were from UCLA Anderson.  This year the IBA approached the SBA to help launch a sports business vertical alongside the trek’s two traditional verticals of finance and consulting. 

The trek was an absolute success all ways around – especially the sports vertical!  Here’s who we had the chance to see:

• ·         National Basketball Association
• ·         National Football League
• ·         IMG
• ·         ESPN, where we were hosted by Anderson alum and former SBA president, David Nivelle
• ·         Harrah’s, where we were hosted by Anderson alum Mike Silberling

The best part about the career trek was that we gained so many insights into the sports industry in Europe from the people who are making the critical decisions at companies that are strategically focused on growing their presence in Europe and Africa.  The executives we met were fantastic hosts -- extremely receptive and generous with their time, and willing to answer the barrage of questions that we brought to each meeting.

We also showed a lot of multinational companies that, contrary to popular belief, Anderson students are ready, willing, and able to seek out job opportunities outside of LA. We came prepared with a strong understanding of the European markets we are targeting, had great questions, and were extremely professional. 

Reach out to me off-line if you want more details!

-- Sreesha

Many people assume that I want to be in the sports business because I'm an obsessive sports fan that never made it as an athlete.  That's not entirely accurate: I definitely am an obsessive sports fan that never made it as an athlete, but I'm not trying to be in sports to recreate a dream that never happened.


What appeals to me about the industry is the connection with fans on an imperceptible level, a bond that unites us with a bunch of strangers who toil for an impersonal company we have no direct connection to.  Sports is one of the few markets where the end consumer actually drives the business.


We at the Sports Business Association got to see this first-hand last week when our colleagues from USC Marshall invited us to a behind-the-scenes day with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. 

We started with a tour of Angel Stadium by Clyde Wright, who pitched for over 10 seasons in the big leagues, primarily in Anaheim.  You could tell by his enthusiasm that Clyde had that he loved the ballpark and being a representative of the team - both on and off the field. 


Then, we spent an hour with team president Dennis Kuhl, who gave us his insights on the club, the business, baseball, and the industry.  Most interesting to me was his dedication to every detail of the fan experience. 

He wanted his stadium to be the cleanest in the majors - and by my count, it was impeccable. One of his objectives was to build the brand of the club behind three logos: the name "ANGELS", the large "A" logo, and the colour red.  Every employee was dressed in all three on them in some capacity.


We wrapped up the session with Mr. Kuhl, then headed into the main part of the stadium for some Tennessee BBQ at Clyde's, which was named after our erstwhile tour guide. 

Finally, we soaked in the fruit of the hard work put in by Mr. Kuhl, Mr. Wright, and the Angels organization: a big crowd out to see the Angels take on Oakland, a midweek game between two teams already out of contention.  The lower bowl was full, the upper deck was 40-50% there.  


That's what it is all about.


-- Sreesha