Northwestern is stepping up to the plate.
For the first time, the university appointed a director to its Master of Arts in Sports Administration program in the School of Continuing Studies.
Sports industry expert Dan Migala took his post in November to increase the visibility of the program to prospective students and sports executives.
“The hiring and creation of a post like this shows the level of the university’s commitment to [sports business] as a discipline, a majoring and a program,” Migala said.
The MSA program is relatively new at Northwestern. It was created four years ago and admits about 60 students per year. The director position was only created this year.
“I feel like we haven’t really had the access to the industry,” said Joel Shapiro, assistant dean of graduate programs for SCS. “[Dan] has the ear of executives in the industry.”
Migala currently publishes The Migala Report, an online go-to publication for those in the major league sports industry. He has worked for teams including the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Bears, for whom he helped launch the team’s first Web site. He has authored three books, and held a visiting professorship at Arizona State University. He has also taught classes at universities including NYU and the University of Missouri-Columbia.
For Tracie Hitz, the assistant director of Northwestern’s athletic department, Migala “brings different angles and experiences not just working in a collegiate market, but in professional ones as well.”
In order to better prepare students for sports careers in areas like marketing and leadership, Migala said he would stress that relationships and experiences are as important as academic learning.
“Sports has become a sophisticated business,” Migala said. He plans to create relationships with local teams, and involve students with mentors. Another element of success for the program and the students is to understand the future of the industry.
“Dan’s strengths are the programs strengths,” Shapiro said. “He’s very good at taking students with passion and connecting them to their industry.”
Migala said that one of his proudest accomplishments is to see that more than 200 of his former students landed jobs with the top four sports leagues or Division I athletic teams in the country.
The test of a student truly committed to learning the business of sports lies in the question “would you take an opportunity with your rival team? Those are the students we’re looking for,” he said. “You sort of let go of the fan in you.”
Luckily for Migala, the Chicagoland native never had to agonize over working for the White Sox or the Cubs. He called himself “a child of a mixed marriage” and rooted for both, because his parents were fans of both teams.
But his favorite baseball team might be far away from Chicago. Migala is a part-owner of the Fort Myers Miracle minor league team. He described “the joy of just bringing your dad to the stadium that you’re a part owner in and just turning some music on and chilling on the field” as one of his favorite jobs.
As Migala begins his newest job, he said, “I couldn’t be more proud to put all my energies into the students at Northwestern.”
Alexander Fones contributed reporting.