I clearly remember my first day on the job at
Major League Soccer way back in 2003. My boss, David Wright, who at the time
was the Manager of Fan Development shared his back story and emphasized how the
University of Massachusetts, Amherst played a pivotal role in him going from a
professional footballer to a sports business professional. Since that day and
during my last 17 years in the industry, some of the individuals I respect the
most happen to be alumni from UMass’s Post Graduate Sports Management program.
It was always positioned as the ‘Harvard’ of Sports Management and while I
didn’t actually attend UMass, there were times that I was surrounded by so many
UMass graduates that I felt that I was a McCormack Department of Sports
Management Alumni as well.
Major League Soccer way back in 2003. My boss, David Wright, who at the time
was the Manager of Fan Development shared his back story and emphasized how the
University of Massachusetts, Amherst played a pivotal role in him going from a
professional footballer to a sports business professional. Since that day and
during my last 17 years in the industry, some of the individuals I respect the
most happen to be alumni from UMass’s Post Graduate Sports Management program.
It was always positioned as the ‘Harvard’ of Sports Management and while I
didn’t actually attend UMass, there were times that I was surrounded by so many
UMass graduates that I felt that I was a McCormack Department of Sports
Management Alumni as well.
Now fast forward to 2018 and the Global
Institute of Sports Business has been firmly established in Mumbai with a
vision to be the top Sports Management Institute in Asia. I know that in order to be the best you have
to surround yourself and collaborate with the best and, on that note, I opened
dialogue with a senior member at UMass’s Isenberg School of Business to share
about the past, present and future of GISB and explore partnership
opportunities. My UMass contact, Will
Norton, who serves as Faculty as well as Director of the McCormack Centre for
Sport Education & Research, was (unsurprisingly) open, professional and
enthusiastic about the potential of our two institutes working together.
Institute of Sports Business has been firmly established in Mumbai with a
vision to be the top Sports Management Institute in Asia. I know that in order to be the best you have
to surround yourself and collaborate with the best and, on that note, I opened
dialogue with a senior member at UMass’s Isenberg School of Business to share
about the past, present and future of GISB and explore partnership
opportunities. My UMass contact, Will
Norton, who serves as Faculty as well as Director of the McCormack Centre for
Sport Education & Research, was (unsurprisingly) open, professional and
enthusiastic about the potential of our two institutes working together.
We continued conversations over the next few
months, mainly focusing on sharing updates on our respective programs and
allowing those interactions to provide us with an opportunity to also gauge the
individual’s values, integrity and follow through. Then in March of 2019, 7 months after our
initial introductory conversation, I flew to the US for meetings in New York
and Los Angeles and, during that time, decided to schedule a bus journey to
Amherst from New York’s Port Authority. What I thought would be a pleasant ride
along the Eastern seaboard, ended up being a treacherous journey which involved
waking up at 3:00am, sleeping on the Port Authority bus station floor for an
hour which happens to be dirtier than the Old Delhi train station, 6 hours in a
cramped bus seat with spotty internet access and, to top it all off, torrential
rain for most of the trip.
months, mainly focusing on sharing updates on our respective programs and
allowing those interactions to provide us with an opportunity to also gauge the
individual’s values, integrity and follow through. Then in March of 2019, 7 months after our
initial introductory conversation, I flew to the US for meetings in New York
and Los Angeles and, during that time, decided to schedule a bus journey to
Amherst from New York’s Port Authority. What I thought would be a pleasant ride
along the Eastern seaboard, ended up being a treacherous journey which involved
waking up at 3:00am, sleeping on the Port Authority bus station floor for an
hour which happens to be dirtier than the Old Delhi train station, 6 hours in a
cramped bus seat with spotty internet access and, to top it all off, torrential
rain for most of the trip.
I’m not going to lie, for most of that bus
journey I questioned myself for choosing to take the trip to Amherst especially
since Will and his colleague offered to come down to New York for the
meeting. However my higher self
understood two things: the first is that it is always best to spend time at
someone’s ‘home’ and invite them to your ‘home’ when you are exploring a
partnership and, second, that if the Universe is testing my commitment and
resilience in a particular situation then it must be worth it. Ultimately, it
ended up being a productive and enjoyable couple hours with Will and Director
of Graduate Programs, Steve McKelvey, where we left each other clear that we
must find a way to work together moving forward.
journey I questioned myself for choosing to take the trip to Amherst especially
since Will and his colleague offered to come down to New York for the
meeting. However my higher self
understood two things: the first is that it is always best to spend time at
someone’s ‘home’ and invite them to your ‘home’ when you are exploring a
partnership and, second, that if the Universe is testing my commitment and
resilience in a particular situation then it must be worth it. Ultimately, it
ended up being a productive and enjoyable couple hours with Will and Director
of Graduate Programs, Steve McKelvey, where we left each other clear that we
must find a way to work together moving forward.
As mentioned earlier, ‘home’ visits are key to
successful partnership creation so the immediate action item post my Amherst
trip was to host Will at my ‘home’ the Global Institute of Sports Business in
Mumbai. This trip took place in late May
2019 and it was extraordinary. 6 full
days of watching Will educate our 2018 / 19 batch of students, showing him the
beauty of Mumbai through sightseeing, food tasting and interactions with
locals, spending time conversing with other sports industry professionals as
well as UMass alumni currently working in India and, of course, putting
together a framework around a GISB – UMass partnership.
successful partnership creation so the immediate action item post my Amherst
trip was to host Will at my ‘home’ the Global Institute of Sports Business in
Mumbai. This trip took place in late May
2019 and it was extraordinary. 6 full
days of watching Will educate our 2018 / 19 batch of students, showing him the
beauty of Mumbai through sightseeing, food tasting and interactions with
locals, spending time conversing with other sports industry professionals as
well as UMass alumni currently working in India and, of course, putting
together a framework around a GISB – UMass partnership.
Then on August 19, 2019 – nearly 17 years from
my initial conversations about UMass Amherst with my first boss David Wright
and 330 days from my first conversation with Will Norton, we proudly announced
a multi-year educational partnership between GISB and UMass’s Mark H. McCormack
Department of Sports Management thus making GISB the top sports education
platform in the Region. This is a landmark partnership for GISB, for India and
for the future of sports management education in Asia.
my initial conversations about UMass Amherst with my first boss David Wright
and 330 days from my first conversation with Will Norton, we proudly announced
a multi-year educational partnership between GISB and UMass’s Mark H. McCormack
Department of Sports Management thus making GISB the top sports education
platform in the Region. This is a landmark partnership for GISB, for India and
for the future of sports management education in Asia.
I’ve been involved in many high-profile
international partnerships and one of the most important attributes that all
parties must keep in mind during the build-up phase is PATIENCE. Patience is the key to establishing any
strong, successful and sustainable relationship.
international partnerships and one of the most important attributes that all
parties must keep in mind during the build-up phase is PATIENCE. Patience is the key to establishing any
strong, successful and sustainable relationship.
