Indonesian Delegation Visits UWT Sports Enterprise Management

It started with a surprise contact from the US State Department Sports Visitor’s initiative. The State Department visitors were from the Indonesian Ministry of Sport, national sports associations, youth sports leagues, and athletic events planning committees and they will be part of a team who were looking at bringing in large-scale events, like the World Cup, to Indonesia.

Ryan Plourde, who administered the visit for the State Department said that the Indonesians “expressed an interest in discussing the business and economics of sports. We read about your Sports Enterprise Management program, and it’s a good fit.”

The request was made for UW Tacoma to conduct a workshop on the business of sports in the State Department. “We immediately accepted,” said Stan Emert, Executive Director of the Milgard School of Business Sports Enterprise Management program. “I called Aaron [Artman] with the Rainiers and suggested we host the workshop at Cheney Stadium.” The strong working relationship between MSB and the Rainiers was the perfect fit the State Department mentioned.

On February 27, the workshop was held for 14 Indonesian sports business professionals. "We are proud to have been asked by the US State Department to discuss the business of sports with Indonesian sports business professionals,” said Dr. Altaf Merchant, Dean of the Milgard School of Business. “It gave us another opportunity to show the quality of our programs and to partner with the Tacoma Rainiers in making business associates around the world.”