The Manhattan Sports Business Academy is off to a great start this summer. Our class of 22 students selected from all over the country has completed the first week of the internship program. Every student has expressed excitement about the companies they have been placed at.

The speakers have started off with a bang. The first was Jonathan Blue of Blue Equity who discussed the search for finding new niches in sports business instead of trying to compete with those already occupying a space.Second, ESPN’s Sports Business Reporter Darren Rovell spoke with us and discussed the importance of standing out. He explained that we must exhibit a combination of merritt and uniqueness.Mark Holtzman of the New York Yankees told us his amazing story about Reebok’s rise when it was essentially penniless with a defective order of shoes.

The group was fortunate enough to travel to Madison Square Garden this past week to meet with five executives working in various departments there from marketing to ticket sales. They had a forum with a mediator to ask some directed questions and then questions were opened up to us.

A common theme I am beginning to discover in sports business is that all of the successful people we have met are sociable, smart, and genuine people. It is beginning to become clear why it is difficult for many to make it in sports business. You must have a balanced and strong skill-set to network and put your nose to the grind stone.

One week down, seven to go. The Manhattan Sports Business Academy is proving to be an amazing opportunity but exhausting at the same time. If I were to describe it in a few words I would say MSBA is networking on steroids.