Informational Interview

Each student will be required to conduct a phone or in-person informational interview with a sport business
professional as satisfying the requirements of this assignment.
Information learned during the interview should be summarized in writing (at least three double-spaced pages
of content)
In order to satisfactorily complete the assignment, it is expected that interviews should be at least 15 minutes in
length.
Points for the assignment will be awarded based on satisfactory completion of all required elements of the
assignment (7 points) and quality of the written summary (grammatical correctness, sentence structure,
spelling, writing style (3 points).
Students should use the interview to explore any areas of interest pertaining to the person’s career, education,
preparation for the job, industry issues, etc. Specific areas that are expected to be covered during the interview
(depending on the interviewee’s experiences and background) are outlined below, but students are welcome to
cover other areas in addition to those below during the interviews:
Education
Where did the person go to school?
What degree(s) did he/she earn?
Opinions on the best educational preparation for their career.
Career path and current job
Did he/she perform internships? If so, describe those experiences and how he/she benefited from them.
What was his/her first job and subsequent jobs that have led to the current job?
Describe his/her current job. Describe a typical daily or weekly schedule.
Advice for current college students seeking to enter the person’s field.
Issues
Describe any personal experiences and offer any opinions about issues covered during this course in which
the person may have some professional involvement or experience to offer, such as:
Sport leagues – single-entity structure, competitive balance, media rights, labor issues, issues faced by the
league and how they are being handled, revenue generation and sharing
Clubs – ownership structure and philosophy, media rights, stadium deal (leased, owned, new, old, how it
affects the club), revenue generation
Player personnel – forms of player acquisition (draft, free agency, trades), player salaries, arbitration, salary
caps
Negotiation
College athletics – financial issues of operating a college athletics department, facilities, conference
realignment, media rights, competitive balance, compensation for student-athletes, agents and studentathletes, financial implications of Title IX compliance