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“Never lose sight of the P&L”.

Not even ten days had passed and our class found itself back at Leverage Agency and for yet another fantastic Workshop Tuesday. In hindsight, it’s amazing to see all that has transpired in just a short amount of time. Our class learned quickly that the Manhattan Sports Business Academy is serious when it comes to accelerating its students’ career development.

We were fortunate enough to hear from Jonathan Blue, one of the founding fathers of MSBA. Jonathan is the Chairman and Managing Director of Blue Equity, LLC, an independent private equity firm investing both growth capital and business expertise in enterprises with solid development potential. More than his reputation and prior successes, I was incredibly taken aback by how real and upfront Mr. Blue was with our class. It was refreshing.

I was reminded of the importance of drawing the line between what it means to be a fan and a professional. The best advice Jonathan gave all night was to “never lose sight of the P&L” (profits and losses). As passionate fans of sport, it’s easy to forget about monetizing despite the glamour that comes and goes with the industry. Jonathan also referenced a book entitled Blue Ocean Strategy, which talks about the industries not in existence today and the significance of taking advantage of an unknown market space. Jonathan definitely challenged us all to find our own niche in a highly competitive industry.

Another one of the many points Jonathan stressed to us was the importance of relationships. Through my internship at Modell’s Sporting Goods and through the connections being made with my classmates and guest speakers, I’ve found that an important aspect of the business of sports is so human and in all of us — the ability to connect and relate with one another. Jonathan underscored just how important it is to build our networks and value the relationships we make because that is how we’ll measure true success.