Hosting the Olympics

 This past week, two of my classmates from Sports Econ debated whether or not a city should host the Olympics. Each gave three reasons, and in the end the class voted for the winner. All the arguments were valid for both side which made it hard to decide. However, ultimately, I voted that hosting the Olympics is a good idea. My classmate made a point that no matter where the Olympics were being hosted tourism rose insane amount before, during, and after The Games. Exposure is everything. Cities are being marketed and exposed to the rest of the world in a very positive matter. This also brings city pride higher, which will increase the local economy. On the other hand, there have been cities that after building and hosting such an event, are left to deal with infrastructure with usage. Crime and local pricing increased, and just the bid alone, leaves cities in millions of debt with no guarantee of hosting. I believe that the right answer to this debate will always fluctuate, which is what made my previous sports Econ class exciting because we got to hear fellow classmates fight for whether or not cities should host The Games. The Olympics is definitely  a gamble, but its an investment that has high return rate for the long run. 

Summer Practicum

I am so excited for this summer. I will be taking my SPMT 241 credit with a summer camp I was able to work with last year. International Sports Training Camp is a beautiful, state of the art, sports training camp in the heart of the Pocono Mountains. I was able to attend for a week when I was younger, and my dream since was to be able to work there. I was given the opportunity to do so last summer, and honestly, I haven't stopped thinking about it since. I invited to come back shortly after the summer ended, and it ends up being a great deal because I will be able to complete my practicum credit with them as well. Every week, we greet around 300 kids to the camp, where they not only get to play all the sports they can imagine but create lifelong friends and learn life skills for post camp. It was definitely the best 12 weeks of my life, and I am honored to be able to enjoy it once more this summer. The difference between last summer and this summer, is that COVID as almost completely gone away, which means we are able to invite back multiple staff members from around the world. Last summer we only had about 10 international staff, this summer ISTC has hired over 100 international staff. Because I will be a retuning staff member I hope to engage in more leadership positions and get more experience in the recreation and event planning areas. This will be a summer to remember, and hopefully in a couple years I will be able to do it all over again. 

My Thoughts on NIL

 A topic that has come up recently in my Sports Econ class is the NIL laws put into place last year. In class, we had a discussion about the pros and cons about NIL and although overall I believe NIL laws to be a new, wonderful benefit, I can't help but think about what consequences it can have in the future. Student-athletes have been in a fight for compensation for as long as I could remember. This constant debate about should college athletes be paid. And to no one's surprise the answer was always, "that's why they have scholarships." Which is not false, athletes do most of the time get free meals, free room and board, free tuition, free schoolbooks. But is it enough to live as a college student? Maybe for the privilege handful that can be given the luxury of just going to school and playing a sport. What about those in D2 or D3 schools with minimal scholarship opportunities, or the less fortunate ones that are lucky enough to be good at a sport that they were allowed into college but still have families in their hometown they have to take care of? All these factors are what make NIL laws a benefit to student athletes. With this boom in social media where anyone can make money of their name, image, and likeness, the NCAA had to put a law in place for those athletes making millions. Which is fine, until they ban the schools from helping regulate these athletes. How is, for example, George Mason supposed to help out star basketball player, Josh Oduro, when he is being scammed or threatened on his viral TikTok page? What's to stop players from Ohio State start transferring to Michigan State because Gatorade has a better deal there than in Ohio? How are athletes that are not fortunate enough to pay for a good agent who has hers/his best interest at heart? All these factors are what the schools and compliance departments need to learn and adapt to in the next couple years. Hopefully these departments get the necessary research and funding to create a plan or program for the benefit of student-athletes. 

The Inside Scoop

 This week has been sports jammed packed for me. I have been able to attend both the Mason career social and the annual SEME Conference. These two events really opened my eyes to what the sports industry is really about. I always heard "you have to network," but WOW I have never met so many people that actually care for what my future is. During the career fair, I had an inside scoop of all the local companies and teams that are eagerly hiring college students and what they look for in potential interns. I met with big companies like Monumental Sports and smaller companies like The Ball Park. It was an honor to be able to hear how interested they were in college students. The event of the week, however, was defiantly the SEME Conference. There were multiple sport industry executives such as, Buffy Filippell from TeamWork Online and people in leadership positions in a specific department like Steve Marino from Washington Wizard Sales department. All of them were so helpful and very insightful. However, the most important connections I made, were from my peers themselves. All the attendees had such amazing stories of how and why they got to where they are now, and it really gave me a clearer idea of what I want to achieve in my career. This conference reminded me why I wanted to do sports management in the first place: to be an agent. Once I started my education, I remember researching what it takes to be an agent, and many were men and lawyers and sports guru, which I am neither, so I decided to turn away from that initial goal and focus on other aspects. After this conference, I really felt the empowerment and motivation to get back on my initial dream and continue my education after undergraduate to become the sports agent I always wanted to become. This week gave light to my future, and I am so excited to continue to look forward.