ABSTRACT
In 2007, the author wrote an article, "Academia, industry benefit when interaction is encouraged," for Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal. It was based on his sabbatical experience working for Commissioner Stern at the National Basketball Association, a position that evolved into a stint as Vice President for Team Marketing and Business Operations. The author covers his experiences and theories about what he has learned in his paramedic life, how that knowledge has benefitted him and his students. He views the hard sciences as the model for research in academia: identify and solve a problem confronting humanity. As Kirk Wakefield demonstrates, the same approach can hold true for academic research in the field of sport business. Statistical analyses of trends, predictive modeling, and probability on the sport side have become commonplace. The Sloan Sports Analytics Conference attracts virtually all of the progressive professional teams and leagues and regularly sells out.
