Article Date: 02 February 2017
Article Date: 02 February 2017
On Wednesday 1 February 2017, twenty Year 12 students from Braintree Sixth Form were invited to take part in a university level business workshop at UCFB which is a specialist university located in Wembley stadium.
The university is a new degree provider and specialises in offering degree programmes that are linked to the sports industry. Undergraduate degree programmes that they offer include Sports Journalism; Sports Law, Sports Broadcasting; The Football Business and Marketing; The Football business and Finance.
Our students spent the day at UCFB in Wembley Stadium where they had a tour of the university facilities and took part in a business workshop that focused upon the financial implications to a business of the “transfer window”. Our students took on the role of directors of a football club and as part of this, they had to manage a series of unexpected events based upon the information presented to them that included player valuations, lengths of contract and player salaries. The students had to make decisions based upon the financial implications of an individual case as opposed to the playing impact that this may have on the club in question. They then had to present their decisions and justify the commercial sense of such decisions on club revenue, shirt sales and playing performance. At the end of this activity one of the groups undertook a mock press conference where they were questioned by “the press” on the state of their club.
Having completed this, the students were then taken on a tour of the stadium itself which included a tour of the press area, the changing rooms and access to the players’ tunnel and the pitch side managers’ area.
On reflection, the students thought that the day was useful and it gave them an insight into an area of business that they had not thought of venturing into. Chris Final said that he was pleased that he went on the trip and that it now gave him further options to consider for the future. Sam Platt was more enthusiastic as he declared that this was the institution that he wanted to study in and was thus intending to apply for entry once the UCAS window opened.
Mr R Miller
