SMANET

As previously posted, the third annual social of the Sport Management program is going to be at the ShoWare Center in Kent, WA on Saturday, November 21.   Tickets are $25 and will include a tour of the facility at 4 p.m., a buffet dinner at 5 p.m, and admission to the game between Seattle and Everett at  7 p.m.   Attendees will have to option to watch the game at the lounge area and mingle.  (You will have an assigned seat if you choose not to watch the game  at the lounge.)  As in the past socials, we will be inviting industry representatives as well as WSU seniors for this event.

ShoWare Center is the new facility for the Seattle Thunderbirds.  Kevin Cochrane (2005) will be the lead contact person.  You may reserve your ticket by contacting Kevin at kcochrane@seattlethunderbirds.com or call 253.856.6839.

Japanese companies advertise when Ichiro Suzuki bats. Photo: Ben Van Houten, Seattle Mariners.

Tsuji, a WSU assistant professor of sport management who specializes in sport marketing, found out that the language ads actually have an impact with their intended audience.

An estimated 300 U.S. games a year are broadcast in Japan, said Tsuji. He noted that the Seattle Mariners, which have a Japanese-language fan pages on the Web, are courting the Japanese market because of players Ichiro Suzuki and Kenji Jojima.

Major Japanese stadium advertisers include Yomiuri Shimbun, the country’s leading newspaper; Dandy House, an exclusive men’s day spa; and Nintendo, the video game maker. Tsuji and four colleagues in Japan looked specifically at the impact of Dandy House ads, which were behind the home plate and easily visible in game broadcasts.

The researchers’ first step was to recruit Japanese college students to watch broadcasts of American baseball. Not a problem.

Yosuke Tsuji

“Ever since Hideo Nomo came to play in the U.S. in 1995, there’s been an influx of Japanese players and the popularity of major league baseball grew in Japan,” said Tsuji, who moved to the U.S. in 2001 for graduate school. 

After watching the broadcasts, the students were quizzed about stadium advertising. About 25 percent could remember seeing the Dandy House ad, Tsuji said.

“Their recall/recognition rates were comparable to what’s been found in previous sport marketing studies for sports sponsorship effectiveness,” said Tsuji. 

Thanks to Kevin Cochrane (2005), the Sport Management program is currently working with the Seattle Thunderbirds to host a social for faculty, alumni, industry representatives, and students in the team’s brand new arena in Kent, Washington. This event will be in its third year and we hope that we will have even greater attendance than last year. One of the features for this year’s event will be an update on what has transpired since last May when the Sport Management program was slated to be cut from WSU. Stay tuned to this blog for more information. We would also encourage you to spread the word to other alumni who may not have registered on the SMANET.

John Wong with his first and most recent books

A surprise opportunity to delve into the archives of the National Hockey League helped make John Wong’s reputation as an expert on the business of hockey.  The WSU assistant professor is known for his research into the politics of sports organizations and (just ask his students) for teaching challenging courses.  Read about Dr. Wong and his work in WSU Today.

To Our Alumni:

On Monday, June 15, the WSU administration released its final plan to accommodate the legislature’s 2009-11 biennial budget. In this finalized plan, the administration proposes to move the Sport Management Program to the College of Business. Negotiations will begin between the Sport Management faculty and the College of Business to work out the details of this move in the coming year. All current undergraduate and graduate students, including those certified as majors effective next fall, will still receive their degrees from the College of Education.

It has been a very trying few weeks for all of us. While much hard work lies ahead as we work on the proposed move to the College of Business, the administration has acknowledged the program’s worth to WSU, the region, and the state by reversing its decision to cut us. This reversal of fortune could not have been accomplished without those of you who showed tremendous support for our program by inundating the administration with your concerns. We, therefore, would like to express our deepest gratitude to all of you.

Obviously, there is strength in numbers! In order to continue to develop our strength, we would like you to keep in touch with the program through this blog and to encourage other alumni to register on this blog. We will work to make this blog more responsive to your needs. Send in any suggestions you have to make this blog more useful. Post a comment. Tell us what you have been doing lately.

Thank you again for your loyalty and dedication to our Sport Management Program!

Dear Sport Management alumni:

It is with great sadness that the faculty must inform you that the Dean of the College of Education has decided to eliminate the Sport Management program in response to the Washington State budget shortfall. Dean Judy Mitchell informed the faculty on Thursday, April 30, that all currently certified undergraduate students and accepted graduate students will be allowed to complete their programs of study, but the Sport Management Program will no longer accept new graduate program applications nor will it certify any new undergraduate majors.

For many years, the Sport Management Program at WSU has been the only program in the Northwest that offers both an undergraduate and a graduate degree in this discipline. Our students have staffed the WSU Athletic Department as volunteers, practicum students, interns, and graduate assistants. Our senior interns and alumni have worked for many sport organizations throughout the nation and in several other countries. The quality of our students is so high that many have received offers of employment from their internship organizations. Our graduates are pursuing successful careers in a wide variety of sport industry sectors.

WSU students and alumni contribute to the successes of many sport organizations in Washington and other western states, including the WSU and University of Idaho Athletic Departments, intramurals programs, and student recreation centers, the Pullman and Moscow Parks & Recreation departments, and the local YMCA. If our program is lost, students in the Northwest who aspire to a career in the sport industry will have to leave the region in order to find a sport management program of comparable quality. Money that would have been spent in Washington will instead flow to other states with sport management programs, and our network of sport organizations staffed with Cougars will no longer be able to hire the well-prepared interns and graduates that WSU currently provides.

The reputation of our Sport Management Program is such that, in addition to students from Washington, we draw applicants from all of the Western states. WSU, of course, has been benefiting from these students because they pay out-of-state tuition. The State of Washington also benefits because these out-of-state students spend money while they are in Pullman. Needless to say, given the benefits that the Sport Management Program has brought to both WSU and the State of Washington, the faculty is extremely disappointed with the recommendation to close down such a fine program.

This message is intended to inform you of the proposed elimination of our program as soon as we could so that you would have time to assist us in challenging this decision. Faculty and students in Pullman have already begun efforts to convince the WSU administration that eliminating the Sport Management program is a misguided effort.  Student leaders have created a Facebook page (Save Sport Management) and we have solicited support from across the campus, the city of Pullman, as well as friends and former graduates of the program.  If you would like to support us in this effort by voicing your opinion, please understand that time is of the essence. On May 14, the President and Provost’s Office will begin their final review of all feedback received from the Faculty Senate and others, and their decisions will be finalized by June 1 and go into effect on July 1.

If you would like to protest the decision to eliminate the Sport Management Program, you may express your views to the offices of President Elson Floyd (floyde@wsu.edu), the Provost (Warwick Bayly) (wmb@wsu.edu), and/or the Dean of the College of Education (Judy Mitchell) (Judym@wsu.edu) and ask them to reverse the decision. Contact information for WSU’s Board of Regents is also listed below, along with links to its website.

Christine Hoyt
Executive Assistant to the Board of Regents
509/335-6666
hoytc@wsu.edu

or Becki Lande
Assistant to the Board of Regents
509/335-6666
becki@wsu.edu

http://regents.wsu.edu/contact-us/

http://regents.wsu.edu/regent-profiles/

In addition, contact your local legislator. Since our alumni touch lives all over the state, the elimination of our program will affect the communities where our future graduates work and live and not just Pullman.

The Sport Management faculty would be most appreciative of your support.

Thanks for being loyal alumni!

SMANET is a new venture to connect alumni of the Sport Management program at WSU.  While the Sport Management program mail an annual newsletter to all alumni who have sent in their contact information, this blog will allow for a more timely connection.  (Do you know that the newsletter is now available online at the Sport Management home page?)

We welcome all alumni to participate in this virtual community of Sport Management graduates.  Use this blog to connect with old friends, network, discuss your life after WSU, make suggestions on the use of this blog, etc.  Of course, we do ask you to observe internet etiquette and maintain decorum.  Register and bookmark this page.   Please identity yourself and year of graduation when posting a message.  For the time being, this blog is restricted to alumni from the Sport Management program.  The registration link to the blog is at the right hand side of this page.  From time to time, we will update you about the latest happenings in the program.  We look forward to hearing from you.