Photo Contributed by Adriana Sekulovic

“This was just the first one, many more are to come,” Adriana Sekulovic said. “This [trip] was a launching of something that will become, we hope, the signature of Cal Lutheran.”

Earlier this month, California Lutheran University students traveled to the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, for an inside look at global sports management through the university’s Office of Education Abroad.

The trip ran from Feb. 5-13 as part of the Global Learning Opportunity program, which offers faculty-led seminars for students to immerse themselves in the business, cultural, social and political environments of each country visited, according to Cal Lutheran’s website. 

Both undergraduate and graduate students studied sponsorships and event management as part of the required spring semester course, according to the GLO webpage. The group also attended Olympic events and met with professionals in various business industries.

“People were impressed with our students,” said Tracy Nickl, an assistant professor in the School of Management and one of the trip’s faculty leaders. “[Business professionals] were very, very impressed with their discipline and their interactions with them. It speaks volumes to the students that are at this school.”

Adriana Sekulovic, a lecturer in the School of Management and another one of the trip’s faculty leaders, said the program combined academic coursework with industry experience, covering topics including global sports governance to marketing, event management and professional networking.

“[We] threw students into the essence of experiential learning, meaning living as if you were part of the event, which often involves long hours,” Sekulovic said.

While abroad, students followed a fast-paced schedule, Sekulovic said. Days started with briefings and research on sponsors before traveling to meetings or competitions. 

Their sponsorship meetings included executives from Coca-Cola, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, Swiss House, Korea House, TCL, Samsung, Visa, Casa Airbnb, OnLocation and OLY House, Sekulovic said.

“The opportunity to meet this many people in sports who have this many connections is unparalleled,” Nickl said. “They’re all in one place.” 

Maya dela Rama, a senior business administration major, said she was in charge of preparing for meetings with higher-ups at Visa. 

Dela Rama said she was responsible for preparing company history and developing questions about individuals from the company they were to meet to guide discussions. 

“[The executives] were really friendly with us, which we were really lucky about,” dela Rama said. “They just want to share their experience and answer our questions because they know we’re students and we’re learning.”

Nickl said the structure of the trip was intentionally designed to simulate an intensive, at times unforgiving, professional sports management environment. 

“You have to go with the mood,” Nickl said. “If you say, ‘Well, you know, we have to take two hours off to rest,’ well, you’re missing something.”

Nickl said the experience also encouraged students to view the Olympics more as business ventures than entertainment. 

“I think vision of the Olympics as a business is different than thinking of it as a fan,” Nickl said. “As a business, ‘How do I activate all those fans?’ and ‘If I’m spending all that money, what’s my return on investment?’” 

While the trip had a strong academic focus, dela Rama said there were opportunities for fun, including going to various Olympic games, like ice hockey and skiing, and meeting athletes from previous games. 

“My first [favorite moment] is meeting Ilona Maher, the rugby player,” dela Rama said. “She was really so sweet, literally the sweetest person. She means a lot to … girls and women. I also was able to make a lot of new friends.” 

Throughout the trip, dela Rama said she and the nine other students were urged to approach corporate CEOs and ask them about their career paths to build connections.

“It was a little nerve-wracking going in, not knowing what to expect,” dela Rama said. “[The executives] never made us feel like we were asking too many questions.”

With the Summer Olympics coming to Los Angeles in 2028, the trip came at an ideal time for Cal Lutheran students entering the sector of the sports management,  dela Rama said. 

“This was just the first one, many more are to come,” Sekulovic said. “This [trip] was a launching of something that will become, we hope, the signature of Cal Lutheran.”