Hospitality and Sport Management students travel the world with new entertainment course

If one aim of a college education is to broaden students’ horizons, York College of Pennsylvania’s new course in International Sport and Entertainment checks that box in the classroom and halfway around the world.

After classroom study to lay the groundwork for a global approach to managing sport and hospitality operations, this course put students on the ground in Italy to learn how companies market sporting events and how professional teams promote themselves and their merchandise, as well as put on the big game. 

Mari Taggart, a senior Hospitality Management major from Wyoming, Pennsylvania, and Sam Wiedorfer, a sophomore Sport Management major from Columbia, Maryland, were among the students who made the trip to Milan and Rome in February.

Mari took the course as an elective. For Sam, the class fulfilled a requirement for his chosen focus on leadership and professional development.

While all the sites the students visited were related to sport, Mari says what she learned from meeting with marketing directors and business managers complemented her studies in Hospitality Management.

“I wanted to be able to see how another culture works in a business setting, and it gave me a really good opportunity to do that,” she says.

To Mari, Italy was an excellent choice for the trip because of its “immense sport and entertainment culture.”

“We got to learn a lot about how sport is so important to Italian culture these days,” she says.

Trip preparation

Before leaving on their journey, class members focused on the popularity of sport in Italy.

“We did a lot of learning and research on how the sport culture came to be, why it is so important to Italy, their current-day system and how they handle sport,” Mari explains. “We looked at sports in the modern world and how things have changed.”

The class also covered Italian history, running a sports operation, generating revenue and providing security at events.

For Sam, the trip’s emphasis on sport was a natural.

“The very first thing we did was attend a professional soccer game. Then, we had four company visits to sporting companies in Italy,” he says.

One visit was to marketing company RCS Sport, based in Milan and Rome, which promotes the 2,200-mile Giro d’Italia, the cycling race in May that begins in Jerusalem and ends in Rome. Students also toured the 80,000-seat San Siro Stadium in Milan, which is home to two professional soccer clubs.

At San Siro, they learned what it takes to get up and running for game day.

“The best was the Italian Golf Federation,” Sam says. “They were really prepared for us when we showed up. They believe golf is not seen as a big deal in Italy. They had solid marketing plans because of the need to draw a fan base for the Ryder Cup.”

Italy submitted the winning bid to host the Ryder Cup in 2022.

The students also spent time at the Italian Football Federation, the governing body of soccer in Italy.

Focus on the future

After graduation, Sam plans to earn a master’s degree in Sport Business or Sport Management, or maybe a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. Then, he wants to work at the college level in athletics operations.

He says the experience beyond the classroom gave him a wider view of the business of sport.

“It was one of the first times I’ve ever seen how real sports is run,” he says. “In class, we worry about ticket sales or marketing, but this was the first time we went to a real company.”

He was surprised at the similarities of managing sports here and abroad.

“I thought just the U.S. had departments dedicated to social media, but they do, too,” he notes.

Mari also got a broader view of what her future might hold.

“I learned a lot about networking and the international business culture,” she says. “I never thought about working for a sport company, but with running a stadium, for example, that’s all hospitality.

“I was able to expand my horizons and think about that.”

And, she says she learned a great deal simply from the travel involved in going overseas.    

“Trains, airports, the travel were a huge learning experience, learning how to explore a country without seeming like a typical American tourist,” she says.

The trip also showed her that she could put her York College education to work well beyond the borders of the United States.

“I never considered it an option until being over there,” she says.