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Good, profitable sports
Sports Management firm makes a strong showing thanks to strong performer
By Robin J. Moody
Portland Business Journal staff writer
July 7, 2006

Sports Management Worldwide is scoring points with courses designed to help students worldwide break in to sports careers. The company is on track to earn $2 million this year, double what it earned in 2005.

Founded by Lynn Lashbrook, the Portland company offers 12 interactive online training courses that groom students for careers as sports agents, general managers, scouts and for work in sports-related sales and marketing. The virtual school enrolled 868 students in 2005, up 42 percent from 2004.

Although the business is thriving, it has also put Lashbrook at odds with some members of the academic community who say the course gives students false hope of getting jobs in a fiercely competitive industry.

Sports Management Worldwide students log on to the company's weekly interactive audio chat groups, facilitated by Lashbrook and professionals from the sports industry.

Sports management is a $221 billion industry, according to the Sports Business Journal, up from $182.8 billion in 1999. Careers include advertising, endorsements, apparel, facility construction, broadcast rights, tickets sales and more.

The courses have become popular abroad, luring students from 32 countries. In response, Sports Management Worldwide kicked off an international radio advertising campaign in Great Britain on June 12. The campaign targets sports talk radio listeners and highlights courses popular in Europe -- soccer, cricket and rugby. The ads have netted a few hundred calls so far, Lashbrook said.

Classes, offered for virtually every major sport, typically have 20 to 30 students. Students pay about $1,100 per course, books included, and may take multiple classes. The classes may be taken for elective credit at Western Washington University. Sports Management Worldwide built a proprietary software system, called eArena, to conduct its online course and to enroll students.

But getting a job in a sports-related industry is difficult, and some sources wondered whether these courses give students false hope.

"There's a line out the door to get these jobs, and sports organizations can be very selective," said Jeff Yocom, vice president for executive search at Tualatin-based Game Face Inc., a competitor that does executive training courses for sports jobs.

No college degree or training program can guarantee a job, Lashbrook said, but online courses allow interested parties to study without quitting their day jobs or making a major financial commitment.

He also points to his list of 67 major professional sports groups that employ former students, including the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics and Atlanta Hawks, and the Washington Redskins and Green Bay Packers of the NFL.

One satisfied student is 24-year-old Paul Epstein, who had three sports industry interviews after he completed a Sports Management Worldwide sports business course. The Los Angeles resident had been working for Philip Morris since he graduated from college, but yearned for a sports career.

"The course provided me with the contacts to get my foot in the door," said Epstein, recently promoted to account executive by the L.A. Clippers.

Sports Management Worldwide also has several smaller business components. Under its agent-adviser business, successful graduates can become independent contractors for the company. Athletes signed by these agent advisers become co-sponsored by Sports Management Worldwide. Agent advisers also participate in online classroom discussions, Lashbrook said, and pay to have their businesses listed on the company's Web site.

Lashbrook -- a tireless cheerleader for professional baseball to Portland -- has been an entrepreneur in the sports management space for the better part of nine years. But the company has only taken off during the past three years, thanks largely to his wife Liz's business acumen, he said.

Lashbrook, a professor for 35 years, continues to teach as an adjunct professor at Western Oregon University, and teaches for an online master's and doctorate sports management program at Northcentral University in Prescott, Ariz.

Lashbrook came under fire last year, while an adjunct professor at the Oregon State University, for representing two former students as a football agent

He has since resigned from teaching at OSU, and says he signed a waiver saying he would not represent student athletes at Western Oregon University.

Sports Management Worldwide has 10 full-time workers, in addition to 20 part-time faculty members who log in to teach from all over the country.

Lashbrook earned his doctorate degree in kinesiology, and has also written a book about fan etiquette.

He has been a registered sports agent for 13 years, and has represented 20 NFL players.

He still thinks that Major League Baseball will come to Portland one day, and hopes to play a part.

"As it gets closer to reality, I will resurface in the campaign, but I will come as a business leader and not just an activist," Lashbrook said.

rmoody@bizjournals.com | 503-219-3438