Liverpool’s Continued Push Into Sports Business Innovation

Maggie Rutherford entered the Sports Business and Management master’s program at the University of Liverpool with a specific goal. She wanted to find a job in soccer (or football!). Originally from Washington, D.C., Rutherford was the student manager for the University of Virginia’s women’s soccer team. “This experience sparked my passion for working in the sports industry and ultimately led me to pursue a career in this field,” Rutherford says. So, after earning a degree in Economics and Media Studies, she enrolled in the specialized master’s program at Liverpool.

The Sports Business and Management program is one of three sports-focused degree programs at the University of Liverpool. It joins the brand-new Sports Business and Analytics program and builds on Liverpool’s Football Industries MBA (FIMBA). Students can enroll in the one-year full-time program or the two-year part-time program. Liverpool designed the newest program “to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the global sports industry, with emphasis on data-driven decision-making across the whole curriculum,” says David Cockayne, who is an associate professor of management and postgraduate deputy associate dean at the University of Liverpool Management School. “The program integrates our core sports business curriculum and associated principles with specialist modules designed to build analytical techniques and capabilities tailored to the needs of sports organizations.”

The Sports Business and Analytics program consists of six compulsory modules. In the first semester, full-time students take Sport Marketing and Sponsorship, Introduction to Programing and Analysis, and The Global Context of Sports Business. In semester two, students take Sports Finance and Economics, Sports Data Analytics in Practice, and Methods for Managerial Decision-Making in Sports. The program concludes with a research project or dissertation.

LIVERPOOL IS HOME TO THE BEST SPORTS MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS IN THE WORLD

The two specialized master’s programs and FIMBA make Liverpool one of — if not the best — sports business ecosystems in the world. Cockayne says three things, in particular, help the programs stand out against competitors: its education strategy, network and industry engagement, and research. “What distinguishes us from other sports business and analytics programs around the world is our commitment to action-learning, research-led curriculum, and authentic assessment,” Cockayne explains. “Our students work on real-world problems, with industry partners — including rights holders, governing bodies, and commissioned research — and their assessments reflect the tasks and challenges faced by business and performance analysts in the sports business industry.”

Rutherford specifically picked the program in Liverpool for its connection to the soccer world. “I thought that there was no better place than the U.K. to gain sport-specific knowledge and immerse myself in the culture of the game,” Rutherford elaborates. “After researching this program’s offerings, I was drawn to its strong international reputation and well-rounded curriculum, which includes eight modules in different subjects before a more specialized dissertation. While an unexpected choice, it turned out to be a great opportunity for me.”

Rutherford says her classmates, professors, and connections with the industry have highlighted her experience in the program. “The professors are incredibly engaging, approachable, and knowledgeable in their fields, and I’ve learned so much about the global sports industry from a broader, international perspective and context,” she says, noting that they are almost always available for course or career advice. Rutherford also says the diverse group of students in the program is also a major benefit of the program. “Everyone brings their own background and experiences, which has created an enriching academic environment, and I’ve made great friends, which has helped me a lot personally with the transition to living abroad,” she says.

And the industry partnerships are something both Rutherford and Cockayne say are unique to Liverpool. For example, Rutherford says she’s had guest speakers from Liverpool FC, SportsBusiness, the Premier League, and the Paris 2024 Olympics. “There’s also a lot of flexibility to tailor assignments to your own interests,” Rutherford adds. “For example, my favorite project I’ve completed so far involved creating a sponsorship activation idea for the NWSL expansion club Bay FC in partnership with Trader Joe’s. This project really confirmed my interest and passion for marketing, and the work sample is a piece I can now take to job applications and interviews.”

WHEN A GUEST LECTURE LEADS TO A FULL-TIME POSITION

Raj Taprial completed the Sports Business and Management program in 2021 and now works as a Client Strategy Executive with motorsports clients at Nielsen. Similar to Rutherford, Taprial enrolled in the program because of his “massive love” for soccer. With a marketing background, Taprial came from Mumbai to build on that skill set and marry his love of business and sports into a new career path. Once on campus, Taprial says the professors and actual content of the modules were what stood out to him. “The modules covered every sphere of the sports industry,” he says. “So even if you’re working in finance or something else and with actual rights holders, clubs, teams, or federation, it had something for everyone, which was really beneficial.

Taprial also says the guest lecturers were beneficial to his journey. “There were so many guest lectures,” Taprial says. “A main highlight for me was being able to attend those guest lectures and being able to be face-to-face with those people in the industry itself. Being able to build that network is important in this kind of industry, and Liverpool gave me that kind of exposure.”

It also eventually led to the position that Taprial is in now. “I think it helped me out so much because the current role I’m doing, I kind of owe it to one of the guest lectures because the company I’m working at right now, somebody came from the company to give a guest lecture and I was attending the lecture and the work they were doing intrigued me quite a bit,” Taprial says. It was that same person who conducted one of Taprial’s interviews when he applied for a position at Nielsen. “We just hit it off right off the bat, everything went well, and now I’m working for the company,” he says.

STRONG FACULTY AND INDUSTRY RELATIONSHIPS

Unlike Rutherford and Taprial, who were international students attending the Sports Business and Management program, Ben Stevenson’s family is originally from Liverpool. After completing his International Business Studies degree, Stevenson followed it up with the specialized master’s program. Not surprisingly, the common thread of being a soccer fan also drew Stevenson to the program. In his case, his family had been season ticket holders to Liverpool FC since he “was about five years old,” Stevenson says.

Experiencing the university as an undergrad, Stevenson says he was immediately impressed by the size of his cohort, which was about 75, and how that increased his contact with professors. “I had a lot more contact and stronger relationships with the lecturers from day one,” he says. Like Rutherford, he was also impressed by the diversity of his classmates. “Straight away, I met friends and colleagues from all over the world,” he says.

Stevenson says the guest speakers and industry contacts were also one of the most helpful aspects of the program. Each week, Stevenson says two industry executives spoke in his courses, ranging from the local football clubs to sports clothing suppliers to sports lawyers. “And equally along those lines, one of the key things that I found was really useful and helped me subsequently was the assignments were very much real world problems,” Stevenson says. “So, for example, we had the marketing director at Everton FC come in, set us a task, and that was a key part of our mark for that module, was developing a marketing plan.” The top plans were sent to Everton’s marketing team, and students of those plans got to meet with the teams.

It’s those sorts of experiences that have helped Rutherford, Taprial, and Steveson gain confidence in the industry, and in Taprial and Stevenson’s case, led to full-time positions in sports business. “I’d say one hundred percent this degree is one of the most valuable things I’ve done,” Stevenson says.