Inside Lundquist | December 2025

Watch the Video Introduction on YouTube

From Classroom to Stadium to Boardroom

As you read this, students and faculty from the Lundquist College of Business are on the ground in Indianapolis, preparing to take the field and compete in the inaugural B1G Sports Business Case Competition—held in conjunction with the Big Ten Football Championship, December 4–6. Our Warsaw Sports Business Center is both organizer and host of this first-of-its-kind event, which brings together student teams from across the Big Ten to tackle real-world challenges facing the sports industry. For our students, it's more than a competition—it's a career-launching opportunity on one of the biggest stages in college athletics.

This moment in Indianapolis perfectly captures what makes the Warsaw Sports Business Center distinct among peer programs in the Big Ten, as well as nationally. At its core, the center is built on the belief that experience, reputation, and relationships are the keys to breaking into the highly competitive sports industry, and few, if any, programs in the country offer a better training ground for students to launch their careers.

The Warsaw Center's respected brand, hands-on real-world experiences, and global network of deeply engaged alumni are unmatched.

Whether it's helping coordinate ESPN GameDay broadcasts from in front of the Lillis Business Complex (as students did in October 2024 for Oregon vs. Ohio State and again in October 2025 for the Ducks vs. the Hoosiers and November 2025 for UO vs. USC); scouting industry insights with execs during study tours in Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, and London; or breaking down analytics for global brands, Warsaw students don't just study sports business—they live it and play to win.

Over the past year alone,

  • Undergraduate sports business students clinched first place at the Sports Marketing Association Case Study Bowl in St. Louis in 2024 and returned to the playoffs as finalists this October in Phoenix.
     
  • MBA students topped the leader board at the World Cup Innovation Summit Hackathon in Frisco, Texas, in June 2025 and grabbed silver at the National Sports Forum Case Cup in Boston in February 2025.
     
  • Students and faculty partnered with Sabrina Ionescu's SI20 Foundation to run a full-court press on community engagement through a cross-campus impact challenge.
     
  • The new UO Olympic Studies Hub, housed in the Warsaw Center, launched in December 2024 and kicked off the inaugural UO Olympic Studies Week in May 2025. The hub is the only recognized Olympic Studies Research Centre in the United States.
     
  • The center drafted more than 100 guest speakers who came to campus, allowing students to learn directly from the hard-won insights of alumni and industry pros.

And these aren't just isolated events. They're part of a deliberate, strategic framework that defines how the Warsaw Center trains and prepares students for success.

Programs like Jump Start, now available to both MBAs and undergraduates, exemplify the center's commitment to career-readiness through connection. This facilitated networking program pairs students with alumni working across the sports industry for focused, one-on-one conversations. Alumni opt in enthusiastically because they know what it means to give back and how much Warsaw shaped their own paths.

That same philosophy drives our #TGIPDX and #TGIEUG industry immersion programs, which literally take students off campus and into the professional world. Designed to meet students where they are in their academic journeys, #TGIEUG introduces freshmen and sophomores to local organizations like TrackTown USA and UO Athletics, while #TGIPDX takes juniors, seniors, and MBA students to Portland on select Fridays throughout the year for a full day of networking with executives at Nike, adidas, the Portland Timbers, the Portland Thorns, Columbia Sportswear, and more.

Our students on the lacrosse team also participated in an industry immersion during spring break, led by center director Lauren Anderson, and other Warsaw Center students attended job fairs with the Portland Trail Blazers.

Additionally, the University of Oregon's deep-rooted sports culture afforded our students a home-field advantage, with dozens of opportunities to gain hands-on experience right here on campus. Warsaw students are currently supporting the UO Athletics' Women in Flight program and basketball marketing efforts. Meanwhile, MBA student Makoto Nezu supported the Toyota Antelopes Women's Basketball team when they came from Japan to play the New York Liberty at Matt Knight Arena during a preseason game last spring. And MBA students Cami Wilson and Marko Vidačković even represented the center and the UO at the Red Bull Ibeza Royale, the world's largest obstacle course race in Spain.

These experiences underscore that what happens at Warsaw goes far beyond the classroom. The learning is real, the settings are dynamic, and the outcomes are transformative. But don't just take our word for it. Check out three recent episodes of the University of Oregon's new This Is Oregon podcast in which students and recent alums shared how the Warsaw Center shaped their ambitions, perspectives, and career paths.

  
Looking Ahead: More to Come in 2025–26

It's clearly been a busy and active year for the Warsaw Center, and a full slate of upcoming opportunities will continue to ensure students gain the access, insight, and practice needed to lead and succeed. Here are just a few on the horizon:

  • Partnering with the UO Olympic Studies Hub to host campus-wide panels and a Winter Olympics viewing event in February.
     
  • International study tours to London and Milan.
     
  • Domestic immersions in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Portland.
     
  • Skills-based trainings in ticketing and sports analytics, developed and offered in partnership with the college's Professional Edge program, RAJ Sports (owners of the Portland Thorns and the Fire, Portland's new WNBA franchise), and UO Athletics.

  
Join Us in Shaping the Future of Sports Business

If you're interested in getting involved with any of these game-changing experiences or exploring how you or your organization can engage with the Warsaw Sports Business Center, we'd love to hear from you. Please reach out to me at lundquistdean@uoregon.edu or Lauren Anderson at la7@uoregon.edu.

After all, it's partnerships like these, and the investments behind them, that make a Warsaw Center education so valuable. They transform classroom learning into career-defining moments, open doors to new professional arenas, and equip our students with the knowledge, networks, and confidence to thrive.

From the B1G stage in Indianapolis to our leadership in Olympic studies and sport in Eugene, your support advances the Warsaw Center's vision. Thank you for being part of the team and helping the Lundquist College and Warsaw Sports Business Center set the national standard for the industry.

  
Go Ducks!

Bruce Blonigen
Edward Maletis Dean, Lundquist College of Business
Philip H. Knight Professor of Social Science
University of Oregon