By Jamie L. Freedman
As record-breaking snow buried the nation’s capital this month, 28 GW sports management students traveled to Vancouver for the Olympic adventure of a lifetime. The group—selected through a rigorous application process—is the 10th GW class to study the games on-site with world-renowned Olympic scholar Lisa Delpy Neirotti, associate professor of tourism and sport management at The George Washington University.
The capstone of Dr. Delpy Neirotti’s popular three-credit course “2010 Winter Olympics,” the 12-day Vancouver visit offers students a comprehensive, up-close look at organizing, marketing and hosting the event. Dr. Delpy Neiroitti taps her extensive network of Olympic contacts, lining up lectures and meetings for her students with top executives associated with the games—from International Olympic Committee officials and Vancouver Organizing Committee board members to corporate sponsors, broadcasters and athletes. Rounding out the program are VIP tours of the Olympic venues and auxiliary facilities, a sports tourism roundtable, and attendance at various Olympic events and victory ceremonies.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our students to go to the games as more than spectators, study their management and marketing up close, and make valuable connections for the future,” says Dr. Delpy Neirotti, who has taken GW business students to the past 10 Olympic Games. She launched the GW tradition in 1992 at the Summer Games in Barcelona and has subsequently led GW contingents to Lillehammer (1994), Atlanta (1996), Nagano (1998), Sydney (2000), Salt Lake City (2002), Athens (2004), Torino (2006) and Beijing (2008).
The Vancouver Games are the 15th consecutive Olympics that Dr. Delpy Neirotti has attended. “My first Olympics were the 1984 Winter Games in Sarajevo, where I served as an intern for the U.S. Olympic Committee,” she says. “I learned an incredible amount from being on-site at such a mega event, and, once I joined the faculty at GW, I wanted my students to have that same opportunity.” Over the years, Dr. Delpy Neirotti has traveled to 56 countries around the globe researching the development and organization of the Olympics.
Prior to departing for Vancouver, the class met several times in Foggy Bottom to study the history and business of the Olympics. As a final project, students write a term paper on various aspects of the management and marketing of the games—from economic impact to facilities, transportation and security. “The students incorporate information and observations gained on-site at the Olympics into their papers,” says Dr. Delpy Neirotti. “They also collect spectator surveys about consumer behavior, motivation, and customer satisfaction at the games and use the data for their term papers, as well as share it with the International Olympic Committee.”
Highlights to date for the GW group include meetings with CNBC’s Darren Rovell; International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound; president of the World Olympians Association Dick Fosbury.; Drew Johnson of Octagon, the marketing company that represents Olympic superstars Apolo Anton Ohno and Michael Phelps; and corporate sponsors Nike, Coca Cola and General Electric.
Despite their packed schedule, students find time to share their impressions and experiences with the GW community through daily blog entries, photos and videos on SportsFanLive.com. Dr. Delpy Neirotti also posts Twitter updates and a daily video blog on the Business School’s Olympics page. Videos ran the gamut from an encounter with the president of the International Skating Union to a peek at the group’s accommodations at the Samsung Youth Hostel in Vancouver’s entertainment district.
The Olympic scholar says she’s thrilled to be sharing her 10th games with her GW students. “It’s always a highlight for me,” she says. “I hope they take away a real understanding and appreciation of the Olympic spirit, and come back and share it with others.”