Eller Executive Education Partners With Arizona Athletics To Teach Student Athletes The Business Of Sports

Aug. 26, 2021

The 2021-2022 academic year brings many changes for many University of Arizona students.

One significant change is the result of changes in NCAA Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) rules which now permit student-athletes to receive compensation for use of their NIL.

In order to help student-athletes navigate this rule change and University of Arizona related protocols, University Athletics partnered with the University of Arizona Rogers College of Law and Eller Executive Education of the Eller College of Management to provide an NIL education program called Arizona Edge. This program is part of University Athletics’ commitment to develop student-athletes for life on campus and beyond.

The program is being offered virtually to any student athlete that wishes to participate and is set up in different modules, taught primarily by Joe Carella, assistant dean of Eller Executive Education; Lehman Benson, associate professor and McClelland Fellow of Management and Organizations; Deborrah Himsel, adjunct lecturer of management and organizations; as well as other Eller faculty.

The College of Law is focusing on assisting students with understanding contracts, trademarks, working with agents and more.

Eller Executive Education is advancing student-athletes’ foundational business and leadership acumen required to capitalize on their athletic success and build leaders capable of advancing their careers for the long term.

Eller alum and former University basketball player Joe McLean ’96 BA (Sociology) BSBA (Business) ’01 MBA leads a financial acumen module which will be launched mid-September. Now managing partner at Intersect Capital LLC and premier wealth manager, he will help student-athletes understand how to manage the basics of money management which will serve them well.

Each module is designed to fit into a student-athletes busy schedule and take under an hour to complete. The modules are visually engaging and consist of short videos and interactive components to reinforce the learning objectives. In order to earn a certificate of completion, student-athletes must complete all nine modules and pass brief quizzes. 

Eller Executive Education has already launched the first two modules of Arizona edge and will continue to launch a module each month until the culmination of the program in April 2022 with the hopes of refining and potentially adding modules based on requests from student-athletes.

The modules that will be offered as part of the Arizona Edge program are:

  • Sports/Business/College Life Balance
  • Developing a Growth Mindset
  • Financial Acumen
  • Managing My Image and Brand
  • The Basics of Business Deals
  • Driving Social Media Engagement
  • Launching My Business Network
  • Building My Enterprise
  • Managing My Long-Term Network and My Plan