"Show me the money!" may have made an Oscar winner out of Cuba Gooding Jr., but one of the biggest messages of the movie Jerry Maguire was about how much of a business sports has become.
That message is the focus of the USF Sports Lecture Series, a series of discussions this week hosted by the USF Sport and Entertainment Management Program.
Program Director Dr. Bill Sutton says you don't necessarily need to be a sports fan to attend the lectures.
"We have a much broader role here, and we thought we'd like to make an opportunity, not only for our students, but the business community, the professionals, other students in other universities. We just think it's a great opportunity to be able to bring some people in here that are high caliber, high note, and interact with them," Sutton said.
The free series, which is presented by Fox Sports Florida, kicks off today with Bob Beaudine, the CEO of Eastman & Beaudine, which the Wall Street Journal named the top coaching recruiting firm in college sports. Beaudine will talk about how seeing friendships and relationships as a "network" can lead to achieving career and life goals. He'll speak at 4:30 p.m. at the Tampa Bay Times Forum.
Other speakers include Stacey Allaster, the CEO of the Women's Tennis Association, who will talk about the global nature of both business and sports (Tuesday at 11 a.m. at the USF Marshall Student Center Oval Theater), ESPN NFL analyst Andrew Brandt, who will discuss the multi-billion dollar industry that is the National Football League (Wednesday at 7 p.m., also in the USF MSC Oval Theater) and management expert / former college football coach Colby Jubenville, the co-author of Zebras and Cheetahs, which teaches professionals how to look different (zebras) and stay agile (cheetahs) to survive the business jungle (Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the USF College of Business atrium).
The lecture series is free and open to the public, but reservations are required. Visit bit.ly/usfsportlecture for more information.
