On the evening of Tuesday, January 22nd, the Rice University Sport Business Alliance (RUSBA) hosted their 2nd Annual Rice Sport Business Networking Hour at St. Arnold’s Brewery.
The networking event brought together Rice Sport Management students, professors, and alumni with Houston-area professionals for a night of food, drinks, and discussion of career paths within the sport industry.
Over 60 attendees took part in this year’s event, an increase in participation from the first annual event held in Spring 2012. A number of Rice Sport Management students were able to discuss the value of their education with alumni of the program, including the ways in which their Sport Management classes prepared them to pursue opportunities in sports. Additionally, the strong presence of industry professionals from outside the program provided an excellent opportunity for students and professors to continue creating relationships with local and national sport organizations.
“I feel that our 2nd Annual Sport Business Networking Hour was a huge success,” said Omar Castillo ’13, the president of RUSBA. “We were able to gather Houston sport industry professionals together for a night and provide an outstanding networking opportunity for our Sport Management students and alums. The purpose of RUSBA is to create opportunities for students in our program within the sport industry. Events like this help our students to meet established sport professionals.”
The sport organizations represented at the event included the Texans, Astros, Dynamo, Nike, Comcast SportsNet, the Houston Marathon, the Harris County Houston Sports Authority, the Positive Coaching Alliance, Academy Sports, Lone Star Sports and Entertainment, and the Rice Athletics Department. Other organizations on hand at the event included Aker Solutions, MD Anderson, RigNet, and Quorum Business Solutions.
RUSBA is a group of Sport Management students dedicated to forging relationships with members of the sport industry, to raise awareness and create valuable opportunities for members of the program.
Ryan Glassman, a senior from Baldwin, NY, is majoring in Sport Management and English and minoring in Business.