Day 26 of MSBA 2013: Relationship-Building 101, Trip to Barclays Center & the NBA Draft

Post by Aaron Malave for June 27, 2013

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As the week winds down, it is beginning to hit me that the end of this week means the end of the first half of this summer’s Manhattan Sports Business Academy.

The MSBA staff warned us that the summer would fly by and with a month of the program complete, I wish they were wrong.

 With that in mind, I set a personal goal for myself to maximize the remaining month I have left in New York City. Since so much in the business world is about relationships, I began reaching out to professionals that I felt I couldn’t leave without speaking to.

This week I had the opportunity to meet with the Vice President of Marketing for Madison Square Garden, Adam Thier, who was one of the members on the panel for our first Friday Field Trip. We met up after work and I was fortunate enough to hear him speak in depth about the events he has put on for Madison Square Garden and the ins and outs of his 14-year career with MSG. More importantly, he allowed me to express both my professional and personal goals and gave me advice on how to achieve them. I am truly appreciative of the time Adam took to speak with me and I know this connection could not have been made had it not been for MSBA.

Reporting live from the NBA Draft at Barclays Center
— Aaron Malave (@MrMalave_) June 27, 2013

This summer I am interning at Catch-New York, working on the AND1 account. Yesterday, my boss asked me to sit in on a conference call regarding the social media plan going forward for the brand. After that conversation it was revealed to me that I will be running the company’s twitter handle for the rest of the summer. Being the social media/twitter junkie I am, I came away from the meeting extremely excited. Furthermore, I now expect all MSBA affiliates to follow @AND1basketball. This past Thursday night we were free from speakers and field trips so a couple of us decided to attend the NBA Draft at Barclays Center.

As a Heat fan, I was more than happy to sacrifice seeing my team make a draft pick live for last week’s Championship win. But still, I decided to tag along. It was the first time for all of us at a draft so we were all excited to see the workings of something we could previously only see on TV. I was especially excited for Chris Stathos, a Cavaliers fan, who had the once in a lifetime opportunity to see his favorite team make the first overall pick (even if no one has ever heard of him). We picked the right year for our first draft, because it was full of surprises. The Barclays Center was definitely on my list of must-sees this summer and it didn’t disappoint. When we got there I was astonished at the architecture of the newest arena in the NBA.

The buzz in the arena was unlike anything I’ve ever been a part of; with fans checking twitter for all the latest trade news and speculation and sharing it with other fans. All in all, it was an electrifying atmosphere and I’m glad I got to bare witness on a night that young men’s dreams of playing in the National Basketball Association were realized. Four weeks down, four to go. As Dr. Seuss once pondered, “How did it get so late so soon?” Here’s to making the second half of MSBA more memorable than the first.