Director- William A. Sutton
Director
Phone: (813) 974-4155
Office: BSN 3205
Email:
Sutton Bio
In the News…
USF, Tampa Bay Lightning Launch MBA Program - USF News- The partnership creates a sport and entertainment management MBA degree at USF's College of Business.
- Tampa Bay Lightning, USF partnering for new graduate program - Bay News 9
- USF announced Thursday it’s partnering with the Tampa Bay Lightning to prepare students for careers in sport and entertainment management.
Made possible by a partnership with the Tampa Bay Lightning and The Lightning Foundation, the USF MBA in Sport and Entertainment Management is a two-year degree program emphasizing business fundamentals of sports: management, marketing, finance, economics, and accounting.
With specialized classes and coursework that are tailored to the business of sports, this full-time cohort program includes two residency experiences. These residencies, also referred to as fellowships, provide graduate students on-the-job opportunities help them experience how those lessons taught in the classroom play out in the industry. Students will be placed at local and/or national sport or family entertainment organizations.
Degree seekers will complete foundational MBA courses in management, finance, marketing, information systems, and accounting as well as elective courses that focus on the sport industry, including negotiation and conflict resolution, the economics of sport, sports communication, and marketing strategy.
Our New Director
William A. Sutton, EdD, who has been at the DeVos Sport Business Management Graduate Program at the University of Central Florida since 2004, will join USF to direct the MBA in Sport and Entertainment Management. A distinguished academician and proven sports-marketing practitioner, Sutton's body of work includes notable academic appointments and extensive industry experience.
Sutton has authored more than 200 articles and has made more than 250 national and international presentations. He is a past president of North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM) is a founding member and past President of the Sport Marketing Association (SMA) and the Sport Marketing Quarterly – a publication where he has also served as the co-editor.
Format
The two-year program includes 48 credit hours and two residency experiences. First-year students in the MBA in Sport and Entertainment Management will complete foundational business courses that will be tailored to the sports industry. Students will earn a “Certificate in Business Foundations” at the conclusion of this sequence:
- Leadership/Management Concepts
- Management Information Systems
- Managerial Decision Analysis
- Accounting Concepts for Managers
- Financial Management
- Intro to Economic Concepts for Managers
- Marketing Management
The curriculum also includes the following courses, taken during the second and third semesters of the program:
- Social, Ethical, Legal Systems
- Operations Management
- Communication Skills for Managers
- Financial Analysis
- Strategic Business Analysis
- Organizational Behavior & Leadership
- Leadership Speaker Series
- Integrated Business Applications
Students will also choose five electives specific to the sports industry, which may include courses such as sport law, sport and social issues, marketing strategy, and strategic communication media.
Admissions Requirements
Ideal degree candidates will have a passion for the business and industry, rather than simply be a love of sports. Candidates will be required to meet the same admissions standards as other USF MBA programs. The strength of each applicant will be considered based on the entirety of the application. The admissions committee will look at prior college-level academic performance (GPA), GMAT or GRE scores, TOEFL score (if required), résumé, recommendation letters, and statement of purpose. A bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited university is required.
To apply, students should:
- Email their résumé and Statement of Purpose (describing why this program is right for you) as attachments to sfuller@usf.edu.
- Have the following sent to the address below:
- two sealed letters of recommendation
- GMAT or GRE scores
- Transcript from each junior college, college, or university you have attended
- TOEFL score for international students whose first language is not English
Sally Riggs Fuller
Sport and Entertainment Management Program
Department of Management & Organization
College of Business
University of South Florida
4202 E. Fowler Ave., BSN 3403
Tampa, FL 33620-5500
