AAndy
Stanford Spring Course -- Bus 31

Gloria Nevarez
Gloria Nevarez

Jennifer Azzi
Jennifer Azzi

Mindi Bach
Mindi Bach


Andy Dolich -- 2015


Finding Opportunities in the Business of Women's Sports

with Andy Dolich


Major changes are taking place in the way women's sports are promoted, marketed, advertised, broadcast, and distributed to larger audiences. This course will highlight milestones that have helped usher in new opportunities to develop business ideas and products that promote and monetize women's sports.

Portland, Oregon is home to the most successful women's professional sports franchise in North America. The Portland Thorns soccer games in Providence Park offer a glimpse of the future: 19,000 fans and 10,000 season-ticket holders. This growing enthusiasm and fan base for women's sports has generated advertising interest from companies like Anheuser-Busch, Toyota, and Alaska Airlines. Across the industry, women's sports apparel sales are up by 53 percent in the last three years, and women's sport brands are attracting new sponsorship and media opportunities. While men have historically been the prime demographic target of sports, women control 70 percent of consumer spending and are becoming more reachable through women's sports.

This interactive course will feature thought leaders including Gloria Nevarez, commissioner of the West Coast Conference; Jennifer Azzi, NBA executive, former Stanford basketball legend, and recipient of an Olympic Gold Medal; and Mindi Bach, Oracle's head of sports public relations. We will also explore corporate sponsorships and the new frontier of paying collegiate athletes, the challenges of global sports  expansion, and how women's sports can increase broadcast revenue in a crowded market.

Quarter: Spring
Course Format: On Campus
Date(s): April 8 - May 7
Drop Deadline: April 27
Tuition: $545
Day(s): Wednesdays
Duration: 8 weeks
Time: 7 p.m. -- 8:50 p.m.
Unit: 1
Instructor(s): Andy Dolich
 
Finding Opportunities in the Business of Women's Sports
Stanford Continuing Studies -- Spring 2020
Registration begins on Monday February 24, 2020

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Andy Dolich has over five decades of leadership in the sports industry, including executive positions in the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, pro soccer and lacrosse. Presently Dolich is COO of the Fan Controlled Football League (FCFL) and teaches sports business at Stanford's School of Continuing Studies. Dolich is also co-author of the new book:

2-24-2020 - Giants - Aubrey Huff
Former San Francisco Giant Aubrey Huff
2-24-2020 - MLB Robert Manfred
MLB Commission Rob Manfred

Bad to worse

by Pete Elman

I woke up last Wednesday morning to the most depressing San Francisco Chronicle's Sporting Green in years. Isn't it bad enough that we have to bear witness to the slow (but picking up speed) drip of democracy dying -- that now we must be subjected to whole new levels of tawdriness, corruption, and toxic lies infecting our beloved sports section? I nearly choked on my morning java as I read the bad news coming at me in waves. So pardon me while I channel my inner Hunter Thompson, rest his demented soul. Here is some of it,  from bad to worse .
 
Aubrey Huff: I never liked him with the Giants -- maybe because I'm an A's fan. The whole thong thing was juvenile -- but at least it was harmless. What he has been spewing lately is quite the opposite; venomous, offensive, threatening, racist, xenophobic, misogynistic bile. Good for the Giants for not inviting him to their reunion. Huff defended himself, saying, " My locker room humor on twitter is meant to be satirical and sarcastic ." Excuse me for finding nothing funny about threatening Sanders' supporters with guns, sexist insults of Iranian women, and using demeaning language about brave women coaches, to say nothing of abject fealty to a man who would not know a law if it hit him over the head. But Huff is correct about one thing when he tweeted, "T he America we know and love is already dead." Yup, Aubrey, thanks to you and 
your ilk.

Rob Manfred: If there were ever an argument to be made that Rob Manfred is simply a younger version of his mentor, the execrable Bud Selig, it's his behavior over the last few weeks. Many don't buy that Manfred -- after he was informed of the cheating by the A's and Tigers -- needed Mike Fiers to drop a dime because of the immunity deal with the union. MLB could have countered by stressing that the "conduct detrimental" language in the CBA authorizes punishment for players not cooperating. B ut not punishing the players involved --  when the 70,000 e-mail, 5000 page, 70 witness investigation clearly described the cheating as "player-driven" -- well, that's not gonna cut it. And fining Astro owner Jim Crane $5 million is like fining you and me $50. Why not make it hurt, like $100 million? Wait a second; we don't want to anger our paymasters too much. Reluctant to take away the title of the 2017 Astros, Manfred made the unforgivable gaffe, " It's just a piece of metal."  No it's not, Rob. It's the World Series trophy and it holds the hearts of generations of baseball fans. Yes, what the Astros did is worse than steroids and maybe not as bad as Pete Rose -- but it stinks, and you're not helping.

*          *          *

From 2000-2005 I wrote a column for the late great Oakland Athletics Fan Coalition (OAFC) entitled  Elman Swings,
a play on the fact that I'm a musician. Some of you may remember the OAFC, an East Bay organization that at its peak had several thousand members devoted to keeping the A's in Oakland and guess what? They've succeeded. Perhaps one or two of you might remember my articles (more like rants) about baseball and society. So when the Ultimate Sports Guide asked me to compose regular screeds called Outlaw's Outtakes, how could I say "No?" ('Outlaw' is their nickname for me.) -- Pete Elman