While millions of football fans were tuning in on Feb. 4 to see the action of Super Bowl LII, Concordia University Ann Arbor students were among the thousands of employees and volunteers who were working behind the scenes to help make the event tick.
Through an arrangement with a leading global sports travel and event management company called PrimeSport, nine CUAA students had the opportunity to intern in the fan experience zones and work closely with industry leaders at the Feb. 4 Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
“Working an event of the Super Bowl’s magnitude was an absolute honor,” said Matt Korte, junior sport and entertainment business major. “It’s so cool for us to have a chance to apply what we are learning in the classroom to real life situations.”
Super Bowl LII is a significant bullet point to an already impressive list of beyond-the-classroom experiences for Korte, who recently returned from a trip to Pasadena, where he worked with fellow CUAA students in the Rose Bowl hospitality village and in the command control center as liaison between PrimeSport and local authorities. In his five semesters at CUAA, Korte has also worked behind the scenes at over a dozen of sport’s most-watched events, including the NCAA Track and Field Championships, Wisconsin Sport Awards, and the NBA All-Star Game.
Senior hospitality and event business major Alisha Anderson is just months away from beginning her career in the industry and knows that it is experiences like Super Bowl LII that will give her a competitive edge as she prepares to enter the job market.
“Not only did I have a chance to learn a ton about the ins and outs of running an event, but I was also able to make connections with people who could potentially hire me someday,” said Anderson. “The professional connections we are able to make at a high-caliber event like the Super Bowl is invaluable to my future career.”
In addition to the Super Bowl, Concordia students are pumping their resumes with experiential learning opportunities at many of the best events that sports has to offer. In the past five years, dozens of students from CUAA have participated in nationally broadcast events, including NCAA College World Series, Centennial Cup Americas, and the NCAA Final Four.
The sport and entertainment business (SEB) and hospitality and event business (HEB) programs at CUAA are booming—just like their multi-billion dollar industries. Of the eleven programs within the Haab School of Business, SEB and HEB make up nearly 30% of the business students within the school.
The success of the SEB and HEB programs is attributed to advisory board guidance and strategy, dedicated faculty on both Concordia University’s Ann Arbor and Wisconsin campuses, and strong relationships with industry professionals, like PrimeSport, said Executive Director of Career Engagement and Industry Relations Dr. Joey-Lynn Bialkowski.
Led by its Christ-centered values, the Haab School of Business Administration believes that the best business leaders demonstrate both uncompromising compassion and unmatched competitive skill. Because of this, the curriculum and internships are preparing students to lead beyond the norm, igniting transformative change in themselves, their organizations, and society.
“Working an event of the Super Bowl’s magnitude was an absolute honor,” said Matt Korte, junior sport and entertainment business major. “It’s so cool for us to have a chance to apply what we are learning in the classroom to real life situations.”
“From human resource management and compliance within hospitality and sport organizations to the facility, fan zones, and food and beverage experiences, the list goes on forever on all of the different facets that students need to be aware of,” said Bialkowski. “Our SEB and HEB programs are a very comprehensive curriculum spanning all those areas of specialization and developing our students to lead and make an impact.”
— Rachel Thoms served on Concordia University's Strategic Communications team from 2015-2022. Any inquiries about this story can be sent to news@cuaa.edu.
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